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A good morning routine will help you get your day started on the right foot. Follow these tips and you’ll be a morning person in no time.

Why Make a Morning Routine?

Don’t you wish you could wake up each morning, ready to go and feeling rested? I’ve talked about the importance of sleep and how to get it in this post, but sleep is only part of the equation. You have to actually get out of bed the next morning.

Having a morning routine will make waking up easier, and you’ll feel more fulfilled when you complete your tasks to prep for your day. Knowing you’ve already completed a few tasks will get you going, and you can capitalize on that momentum for the rest of the day.

How To Get Up In The Morning

First things first, you have to start with sleep. I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face, but without a good night’s sleep you won’t meet your goals for the next day. Once you have the sleep part down, there’s just a few steps that will help you wake up when you want to.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and waking up consistently won’t happen overnight. Give yourself time to adjust, and be realistic about your goals.

Follow these steps and you’ll get there soon enough, just be patient.

Set Your Intentions The Night Before

This sounds cheesy, but I have found it to be immensely helpful for waking up in the morning. Set your intention the night before. Your mind is a powerful tool. That might sound a bit woo woo, but it’s true!

Have you ever had to wake up for an early flight? You know that if you don’t get up by X time, you’ll be running late and possibly miss your flight. Going to bed, you run over everything you’ve packed, what time you need to leave your house, etc. Then the next morning you spring out of bed right on time. It’s strange how that works!

Most of the time that scenario is driven by anxiety, but I promise you can harness the same process for your daily routine. Even if you don’t believe me, just give it a shot.

Tonight, as you’re lying in bed, close your eyes, and say, “Tomorrow I’m going to wake up at 6:00 am, when my alarm goes off, I’m going to feel rested, and I’m going to get out of bed and get going.” You’ll be surprised at how well it works.

Set your intentions and your mind will follow through in the morning.

Don’t Snooze Your Alarm

This one is tough to get used to at first: Don’t snooze your alarm. You do not get any meaningful sleep in the 9 minutes between your alarm and snoozing. You might think you do, but you really don’t. Tell yourself that it’s time to get up, and do it.

The key here is actually getting out of bed. If you decide not to snooze, but you lay in bed and think “5 more minutes”, you’ll quickly go back to sleep. Now you don’t have any alarm, so you’ll oversleep and be late to work.

How To Set Your Alarm

Now that you can’t snooze, it’s important to set your alarm the right way. You might be thinking “I just pick a time on my phone, right? How complicated is that?” It’s not complicated, but it does require a bit more thought.

Pick your time thoughtfully.

When you’re wanting to start a new morning routine it can be tempting to go all out and try to get up at 5 am. Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you typically wake up at 7 am, 5 am isn’t going to happen.

Pick a time that’s realistic for you, but still pushing yourself a bit. Let’s say you do get up at 7 am but you want more time in the morning. Try 6:45 am for the first couple of days, then when that gets easy try 6:30 am. Keep gradually waking up earlier, and soon enough you’ll be waking up at 5 am like you want.

Make sure you’re going to bed with enough time to get your sleep in. Waking up earlier is going to be incredibly difficult if you didn’t go to bed at a good time. I made this post that explains why you need sleep and how to get it.

You’ve picked your time, now pick your alarm.

I like to wake up to music, and in particular I like something that starts with a bang. I Love It by Icona Pop was my go-to wakeup song for a long time. It starts LOUD and has a great energy to it.

If you don’t like waking up to music, you can always pick a preset from your phone. I would advise going with something louder rather than soft. I don’t know about you, but windchimes won’t wake me up in the morning.

There’s also a multitude of apps that you can use to wake yourself up. Some make you do puzzles or math problems before dismissing them. This would be a good option if you know you’re just going to dismiss it and roll over.

There’s also the good ole standby, an alarm clock. Some people prefer setting their alarm clock (or phone) across the room from where they sleep. That way they have to get up to turn it off.

Try a few different methods and find what works for you.

Get Out of Bed

Next step: get out of bed. Seems easy enough, but this is the hardest step of them all. When you feel snug as a bug in a rug, sleepy, and warm, you don’t want to get out of bed! Cue Veruca Salt stomping her foot.

Well you have to. This goes back to setting your intentions, but once that alarm goes off you’ve got to will yourself to get up.

There’s not a lot I can say on this one, because it’s all up to you. It’s straight willpower and determination. Picture Shia LeBeouf yelling “JUST DO IT” at you. Then do it, of course.

Pick Your Habits, Start Small

So now you’re up. You may not be happy about it, but you’re up. What’s next?

This part is up to you to decide. Why did you want to get up early in the first place? What habits are you wanting to form?

I would suggest picking 2-5 habits you want to do every day (or almost every day). Start small. Don’t have a whole checklist of 20 items you must do before you eat breakfast.

My routine looks like this:

Bathroom time (Wash my face, brush my teeth, etc.)
Quick stretch session
Get dressed
Take my meds
Make my coffee
Write in my planner

Pretty simple right? It’s what I’ve found works for me on an every day basis. I’m prepared for my day, and ready to get to it. After all that it’s time for me to wake up my kids, then the day really begins.

Some other ideas for your routine might include:

Exercising
Meditating
Doing a daily devotional
Journaling
Clearing your inbox

You probably have several of your own that you’re wanting to try, so start there and move forward.

A cup of coffee is a great way to start your morning routine.

Be Prepared For Your Morning Routine

If you’re planning on exercising in the morning, it’s important to put everything you need out the night before. This means having your shoes ready to go, your TV set up for the exercise video, or whatever else you might need.

Same with meditation or a devotional. Put whatever you’ll use out where you can easily get started without a lot of setup at the last minute.

Get Going

As a final note, make sure you aren’t putting too many items in your routine. Especially in the beginning. Start with one or two new ones, and go from there. As you wake up earlier, you’ll have more time, and therefore be able to do more of what you want.

Now you have several tips to help you wake up for your morning routine. It can be hard to start at first, and you’ll probably have to play around with what works for you, but it’ll be rewarding once you get the habit down.

Why You Need More Water

Water is vital to life. Ask any weight loss/fitness enthusiast, and they’ll probably tell you that you aren’t drinking enough water.

Dehydration can happen on a daily basis. It can cause headaches, fatigue, and even dry skin.

Everyone agrees you need more water, but not everyone agrees on how much. If you take a few minutes to google how much you need, you’ll find a different answer on every page.

Some sources say you need half your body weight in ounces (that’s a lot at 300lbs). Others say it should be 8 cups (8oz each) of water.

Generally, it is agreed that women need 8-11.5 cups daily, and men need 8-13 cups.

If you sit back and add up how much you drink daily, it’s probably considerably less than that. Sugary drinks don’t really count towards your liquid intake, but some people will include teas and coffees that aren’t sweetened.

So, you need more water daily, how do you get there?

Before my weight loss journey, I barely drank water. In fact, I barely drank any liquids. I often had headaches with “no cause”, but looking back over the day I hadn’t had anything to drink except to take my meds. Obviously not good.

It was hard for me to adapt to drinking more, so here’s 5 tips that worked for me.

1) Pick A Water You Like

Confession time, I’m a water snob. I’m one of those people that will swear different brands of water taste different.

The fact is that they really do. Depending on the alkaline and pH it can have naturally different taste, but not everyone can differentiate between them.

*Here’s a chart of different pH values in water. Find a brand you like and start there.*

There are certain brands of water that I flat out refuse to drink. I’ve often said, “I’d have to be dehydrated in the desert to consider drinking Aquafina.” Yes, I’m dramatic.

The biggest key for me was to find a water I enjoy drinking. I also have found that I prefer it to be room temperature. So, play around with that and see what you personally like.

If you despise the taste of your water, you won’t drink it. Period.

Try a variety of different brands. By googling my favorite brand (Evian), I was able to find brands with a similar pH. I’ve found that I prefer a pH of high 6-mid 7.

This led me to check out other brands with similar pH values. And voila, I found a water I enjoy.

2) Get A Bottle You Like

Again, this seems like an easy answer, but it made a big difference to me. Find a bottle you like, and you’ll drink more water!

*Water bottles come in all shapes, colors, and sizes.*

I’ve bought a ton of different sizes and styles (I definitely have a weakness for bottles and coffee cups…) until I found what I like.

Currently I’m using the water bottle that came with my 2B Mindset by Beachbody (I’m not affiliated with BB). I like it because it holds 24 oz and has a straw top.

I’ve tried big jugs that hold a ton of water, but I found they were too big for me to carry around daily. Having my bottle close at hand is definitely a good way to remember to drink.

Treat yourself and buy a bottle or two. You don’t need an expensive one, just get one with the features you want.

As I said, I enjoy a bottle with a straw top and convenient size. I’ve found that a clear bottle helps me monitor how much I’m drinking. The Contigo bottles are really nice, plus they’re dishwasher safe!

If you like cold water, you might want to get an insulate bottle like this one.

Bottles also come in a range of cool patterns and colors! There’s a ton of options out there.

The big takeaway should be to pick a bottle you’ll use. You’ll be carrying it around a lot, so make sure you’ll enjoy having it.

3) Set Reminders Throughout The Day

I don’t know about you, but my days get busy. And when I get busy, I forget to drink water.

You can’t chug all your water right before bed (I mean I guess you could…), so if you want to get your ounces in, you’ll need to spread your intake throughout the day.

The easiest way for me to do that is through reminders. There’s a couple of ways you can go about setting reminders.

*Marked bottles are great for setting your goals throughout the day.*

First, you can set a series of timers on your phone. This can be annoying for the initial setup, but is still effective.

Second (and my favorite), you can get an app to help remind you. There are a ton of choices out there, and most of them are free. A lot of water apps will help you track your ounces too, which is important to know if you’re meeting your goals.

Whichever method you do, you need to be consistent. If that alarm/notification goes off, grab your bottle and drink a bit.

You don’t have to sit there and chug it, but drinking a little at a time all throughout the day will help you reach your goal.

A lot of people say to start your morning with a full glass of water, but I just can’t do it. I get nauseous and it’s very hard for me to finish it. Set your reminders for times when you know you’ll want to drink.

Before meals is a great time to drink a bit extra. It’ll help fill your stomach so you feel more full after eating.

4) Start Small

The biggest mistake I’ve made when wanting to up my water intake is always trying to go for the full amount right off the bat. This is problematic for a few reasons.

You’ll be in the bathroom all day long. If your bladder isn’t accustomed to all the water you’re taking in, it just won’t work. You’ve got to build up slowly.

You’ll be miserable and dread drinking more. There’s an adjustment period to letting go of sugary drinks and teas, and mainly drinking water instead.

You’ll feel like it’s a chore, and quit before you hit your stride. Most habits have to be repeated for a few weeks to get them ingrained. Getting overwhelmed at the start is a sure fire way to get discouraged and give up.

5) Add Some Flavor

Finally, add some flavor! As I said before, it can be hard switching from sugary drinks and teas to plain water. So the key is to make it not plain.

This will probably require some trial and error to find what you like, but there’s a multitude of options out there.

Some of my favorites are:

Lemon
Lime
Cucumber
Berries
Sugar Free Flavor Packs (Crystal Light, Mio)
Mint
Basil
Ginger

And there’s a ton more than that! Most fruits are great for flavor, and you can even mix and match some on the list. Ginger and lemon would be a good option, and mint and cucumber could be very refreshing.

Some water bottles have infuser baskets built in to them, but you can also add fruit to pretty much any bottle.

If you’re planning on adding flavors into your water, I would think about making sure your bottle is dishwasher safe.

Hope This Helps

I really hope these tips will help you drink water. Water is very important for overall well-being, fitness, and nutrition. Your body needs it, plain and simple.

Let me know in the comments what has helped you to drink more water!

How To Wake Up Early For Your Morning Routine