I have had a morning routine for some time and have found that it helps me to accomplish many of the things that tend to get pushed aside if left to later in the day. I want to be able to focus on my work when I’m working and on my family when I’m with them and on church when I am there and my morning routine helps me to do that.
My morning routine starts the night before by choosing to get to sleep at a decent time, which is normally before 10. I have found that if I don’t get at least six hours of sleep on a regular basis, I start to feel despondent and I feel like nothing I am really doing especially in work, matters. The world is coming to an end anyway, so what does it matter if I knock on this next door or call this next number? When in reality I have learned that I am simply behind on sleep and need to suck it up, get back to work and try to catch up on my sleep.
4:00 AM My alarm awakens me with the sounds of “Jamaican Inspector Man” from Psych: The Musical. Warning bells ring out ‘cross the ocean...down to Montego Bay. Don’t worry, all is well, You English Jezebels, ‘elp is on the way. And I’m normally at the phone and have turned it off at this point. The phone rests across the room where I have to physically get out of the bed to go turn it off. I set a back up alarm on the phone for 4:05, but I never have to use it. I dismiss it until the next day. It’s easy to wake up when the alarm goes off and not get back in bed because my wife gets mad if an alarm sounds and then I get back in bed. Plus, I want to get up because I have stuff to do before the house is noisy and before my work day starts.
The first order of business is to make my bladder gladder. Then I weigh myself and track it on the Fitbit app. I don’t wear a Fitbit and I’m not on a diet or anything like that, but my wife lost 80 pounds almost 5 years ago and has kept it off. Part of her process is tracking her weight every day and I adopted it so we could see if my weight goes up and down like hers. It does.
The coffee starts brewing at 4:00 because I set the delayed brew the previous night. I grab my Bible and my journal and head to the dining room table where I set them down, but I continue into the living room where I do 40 pushups, a total of about 30 pullups and a one minute plank. That’s my exercise routine. I want to remain strong enough to do things that I should be able to do and am not interested in building big muscles or winning strength contests. I figured out what I could do at home within about 10 minutes time and be done with it. I’m happy with the results thus far.
I pass through the kitchen and prepare my coffee (black) and my wife’s coffee (with cream) and then I deliver hers and say good morning or wake her up and then we both continue with our morning routine.
4:15 I write a quote for the day on our “Quote Board” along with our morning prayer time readings and evening prayer time readings (more on prayer time in a bit). If we have an event later that day, I will add it to the board as a reminder for the family as well as any Orthodox fasting guidelines for the day, ie. no meat.
4:20 My priority at the table with my coffee is the reading of my Bible. I read a chapter in the Old Testament and a chapter in the New Testament. We are Orthodox Christians and I use the Orthodox Study Bible and it contains lessons about Chrismation or Baptism or the Sacrament of Marriage or whatever may fall into the pages where I am reading. When those come up, I read them in place of a chapter.
4:30ish. Journaling is next on the docket. On the bottom of the previous day’s page, I write a paragraph about its events or my current thoughts about whatever is happening in my life. Then on the current day’s page, under the day and date, I write the quote followed by a morning thanksgiving. “I am thankful before you, living and enduring King, for you have mercifully restored my soul within me. Great is your faithfulness.” This is followed by three things I am grateful for. Some of the things I have written in the past few days are:
- I am grateful for rain.
- I am grateful for our family prayer time.
- I am grateful for challenges.
- I am grateful for my work and any annoyances it may bring.
Starting the day off with some gratitude really is beneficial especially if you think about how bad things could be. I then list out some affirmations and goals like: “I work to give 3 or more presentations a day.” “I write 1,500 words a week in my story.” “I spend time with my family every day.” And one I write out that gives me a basic idea of who I am trying to be: “I am an alpha husband and father who follows through with his promises and who loves his family so much he does what is necessary to provide for them.”
5:00ish. I pick up with my writing from the previous day and a goal to write at least 250 words by 5:30. I prefer writing with ink on a legal pad, but I hate (absolutely abhor) transcribing that onto the computer later so I decided to do my writing straight onto a Google Docs page. Currently, I am writing a story that I have told myself I am not allowed to tell anyone about because once other people know the story, I tend to drop interest in writing it. So, I’m not going to tell you here. You can just check my Books page and see if I have published it.
5:30 At this point in the morning I use the toilet, take a shower and shave my face. While using the toilet, I do a bit of reading from whatever my designated bathroom book is at the time. Currently, it is Confessions by Saint Augustine.
6:00 The prayer corner is my next stop. Our prayer corner is on an east wall in our home. We have icons of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Catherine of the Wheel (for Kayla), John the Apostle (for me), Ezra the Prophet, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist and Elijah the Prophet for our children, respectively. We also have a candle burning during our individual and group prayer times. Here I do 7-10 minutes of prayer depending on how many names are on my list and if they are any special things I am praying about.
6:10ish During Lent or Advent or on other fasting days, I get back to writing or reading from a non-bathroom book. Currently that book is The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis. It’s the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia. If it’s a non fasting day, I eat some breakfast and listen to something motivational. Breakfast is typically some eggs and toast and motivation is generally supplied by Jocko Willink or David Goggins on YouTube. I spend the remaining time, between finishing breakfast and waking the children, doing additional pullups and getting some steps in around the interior of the house.
6:45 Reveille for the children. Once I have confirmed that they are awake, I go get dressed for the day. I wear a suit to work every day so I have some extra steps including donning some shirt stays, which I learned about while I was in the Marine Corps. They keep my shirt tucked in and my socks pulled up. Two fewer things to deal with throughout the day. I am working on a book about getting dressed in the morning or preparing for the day. The working title is Zipper, Belt, Shoes: A Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Dressed in the Morning
7:00 We start our morning prayer (Matins) together as a family promptly at 7:00 each weekday morning. This takes us about 20-30 minutes depending on the length of the Psalms and scripture readings. There is no question about whether we are going to pray together each morning. It is what we do.
7:30 I now gather my computer and bag and padfolio and everything else I need to gear up for the day. I spend a few minutes chatting with my wife and then I am out the door at about 7:40 for my 15 minute drive to the office. The morning meeting starts at 8:30, but I like to get a little bit of work done before then because sometimes the meeting runs after 9 and into my day.
My daily routine helps me get focused in the morning. When I skip the routine or sleep later and miss part of it, I feel like the rest of my day is simply off. What are your experiences with morning routines? Post about them in the comments section.