Improving Sleep: Dropping Morning Routine

As I focus on improving my sleep, I changed other routines as well. Having one cup of coffee definitely helped.

Another is eliminating all of my morning routines.

Before, I would get up and have a checklist of things to do first thing in the morning. Drink water, meditate, read my mission statement, workout, get coffee, etc.

It would be a solid hour of activity right when I woke up.

When I missed one thing on the list, I’d feel like a failure and try harder the next day to make sure I would complete the checklist.

Add in having kids that are early risers only made me want to wake up even earlier.

In a way, I setup a situation where I could not sleep in, especially if I didn’t goto bed on time the night before or had trouble sleeping at night. I could not make up for that lost sleep, at all.

My morning routine consistency was killing my sleep.

So, to help me sleep better, I put sleep as priority one.

If what I did is a detriment to my sleep, I would stop it.

This includes my morning routine.

And WOW - what a relief eliminating my morning routine is!

• Those mornings when I sleep in an extra hour - I feel so good.
• Those mornings when the kids wake up early - I can enjoy waking up with them instead of worrying about getting my morning routine done.
• Those mornings when I get enough sleep and just wake up - I can enjoy laying in bed instead of thinking of what I need to get done.
• Those mornings when I do have time, I can choose to do the things that improve my mornings the most instead of all the things.

Doing less in the morning has helped me enjoy the day more - not only in terms of more sleep, also in terms of a relaxed attitude.

That is worth it!