How To Build Morning & Evening Routines
Haley Sturgill - Digital Barbell Coach
Practical tips that won’t overwhelm you and don’t require tons of extra time…winning!
Has your favorite athlete, celebrity, or influencer been talking about their morning and evening routine and why it’s so great?
You may be wondering what the fuss is all about and if a routine is something you need to start adding into your own day-to-day.
If you ask me, a solid morning and evening routine just might be the missing puzzle piece to your health and wellness journey.
Before you say, “HA! In what world could I find the extra time or energy for that?”, just hear me out. A routine doesn’t have to be intimidating!
In this article, I’ll share some practical tips that you can start incorporating today.
It doesn’t even involve waking up at 3:00 A.M or having an insane list of things to do that takes 2 hours to get through.
If you start prioritizing getting organized for the next day each evening, your morning self will be ready to rock.
Or maybe if you took a few minutes each morning to read a few pages and journal (like you’ve been saying you want to do) you’ll find that you love it, and want to stack even more positive things into your morning.
After a few weeks of doing this, you’ll have yourself a routine that you love and helps you be prepared and productive. Let’s get you started on crushing the day!
Let’s talk about what a morning and evening routine is and who it might be best for.
Morning and evening routines give you a structured agenda when you wake up or before you go to bed. They help you prepare yourself for the day to come, or unwind from your day in a way that both serves you and allows you to get the most out of each day while still being productive.
Or even MORE productive.
The goal is to put you in the right mindset for each day and to check off your to-do list before your day even gets started.
You’ll get ahead, and not feel like you are rushing around and barely keeping your head above water. You’ll increase productivity and get a jump start on what you need to do before the day gets ahead of you.
As great as this all may sound, having a routine to follow in the AM and PM isn’t something that will work for everyone.
For some, it’s downright impossible to get up an extra hour early or clear time and space for a minute of “you time”. Maybe you’re a parent who is just thanking your lucky stars to get more than 3 hours of sleep.
Or maybe you have to take care of others and find little time to devote to yourself, let alone an entire detailed routine.
Are you a shift or off-schedule worker just trying to keep up? Or maybe you are just someone new to making changes and want to take it slow.
I know between dialing in your nutrition, chugging copious amounts of water, staying consistent with training, adding another thing to your plate can be a tough balancing act.
But fear not. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
You don’t have to have a perfect routine filled minute by minute with detailed steps. That can be a tremendous task to add to what is likely an already busy schedule.
So, before we get into the nuts and bolts of creating routines, let’s chat about having morning and evening anchors that you might find to be a better fit for you right now.
An anchor is a non-negotiable you do every day.
I love anchors because they make you feel accomplished and don’t take much time to do. If you can’t stick to a routine, this will help you still do a few things to ground yourself every day.
Your days can get busy and stressful, but if you’re able to make time for just one small action that helps you have more control over your day, I’d say it’s worth trying!
When the world is spinning a million miles an hour around you, try leaning into just one anchor that will slow it down and allow you to prioritize your needs, if only for a couple of minutes.
And if you can break it down into just one step or action at a time, even better.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to start slow with just one anchor. Then add more in gradually, just ONE at a time. A great saying that I have found myself referencing back to many times in life, business, fitness, nutrition, or creating good habits is:
“Chase two rabbits and go home hungry.”
Focus on doing that one thing really well before trying to add more to your plate. From there, once it has become a true habit and part of your routine you can begin to stack another anchor on top of that one.
But guess what? You’re not going to do this perfectly. None of us do. Don’t flip out if/when you miss some days, because that will happen.
We are always preaching consistency and effort over perfection here at Digital Barbell. In no world does someone start creating a new habit and nail it every day for the rest of their lives and never look back.
It’s going to be important in everything you do to give yourself grace. Change is always a challenge, so be prepared for those days you “mess up”, and just try again tomorrow morning.
We always get another chance each day to rewrite the script and keep trying.
Now, feel free to take time and really think of what is going to serve you and your own day and schedule best.
With that, here are some examples of morning and evening anchors you can easily add to your day.
Morning Anchor Ideas
Making anchors part of your morning routine…
-Drinking a big glass of water first thing in the morning or while you wait for your coffee to brew
-Light movement flow or stretching
-Going for a walk
-Journaling
-Make your bed right when you get up
-Daily devotional or Bible study
-Prep your breakfast
-Put together your to-do list for the day
-Brain dump: write down everything that is running through your mind. Get it on paper so you can have a clear mind going into your day (errands to run, projects, schedule changes, etc.)
-Gratitude - There’s always so much to be thankful for
I find when I start my morning with gratitude, I truly have a new lens on for the day. It can be as quick and simple as saying out loud 3-5 things that you are thankful for.
You can also take it one step further by putting pen to paper in a journal.
Here is what I like to use each morning for gratitude. I got this from a book called “The 5-Minute Journal”.
3 things you are grateful for
3 things that would make today great
Daily affirmation
Evening Anchor Ideas
- Lay out clothes for the next morning
-Read 10 pages of a book you love
-Turn screens off an hour before bed
-Meditate (My favorite free app I have found for guided meditation is Insight Timer. They also have an awesome guided sleep meditation.)
-Food planned in MyFitnessPal or prepped and ready to grab when you leave
-Mobilize/light foam rolling
-Reflections on the day (you can add this under your morning gratitude)
3 amazing things that happened today (I LOVE this because when I have what feels like the worst day imaginable, I can always still find at least 3 things, even if they are super small, that were still pretty great.)
How did I take care of myself today? (Remember, you can’t pour from an empty cup, so building awareness around self-care is helpful.)
What could you have done to make today better?
Morning Routine
Win the morning-win the day!
Now that you have an idea about using anchors each day, let’s move on to building a full-on routine. A morning routine can serve you in more ways than you can imagine.
Many great minds have said the way you start the first hour of the day is how you will spend the rest of the day.
Do you want to spend your day rushed, frazzled, and barely keeping your head above water? Or would you rather be calm, collected, and organized?
Yeah, me too.
We either make the choice to get up late and have no control over our day, or we can spend a little extra time in the morning preparing and taking back the control of our day.
Having a routine that allows you to organize your thoughts and plans before the day really begins is going to give you peace of mind, which will ultimately lead to lowered stress (and I’m pretty sure that’s everyone’s goal).
I don’t know about you, but life is a tad stressful these days. So I do everything in my power to decrease stress where I can. Not to mention all the other benefits that come with decreased stress, like: better sleep, less anxiety, decreased risk for heart disease, better relationships.
From a weight-loss standpoint, when you can control your stress, the easier it is to lose weight and keep it off in the long run.
The biggest roadblock for many of us is not getting up that extra hour early to get more out of our day. Let’s face it...We are human, and getting up earlier than we technically need to is always going to be a hard ask. But it can be a developed habit if you try.
When you hit that snooze button right as your alarm goes off, you’re telling your brain (and yourself) that your goal was not that important.
It’s the first decision you make each day, and it sets the tone for the rest of your day.
There is a reason you set your alarm at 6 AM. Not 6:15 or 7. You set it at that time to get up and get things done or to get your workout done.
Take that seriously. Show yourself you can do this. Plus, hitting snooze and going back to sleep is not really adding more value to your sleep. It’s low-quality, interrupted sleep. You might as well use that time and do what you planned on doing.
This is not something you will get right every single day, and that is okay!
Don’t forget... We are not after perfection, so any small improvements or efforts each day are going to accumulate over time to big changes.
When we say we want to create a routine, we are creating habits. It is something we want to do every single day. That means it is going to take work, repetition and patience.
We know it is a challenge, but we can make it a little bit easier.
Our goal should always be to make good habits easy to do, and bad habits harder to do.
It may sound too simple, but read that again please.
Do whatever you can to make your morning routine as painless as possible. Let’s make it really hard to sleep in. Here are some practical tips to make that actually happen.
1. GET YOUR SLEEP!!!
If you are struggling to get up early and you want an A+ morning routine, but your evening routine and sleep are a solid D-... you are going to ride the struggle bus.
I’ll get into evening routines next, but there is no way you can get up at 5 or 6 AM ready to roll when you are falling asleep at midnight.
We all know the importance of getting 7-8 hours of solid sleep. But in case you don’t or want to brush up on why we stress about it so much, you can check out the blog post HERE.
Before you even try to implement a routine, you need to start by nailing your sleep, and then choosing one anchor to begin working on.
2. Create a space that makes you excited (Yes, it’s possible to be excited to wake up early!)
If you walk downstairs to clutter and nowhere to work/focus, then you will probably want to march back upstairs and get under your warm bed covers. (Been there, done that.)
But it’s worth it to take the time and energy to create a space for YOU. You have permission to get a little selfish here.
The dogs and kids can have the rest of the house for their toys. You deserve one spot just for you that will be there inviting you to be at peace with coffee in hand, ready to tackle your daily routine.
Your space and environment matter, so don’t sleep on this step (hope you chuckled at that).
3. Plan ahead & control what you can
Chances are if you are reading this blog you have already been working on living a healthier lifestyle.
Becoming healthier takes effort. It takes work on your part initially, but the payoff can be huge.
The key is learning to control what you can by planning ahead.
You can’t control that when you walk into work everything has already hit the fan. Now you are stressed out about a project you need to spend all day on. Your plans are busted and it’s not even 10 AM yet.
But what you can control is your nutrition by packing your lunch ahead of time. Chances are if you had not taken the time this morning to throw a balanced lunch together, you would have either skipped lunch completely, or you would have hit up the drive-through.
The choice to prep ahead of time gives you control over your options, and you are better for it. That is one less stressor in your day. Go you!
Planning ahead is the key to most good habits. Once you are in the routine of knocking out a few small things before the day even begins, you are almost guaranteeing a successful day before things have a chance to get crazy.
Building your Routine
Your routine is unique to you. You cannot copy my routine or your favorite Instagrammers’ routine because that likely won’t serve you. Your routine should motivate you and light a fire under you. It needs to add value to your day in a real way.
If I had to guess, running 15 miles before sunrise and crushing 10 egg whites plus an ice bath won’t add value to your morning like it does for your favorite athlete.
Spend the time putting pen to paper, figuring out where in your life you need help. What’s something you have always wanted to do but can never make time for? What is going to help you confidently take on your day? Start there first.
For example, if you have been dreaming of starting that side hustle, but are way too tired by the end of the day to spend much time researching, that could be something to add to your morning routine.
Find a book on the subject and dedicate time each morning to read 10 pages. That’s it. 10 Pages.
If you have a desk job and are only clocking 2,000 steps of activity by the end of the day, prioritize going out for a walk first thing in the morning to clear your head and get more activity in.
Try listening to a podcast on your walk that brings you joy or teaches you something new. (I’ve heard the Digital Barbell podcast is pretty great 😉)
Now you have gotten extra activity in, and you did something good for yourself first thing in the morning.
Maybe the day doesn’t go as planned, but at least you got that time to focus on yourself and do something for your own well-being. Imagine if that became a part of your routine every morning. You’d be unstoppable!
It is important to add... when you start this journey of waking up a little earlier and diving into a morning routine that you are not going to get it right every single day.
Life is going to happen. But that is why you have an evening routine to fall back on to set you up for success the next morning.
Another tip: Plan for if/when something happens and you accidentally oversleep. It will happen some days, and that’s okay. The morning doesn’t have to be a wash even if your routine gets cut short.
This is where we can fall back on our morning anchors.
Pick 2-3 anchors that are your top priorities and knock them out. You will be so glad you made those happen anyways.
It’s the same with nutrition; you fall off the wagon a bit, but you still can find ways to succeed and win the day even if it did not all go to plan.
The great news is you have a chance tomorrow morning to get it right, so don’t let one off morning snowball into an off week.
Think about this...If you had a flat tire on your car, would you fix the flat tire and get on with your day, or would you just proceed to slash the other three tires?
I’ll let you think on that one because it applies so well to many other areas of our lives.
Now that you hopefully have your gears turning on how you want to set up your routine, I’ll give you an example of mine for most days.
I say most days because I am human, too, and sometimes I reach for that sweet, tempting snooze button.
On cold, rainy days I cannot think of anything I would rather do less than get up early. But the second I do, and I take that time to work on things I would not have time for otherwise, I am always thankful I did it.
My morning routine…for better or worse
Daily To-Do List
Knowing what’s on the docket will help you know what you need to do and help you feel more in control of your day.
-Wake up and jump right out of bed all smiles…NOT (more like slowly crawl like an injured turtle with my eyes still half-closed, not ready to talk to anyone anytime soon…just being honest.)
-Chug the remaining water on my nightstand to immediately rehydrate myself
-Make the bed
-Daily weigh-in and log in True Coach
-Find the reading chair that I designated to my morning routine where I keep my books and journals
-Daily devotional
-Write in my 5-minute Journal as I mentioned above for gratitude
-Go over my to-do list I made last night and add anything I just thought of
-Read 10 pages of my book
-Set a timer for 10 minutes and journal whatever comes out on the page
-Simple movement flows (think cat-cow, down-dog, child’s pose) I just like to listen to my body here. The goal is not an intense mobility session but to prep my body and mind for the day. Gentle stretching always feels amazing in the morning. I don’t always want to do it, but when I do my body thanks me
-Wash my face, brush my teeth, etc.
-Chug more water while I wait for my coffee to brew (the real MVP of a good morning routine)
-Determine the top 3 big action items on my to-do list (otherwise known as the big frog theory) that I need to prioritize for the day and go make it happen!
Now, let’s fast forward through your busy day and talk about your evening routine.
Evening Routine
Setting yourself up for success in the morning
What’s the secret to a good morning routine? A solid evening routine. An evening routine sets you up for success the next morning.
Remember, you can’t wake up early if you’re crawling into bed at 11 PM. (I am not talking to the new parents reading this…I think it is safe to say you get a pass as you are just in survival mode.)
I am talking to the folks staying up watching The Office reruns…oh wait, is that just me? Well, whatever Netflix show you are currently binging, let’s cut that off earlier than later.
As challenging as it is to unplug (trust me, I know) keep your larger goals in mind. Getting enough sleep and waking up earlier will provide you with so many benefits that far outweigh watching another episode…trust me on this one! Will power is just like a muscle; you have to work it in order for it to grow.
Why do we need an evening routine? Think about your day. You go hard. You can’t go from 100 MPH to 0 MPH any more than you can go from 0 MPH to 100 MPH when you wake up.
Your body needs time to wind down. You need time to signal to your brain that it’s time to go to sleep soon.
Having a consistent bedtime routine is a good environmental cue that lets your body know it is the end of the day and that you are going to prepare to rest.
For our friends who struggle to fall asleep at night, chances are we can find a hole in your evening routine, or lack thereof.
Once you really become consistent with an evening routine, your body will start to automatically get the hint and start preparing itself for the night.
Another benefit of being consistent with an evening routine is that your body will start to release hormones before bed to help you become sleepy and help you wake up feeling more rejuvenated.
For some, having a consistent routine means they don’t need an alarm clock to wake up. Their body has gotten so used to their schedule that they wake up naturally at that time without a blaring noise jarring them awake. That sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
Ok, let’s dive into creating and setting up an evening routine that works for you and your life.
Remember, we are not trying to make drastic changes that will be impossible for you to turn into habits.
We take this same approach when we coach our clients on training and nutrition. We use smaller actionable steps to build your confidence and work on fundamental habits that you can sustain.
The goal is to make this routine work within your life. If you are a caregiver, for example, chances are you are way too busy caring for others to spend a full hour dedicated to yourself.
The best thing to do here is to refer back to your PM anchors. It is perfectly okay if creating and adhering to a new routine is just not realistic for you right now.
Just use those systems to fall back on during challenge times, and you will still make great progress.
Let’s look at a 30-minute example: Once the kids are in bed each night you set aside 15 minutes to read a book, 10 minutes to pack your lunch and prep breakfast for yourself tomorrow and 5 minutes to dedicate to mediation or light stretching.
That is a total of 30 minutes that I know you can make time for.
For those who have more time and want to incorporate a full routine, let’s do it!
The whole idea behind an evening routine is to do two things:
1. Prep your mind and body for a good night sleep
2. Set yourself up for success in the morning
Let’s start with the first one: prepping your mind and body for quality sleep.
A great idea that I highly encourage is limiting your blue light exposure the 1-2 hours before you go to sleep.
Of course this is not always possible, but do your best to limit it when you can. A big one that many of us are guilty of is laying in bed but staring at the phone 2 inches away from our faces, just mindlessly scrolling social media.
This is a big no-no because the blue light is going to make it harder to fall asleep. Not only that, but do we really want the last thing we do and think about to be other people online or the stress of an email that we know is waiting for us tomorrow morning? Nope.
We want to prepare for sleep with calm and peaceful reflection on the day. Aim for no phone use at least 30 minutes before sleep and then build up to cutting it back to no usage 1 or 2 hours before sleep.
It’s a game-changer. And trust me; Instagram and work emails will still be there in the morning.
Need help cutting the cord? Try charging your phone on the other side of the room or even in a completely different room than you sleep in. That way once you are in bed you don’t have a choice but to put all your focus on sleeping. Plus, now when your alarm goes off in the morning you can’t just roll over and hit snooze.
Let’s circle back to gratitude, because it does amazing things for our mindset.
Now that you’re practicing gratitude in the morning, here are some things you can add below that morning gratitude entry.
Every night, write down 3-5 amazing things that happened that day. Add 5 things you are grateful for, 1-2 ways you could make tomorrow even better and 3 things you did that made you really proud of yourself.
This puts you in such a great place mentally because you may not have had an amazing day. But taking the time to put it all into perspective and recognizing the amazing things you still have going for you helps you keep things real.
Let’s move on!
Grab your pen and write your to-do list for the rest of the evening or for tomorrow. You can also do a daily brain dump now. You don’t want to go to bed with a million ideas or tasks you want to complete running through your mind. It will likely keep you up tossing and turning.
Writing down any thoughts or ideas on paper can give you peace of mind knowing it is all there for you to look at later.
I find keeping a journal on my nightstand is great for this. Is it just me or do some of your best ideas pop in the moment you start to fall asleep?
How about movement as part of your nighttime wind-down?
Doing a light mobility routine can help slow your body and mind down and feel amazing after a long day. Especially if you are a desk jockey who likely has poor posture.
Try doing some movements every day to stretch your chest, back and hips; your body will thank you!
Here are a few ideas to add to your routine. 10 minutes is plenty of time to pick a few stretches and get to work. Keep in mind that now is not really the time to break out your lacrosse ball or foam roller covered in spikes!
You want light and relaxing movements that will feel good to your body and help you relax.
These are some of my favorites:
-Cat and cow (really focus on your breathing on this one) Exhale as you go into the cow and inhale as you breathe into your bellybutton for cat
-Wall sit stretch (lay on the floor with your butt close to a wall, prop your feet on the wall like you are sitting into a squat driving your knees out)
-Kneeling lat stretch (place arms long on a bench, couch, or bed and exhale, pushing your head in between your arms, keeping the hips back)
-Couch stretch (prop one foot up to 90 degrees with the other leg behind you. With your knee on the ground and the top of your foot resting on the side of the bench, exhale and drive your hip forward)
Better yet, join our free mobility challenge HERE.
Alright, we’re almost done!
If you find yourself always running behind and scrambling to get out of the door in the morning, here are some easy fixes that will not take much extra time.
Do this: Have your lunch packed and prepped the night before. Even if you are working from home, having your lunch ready is one less thing to think about.
This will also decrease your chances of running to Chick-Fil-A or just skipping lunch altogether. Take the time to make a lunch you enjoy and look forward to.
Like I mentioned before, we want to do our best to make good habits easy and bad habits harder.
It does not get much easier to eat a healthy lunch when it is already prepped and ready in the fridge waiting for you to eat or warm-up.
Then do this: Lay your clothes out for tomorrow and pack your gym bag. Our goal for a successful morning routine is to cut down on the million tiny choices that just wear us down.
Ready for tomorrow!
Cut your stress down by prepping for the day ahead.
If you are someone who works out on your lunch break or heads to the gym after work, having your things ready to go makes it harder to make an excuse and skip.
Last thing! Make sure your morning space is organized. To make those good habits easy, place your gratitude journal, book, devotional etc. next to your chair, so it is ready for you to see and use each morning.
Make sure your space is inviting and cozy (but not so cozy that it makes you want to go back to sleep…that has happened to me before. Oops!).
You are ready!
You have all the tools you need for a killer morning and evening routine.
Interested in talking with us about starting your own fitness journey? We’d love to welcome you to the Digital Barbell team! Start the conversation here.
All my best,
Coach Hayley
