Does the title of this post resonate with you? If it does, you may want to consider making some changes to your day. Why day and not morning? Because what we do throughout our day, both morning and evening, has a role in how our mornings are.

Mornings have always been my achilles tendon. For the majority of my life, no matter what I tried, nothing could help me have a smoother morning.

Let me be the first to mention, I never tried really hard…

I had read and watched everything about waking up early and improving your mornings. You know, grabbing life by the horns and rolling with it. Finally, I decided to make a change and do something I never thought I would do. I joined The 5 A.M. Club. This is based of the teachings in the book, “The 5AM Club”. I will not give a review or go into the details, but it is an excellent read and perspective changing piece of literature.

I detailed my journey with waking up at 5 A.M. here and here. What I want to share with you today are some reasons you morning may not go so well and what I have learned that helps me.

***Disclaimer*** This is written from the perspective a wife, mother, and budding entrepreneur. Somethings I mention may not be applicable. I hope you are able to tailor this to your lifestyle.

Why Your Mornings Suck:

1. You wake up at the last minute
   • Are you rushing from the time your alarm clock goes off until you get to your first destination of the day? Then it sounds like you are not giving yourself enough lead time in the morning. If you are responsible for getting little people ready, can you imagine how frantic their day has become too?
   • Do yourself a favor and wake up a little earlier
2. You wake up at the same time as everyone else
   • I have thought to myself, “I just need a moment to myself” several times. I have said, “I just woke up, are you really asking me this?”
   • Well guess what, when everyone wakes up together, everyone’s needs will take priority over yours. This can lead to burn out, frustration, moodiness and probably a slew of other feelings we have all felt at some point.
   • Even on days I do not wake up at 5 A.M., I make it a thing to wake up before the children.
3. You are not prepared for the morning
   • For the most part, our mornings look the same Monday to Friday. Of course there are some changes during breaks, but I would say 75% of the time, our mornings are the same. It helps that I am a creature of habit.
   • If I know my mornings look the same, that means I can prepare the night before. You know, make lunch, prepare coffee, layout clothes, pack bags, and all the life things. Imagine how much time you can open up in the morning by prepping the night before. Amazing right!?!
   • Let me layer this for you… If for some reason you wake up at the last minute, guess what? You have already prepared the night before, so that is one less thing to worry about.
4. You are staying up too late
   • Guilty as charged. I used to think I was a night owl and more productive at night. What I did not realize is this came at a cost to my mornings and those around me. Look, I am in the military, so there will be early mornings until I hang it up. I had to find a way to be productive outside of work without staying up until the wee hours of the night.
   • I started going to bed by 10 and waking up earlier. Honestly, I can get more done in that early wake up than staying up late at night. I say, my mind is refreshed.

How to Improve Your Mornings

The simple answer is to wake up early and prepare the day before. I would recommend reading “The 5AM Club” by Robin Sharma.

The first step is to give yourself grace. Too many times are are too hard on ourselves. We all have a lot going one and get negativity from so many angles. Let’s not beat ourselves up. It is not worth it.

Secondly, imagine what your perfect morning looks like and try to create it.

Close your eyes, focus on your breath, think of your alarm clock going off, what happens next? Do you kiss your spouse good morning, say a quick prayer, immediately jump out of bed? Then what do you do? Between the time you wake and have your first interaction, what does that look like? Make it happen…

Finally, be present and enjoy the moment. Life will always happen, just do not let it happen to you.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Please comment below if you struggle with your mornings or have made changes to make the mornings better.

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