A solid morning routine can be one of the best habits you can develop.
However, it can be difficult to come up with a morning routine from scratch, so I wanted to share mine as an example. Feel free to save a copy of this routine and rewrite it to suit your own needs, or use one of the empty templates below to create your own from scratch.
Grab the morning routine template
If you want to just cut to the chase and check out the template, grab it with the links below. Read on for an explanation of my own routine and some tips on using the template.
My morning routine
5:40 a.m. Wake up
If I’m not careful, I’ll quite easily fall asleep again after waking up, so these steps are designed to make sure that doesn’t happen.
- Turn off alarm
- Open the blind in my bedroom
- Turn on the light beside my bed
- Check email (not often recommended this early in the day, but the light from my phone helps wake me up and I don’t use social media so there’s nothing else to check)
5:50 a.m. Start the day with what’s important
I try to include some time in my morning routine for activities I care about. In the past this has often included some time spent writing or working on personal side projects.
- Make coffee and tea (I drink the coffee first, because the tea stays hot for longer and coffee makes me thirsty)
- Practice French while drinking coffee
- Watch football (this is more fun than important, but it’s the only time I set aside every day to relax and enjoy watching old games)
6:40 a.m. Get ready for work
By this point I’m fairly awake, and I’ve spent some time relaxing and focusing on things I care about. Now it’s just a matter of getting myself ready for work and starting my day.
- Shower, brush teeth, get dressed, etc.
- Make more tea
- Look through today’s to-do list and plan what to work on
Get your free morning routine template
We’ve made four formats of our morning routine template. Grab the Google Doc if you want to see some more example routines, as well as a blank template you can fill out yourself. If you’re a Todoist user, import the Todoist template and make the tasks repeat daily to keep you on track.
The PDF is perfect for printing and handwriting your morning routine. Or, if you’re a fan of plain text, grab the text from our gist below and paste it into any notes or to-do app you like.
How to use your morning routine plan:
- Print a copy and keep it by your bed. Carry it around as you complete your routine.
- Open it on your phone and take a screenshot. Set the screenshot as your wallpaper.
- Create a checklist or project in your to-do app and make it repeat daily with a reminder.
What does your morning routine look like? Let us know in the comments.
