When was the last time you remember your morning routine running smoothly/ Where there were no fights for the bathroom, no rushing to get to work or get the kids to school, no lost items to look for, and no last-minute running back into the house for something. I could go on. These are commonly complaints I have heard from my coaching clients. But it really doesn’t have to be that way. Your morning routine could be so easy if you follow the routine to make your mornings go more smoothly not only for you but your family as well.
Start the Night Before
Set out the breakfast table before you go to bed – This is simple but can be effective. If you have breakfast that is suitable, set out things like bowls, plates, cereal, and bread for toast ect, ready to go in the morning so your family can help themselves. This will also assist you to stop having mornings where there is no bread or milk and have to run to the store.
Sort out your clothes that you want to wear the next day – Pick out what you want to wear the next day, right down to your underwear, then you will be sure you will have everything and also have time to iron something if need be. I like to hang what I am going to wear the next day on my door.
Get your bag ready for the following day – Phone, keys, paperwork, planner or whatever you need to have to have for the next day- even things if you are going to go to the gym after work, check to see if it is all packed and ready to go.
Be friends with your planner – Be prepared. Know where you are going, what time you need to leave. If you have a meeting with someone, then it is worth sending a quick text to ensure that they have remembered as well to avoid a completely wasted few hours of traveling somewhere and waiting for them to show up.
Prepare your lunch – Make your lunch the night before and put it in the fridge for the next day. If you work in an office then a great cheaper lunch is to have leftovers from the night before, simply put it in a plastic box and put it in the fridge and then heat it up at work.
Delegate Responsibilities
Don’t try to do everything yourself – You need to get yourself ready for the next day, so delegate some of the responsibilities to other people in your home. This will give them great habits to follow through when they leave home as well. Get them to pick out their clothes, bags and schedules for the next day. Give children more responsibility as they get older and of course to help the younger siblings as they will start to pick these habits and want to do it themselves independently.
Let people take responsibility for their own actions – If you have someone in your family who is constantly making everyone late, make it a consequence that if they forgot something then you are not going back. Having to deal with consequences of school/work will soon make them aware of what they need to do. If you are getting permission slips, request for baked goods at the last minute, it is going to be their problem when they go to school empty handed and trust me, they won’t do it that often again.
Don’t make things difficult for yourself-
Does your hair take hours to do each morning? Why not look at different ways to style it differently so that you can simply dry and go
Do your children struggle to get out of bed in the morning? Why not reward them for getting dressed early with a reward chart- maybe on Friday let them eat breakfast and watch TV or promise them a movie night over the weekend.
Don’t try to do everything in the morning. At a minimum all of the beds should be made and breakfast dishes in the dishwasher as this is just a good thing to come home to but if you are short of time in the morning don’t try to clean the house or do the tasks that could do in the evening. Just do what is absolutely necessary.
Give Yourself Time
Try waking up 15 minutes earlier so that you will have time to get ready before the rest of the house wakes up. This will also help with bathroom times and you can focus more on getting the rest of the family ready once you are done
Give some time for unexpected issues that will arise. Make sure you try to be ready 10 minutes before you actually have to leave the house and then you are much more likely to get out on time.