Mix and match your morning routine

A 'daily' habit doesn't have to look the same every day

I love the idea of morning routines. I also love reading about other people’s morning routines. But as I’ve talked with people about their morning rituals, I’ve realized that very few people do the exact same thing every morning, seven mornings a week. People might call something a daily routine, but in fact it happens Monday through Friday, or at least most of those days, unless they’re traveling, or something else unusual is going on.

I think this is an important point, because sometimes people decide they want to start a morning routine, then hit a roadblock because they have a busy schedule and lots of different interests. They’d like to include multiple activities, but they assume that if they can’t run 4 miles and meditate for 20 minutes and work on their novels for 45 minutes absolutely every morning, there’s no point.

But that’s not true. You can have a morning routine even if the routine looks different day to day. You can have a morning routine that’s short some days and longer on others. The point is to have some chosen morning activities that repeat fairly frequently in your life.

So, if you’re having trouble figuring out what you’d like to do every morning, maybe you’re asking the wrong question. Instead, you can decide to mix and match your morning routine, and make space for everything over the course of a week or so. We live our lives in weeks (168 hours) not days (24 hours) and that’s true for mornings too.

Make a list

So if a mix and match morning routine sounds appealing, start by making a list of bite-sized activities that would advance you toward your goals. This could be a quick strength workout, writing 5 minutes in a journal, reading 10 pages in a difficult book, meditating for 5 minutes, etc. You could then also make a list of some longer options that sound appealing, like writing for 30 minutes, or running 3 miles.

Then you can think through your weeks and consider how you might combine items from these lists to make satisfying mornings. Perhaps three mornings a week you wake up, meditate for 10 minutes, and then run 3 miles. Three other mornings per week you write for 30 minutes on your novel, and do some strength training. You leave one morning open to account for the fact that something will come up. That’s OK. Aim for seven and know that six might happen.

The upside of this mix and match routine is that you get to choose lots of options. You’re running and writing. You’re meditating and doing strength training. But you’re not trying to create a mammoth morning routine that won’t leave time for anything else. You get the progress that comes from repetition. Doing something three times a week makes it a habit. On the other hand, there’s enough novelty that the days feel a little different, which can keep life from feeling stale.

Building a habit

Now I know that there’s a certain force of habit that comes from doing something daily (and I mean truly daily). That’s why perhaps the idea of mixing and matching sounds a little unorthodox. But again, since almost no one does the exact same thing 365 days a year without fail, we can see that most people already shake up their morning routines. They do one thing on weekdays and another thing on weekends and holidays. If that’s OK, then why not vary day to day as well? Plus, by doing bite-sized components, we can fit in more, which can be helpful for people with lots of interests.

Morning routines exist to serve us. The point is to come up with something that makes you excited to get out of bed. And if that looks a little different on different days of the week, so be it. You can still make progress toward your goals.