I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Weekday morning routines can make all the difference in setting the tone for a peaceful, productive day. Labor Day has come and gone, school is in session, and the first official day of fall is on the horizon…and now is as good of a time as any to fine-tune your weekday morning routine and identify what works best for your household. The routine that worked well for you last fall – or for the past five years – may need to be revamped.
Case in point. As a teenager, one of my chores was making brown bag school lunches for myself and my siblings. Although I adopted an assembly line approach to be as logistically efficient as possible (shocking, but true), I still found that making sandwiches at o’dark-thirty in the morning just wasn’t my cup of tea. Yet, for several years, I prepared those lunches every day before 7:00 a.m. It was just part of the routine, and it didn’t occur to me that perhaps I should switch up my approach. (Gratefully, learning experiences like this are what have helped shape my version of organizational bliss!)
Fast forward to 2010 and the hubster will confirm that making our brown bag lunches is now part of my evening routine. And as a result, my morning adventures are mustard-free and ever so much more pleasant. The pre-dawn lunch preparation routine that did not really work for me years ago does not carry forth today.
And so, early every September – or whenever you feel so inclined during the year – it’s good to take a look at your existing morning routine and identify what’s working for you and what isn’t. Following are a few questions to consider when fine-tuning your routine dawn adventures:
- Am I habitually late or do I feel rushed on weekday mornings?
- Does my routine support or hinder my activities?
- What do I enjoy about my existing morning routine?
- What would I love to change about my current morning activities?
- If I could change three things about my morning routine, they would be [fill in the blank]…
Here’s to enjoying freeing fall routines that support your version of organizational bliss all season long!
* Photo by Hanspeter Klasser
