Money Saving Mom®

We’ve talked about the importance of having a plan for the day, exercising, eating something nutritious, and getting dressed. Now it’s time to put all of those things together and make our morning plan of action.

How to Make a Morning Plan of Action

1) Make a List of Things You’d Like to Get Done During the First Two Hours of the Morning

If you’re anything like me, you’ll come up with a bunch of ideas of things you’d love to do each morning. You’re just brainstorming right now, so your list can be as long as you’d like. In fact, I’d recommend that you take a half a day to mull over what you want to put on your list and to keep adding things as they come to mind.

2) Look at Your List and Pare It Down to the Top 8-10 Things You’d Really, Really Like to Do

Once you have a nice long list made, sit down and really evaluate the items on there in light of what is going to make the biggest difference in your day and what are the most important things you need or want to accomplish each morning. You can organize the list in order of priority if that helps you to categorize things more clearly.

3) Pare Your Top 10 List Down to the 3-5 Most Important Things You Must Do Each Morning

After you’ve cut your list down to the top 8-10 things you really hope to do each morning, cull it down even farther to the 3-5 most important things. {If you couldn’t come up with a long list, well, you’re going to make it a lot easier on yourself! And I wish I could be more like you and not have such high hopes and unrealistic ambitions! :)}

Since we’ve already been working on implementing some things like getting dressed, it’s probably not going to be as hard to figure out your list and what works for you. See? You already have a head start on this!

4) Write These 3-5 Things Down and Put Them in a Conspicuous Location

Write your list of 3-5 Morning Must-Do’s down (or make a fancy document on the computer if you’re all tech-y like that!) and then put this list in a very conspicuous location. You could even put it multiple locations — on your refrigerator, in your laundry room, on your bathroom mirror.

Do whatever it takes to be constantly reminded each morning to stay on task. It takes awhile for something to become a habit, so the more reminders, the better!

5) Make a Commitment to Follow Them in the Same Order Each Morning for Three Weeks

Commit to following through with your Morning Must-Do’s every single morning for the next three weeks. You might not always hit them all each morning and, unless you live in a cave and don’t have any electronics nor interact with other human beings, I’m positive you’re going to have some interruptions. Don’t let these things throw you off track. Do the best you can do, stick with it, and keep plodding along.

At the end of three weeks, stop and re-evaluate what’s working and what’s not. Tweak your list or your morning plan, if need be (maybe wait to have your coffee until your morning list is done?!), and then keep the Morning Must-Do’s practice up.

If you currently don’t have a good routine going for your mornings, I can almost guarantee that you’re going to see some significant positive changes as a result of working on developing this habit!

My Day 10 Project Update

Bedtime: I made it to bed by 9:30 last night — managed to hit my bedtime again — yay!

My Top 5 Evening Must Do’s: Done!

Wake Up Time: 5:30 a.m.

Showered & Dressed by 9 a.m.: YES!!

Day 11 Project

1. Did you determine your bedtime and 5 Evening Must-Do’s? If so, leave a comment telling us how you did on them last night.

2. Did you determine what time you’re going to commit to waking up every morning for the next three weeks? If so, leave a comment telling us how you did this morning!

3. Did you get in some exercise yesterday and eat a nutritious breakfast? If not, make a commitment today to a specific way you’re going to incorporate exercise and a nutritious breakfast into your day.

4. Follow the steps outlined above to create your morning plan of action (if you don’t already have a good morning routine in place). Leave a comment telling us the 3-5 Morning Must-Do’s you came up with (or tell us about the wonderful morning routine you already have going). I’ll share mine tomorrow!