The Perfectionist's Guide to Creating a Morning Routine
Let's put your perfectionism to good use, and decrease your stress!
This post is going to show you exactly how to create a morning routine that helps you de-stress, skyrocket productivity and find more space in your daily life - even if you’re a perfectionist. Grab a copy of the free workbook so you can follow along and take notes - then put your ideas into practice!
You can grab a copy of the free workbook “The Perfect Routine Roadmap” HERE.
As a Certified Coach, and business owner I spent years fighting my perfectionism because I saw it as the root cause of my stress, anxiety and overwhelm. But - it wasn’t.
As a perfectionist, I’ve harnessed the power to plan, organize, over-deliver and achieve amazing results - and I want to help you do the same. So today I’ll be giving you my Perfect Routine Roadmap, an amazing workbook that walks you through the 5 steps I use to create, and stick to, an amazing morning routine.
While the Perfect Routine Roadmap has a clear structure, it's designed to be flexible and quick.
You can do this entire routine in under 30 minutes, or stretch it to an hour if you wish.
Over the next few paragraphs, you'll see how the Perfect Routine is structured. The rest of the post provides you tips and tricks for sticking with your routine once you’ve made it. This can be the hardest part for perfectionists. We tend to be GREAT at planning, but can sometimes give up when things don’t turn out how we expected. If you’ve had trouble sticking with a routine in the past, make sure you read until the very end for 3 crazy valuable tips to sticking with your routine.
At the end of this post, you'll have a personalized perfect routine you can use to decrease your stress, and start your day right, immediately! Use the printable daily routine guide in the workbook to keep you focused and on track.
How It Works
You can be a perfectionist and give yourself a little grace, which is exactly what this routine teaches you.
Reduce your stress by creating a perfectly planned day, being intentional and centred - but stay calm and grounded while doing it. The Perfect Routine Roadmap breaks your morning routine down into 5 sections, using grace as your guide:
G - Gratitude
R - Reflection
A - Action
C - Centre
E - Evaluate
Begin your routine with GRATITUDE
Connecting to gratitude is a wonderful way to be in the moment, and open your routine. Tapping into gratitude is also a proven way to lessen stress - score. So start your routine by thinking about 3 things you're grateful for right now:
Next, tap into the power of REFLECTION
Usually stress comes from confusion or overwhelm. Look back to yesterday and see what lessons you can learn from how you showed up in the world, or the actions of others. I encourage my clients to ask themselves these three questions every day:
What went well yesterday?
What would I have changed?
What can I do differently going forward?
Reflection is one of the most powerful tools we can use to speed up our results or our personal growth. By taking the time to reflect on what went well, what you would change and what you would do differently - you will 10X your results.
Be strategic with ACTION
It's so easy to get caught up in tasks, especially as a perfectionist. You might notice yourself being caught up in tiny details and not making the progress you like. That’s normal, and it’s okay. But if you’re finding you aren’t making the progress you’d like, being more strategic with the action you take is where you’ll want to put your focus.
Taking action on the important elements that will move you closer to your goal is just a simple shift away. Instead of looking at what you “need” to do consider 3 things that would make a big difference, if you got them done today. What would those be?
Now redirect your amazing drive, focus and determination towards making these three things happen - no matter what.
Create a sense of CENTRE
It can be easy to become overwhelmed, burnt out and stressed as a perfectionist. So we need this step more than anyone! Centring is all about filling your own cup before you get started on your busy day.
What centring activities serve you best?
Examples could include a quick yoga routine, meditation, or reviewing your goals. List a few that you are drawn to and then choose one per day to dive into.
Create joy for yourself through EVALUATION
It’s easy to spend your whole day “doing” instead of “being” isn’t it? I see this with my clients all the time. So if you’re looking to be happier or find more joy in your life, this step is for you!
Think about what it would take to make today AMAZING.
This is where it's great to be a perfectionist, visualizing the ideal is our jam. Think about things that would make your day great - and list at this point in your routine. Choose one or two to implement.
Examples could include meeting a friend for lunch or coffee, reading your book, having a great workout, relaxing in a hot bath, doing a random act of kindness, calling an old friend etc.
If you’re stuck here, ask yourself, what would make you feel good?
How to set yourself Up For Success
There’s two great ways you can increase your chances of sticking with your morning routine that don’t rely on willpower alone. But before we jump into those, I want to share a little bit of a mindset shift that I’ve found so helpful with my clients...this is perfect for when your brain serves up that “I don’t really want to do this” excuse at 5:30am when the alarm goes off.
Tip #1 - Hack your mindset
As humans we have the luxury of having a prefrontal cortex that allows us to make decisions ahead of time. You’re reading this because you want to create a morning routine for some reason - perhaps you want to find time to read more, you want to be more productive or you have a goal you’re working on and want to find some extra time to dedicate to that. Good for you!
Regardless of your reason, if you’re choosing to create a morning routine, it’s because you WANT to.
So when your alarm goes off and the primitive parts of your brain tell you “it’s dark, let’s stay in bed where it’s warm” or “you don’t really want to do this” - just remember, you actually DO WANT TO.
You choose ahead of time to create this space for yourself and you had a good reason. Allow your brain to come up with it’s regular excuses, but then remembering that your morning routine is an intentional choice you made...and that following through will be a huge game changer for you.
Tip #2 Eliminate any excuses you can
Another way you can set yourself up for success with your morning routine is to prepare ahead of time. A great morning routine that you can actually stick with starts the night before.
Give yourself the gift of a smooth morning by preparing the night before:
Prep your hydration - get your water out and your coffee set up
Set out your supplies - gather your laptop, notepad, pens or anything else you might need
Create a to-do list for tomorrow - the night before, write down what you need to do the next day, so these thoughts aren’t swirling through your head during your morning routine and taking up your precious brain space.
Get your centring activity ready - if you plan to do yoga, make sure your mat is out, and the youtube video you plan to follow is queued up.
Eliminate any excuses that might come up by creating easy transitions for yourself. If you’re the type of person who won’t do your workout if you can’t easily find your shoes - make sure they are set out ahead of time, your future self will thank you!
Tip #3 - Set clear parameters ahead of time
You’ll also want to think about how you want your routine to run, ahead of time, so you can spend that valuable morning time actually experiencing your routine instead of planning it
These are some of the questions I have my clients answer when we are planning the parameters of their morning routine:
How long do you want to spend on your morning routine?
What time do you want to start and end your routine?
Have you set a recurring alarm to wake you up on time?
Have you added your morning routine into your calendar so that time is protected?
What reasons will you give yourself for skipping your routine? Decide ahead of time if sickness, a bad sleep etc are acceptable excuses. Stick to your guidelines!
What is one obstacle that might get in the way of you being consistent?
Don’t skip over this part! Asking yourself what reasons you’ll give yourself for skipping your routine eliminates so much guilt down the road. Again, when you use your prefrontal cortex to make these decisions ahead of time you’re using your higher brain and making decisions for your future self from the best possible place. How many times have we made a decision in the moment only to regret it down the road?
When you’re thinking about an obstacle that might get in the way of you being consistent try and stay curious about what a strategy could be. You don’t have to get this “right” or do your morning routine 100% of time for it to make a difference - but eliminating the main obstacle standing between you and a consistent routine will make your life so much easier.
Thanks for reading!
xx Justine
P.S. Missed the free download? Grab your copy of the Perfect Routine Roadmap HERE
P.P.S. Want more on planning and goal setting? Check out this post on how to set goals and plan your year.