One of the things I absolutely dread about a new semester is moving in and starting new classes. Don’t get me wrong. I actually love college. But I just hate not having a set schedule when I start a new semester. I’m sure by now that you have already guessed that one of my favorite things about starting a new semester is creating and getting into a functional routine and schedule. I am a creature of habit so putting together a morning routine for school each semester makes me a little giddy.
Here are a few of my tips and tricks for creating a morning routine.
1. Find out what’s working and what’s not.
Make a list of things that you know will work for you in your new morning routine and another list of things you know will definitely not work. If you know that working out in the morning will make you feel more awake, add it to your “What’s Working” list. If you know that you absolutely cannot study for classes in the morning because you will probably fall back to sleep, put this on your “What’s Not Working” list. This will help you see what is slowing you down in the morning as well as help you see what parts of your current morning schedule you should definitely keep.
2. Know what’s important.
Knowing what you definitely need to do in the morning will help you start creating a list of your priorities. Take your “What’s Working” list and rewrite it in order of priority. For example, if making sure you have a cup of coffee before you actually start your day is the most important thing to you, then write it down first. If working out is important, but you don’t necessarily have to do it in the morning, you can still keep it on the list, but you would want to write it near the end of the list. Once you figure out your priorities, you can move on to the next step.
3. Move some tasks to another time.
After you compile a list of all the things that are important for you to do daily, it’s time to decide what you should actually do in the morning. If something can wait until the evening or later in the afternoon, then make a note of it and move on. This is not the time to cram everything into the hour and a half that you have before you head off to work or class. Give yourself some time in the morning to eat some breakfast and actually wake up before you dive head first into your crazy day.
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4. Give yourself a little morning ritual.
Make sure to incorporate a little “me time” into your mornings, even if it’s only 10 minutes. Whether it’s spending time with God, doing a face mask, drinking a cup of tea and reading a good book, or watching your favorite YouTuber’s latest video, do a little something relaxing before the day gets started.
Not only will this time you have to yourself every morning give you a slow start to the day, but it will also give you something to look forward to every morning and will make it so much easier to wake up early.
5. Try out your morning routine!
After you create your morning routine schedule, obviously test it out; however, if you find that something isn’t working out the way you thought it would, don’t be afraid to change your schedule up a little the next day. You don’t have to confine yourself to doing something you hate just because you already made a list for it. If you’re still struggling to find a functional morning routine, try making a few different variations of the routine and trying them throughout the week. Then, at the end of the week, see which one you like best and go with that and make some minor adjustments along the way to make sure your morning routine will work for you.
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I hope these tips helped you at least start thinking about how you can make the most of your mornings. I will be writing another few posts soon about how my new morning routine is working for me and how to make the most of your mornings so make sure you stay tuned for that. Also, I just moved on campus this week for my JUNIOR YEAR! I can’t believe that I am already more than halfway done college (I am hopefully finishing a semester early). I vlogged my whole packing, traveling, and moving in adventure and you can catch up with me on YouTube if you want a sneak peek of my dorm room and cute decorations!
Also, I have created a free printable Morning Routine Planner that you can download and plan out your perfect morning routine.
