Mornings
Morning routine
A morning routine is a short list of things you do right after you get up, in the same order every day. Here is a short one to copy. At , open the curtains and drink a glass of water. At , get dressed and make your bed. At , write down three things to do today. You are done at .
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Reviewed by Mohammed Raqeeb
To copy
Two morning routines to copy: short and long
Both morning routines below start with an alarm at . The short one takes twenty minutes, and the long one takes an hour. If you get up at another time, shift every step by the same amount.
The short one: twenty minutes.
| Time | What you do |
|---|---|
| Open the curtains and drink a glass of water, five minutesMorning light helps set your body clock. | |
| Get dressed and make your bed, ten minutesTwo small jobs, done before the day starts. | |
| Write down three things to do today, five minutesThree is enough. | |
| DoneTwenty minutes after the alarm. |
The long one: an hour.
| Time | What you do |
|---|---|
| Open the curtains and drink a glass of water, five minutesMorning light helps set your body clock. | |
| Walk or stretch, outside if you can, fifteen minutes | |
| Shower, ten minutes | |
| Get dressed and make your bed, ten minutesTwo small jobs, done before the day starts. | |
| Eat breakfast, sitting down, fifteen minutes | |
| Write down three things to do today, five minutesThree is enough. | |
| DoneOne hour after the alarm. |
With a morning routine, you do not have to decide what to do when you get up. The steps are already chosen.
Try it
Your morning routine, with a time on each step
The builder below puts a clock time on every step you pick, starting when your alarm rings. Set the time you have to leave, and it tells you whether the routine fits.
Tap a step to add it or take it out. The order stays the same.
You are done at
1h after the alarm at .
That leaves 15m before you leave at .
- Open the curtains and drink a glass of water5m
- Walk or stretch, outside if you can15m
- Shower10m
- Get dressed and make your bed10m
- Eat breakfast, sitting down15m
- Write down three things to do today5m
- Done
Your morning routine: 6 steps, from to .
A plan for your morning, not a record of it. Nothing you enter leaves this page.
What goes in
Morning routine ideas
Morning routine ideas work when they are small. Here are ten, with the time each one takes.
| Idea | Takes |
|---|---|
| Open the curtains, or step outside | Two minutes |
| Drink a glass of water | One minute |
| Make your bed | Two minutes |
| Stretch | Five minutes |
| Walk around the block | Fifteen minutes |
| Work out | Thirty minutes |
| Eat breakfast sitting down | Fifteen minutes |
| Write a page by hand | Fifteen minutes |
| Read a few pages of a book | Fifteen minutes |
| Write down three things to do today | Five minutes |
For the writing, the pages on morning pages and morning journal prompts show what to put on the page. Two things are worth knowing before you pick.
Daylight soon after you get up.
Bright morning light helps set your body clock, says the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a group of sleep doctors.
Easy steps first.
Right after waking, people are often slow and foggy for a while, a review of the research found (Hilditch and McHill, 2019). That is why both routines above open with steps that need no thinking, and leave the planning for the end. The page on the 5AM Club has more on that first hour.
What stays out
What to leave out of a morning routine
A morning routine goes better without three things: your phone, too many steps, and an alarm that cuts your sleep short.
Your phone, until the last step is done.
No step on this page needs a phone, and messages can take longer than the whole routine. The phone stays on its charger until you are done.
More steps than your morning has room for.
Start with three. Add a fourth when the first three happen on most days without effort.
An earlier alarm without an earlier bedtime.
A longer routine means an earlier alarm, and an earlier alarm means an earlier bedtime. Adults need at least 7 hours of sleep a night, says the CDC, a US health agency. The page on how to wake up early shows how to move both times.
How to do it
How to build your own morning routine
You build your own morning routine by counting the minutes you have, picking a few steps that fit, and getting up at the same time every day.
Count the minutes you really have.
Take the time you have to leave, or start work, and count back to your alarm. If that is forty minutes, the whole routine has forty minutes, getting dressed included.
Get up at the same time every day.
Sleep doctors say to get up at the same time every day, weekends included. Then your routine starts at the same minute each day.
Set it up the night before.
Put out your clothes, a glass and your notebook before you go to bed. The page on a night routine has the evening steps.
If you often have problems sleeping, the CDC says to talk to a doctor. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
The test
How do you know your morning routine is sticking?
The test
You did every step of your routine on at least 6 mornings of the week
for four weeks in a row.
A morning routine is easy to keep in a good week. The mornings you skipped it are easy to forget.
A good way to check is to write or say what you did each morning, and have the mornings counted from that. Most journaling apps only ask how your day felt. They do not show what you did after you got up.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: your morning routine, sleep, work, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. So you can see on how many mornings the routine really happened, and what time you got up on each one. Add each step of your routine as a daily habit. When what you write about your morning shows you did a step, the app ticks it off.
1. You write your day
2. It counts the hours
- Morning routine0m
- Work0m
- Sleep0m
- Unaccounted24h
3. It shows your week
Morning routine this week: 0m
On 6 of 7 days. The gap is the day without it.
An example day and week.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Sources
The sources behind this page.
Each finding above links to a source below. We read every one for this page, the full text or its summary.
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine (read ). American Academy of Sleep Medicine provides expert advice to prevent negative effects of change to Daylight Saving Time.
- Hilditch, C. J. and McHill, A. W. (2019). Sleep inertia: current insights. Nature and Science of Sleep, 11, 155 to 165.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (read ). About Sleep.
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Sleep Education (read ). Healthy Sleep Habits.
Keep reading.
- LearnAnswers about sleep, habits, study, people and work, in hours.
- 5AM ClubRobin Sharma’s first hour by the clock, and a planner that counts your bedtime back from a 5:00 AM alarm.
- Night routineA routine to copy, with a clock time on every step, and a builder that makes one for your own bedtime.
- How to wake up earlyMove your alarm earlier a little at a time, and your bedtime with it. An example week, and a plan with your own dates.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
Questions
Questions people ask.
What is a good morning routine?
A good morning routine is three to six small steps that you do in the same order, starting when you get up. For example: open the curtains, drink a glass of water, get dressed, and write down three things to do today.
How long should a morning routine be?
A morning routine should fit between your alarm and the time you have to leave. Twenty minutes is enough for three steps. An hour has room for a walk, a shower and breakfast.
What are some morning routine ideas?
Open the curtains, drink a glass of water, make your bed, stretch or walk, eat breakfast sitting down, read a few pages, and write down three things to do today. Pick three, and give each one a set number of minutes.
How do I keep track of my morning routine?
A paper calendar works: one tick for each morning you did every step. If you want an app, look for one that shows what time you got up and what you did next. One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in. Think in Numbers reads what you write or say about your day, shows what time you got up, and adds up the time you gave to each part of your morning. Each step can be a daily habit that it ticks off when your day shows you did it.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.