How To Create A Sustainable Morning Routine + My Morning Routine

Photo by vadimguzhva/iStock / Getty Images

Hello all!

If you're like me, then you dream of having that perfect morning routine. A routine that screams "winner, champion, successful." However, in your journey to creating that routine, you may have found yourself falling of the bandwagon one, two, 70 times. And whenever you decide to get back on the wagon, you eventually fall off again. Sound familiar? Cool, cause that's what I went through as well.

After being frustrated with myself over this lack or consistency and sustainability, I finally had a couple breakthroughs that now bring ease, purpose, and sustainability to my morning routine. I'm going to share those breakthroughs with you in this article with hopes that it's what will have you breakthrough as well. (assuming that's why you're here)

Here's how it'll go:

In the first half of this article I share with you what made the difference between me burning out from a morning routine, and creating a sustainable, fulfilling routine that meets my needs.

In the second half, I share with you exactly what my routine looks like as well as the little details behind each action step.

Sit back, enjoy, and get ready to create the morning routine you've always wanted but never had!

---

How I was finally able to create a morning routine that is sustainable, intentional, and fulfilling

I've had many installments of a morning routine over the years. They varied in intensity, duration, and sustainability. Many of the things I do now are things I did in the past, but for some reason I was never able to sustain it over a long period of time. Similarly, I often felt burnt out by my morning routine's. They were not fulfilling at all. 

What made the difference were two realization:

1.  There is no right way to do a morning routine. There's only the way that works for you.

Prior to this breakthrough, my morning routine had to be X, Y, Z in that order, at that time, in that way, OR ELSE. Lol. If I didn't do things in that way, there was much judgement on my part. Shoulda seen my previous morning routines. I had like 15 items, all with strict time durations. It was much less of a morning routine, and more of a morning exam. 

2. Do it because it makes sense for you, not because it looks good to others.

I used to do a lot of things to appear impressive, as opposed to doing things for a purpose. For example, I would create morning routines based on how good it sounded that I did that. "I meditate every morning, look at me" is essentially the subconscious message I was looking to convey. Or I'd do a morning ritual because some billionaire CEO does it, and my ego wants to identify itself with success like that. 

---

Summary:

Without intention, purpose, and customization to one's personal needs, a routine will surely fail.

Once I gave up trying to look good, and decided to create a life that I like, for myself, and my life, things started to shift.

---

My Morning Routine

1. wake up somewhere between 5:45-7am

   • I currently work part-time for a food delivery company called Doordash. I create my own hours. Goodbye 7am shifts, hello noon to 5pm shifts :P

   • The time I get out of bed depends on a couple factors
     • is there a pressing deadline or time-schedule that day?
     • how rested I am when I initially wake up
       • some days I get 4 hours of sleep and I'm energized
       • other days I get 6 hours of sleep and I'm groggy
       • I tend to let my body decide what's up, and luckily I've created my schedule in such a way where I can afford to do that
     • am I ready to begin my day?
       • there are some days I wake up and I'm immediately in action
       • there are other days when I wake up and I play Star Wars: Heroes on my phone for 30 minutes in bed before I decide I'm good to go.

2. Drink hella water (250-500mL)

   • I don't remember where, but our bodies are pretty dehydrated when we first wake up. This makes sense, cause we didn't drink water for 4-8 hours while asleep.
   • It feels awesome, and it gets the habit of drinking water throughout the day started
   • I fill a 500mL Swell Water Bottle (super awesome water bottle that keep water cold and looks dope and modern) up every night in preparation for my morning water needs 

3. Brush my teeth

   • *self-explanatory*

4. Rebound on mini-trampoline for 4-10 minutes (2 minute intervals)

   • Rebounding is an exercise that I first heard about through Tony Robbins.
   • Rebounding is a form of lymphasizing, which is essential for optimal body function. However, the lymphatic system depends on physical exercise and movement to circulate lymph fluids effectively. Rebounding is one of the best ways to accomplish this.
   • Click learn more about Rebounding, click here and here.

5. Priming w/ Tony Robbins

   • Priming is 15 minute, guided meditation/breathing/visualization exercise. The intention is to get the body, spirit, emotion, and mind aligned with our highest self and purpose (my own words).
   • I could see myself substituting Priming for other morning mindfulness practices in the future, but for now it's Tony and I every morning, priming our hearts out.
   • To try out priming for yourself, visit this link or search "Priming Tony Robbins" on YouTube.

6. Make my bed (most days)

   • I'd say 90% of the time I'll make my bed. I read somewhere that making one's bed in the morning is the ultimate discipline. That's great and all, and I totally validate that notion. However, some days my bed just doesn't get made and I stopped judging myself for it a while ago. 
   • I will say this, I'd much rather be the version of me that makes his bed than the one that doesn't. However, on those days when I choose to keep the bed in it's non-made form, I make the conscious choice to make the bed the next day. 
   • I need a break from being perfect, disciplined, goody two shoes all the time.

7. Drink Hot Green Tea!

   • this is one of my newest additions to the morning routine, and it's also one of my favorite parts
   • not only does it warm my body up, green tea is a natural detoxify-er
   • I used to smoke weed every morning (not part of conscious routine...more so as part of a cycle of depression and not knowing what to do with my life.) Now I drink green tea. lol

---

For more information on morning routines, here are some links I gathered for your knowledge consuming pleasure:

• The 5 Productive Morning Routines Of Highly Effective People [Video]

• The Morning Habits Of Highly Successful People

• We Tried CEO Morning & Night Routines (buzzfeed video where three people tried CEO routines for a week)

5 Winning Mindset Tips For Creating A Website or Blog

If you're reading this, I am assuming you're currently creating a website or are considering creating a website. If that is the case, congrats! I acknowledge that you are taking action in your life and are looking to leverage the experience of others to expedite your success.

On that note, here are some winning mindset tips for creating a website or blog that have helped me stay consistent and positive in creating my own website:

1. Commit to Long-Term Thinking

   • Creating your own website is like raising your own child or puppy: it's a long term investment. You're not going to know what you're doing at first, you're going to make mistakes, and nobody is going to visit your site - AT FIRST.

   • By adopting a long-term thinking mindset, you'll focus more on daily growth than short-term failure.

2. Create An Archive For the Future

   • Create content knowing that people are going to be viewing it in the future, as well as today.

   • The value in your content is not in who sees it today, it's in who sees it - period. 

   • So focus more on creating content consistently, forever, than getting views or getting dollars today.

3. Trust yourself & Believe in Your Vision

   • There's a reason why you're so jazzed about creating a website. Keep that reason in mind, especially if you encounter resistance or doubt from yourself or others.

   • It is 100% possible to achieve whatever vision you have, even if nobody else has done it before. Trust yourself!

4. There is No Right Way (aka your way is the right way)

   • There are a ton of ways to create an awesome, successful website. 

   • If you search the web, you'll find courses, both free and for pay, that will suggest a full on, step-for-step way to build a successful website. Feel free to adopt any strategies or tips from those resources.

   • Ultimately though, do it your way, and learn from your own experience

5. Focus on Consistent Daily Growth

   • As they say "Rome wasn't built in a day." Neither will your website. 

   • It is an ever growing process, in which you will always be improving your website!

The biggest challenge I faced when I first started developing my website, was the lack of perceived success. In my eyes, if my content wasn't going viral or if my affiliate links were bringing in any money, then I'm failing. Similarly, when I'd promote an article or my website on facebook, the lack of likes and comments it would get were disheartening. 

By utilizing the 5 tips above, I shifted my mindset, which changed the way I viewed success in terms of building a website. As content creators, we're creating something for lifetime views not 1,000,000 views today. 

Cheers!!