How To Start (and Keep) a 5am Morning Routine
A couple weeks ago I shared my new 5am morning routine on YouTube and some of you have asked about tips and advice to wake up early and create a routine for yourself. So I thought I’d share a few things I’ve learnt so far, because like for most of us, waking up this early doesn’t come naturally… at first.
KNOW YOURSELF
Before you even start waking up early or create a routine because you read it in a self-help book or heard some successful person does it, ask YOUrself why. Why do YOU want to wake up early? Why do YOU want to create a routine? What is important to YOU in the morning? What are YOUR non-negotiables? What inspires and excites YOU? What’s best for YOU? Your “why” is what will keep you disciplined, excited and consistent because it will help you create the routine that suits and benefits YOU. Otherwise you have a high chance to fall into a cycle where you consistently change and try new routines that other people promote and share instead of creating your own personalised one. For me, the intentions with my morning routine were to create space and presence in my life so that I can feel more grounded not just in the morning but throughout the day. I tend to go go go and never stop until the evening with a lot of stress and agitation. This pace would then lead me to feeling anxious and being snappy with people around me. It had to stop, and for this I had to prioritize myself. Another reason why I decided to change my routine is because I haven’t been consistant with meditation and journaling lately and they were two habits who greatly benefited me in the past, yet somehow I’d never make time for them. By prioritzing these practices first thing in the morning, I cannot miss them or push them for later anymore. The best part is feeling like you’ve really done things that matter to you and benefit you and not feel like you’re constantly running after time all day.
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENING ROUTINE
You’ve probably heard it a million times, but waking up early start the night before. And this is true. If anything the most important part of your morning routine as it will determine how you’re feeling when you wake up and during each step of your morning rituals. When I decided to wake up at 5am, I quickly realized I couldn’t keep going to sleep at 10-11pm if I wanted to wake up at 5 feeling rested and energized. We all need different amount of sleep, but what we all need is quality sleep - which is something very little of us get. For me, adjusting meant having dinner at 5pm so I would have 3 hours to digest before going to bed, no coffee after noon, turning off all screens ideally 2 hours before bedtime, switch off all lights in the apartment as soon as it gets darker outside and only live with candle light - I know this sounds crazy but honestly it’s been so enjoyable and there is something special about reading a book with candlelight at night. Maybe I’ll film an evening routine soon, so you have an idea as of what sleep friendly activities you could do in the evenings.
WAKING UP EARLY
Ok, I’m not going to lie, even if you have a great evening routine, it will take a little time for your body to adapt to the new rhythm. But trust me, it gets better (if you stick to it). The reason why many of us struggle with it is because we’ll have a perfect 9pm-5am sleeping schedule all week and then mess it all up by going to bed late and therefore waking up late on the weekends. This will break your rhythm and will take longer for you to adapt. Make sleeping early a priority, see your friends and family earlier in the day instead of at night whenever possible. Of course it will happen that you have a birthday or family dinner and that’s part of life - enjoy it fully! If you want to minimise the consequences these social nights will have on your morning routine, wake up at your ideal time even if you went to bed later. This will be hard but it will help. Better to do this way and take a nap in the afternoon if you need. Another tip for the morning, put your phone or alarm outside the bedroom so you have to stand up to turn it off - once you’re up, don’t go back to bed. To help you wake up try natural sunlight, cold water, drinking water, brushing your teeth, some exercise or a walk outside and turning lights on instead of jumping straight onto a cup of coffee.
NO DISTRACTIONS
It’s easy to go straight to your phone in the morning, especially if you use it as an alarm or timer for your practice. Turn off notifications, wifi and bluetooth at night so you don’t get tempted to check messages or comments. If presence or space are your intentions with your morning routine, having your phone on will not help, unless it’s only for timing your meditation. Right now, I’m doing 10 minutes of silent meditation each morning. Sometimes it will be 8 minutes or 5 minutes depending on the circumstances, but I will never miss it. I use to do guided meditations and although I still love them and would totally recommend them, especially if you’re new to meditation, I personally found them distracting from the inner work I wanted to experience. Yes, it’s way more “entertaining” to do a guided meditation with music than sitting down alone in silence and if this helps you getting into meditation, then by all means do all the guided meditations that inspire you. But don’t limit yourself to them, try breath work and silent meditations too. Inner work is not always “fun and exciting”, no wonders it’s called inner “WORK”. If you want to experience change, release traumas, there is no miracles, it will take commitment to yourself and discipline with your practice.
PLAN EXTRA TIME
Let’s say you want to meditate for 10 minutes, read for 20 minutes and work out for 30 minutes in the morning and for all these activities you need an hour. Then plan at least an hour and a half to 2 hours, so you have time to transition from one to another with no stress - remember the goal is to feeling grounded and calm, so plan enough time to flow through it, otherwise, your morning routine will feel like this stressful to do list with too little time on your hands. And guess what, you’ll feel like you’re not good, efficient enough, and like you’re running after time before you’ve even started your work day - not cool! And if you have time left by finishing up early, you can read for longer, take a long shower, make tea or get to work earlier.
REPEAT AND ADJUST
Once you’ve found a structure that seems to work, repeat and adjust as you go. By doing it everyday you will see how time will feel different each time and so do your practices. Everyday will unfold slightly different, it’s life and it won’t feel stressful if had planned enough time. As I shared above, I usually aim for 10 minutes of meditation but some days I will do 5 minutes if I need more time for something else. The importance is to stick with your non-negotiables, but stay flexible - as much as you could ready 2 pages of a book instead of 10 pages, you could also read more if you are really into it one day. When you give yourself 1 or 2 hours each morning before the day starts, you are free to organise this time as you desire, the order of your practices can change too as you move forward. You create your morning routine to create space, calmness and presence FOR yourself - sticking to the practices that help you become the best version of yourself is actual self-care.
