Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to add something to your morning routine. September
Speaker 1: is a great fresh start time for establishing new routines.
Speaker 1: If you are getting everyone off to school and work
Speaker 1: in the morning, Figuring out how to add something positive
Speaker 1: to the regular run of show can make every day better.
Speaker 1: So this episode is first airing on the Tuesday after
Speaker 1: Labor Day in the United States. Lots of kids will
Speaker 1: be going back to school today, but even if that
Speaker 1: is not a part of your life, September can feel
Speaker 1: like a new beginning. Summer has ended, things are perhaps
Speaker 1: back to their usual pace. Many people use the occasion
Speaker 1: to rethink their routines. If you've got kids starting in
Speaker 1: new schools, or their schools have new start times, or
Speaker 1: their buses are coming at different times, things are going
Speaker 1: to have to change. As one example, my fifth grader
Speaker 1: starts at middle school this year. Last year, the elementary
Speaker 1: school day started at nine ten, which meant he didn't
Speaker 1: really need to be up and moving until about eight twenty. Yep,
Speaker 1: believe it or not, but this year, the middle school
Speaker 1: starts at eight. If he takes the bus well, that
Speaker 1: comes around seven twenty, which is a full hour before
Speaker 1: when he even had to be up last year. Clearly,
Speaker 1: the morning routine is going to shift, but as it does,
Speaker 1: you can take the occasion to ask yourself if there
Speaker 1: is anything you would like to add. The upside of
Speaker 1: a morning routine is that we do it over and
Speaker 1: over again. It becomes automatic. If you can consciously build
Speaker 1: something fun or meaningful into your mourning, it will become
Speaker 1: a part of your life, benefiting from the compounding that
Speaker 1: comes from repetition. So if you build five minutes of
Speaker 1: journal writing into your morning, most likely journal writing will
Speaker 1: become a habit. If you do twenty pushups and twenty
Speaker 1: setups each morning, you will get stronger. If you snuggle
Speaker 1: with your kid or your partner first thing each morning,
Speaker 1: you will probably feel closer. If you text a friend
Speaker 1: each morning, maybe a different one each morning, but rotating
Speaker 1: through a few, you will probably deepen these friendships through sheer,
Speaker 1: repetitive connection. The addition doesn't have to be big. If
Speaker 1: you are getting other people ready for the day, it
Speaker 1: probably can't be. Most of us don't have the option
Speaker 1: of doing three hour morning routines that involving ninety minute workout,
Speaker 1: a cold plunge, sixty minutes of meta vitation, or what
Speaker 1: have you. But a few minutes is fine. You can
Speaker 1: do a lot in a few minutes. And if you
Speaker 1: do whatever it is over and over again, you will
Speaker 1: see results. So think about what you would like to
Speaker 1: add to your life. Think about what might be meaningful
Speaker 1: or feel like a good addition to your day. Think
Speaker 1: about the logistics. Where could you find five minutes? Maybe
Speaker 1: you could find ten, or maybe you can only find two.
Speaker 1: But I think you can still find something, and morning
Speaker 1: by morning, life will start to feel full of possibility.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
Speaker 1: you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.