Why Creating a Morning Routine Sets You Up For Success - And How To Do It!

"The secret to your future is hidden in your daily routine" ~ Mike Murdock

Happy New Year everyone! I’m getting a good feeling that 2022 is going to be a great year - we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of the pandemic (fingers crossed). And I know for many people it’s really shone a bright light on the importance of health.

What awesome things do you want to achieve this year? Is 2022 the year you finally get on top of your energy, mood or gut issues…for good? Is this the year you end your body burnout and get your health - and your life! - back?

Give me a big YES!

The thing is…many people start off with health goals and the best of  intentions at the start of every new year, but only a very few actually see that goal through. After working in the health industry with my hubby for a combined 20+ years, I would know! We have seen everything - and all the trends.

Are You In Struggleville? 

There are many reasons why people give up on their health goals prematurely. There could be shiny distractions taking you astray, not enough time, big life events popping up, feeling stressed with all you have to do, feeling confused about what you need to do, not seeing results quick enough, lacking motivation, not valuing your health goals (or yourself) enough, not feeling enough pain to actually make the effort to change, or feeling disorganised and frazzled, the list goes on.

In this article, I wanted to focus on a tool we use with our clients, that I believe is one of the secret sauces for success….and that is, establishing a solid morning routine!

Studies Show Routines Linked To Better Health

Research shows that individuals who do not engage in a regular daily routine are worse physically, and experience more anxiety & depressive symptoms.

Another study also emphasised the importance of creating habits & routines, when it comes to creating long-term lifestyle changes to support health.

Historically, many successful people have achieved success by starting their day with a morning routine. In our Functional Medicine practice, one of the ‘medicines’ we use is ‘lifestyle medicine,’ and I have seen firsthand many people - especially busy working mums & other high-achievers — benefit tremendously when they have been able to establish a purposeful morning routine. 

These benefits include:

• Prioritising the most important things you need to do to get healthy.
• Staying on track more consistently and effectively with healthy living.
• Achieving more success because you are actually doing the things you need to do to reach optimal health.

How to Create A Morning Routine

When creating your morning routine, try to include things that are most important to you.

If you have a very busy life and you struggle to fit everything in, you may want to add ‘essential’ things into your morning routine so you get them done at the start of the day - i.e. prepping healthy meals/snacks for the day, exercise, journalling. 

Also include essential things that you keep forgetting to do - like taking nutritional supplements (if you need them), meditation, or even having breakfast!

Finally, your morning routine needs to be right for you. For example, the ‘5 am Wake Up Club’ won’t work for everyone (especially if you’re suffering from health issues, like fatigue). I know Filly personally doesn’t show up as her best self when she wakes up that early (her Dragon Mum will start to erupt, haha!). She used to do early morning boot camps, and then come home and crash back to sleep at 7:30 am, and also feel tired and foggy and sugar-Cravey for the rest of the day. Waking up naturally around 7 am is a perfect start to Filly’s morning routine. But again, everyone is different - maybe you will do your best starting at 5 am.

I feel best when I  wake up around 6 am, after having about 7 hours of sleep (Filly on the other hand needs a good 8-9 hours to feel her best). My morning routine looks like this: I wake up at 6 am, read and stretch for a bit, give Filly a cuddle, and then I get out of bed at 6:30 am. I’ll then head down to the beach and do some reading (personal or professional development, based on what I feel I need to know or work on that day). I’ll also listen to some music and do some breath work, then set my intention for the day ahead and make a goal on how I want to show up during the day. After this, I’ll mentally hype myself up to go for a cold ocean swim (or wade!). I’ll then come home, take the girls to school, then start my day of work. If I’m able to do this morning routine every morning, I really feel I’m able to achieve all I want to achieve, plus I am doing essential things that help reduce inflammation in my body and support optimal health.

Tools To Help You Get Started 

I’ve created a Morning Routine template to help you get started, which you can download here.

Also coming up in January, I’m thinking of running a 3-Day Get Organised Challenge, to help you create your health & life goals for 2022, and an action plan to make that happen! It’s going to be epic, I’m planning to give you so many gold nuggets to really make some purposeful and effective changes. Would anyone be interested in doing the 3-Day Challenge? Shoot us an email to register your interest - [email protected] 

Chris Bellette is Co-Founder of Chris & Filly Functional Medicine. He is a Life Coach and an accredited Master of Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner. He has existed in high-performance realms of the sporting (think national athlete) & business industries and knows what it takes to get from struggle-city to thriving.  Together with his wife Filipa Bellette, Chris has worked with over 2,000+ busy, burnout clients in the last 10+ years, and specialises in producing healthy, happy Mums & Dads or have the lifestyle they’ve always wanted...or as he calls it, a Power Parent! Chris’s own passion for producing high-performance Power Parents came from his own personal experience of Daddy Burnout, after juggling the demands of business, elite level sport, family, and his own failing health.