Welcome back to weekend coffee chats ! So no this is not clickbait, I’m genuinely trying to understand why morning routines suck as personally I don’t find them enjoyable. But let’s take this a step back, when did we even start caring about morning routines? I’d guess its when videos about routines of business people become famous, then celebrities, then almost every youtuber started pushing out their own versions. See there’s nothing wrong with that, if you have a morning routine that you love and works for you, then see you next week as this post isn’t for you.
But for the rest of us who find those a struggle, I wanted to dig deeper on the issue. See after working remotely for many months, I’ve started to feel I’m this work robot that wakes up, turns on a laptop, keeps working till a few hours before bedtime, takes a break on another screen (phone), then sleeps, and that can become demotivating very quickly. So I thought what better to tone this down than with a morning routine, a me time? The issue is, when I looked for inspiration all I could find is a variations of the same basket.
In the famous words of tiktok, put a finger down if you’ve see one of the below in the morning routines of people you follow:
- wake up super early
- exercise / run / do a workout
- journal
- meditate
- read
- have a delicious breakfast from scratch
- do all the above in like 1-2 hrs max and every single day
Now this all sounds cool, till you try to do it and get more stressed about fitting everything in your schedule than relaxing. For example, I don’t have 2 hrs before work to do all of that, so I chose a few, but I still found majority of it needs to self motivate or push to do rather than simply looking forward to it as an enjoyable thing. Meditating for example was horrible for me as I have an overthinking mind and trying to sit in silence before work hours was not fun in the slightest. I ended up thinking “I could be answering emails, or checking insta, or did I remember to prepare x for later, or I wonder if they sent an email reply for that issue I’m waiting for since 2 days now and what I should email them back, exc.”
Other things like reading was so enjoyable that I didn’t want to move to something else. What about the breakfast from scratch you ask? Let’s just not go there, and the wake up super early part just didn’t happen.
So I noticed this is all generalized routines, and don’t work well with everyone’s schedule, so for a while I scratched the whole idea and went back to youtube with breakfast before remote working (#keepingitreal) . Until a few months later during one evening where I was messing around looking for youtube dance tutorials that it hit me, morning routine should be simply a bit of time for me and something fun. (yeah the tutorial I found was so much fun, linking it down below)
So hear me out, Something Fun + you time = Morning Routine that doesn’t suck
So I tired it for a week, I woke up only 1 hour earlier to when I usually wake up, and turned on a “feel good dance routine” and exercised/ danced with it for just 15 mins. The video is 40 mins long but i’ve customized that I don’t want to wake up super early, so i can fit in 15-25 mins of it, and guess what? I’m actually smiling and laughing in the mornings now because it’s so much fun and energizing to goofily dance around. Not only that, it gives you energy as well since your body is moving like an exercise. For the me time, I decided it will be 15 mins of reading which is usually 1-2 pages (depending on the book), that’s it. Some days I can add more stuff, or take longer time for each activity, but the best part, when its a busy day, i can reduce it to 15 mins combined and still get a morning boast. Now i’m not saying this will work for you, what I’m saying is everyone is different and your morning routine should be customized for you and brings you joy. it’s not just about being productive or learning, its about oh it’s a new day and I would like to do these few things that bring me joy. Also, these can change if next month dance bores me after doing it so much I can switch it up with painting or piano or breakfast as long as I keep the same formula I think for now it’ll be fine.
Out of the entire week, I missed only one day, and it was a busy week, so it shows how much I liked it to not skip it, and I’ve even done it on the weekend (Friday here) Yes I’m surprised as well.
So some ideas to inspire you that I wish I’d found before, of what fun things you can be doing in the morning instead of the usual boring productive ones:
- painting
- dancing
- playing an instrument
- singing
- reading a novel
- drawing
- puzzles (Word search, crossword)
- making a delicious breakfast (yes this on its own can be your morning routine with some music and dance moves, and you’re ready for your day)
- playing a game (as long as there’s a timer involved)
- listening to a podcast while drinking coffee
- drinking coffee / tea / on the balcony when the weather is good and without checking your phone for 5-10 mins
- playing with a pet
Less is truly more, and what’s important is that we don’t pile on the stress that we already have with more stress for personal goals. When I miss a day it’s ok, it’s really not the end of the world, and we need to acknowledge that and be kind to ourselves.
Lastly, fun makes consistency so much easier, to the point I now sleep earlier because I’m excited to wake up and have the dance time in the morning, which just sounds hilarious that i’m writing that, so try it for yourself and let us know ! Surely we could all use the inspiration 🙂 !
What’s your “doesn’t suck morning routine”? I’d love to find out in the comments.
Don’t forget to follow “@weekendcoffeechats” on instagram to get notified when a new post drops. Till Next time 🙂 !
Disclaimer: None of this information is to be used as advice, it’s just for entertainment purposes. Additionally all information used is publicly available.
Weekend Coffee Chats 