Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to mix and match a morning routine.
Speaker 1: By pulling together a few bite sized components in different combinations,
Speaker 1: you can make progress while keeping your morning's interesting. Two.
Speaker 1: I love the idea of morning routines. I also love
Speaker 1: reading about other people's morning routines. But as I have
Speaker 1: talked with people about their morning rituals, I've realized that
Speaker 1: very few people do the exact same thing every morning,
Speaker 1: seven days a week. People might call something a daily routine,
Speaker 1: but it tends to happen Monday through third day, well
Speaker 1: most days, unless they're traveling or something else unusual is
Speaker 1: going on. I think this is an important point because
Speaker 1: sometimes people assume that if they can't run four miles
Speaker 1: and meditate for twenty minutes absolutely every morning, then there's
Speaker 1: no point. But that's not true. You can have a
Speaker 1: morning routine, even if the routine looks different day to day.
Speaker 1: You can have a morning routine that is short some
Speaker 1: days and longer on others. The point is to have
Speaker 1: some chosen morning activities that repeat fairly frequently in your life.
Speaker 1: So if you are having trouble figuring out what you'd
Speaker 1: like to do every morning, maybe you are asking the
Speaker 1: wrong question. Instead, make a list of bite sized activities
Speaker 1: that would help advance you toward your goals. There are
Speaker 1: lots of ideas to choose, from a quick strength workout,
Speaker 1: writing five minutes in a journal, reading ten pages in
Speaker 1: a difficult book, meditating for a few minutes, and so forth.
Speaker 1: You might also choose some longer options, like writing for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes or running three miles. Then you can think
Speaker 1: through your week and consider how you might combine these
Speaker 1: to make for satisfying mornings. Perhaps three mornings a week
Speaker 1: you wake up, meditate for ten minutes, and then run
Speaker 1: three miles. Three other mornings per week you write for
Speaker 1: thirty minutes in your novel and do some strength training.
Speaker 1: You leave one morning open to account for the fact
Speaker 1: that something will come up that's okay, aim for seven
Speaker 1: and know that six might happen. The upside of this
Speaker 1: mix and match routine is that you get to choose
Speaker 1: lots of options. You are running and writing, you are
Speaker 1: meditating and doing strength training, but you are not trying
Speaker 1: to create a mammoth morning routine. Incorporating all these things
Speaker 1: that won't leave time for anything else, you get the
Speaker 1: progress that comes from repetition. Doing something three times a
Speaker 1: week makes it a habit. On the other hand, there
Speaker 1: is enough novelty that the days feel a little different,
Speaker 1: which can keep life from feeling stale. Now I know
Speaker 1: that there is a certain force of habit that comes
Speaker 1: from doing something daily. That is why perhaps the idea
Speaker 1: of mixing and matching a morning routine sounds a little unorthodox.
Speaker 1: But again, since almost no one does the exact same
Speaker 1: thing three hundred sixty five days a year without fail,
Speaker 1: we can see that people already shake up their morning routines.
Speaker 1: For instance, they do one thing on week days and
Speaker 1: another thing on weekends and holidays. If that is okay,
Speaker 1: then why not very day to day as well. Plus,
Speaker 1: by doing bite sized components, we can fit in more,
Speaker 1: which can be helpful for people with lots of interests.
Speaker 1: Morning routines exist to serve us. The point is to
Speaker 1: come up with something that makes you excited to get
Speaker 1: out of bed, and if that looks a little different
Speaker 1: on different days of the week, so be it. You
Speaker 1: can still make progress towards your goals and enjoy some
Speaker 1: variety two. In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening and here's to making the most of our time.
Speaker 1: M Hey everybody, I'd love to hear from you. You
Speaker 1: can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four, then
Speaker 1: Breakfast p o D. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot
Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.
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