Avoiding Chaos: 4 Tips to Take Back Your Mornings

I am a morning person – once I get going. But some mornings (more often than I care to admit), I find myself rushing around tossing things into the sink and hollering at my toddler to hurry up because we have to go! He looks at me bewildered, because honestly, he’s just having a normal morning.

Toddlers don’t pay attention to the clocks after all.

4 Tips to Take Back Your Mornings

Whether you work outside the home or not, here are four tips to help jump-start your morning and get you off to a better start. It’s time to take back our mornings!

  1. Prepare the night before.

Every evening I try to do a few things to prepare for the next day: packing my lunchbox, cleaning up the entire kitchen, putting things back around the house where they belong, preparing the coffee for the next morning and setting out cups, bowls, utensils, etc. for breakfast. I also check to see what the dinner plan is for the next day so I know if I need to set out any meat to thaw or prepare in any other way. If I don’t do most, if not all, of this every evening, my mornings are much more rushed and I end up running out of time, or late.

  1. Wake up before the kids.

I know this can be a hard one with busy schedules and such, but it makes such a difference in the way your morning will run. There is a noticeable difference between a day where I try to “sleep in” (ha!) fumbling out of bed once I hear my son waking up and a day where I wake up earlier than him spending time reading my Bible and in prayer, drinking my coffee and just waking up myself. I really treasure that time and know it benefits my son as well because it helps me prepare for my day. Some days he might wake up a little earlier than he normally does, and that’s okay too. Just like bed time, there’s a time to get out of bed too. There are, of course, exceptions where waking up before the kids might not happen and seasons where it might not work for you.

  1. Get to bed on time.Eating Breakfast

Duh, right? I just started doing this and it really does impact my entire day. After a good night’s sleep, it is easier to get up on time and I feel more awake all day long! One way to really get to bed on time is to set boundaries for your evenings – set a time when you think you need to head to bed and then figure out how the later part of your evenings need to look to accomplish that. For me, powering down around 9pm is a big help.

  1. Give yourself buffer time.

If there’s one thing I can bet on, it’s that I take longer than I think I do. Any other mamas with me here? It’s a chain reaction that starts with me waking up on time and then add an 5-10 extra minute cushion to my morning so I can relax a bit. Then my toddler doesn’t have to look at me bewildered because I’m running around trying to chase down pairs of mittens and shoes, all while preparing my lunchbox I forgot to pack the night before and oh, what’s for dinner? Buffer time helps when we don’t fully prepare or when life interrupts the morning and things don’t go as planned.

So there you have it, my 4 tips to take back your mornings. I think they all play an important role in how my mornings run smoother and I hope they help you too.

And here is a free printable to stick it to the fridge to help remind you of your plan to take back your mornings

4 Tips for Taking Back Your Mornings

What tricks do you have that help you avoid chaos in the mornings?

 

Nicole Beard
Nicole Beard is the mother of a fun and energetic toddler, Thomas. She has been a Kansan for almost 6 years, relocating from her native Florida shortly after graduating with her degree in Psychology from Florida State University. Besides being a mama, she works in Wichita at a local hospital helping patients apply for public benefits and loves the mix of serving others, meeting people and paperwork! Their home is a cute little apartment home on the outskirts of town. She is a planner and organized woman by nature, and although her life looks nothing like “planned,” she trusts God’s promises for her future and knows that He is there with her every step of the way. Besides spending time with her son, Nicole enjoys a good cup of coffee, crocheting, reading, taking walks when the weather is nice and investing in things that bring her joy and honor the Lord. She loves setting goals and reading up on topics that interest her. Her future plans include gardening on her front patio, getting healthier and focusing on the blessings in each day.