FARMHOUSE 654
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Freebies
  • Favorites
  • Disclosures

start the day.

1/7/2020

0 Comments

 
You may remember at the end of 2018 when I shared about my morning routine on the blog.

Although I knew how important a morning routine was, it wasn't until I read The Power of Habit last year that I learned how beautifully automatic mornings could become.
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg enlightens his readers about the habit loop.
  1. Cue
  2. Routine
  3. Reward

In any of our daily routines, the habit loop is present.

An example of this might be pulling into the driveway and automatically walking to the mailbox every single day after work.
Another example might be reaching for your house keys to unlock the door as you walk to the house when you get home.

​​These sequences of events are automatic. 

You don't even think about them. 

There's practically no thought necessary to get the mail from the mailbox or unlock your house.

Did you know that humans are wired to make a specific amount of decisions each day?

We each have a certain decision-making capacity and we often use a lot of our decisions on meaningless activities.

(Sidenote: This is often why people make poor food choices late at night. They've hit their decision quota for the day, so they're unable to effectively decide "no ice cream" is the correct option.)

By creating healthy habits in our morning routines (and in other areas of our lives), we create automatic sequences and cut out decisions.

Make your morning routine a habit.

Here is my morning routine:
  • Wake up
  • Make the bed
  • Put on the workout clothes that I laid out the night before
  • Workout
  • Start the coffee pot
  • Shower & get ready for the day
  • Make my coffee
  • Bible Study/Prayer Time
  • Get the kids up and ready

Now...in all honesty, over the last few months, my third and fourth steps have gone away.

I injured my hip while training for a half-marathon back in the fall and I wasn't able to workout for several months.

Now I'm healthy again and will need to re-train myself to include that working out habit in the mornings.  For now, it's a daily decision.

The beauty of the habit cue is that we have the power to change our habits.

Last summer, I started experimented with habit loops.

When my feet hit the floor every morning, I would turn around and make the bed.

Within two minutes of my alarm going off, I have already accomplished something and now every time I walk by the bedroom through the day, I will remember that accomplishment.  

As part of my bedtime routine, I've laid out my workout clothes and my clothes for the day.

Once the bed is made, I put on my workout clothes and head outside to run, to the basement to the treadmill, or to the living room to workout with a video.

It is automatic and once those clothes & tennis shoes are on, it sure is easier to get that movement taken care of first thing in the morning instead of having to decide to fit it in later in the evening.

After my workout, I start the coffee pot as I walk to the shower.

When I'm out of the shower and ready for the day, I make coffee and do my Bible study.
Cue (feet hit the floor)
Routine (make the bed)
Reward (feeling of accomplishment by 5:02 a.m.)

Cue (bed is made)
Routine (put on my workout clothes & workout)
Reward (healthy mindset for the rest of the day)

Cue (workout is finished)
Routine (start the coffee & shower)
Reward (kickstart my day with movement, Jesus, and coffee!)
It is SO AUTOMATIC.  I don't ever miss a Bible study anymore (or coffee!).

By the time the girls get up and around, I've made the bed, had 30 minutes of activity, and have done my quiet time with Jesus. 

And the beauty of it is that I didn't have to DECIDE to do any of these things.

The habit is there.


The reward from one habit loop becomes the cue for the next habit loop.

My mornings at home run like this now and I cannot even believe I lived for so long without understanding how habits work.

I hope you'll consider developing a morning routine over the next few weeks.  

Take some time to really think about the habit loops that you find yourself in the first part of your day.
View this post on Instagram

Headed out to church this morning. What a beautiful, autumn morning it was. #skagway #thesevenexperiment #adrianchristianchurch #countrysunrise

A post shared by Hannah Newkirk (@farmhouse654) on Oct 13, 2019 at 4:45pm PDT

Enjoying my mornings at the farmhouse,
Hannah
0 Comments
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    July 2022
    June 2022
    October 2021
    July 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Picture
    Picture
    Shop Hannah's Amazon Wish List

    Categories

    All
    12-week
    12 Week Challenge
    12-Week Challenge
    12 Week Year
    12-week-year
    2018
    2019
    2020
    2021
    2022
    30 Book Challenge
    52 Weeks
    5K
    About Me
    ACC
    AirBNB
    Allergies
    Amazon
    Annual Planning
    Anxiety
    Apart
    Assessment
    Author
    Automatic
    Autumn
    Babysteps
    Back To School
    Balance
    Bedroom Decor
    Before And After
    Bible
    Bible School
    Bible Study
    Biggest Loser
    Birthday
    Birthdays
    Blessings
    Blogging
    Blues
    Book
    Books
    Budgeting
    Building
    Calendar
    Camo
    Career
    Car Purchase
    Celebrations
    Cell Phone
    Challenge
    Challenges
    Change Of Plans
    Changes
    Children
    Children's Bedroom
    Children's Organization
    Chores
    Chores With Kids
    Christmas
    Christmas Cards
    Christmas Countdown
    Christmas Tree
    Church
    Church Camp
    Church Ladies
    Cleaning
    Cleaning House
    Clearance
    Clothes
    Clutter
    Coffee
    Commitment
    Contentment
    Control
    Cooking
    Countdown
    Country
    Country Living
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cows
    Creativity
    Crocs
    Crying
    Daily Routines
    Dave Car
    Dave Ramsey
    Debt
    Debt Snowball
    Decision-Making
    Declutter
    Decor
    Decorating
    Decorations
    Dedication
    Delta Airlines
    Depression
    Devotion
    Difference-Maker
    Digital
    Disagreements
    Diy
    Dreams
    Duke
    Ebook
    Education
    Emotions
    End Of The School Year
    Every Dollar
    Exercise
    Faith
    Family
    Family Dinners
    Family Meeting
    Family Trip
    Farm
    Farmhouse
    Farmhouse654
    Farmhouse Decor
    Farmhouse Front Porch
    Farmhouse-kitchen
    Farmhouse-office
    Farmhouse Organization
    Farmhouse-playroom
    Farmhousestyle
    Farmhouse-style
    Farmhouse Table
    Farm Life
    Finances
    Fine
    Finish
    Flooding
    Food-freedom
    Four-Week Plan
    Friendship
    Frustration
    Funny
    Furniture
    Gallery-wall
    Giftgiving
    Gifts
    Goals
    Goal Setting
    Goal-Setting
    Good-enough
    Google
    Grandparent
    Grandparents
    Grateful
    Gratitude
    Gretchen Rubin
    Grief
    Growing Up
    Growth
    Habits
    Happier
    Harlee
    Health
    Healthy
    Heaven
    History
    Holidays
    Home
    Home Decor
    Home Improvement
    Home Management
    Home-management
    Home Manager
    Home Organization
    Home-renovation
    Home-studio
    Hospitality
    House
    House-purchase
    Humor
    Ideas
    Impulse-purchases
    Influence
    Inspire
    Insurance
    Intentional
    Interior Design
    Journal
    Journaling
    Journey
    Keto
    Kids
    Kindness
    Kingdom Kids
    Kitchen
    Konmari
    Last 56 Days
    Laundry
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Life
    Loss
    Love
    Love Languages
    Marriage
    Meal Planning
    Meals
    Memories
    Mentor
    Merch
    Merchandise
    Midwest
    Minimalist Lifestyle
    Mizzou
    Money
    Mood Elevator
    Morning
    Morning Routine
    Mornings
    Motherhood
    Moving
    Mug
    Music
    Newkirk Photography
    New Year
    New Years Resolutions
    Nutrition
    Office
    On A Budget
    One Line A Day
    One Word
    Online Shopping
    Opinions
    Organization
    Organizing
    Outdoors
    Overwhelmed
    Paint
    Parenting
    Past
    Patience
    Photography
    Physical Wellness
    Planning
    Playroom
    Porch Swing
    Positive Attitude
    Prayer
    Preparation
    Printable Book
    Printables
    Projects
    Publishing
    Quarantine
    Quiet Time
    Quilting
    Raising Kids
    Ramsey
    Reading List
    Real Estate
    Refinance
    Relax
    Relaxation
    Reminders
    Reset
    Resolutions
    Rest
    Resting State
    Road Trip
    Role Model
    Room Reveal
    Routine
    Routines
    Running
    Savings
    School
    School Administration
    School Year
    Seasonal
    Seasons
    Senior Pictures
    Shoes
    Shop Local
    Sick
    Simple Living
    Simplicity
    Simplify
    Sisters
    Small Business
    Snow
    Snow Day
    Special Education
    Special Education Director
    Spiritual Growth
    Spring
    Start
    Stop Day
    Storage
    Stress
    Struggle
    Struggles
    Student Engagement
    Summer
    Supper Swap
    Survival Mode
    Target
    Task Cards
    Tasks
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tee
    Teenager
    Thankful
    Thanksgiving
    Third Grade
    Thunderstorms
    To Do
    To Do List
    Together
    Tradition
    Traditions
    Transformation
    Transitions
    Travel
    Trip
    Truth
    T-shirt
    Tshirts
    Twelve Weeks
    Vacation
    Valentine's Day
    Vision
    Vision Board
    Walmart
    Water
    Weather
    Wedding
    Wedding Photography
    Weekend
    Weekly Goals
    Weekly Home Blessing
    Weekly Plan
    Weight
    Wellness
    Whole30
    Window Shopping
    Winter
    Word Of The Year
    Work
    Workout
    Workspace
    Writer
    Writing
    Zones
    Zone Work

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Podcast
  • Contact
  • Freebies
  • Favorites
  • Disclosures