I’ve been reading Laura Vanderkam’s new ebook What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings – And Life, and it’s got me thinking about the shape of my mornings…and how my mornings shape the rest of my days. (I’ve got another post coming up the book, including a chance to win a morning makeover from Laura, so stay tuned!)
All this reflection has got me thinking about the first few things I do when I wake up in the morning, since they seem to determine the rest of my day.
For example, if the first thing I do is check Facebook, I tend to get “stuck” there and may put off breakfast, showering or getting dressed in order to keep scrolling.
So I’ve been paying attention to see what my morning habits are and where they could use help…starting with my first three actions. It varies a little bit from day to day, but it turns out I am pretty consistent about these three actions, first thing each morning:
1. Check Weather.com
I usually do this on my phone from bed! I’m not sure this is a healthy habit, and besides, couldn’t I just walk to the back door and open it to see for myself? But for some reason I always want to know what kind of day I have in store before I feel like I can really enter it. My weather obsession is much worse in the winter and early spring.
2. Put on the tea kettle
One of the very first things I like to do in the morning is drink a cup of black tea with milk and a little sugar, and putting the kettle on the burner is one of the more soothing parts of my morning routine.
3. Put in my contact lenses.
This is a key part of my early morning routine! I’m not that blind, but when my contacts are out, I feel like I’m still asleep. Putting in my contacts brings my surroundings suddenly into focus…and helps me feel awake and ready to start my day.
Your turn! What are the first three things you do every morning? Do you feel like they have an affect on the way you spend the rest of your morning and your whole day?
Maybe I need to work on this. My 1st 3 actions are let the dog out: pet the cats so that they will stop crying, let the dog back in. Seriously, thanks for the nudge to change it up in the a.m.
Weekdays:
1. Hit the snooze button one too many times (bad habit I need to break)
2. check email and facebook on my phone from in bed. This is actually a good thing because it is what actually wakes me up and gets me moving. I typically keep it to 5 – 10min.
3. go the bathroom then shower, etc (I work outside the home)
Weekends
1. The pitter patter of my 3yo’s feed is what I first hear. Then she’s at my face saying “Good Morning Mommy, it’s time to wake up!”. I then pull her into bed for some snuggles until the others find their way to our room.
2. Feed the kids breakfast.
3. Make and enjoy a hot cop of coffee while we figure out our plans for the day.
I just came back to read some of the other comments and noticed that my reply shows a timestamp of 6:15am… I most certainly did not write it at early in the morning LOL! That is odd…
I also went back and read the link to the book. I have mixed feelings about the whole morning thing. I already have to get up early to go to work on weekdays – I can’t imagine getting up any earlier and wonder what it would accomplish. I am a night owl and actually can get quite a bit done once the kids are in bed. I do have energy and focus and motivation at that time of day. Not every night, but when I have something big to accomplish, that’s when I do it. For example, every month I go through our pictures, pick out the favorites, post them to our family web site, put captions, and then send the link out to the extended family and friends. I ALWAYS do this task late at night. I can’t imagine getting up early in the morning to get it done. My brain is mush in the morning. Same goes with going through mail / bills / online shopping, etc. I consider myself a fairly successful person and this has worked fine for me as long as I can remember. In college/grad school, I was way more effective studying late into the night then getting up early to do it in the mornign 🙂 I chalk it up to my body clock – it’s just the way I’m built. My sister and mom on the other hand cannot function past 9pm and get up at the crack of dawn every day.
My very first actions every morning are snuggling up with that Husband o’ mine for a few minutes, both of us then check our phones for various reasons. Once actually out of bed, I head down to the kitchen to drink half my water bottle right away, fix breakfast and pack his lunch–opening curtains as I go.
Once he is off to work, I head out to the porch to read–articles online, Facebook, Twitter and whatever book I’m reading at the moment.
Okay, so that’s more than the three you asked for 🙂
I’m a big fan of Laura’s books and recently reviewed her mornings ebook as well. My morning routine:
1) Eat a snack (I’m hypoglycemic anyway, but at 34 weeks pregnant the snack is absolutely necessary)
2) Get dressed
3) Write a blog post
Use the restroom, pour the coffee, turn on the news. 🙂
Weekends are different since I work M-F. On weekends, I go to the restroom and wash my face; sometimes I brush my teeth. I usually tend to the baby (change diaper and milk) and then start making tea.
I actually purposely avoid checking emails first thing on weekends, as that’s the first thing I have to do on weekdays!
My mornings definitely need a makeover, as I have somehow trained my boys (aged 4 and 3) to whine for me from their beds, which I usually respond to by stomping in there and growling “WHAT?!?” I know that this is tainting my whole day, and that I should be getting up straightaway and going downstairs, but I’m not a morning person (and I’m really stubborn about it, which makes it worse).
I would really like to start the day on the treadmill for 20 minutes, and then sit down at the kitchen table with my coffee. I also need to plan out some sort of “Wake up Without Whining” incentive plan for the boys, but I’m just too tired. Ug.
I am always waken by one of three children. The first thing they ask if they can watch a show. I put something on for them, pour my coffee that was set to brew exactly the second the kids wake up. Every morning at 6:45 it seems. Feed the cat who trips me before I can even get to the bathroom. I have had the same pattern for about 4 years!
1) Hit the snooze button.
2) Wash my face and brush my teeth.
3) Empty the dishwasher.
1. Check email from my phone (in bed).
2. Brush teeth.
3. Put on tea kettle. (And proceed to enjoy entire pot of tea.)
I have my 3 essentials:
B.L.D.
Those letters are at the top of my planner page and I try to cross them off as early as possible.
B= Make my Bed
L= Start Laundry
D= Deal with any dishes (unload dishwasher, leftover dishes from yesterday, etc).
Now that the kids are home for summer vacation I say to them “Let’s do a quick B-L-D” and they know what I mean and join in.
Those are my three, too! Though I have to sneak Coffee in there between making the bed and unloading the dishwasher. 🙂
Oh yes. Coffee is always happening in there during those three. 😉
1. Brush my teeth
2. Pour a cup of coffee (programmed to start before I get up)
3. Check my email
I love the BLD idea. That’s always what I do, just never thought to give it a name.
The very first things I do?
1. Go potty
2. Get back in bed and hug my hubby
3. Check my phone
Considering moving the phone (and other devices) off the nightstand in an effort to break this habit.
1. Get the coffee going
2. Let the cats in (or out, if they spent the night inside)
3. Go for a 30 minute walk with the dog.
Note: #3 is a new addition that I started in March. Previously, #3 would have been me hopping on the computer. Man, oh MAN — taking a daily walk has helped increase my mood off the charts! I wish I would have started this bit years ago — I feel quite foolish for not having done so. Sigh.
Unless the three year old wakes up first, I
1.nurse the baby while
2. Checking the computer
3. Turn on the coffee
We moms seem to have a similar morning routine. As for me I
1. Roll over – it can’t possibly be morning again.
2. Lay there awhile before hugging my husband or giving him an affectionate pat on the back.
3. Sluggishly dress myself and collect keys, pedomenter, etc. for my morning walk by myself.
Here’s what I do:
-Pee
-Brush my teeth
-pour coffee
1. Use the bathroom and wash my face
2. Start the oatmeal
3. Check my computer
I dread mornings. Maybe it’s because I’ve yet to sleep in in 2.5 years, but I really miss the days when I can just relax under the covers. Even if I set my alarm earlier just to do this, it doesn’t feel right.
1. Get up, get dressed, pee
2. Wake up children
3. Make breakfast
I definately….use the bathroom, start my coffee, and let the dog out. I could change it up, but the dog – and my bladder – wouldn’t appreciate it! 🙂
I sit on the edge of my bed for a moment and breathe, use the bathroom and wash my face. After that, things get crazy! It’s the only quiet part of the day.
Oh man… I really need to change my routine up! (Yes, I read this article while laying in bed this morning… Check out that nudge from the universe!)
#1 – Check FB, email, Instagram from bed.
#2 – Get out of bed and open windows
#3 – Go get little one out of crib
(This is leaving out the typical bathroom trip of course)
Get baby, let dog out, coffee
My mornings aren’t very consistent thanks to my husbands irregular work schedule (we share a car), but they usually involve nursing, checking e-mail/reading blogs on my phone, and starting breakfast.
Timely post. I just wrote about my hatred of mornings, and waking up in general. I do wonder if there is anything else I could be doing to make them go better for me. Currently the first three things I do are
1) After being greeted in bed by my boys, I read the baby a story.
2) Get dressed
3) Walk elder son to school. (Now that it is summer my third activity is eating breakfast.)
What is up with you guys brushing your teeth before your morning coffee? Doesn’t that ruin the taste?
1.Take baby to bathroom and get her a new diaper
2. Go to the bathroom
3. Drink Chai and watch the tv program my husband has on
When I woke up every morning the three things I did are the following. First, I check out the exact time in my watch and take a bath. After that drink my coffee. I am quite coffee addict.
1. Bathroom
2. Thyroid medication (which means i can’t eat/drink for 30 mins, benefit for me since otherwise I’d probably get sidetracked with breakfast)
3. Exercise DVD. Usually a quick one – 10 mins or trying to do more 20 mins.
First is the potty (where I sit for too long dreading starting my day) but I multi task and check my email, FB (just for notifications) and my bank account balance!
Then a shower and hygiene stuff (teeth & hair)
Get dressed
However, I’m up at 5 am and out the door for work by 5:45 so not much more I can squeeze in during the morning…and no way am I waking up earlier than that!
What a great way to frame the whole day. I’ve never thought about it this way, and yet when I don’t stick to my usual must-do’s right off in the morning, I always feel like things go so haywire and the whole day drags in a weird funk. My first three things every day are:
1. Make bed literally while i climb out of it.
2. Go to the bathroom.
3. Get dressed, put in contacts, brush hair.
And I may as well add #4 because it follows. Do not leave the bathroom without the laundry hamper to get laundry started immediately or suffer the consequences of realizing there are no diapers that evening for the littlest when I finally remember I never go the laundry going that day.
If I don’t do these things my day is funk. Glad you reinforced that for me here. 🙂
Usually I am awoken by my 18 month old shouting or poking me. So I 1) offer to nurse him 2) check to make sure the gate on the stairs is closed and then 3) gothebathroomveryquickly.
Well, these are the first three things I usually do every morning. I take a bath five in the morning. Next, I drink my very coffee with cream and then I do my 15 minutes workout everyday. These are the three things I usually do every morning and I enjoy doing these things.