The perfect morning routine unlocked: tips for making time for YOU

If I were to ask what your barrier(s) to making your fitness goals a priority were, would time be on that list?

If so, today’s episode is perfect for you.

We are breaking down how important it is to have a morning routine that allows you to fill your own cup before jumping into the day as mom, wife, co-worker, house manager, etc.

Maybe you’re like me and you’re a list maker so you make big lists and intentions, but then none of it goes according to plan. You end up not accomplishing anything or moving forward because you’ve just given yourself so much to do at once.

You see everyone around you waking up at 5am, doing ice baths, meditations, yoga, journaling, affirmations, workouts, and everything before sun is up and that makes you feel worse because you know you’re not doing any of it.

In this episode I’ll share with you the practical mindset tips that’ll help you create a morning routine that feels as good as it looks, and tangible strategies for actually figuring out what that looks like.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friend, welcome back to Stronger Within, the podcast for women who are done chasing quick fixes and are ready to build real strength and lasting change from the inside out. I'm your host, Christy Magri, and here we talk about becoming stronger within in your body, your mindset, and the daily habits that shape your life. If you're ready to build a body and life you feel confident in for good, you're in the right place. This is the second podcast episode I am recording in my closet, and it still sounds a little bit echoey. I feel like the audio isn't the best, so I'm thinking one of two solutions. One, maybe I buy a different microphone and that fixes the solution. Or two, I just need to buy more clothes and fill this closet up with more stuff so that there's more cushion for the audio or whatever it is. But hopefully the audio sounds okay today. If you want to give me any feedback if you're listening to this on whether you feel like it's good or you're like it needs some work, I am open ears for a little bit of constructive criticism. But that is not what we're talking about today. Today we are talking about morning routines. My morning routine has pretty much changed my entire fitness journey, my mindset, my life, how my day-to-day goes as a mom. And if you're unfamiliar with my life and my schedule, I have two kids. My son Carter is six, he'll be seven in October. My daughter Chloe is three, she'll be four in February, and I have always been a stay-at-home mom, working mom. I have been online health and fitness coaching since 2020. I left my in-person training job, which I was only working part-time there at the gym three days a week, and then we were kind of rotating. Um, we did daycare like two days during the week for I want to say it was like 18 months maybe, but besides that, I've always been home with my kids. Um, and it is a constant balancing act, I will tell you. And without my morning routine, I would be nothing. So if you feel like you need to be more organized and get your shit together for lack of better term, we are going to fix that today, especially if you are a mom. One of the biggest things I see moms struggle with is a lack of time. You wake up, you immediately jump into getting everybody ready for school, you're packing lunches, you're getting everyone dressed, you're brushing teeth, um, you're rushing out the door, and before you know it, two hours have passed and you've done nothing for yourself. Then maybe you're clocking in at work and you're working a full eight hours for somebody else. Then it's time to pick the kids up from school, make dinner, help with homework, clean the house, um, do baths, all the things. And it feels like by the time the end of the day comes, it's like I got no time for myself today. I took care of everybody else but myself today. And you know you need to get to bed earlier because you want to create a better morning routine, but you're like, I'm so behind on laundry, I just want a second to sit and doom scroll, and then before you know it, it's 11 p.m. and you've been scrolling TikTok for an hour just to give your mind a chance to re relax. I totally, totally get that. And maybe you're like me and you really care about being better, so you love making lists and you make these big lists and intentions, but then none of it actually goes according to plan. Or maybe it does for a few days and then you just can't stick to it. Then you end up not accomplishing anything, you're not moving forward because you've just given yourself so much to do at once. And again, if you're anything like me, you want to jump immediately into making a change, but then because you already have so much to keep up with day-to-day, everything feels so overwhelming, and then you end up completely giving up. Now you've knocked your confidence down a peg because when we say we're gonna do something and we don't follow through with doing that thing, it really does destroy our self-confidence because we're like, okay, well, this is another attempt I didn't follow through with doing what I said I was gonna do, and you're like, I know I should focus on one thing at a time. And I hear people say, like, you need to take it one thing at a time and take baby steps, but that's actually a lot harder than it seems because going slow can feel very frustratingly painfully slow, and it's almost easier for your brain to jump into everything at once, but then typically that is what leads to that burnout. And maybe you're you know looking at everyone around you, comparing yourself to people on social media, or you know, I am on TikTok obviously, so there's a lot of like morning routine vlogs of like 5 a.m. wake up and you see somebody, you know, waking up at 5 a.m. doing ice baths and meditations and yoga and journaling and affirmations and workouts, and they it seems like they have gotten done what you have struggled to get done in a month all before the sun is up, and now that makes you feel worse because you're not doing any of that. Um, and you know, especially for us as moms, life is so unpredictable. There's schedule changes, sick kids, work things, marital things. We can't just expect to be perfect 24-7. We need to be realistic, and the only person you should ever be comparing yourself or your morning routine to is yourself, right? Because the people that you are comparing yourself to, they might have more help than you, they might have been doing this longer than you, they might not even have kids. I know some of the people that pop up on my TikTok because we just moved to coastal North Carolina. I see a lot of North Carolina morning routines of these like 20-something-year-old girls that do not have kids. Okay, you cannot compare yourself to those people. And your morning routine doesn't need to be anything crazy that's an hour or two long either, right? It can literally be 10 to 15 minutes long. So I want you to right now, I'm giving you permission to release the expectation that it has to look a certain way. This really is the first step towards creating something that actually feels good to you. Because if it doesn't feel good, if there feels like a lot of friction or a lot of resistance, you're not gonna follow through with it. Maybe you don't want to do ice baths or journal, then don't do that. Nobody told you you had to do that. All you have to ask yourself is what is my personality type like? What is my thing? And there's nothing to get quote unquote right or have to do perfect. There's no like five-step morning routine that you have to follow. It's what works for me might not be what works for you. And when you try to shove yourself into this box and do what everyone else does, it creates this level of procrastination because it doesn't feel good. It doesn't work for you. And so finding a morning routine that works for you, it's gonna be a lot of trial and error, right? So if you are a perfectionist type A sort of personality similar to myself, realize that it's okay if it takes you time to figure out what works well for you and be willing to just try. In certain seasons of life, your morning routine might look different. If you are early postpartum, you're not gonna be getting up at 5 a.m. if you were just up all night with the baby, right? Versus if your kids are a little bit older, you might have the capacity and the ability to do that. But I want you to realize that something is better than nothing. And even if you, like I said, you're committing to waking up five to ten minutes earlier, that is something. So give yourself credit for that. And I think the most important thing to look at too is the whole point and benefit of having a morning routine as a mom, and that is having time for you before your kids wake up. I have been the mom who woke up with her kids and jumped straight into taking care of them and making breakfast and brushing teeth and breaking up fights. Actually, that's a lie. I have not woken up and broken up fights, more so woken up and dealt with toddler tantrums. Really, I've had a morning routine since my kids have been old enough to fight. So that's not the case for me. But I've also been the mom, right, who wakes up before my kids. And for me, it became it just like wasn't an option, especially when I quit the gym to work full-time for myself, because I was like, okay, well, I'm taking care of my kids all day long. When the heck am I gonna work? I had to wake up early out of necessity to be able to serve my clients and do what I need to do within my business before my kids wake up. But I will tell you hands down, whether I'm waking up early and meditating or journaling or working out or just working and responding to client messages, waking up before my kids, I will never not do it. There really is something about starting the day on what I like to call starting it on offense rather than defense, right? So much of what we do as moms is we live on autopilot. We don't really think twice about what we're doing throughout the day. And I think this is a crazy fact. Um, and I read this, I can't remember, it was a Joe Dispensa book, but he talks about how our subconscious runs like 95% of what we do during the day, meaning we are just going throughout the day, not really thinking about what we're actually doing. Have you ever gone like driven on the highway somewhere, somewhere maybe it's like your commute to work or the kids' school or whatever, and you get there and you're like, I don't even remember driving here, which that's kind of scary if you think about it. But it happens to me all the time, and you know, it it's just crazy that we can run through life on this autopilot. Um, and so creating a morning routine requires that we go outside of that, and there's going to be some level of resistance to it from your brain, so just expect that. But I want you to think about going on a road trip, for example. So you guys know we just moved from Connecticut to North Carolina, and you know, that first leg or part of the trip is the hardest, it takes the most conscious effort. I remember driving through New York and New Jersey and really trying to pay attention to attention to like the signs and where I was going and the highways and like really maybe those states are actually harder to drive through in some capacity because once I get on I-95 south, you know, it's it's a bit smooth sailing, but that first part of it takes the most effort. And then I'm like, when I'm hours, you know, six, seven hours into driving, I'm like, all right, I'm in the flow of this, I'm sick of it, but you know, it's it gets easier. And so when you show up again and again, it really just becomes easier, it becomes your new norm and it becomes who you are too. So that literally is your identity. And identity work is something that we've talked about a few times on the podcast. I really do want to create more episodes around this because it is such a a pivotal part and important um uh concept to learn in this journey. A lot of times we think that, you know, we don't have the right strategy or the right tools for weight loss when really it's our mind, it's our brain holding us back. I think about myself in the fitness industry, right? You know my story. I was somebody who struggled with my weight my entire life. I was always the bigger kid. I had to force myself to go to the gym. I hated it. I would go for a few days and then not go for months. And it was just a constant on-off cycle. Now, going to the gym is a natural part of my routine because it is truly just my lifestyle and my identity now. I don't have to force myself to the gym. I don't skip days. It's just a part of my routine, like brushing my teeth in the morning. So if you can start to believe I'm somebody who gets up early every morning, or I'm somebody who works out every morning, or I'm someone who meditates every morning, you eventually will ingrain that into your mind and morph yourself into this person that you weren't before. But over time, that is naturally who you became. However, if you're just letting that 95% subconscious run the show and run your life, it's going to be nearly impossible to actually create that change. Right now, you're probably at the point where it's time to become really intentional and plan for it, prepare for it, set your environment up for success, whether that looks like laying your clothes out the night before, filling your water bottle, packing your gym bag, cutting your veggies ahead of time, meal prepping your breakfast, right? The more intentional you can be with the changes you want to make, the more success you will have in breaking through that autopilot barrier. The next thing we need to do is stop making excuses. You and I are no different. There are so many times I don't necessarily feel like going to the gym, but I don't listen to those thoughts. Like I just told you, going to the gym now is a part of my natural routine. For me, it is just like waking up in the morning and brushing my teeth. So you have to be willing to what I like to call push through the suck or push through that first leg, the hardest part where it's not natural. There was a point in my finish journey where it didn't feel natural, and there are days I don't feel motivated, but you know what I'm not gonna do? I'm not gonna sit here and make excuses. So you have to say, okay, I know this might be difficult, especially in the beginning, but I accept this and I choose to show up anyway. It really is not supposed to be easy. I talk all the time about how weight loss is very simple. It is simple in theory, but it's not easy, right? But being willing to push past those excuses truly is what makes the difference between the person who reaches their goal or their goals and the person who doesn't, the person who stays stuck, the person who stays stagnant because all they freaking do is make excuses. Another piece of this is that you have to believe that this is actually possible for you. So if you're in this kind of like half in, half out, you know, or questioning your ability, you are going to subconsciously block yourself from success. I see this happen a lot, you know. Maybe before you even go into your journey, you know, you're attempting to lose weight again and you're already doubting yourself. You're already thinking, I don't know if I can do this. You're already thinking about all the past times you've tried to lose weight and maybe failed before. You have to let go of that mindset. You have to let go of those past experiences if you want to be successful. You have to truly be all in and know I am absolutely capable, even if it hasn't happened yet. You have to have that full faith in yourself. There are so many things in my life that I am working really hard towards, but I haven't gotten there yet. And I know that I have full faith that everything's gonna work out for me. I know that I'm capable, I know that I'm worthy, I know that I'm a hard worker, and I know that everything is going to come to me as it's meant to. So you really have to go in with that mindset. And one thing I go through with my clients is figuring out, okay, what's actually holding you back from getting your health on the right trajectory? That work has to be done before you can get into the actual process. Because again, if you have that inner self-doubt and a lot of negativity, you are going to hold yourself back. This is what I do in phase one of my Forever Fit Mama method, where the first 30 days we are establishing where are you holding yourself back? Why and how do we fix that and pattern interrupt there so we can break through those negative self-limiting beliefs or those negative habits so we can create change that actually sticks. Now for the tangibles, because we've gone through a lot of the mindset piece of it here, but I want you to write down your non-negotiables. These are the things that you have to get done in a day. So it could be school drop-off, your work schedule, um, your toddler's nap time, homework time after school, right? So that we can see what blocks of time are already taken in your schedule. From there, we can look at the empty space to see where we can start to fit things in. I suggest starting with a morning routine or starting with your morning routine because that is where you're able to get things out of the way first thing in the morning and what really sets the tone for the entire day. So set one to two things you can realistically get done before your kids wake up that would make you feel really good. Personally, I wake up, my alarm goes off at 5 a.m. I wake up, I meditate, I journal, all of that takes maybe about 15 minutes. I respond to client messages, and right now I've been going to the gym right after that. When my husband goes back to work, my morning routine will probably look a little bit different, but that doesn't have to be what it looks like for you. You should look forward to your morning routine, especially as a mom, because it's one of the only uninterrupted times in our day, and we are not completely burnt out for uh from the day. So I wouldn't suggest starting with your nighttime routine actually, because by that point in the day, you're kind of already, you know, you've done a lot. So start first thing in the morning. That's really gonna set the tone for the rest of your day. So you can ask yourself, you know, if I could choose to do one thing every morning to start my day off on the right foot, what would I choose to do? This should spark some ideas for how you can start to create that morning routine. And again, most moms jump into their morning taking care of the kids, opening their email, scrolling social media, and comparing themselves to other people, and you're already not making yourself a priority when you're doing that, probably in the first like 60 minutes of your day. So really view this as how do I pour into my own cup first before I go taking care of everybody else, right? Looking at the first 30 to 60 minutes of your morning right now and asking yourself, is this really benefiting me or is this setting my day up for comparing myself to people, feeling drained, feeling burnt out, right? And then once you've established those one to two things that you want to do for yourself every morning, you'll also need to evaluate your bedtime routine to make sure that you're getting enough sleep. Uh, seven to nine hours of sleep is what I recommend to my clients because waking up can be really hard if you're not getting enough sleep. Not only that, but not getting enough sleep means that your body's not recovering properly from workouts and it actually affects your brain function, which affects your decision-making skills the next day. So when we think cravings, making good choices around food, it really backs all the way up to your nighttime routine and how much sleep you're getting. So very, very important there. Ideally, you are going to bed at the same time every night and waking up at the same time every morning, even on weekends, so that your body gets used to that circadian rhythm. Um, I naturally fall asleep anytime between 9 to 9:30, and my body naturally wakes up at 5 a.m. Most times I actually will wake up a minute or two before my alarm. Um, oh, and on the topic of alarms, stop setting more than one alarm. Okay, set one alarm, that's it. You are getting up immediately when your alarm goes off. And if you know yourself and you know that even if you set one alarm, you're gonna hit snooze, put your phone across the room so that you physically have to get up and out of bed to go get it. But I want you to realize today it is up to you to make the time and reserve the space in your schedule to make time for taking care of your own health and filling your cup before jumping into the day as mom. You know, obviously breaking up sibling fights, calming toddler tantrums, prepping meals for your kids. You do a lot during the day. Plus, if you work full-time on top of that, I mean I have clients who have like four kids, homeschool, own a business, work full-time. Like I work with moms that have a lot on their plates, but those are the moms that they make the time for what is a priority to them. Um, and you know what's crazy? When you start to make it a priority, you're gonna see what a huge benefit and payoff there is from it, and you're gonna be wondering why you didn't start earlier. All right, friends, that is it for today's episode. As always, if this episode resonated with you, feel free to share it, leave a review. Um, whatever you can do to help spread the word and help others with their morning routine would be greatly appreciated. And until next week's episode, keep becoming stronger within.