If You Can’t Stick to a Morning Routine, Read This

Summary

The article suggests personalizing morning routines based on individual preferences and desired feelings rather than following generic, often unrealistic, morning rituals promoted by others.

Abstract

The article "If You Can’t Stick to a Morning Routine, Read This" emphasizes the importance of creating a personalized morning routine that aligns with one's own needs and desired feelings, rather than adhering to a one-size-fits-all approach. The author shares their transformation from a non-morning person to someone who consistently wakes up at 6 am, attributing this change to focusing on personal well-being rather than external standards of success. The key advice is to concentrate on activities that evoke positive feelings, such as health, calmness, and strength, and to give oneself permission to adjust or abandon practices that no longer serve those feelings. The article encourages readers to take inspiration from popular morning routine trends but to prioritize their own emotional and physical responses when crafting their daily habits.

Opinions

The author criticizes the wellness industry's pressure to conform to specific morning routines for success.
It's suggested that the ideal temperature for waking up comfortably is 69.5 degrees Fahrenheit for the author.
The article promotes the idea that there is no universal morning routine and that individuals should not feel like failures for not fitting into a prescribed mold.
The author believes that the key to a successful morning routine is to focus on how one wants to feel rather than a list of tasks to complete.
The article encourages readers to be flexible and to change their routines if certain activities no longer contribute to their well-being.
It is implied that aesthetic morning routine videos on social media can serve as inspiration but should not be strictly followed as they may not be suitable for everyone.

You’re not a failure, you’re just doing it wrong.

I’ve seen the videos. “That girl” (whoever she is) gets up at 5 am. She drinks a gallon of water. Works out. Takes a cold shower. Meditates. Cut to aesthetic footage of her making coffee while blending up a mixture of kale, spinach, and self-loathing.

Meanwhile, if the temperature in my apartment isn’t precisely 69.5 degrees when I wake up, I will not be getting out of bed.

Except something changed. I now wake up at 6 am every weekday. I have a morning routine. And I’ve managed to do this despite being a notoriously tired person.

One tiny thing changed to transform me into (more of a) morning person. Here’s what you need to change so you can develop a morning routine, too.

Stop subscribing to other people’s morning routines.

There’s a lot of pressure in the wellness world to become a morning person. In case you haven’t heard, the key to success is to wake up at 5 am and follow This Exact 39 Step Morning Routine. Then and only then will you unlock the key to happiness, productivity, health, and heaps and heaps of cash.

I call BS.

Morning routines aren’t universal. Once I realized this, I was finally able to develop one that I could stick to.

Focus on how you want to feel instead.

The key to actually sticking to a morning routine is creating a routine that works for you.

How? By focusing on how you want to feel, not on what you want to accomplish.

Want to feel healthy and strong? Drink a green smoothie and work out. Want to feel calm? Wake up earlier so you don’t have to rush through your morning to get to work on time. Meditate. Do a quick yoga flow.

See the difference here? Instead of doing these things because so-and-so does them, you are doing them because they make you feel good. And if something stops making you feel good, you have permission to stop doing it.

Sure, you can use those aesthetic morning routine videos as inspiration. But don’t follow them as gospel. Find what resonates and drop the rest.