Say what you want about the self-help world, but if there’s one thing they got right, it’s morning routines.
You don’t even need to adopt the industry standard habits either. No 4 a.m. wake-up times or cold showers necessary. A walk would suffice. Or a stretch. Even brewing your coffee a certain way counts as a routine, as long as you commit to it daily.
Why are routines important? Because when there is one constant, every other variable in life becomes more noticeable.
We’re human, after all, and we’re all susceptible to the likes of insomnia, illness, or in my case, constantly making vague references to goat sacrifices.
This is where routines come into play. They help ground us. They’re the one thing that binds our days together, regardless of their contents. That’s where we learn how to perform, despite our feelings.
Feeling tired? You do your morning yoga anyway. Sick? You unfurl that mat. Hungover? Do. The. Downward. Dog.
Once your mind learns it’s stronger than your body, once you gain more faith in yourself, you’ll start taking on bigger tasks. And you continue this trend, knowing that you can keep your promises to self, no matter what life throws at you.
There’s no magic in getting up earlier. No secret sauce to meditations. It’s the cumulative effect of showing up every day—get this—regardless of how you feel.
And it all starts with a simple thing like a five-minute stretch every day.
Or a daily goat sacrifice.
Your Friendly Malaysian Writer 
I have two routines, my morning one, where I get myself and my family ready to face the day, and my evening one, where I prepare myself and my family (or more, the dog) to relax. My morning one generally consists of self-care and breakfasts, and my evening routine consists of self-care and meditation (for me) or a treat toy (for Hugo). It’s all simple stuff, as you rightly say, but it prepares you for/relaxes you from the day.
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Simple routines work best, I guess. While mundane, they are easy to do. Simple goals help celebrate ‘small’ wins which then become bigger goals…very soon the snow ball on top of the mountain rolls down bigger and faster and becomes unstoppable ♥️ 💪 ✨️
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When the school year ends, I make sure to create some sort of routine for my summer days. Otherwise I end up… I don’t know… just wondering how it could be 3pm and I’ve done absolutely nothing useful all day!
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Excellent, Stuart! A consistent step toward what you want makes all the difference, especially when you see how far you’ve traveled a year later.
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Goat sacrifice sounds like fun
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Oh I’m with you there Stuart with routines! First thing I do every single morning, is make the beds, and open those blinds to let all that brightness in. I’m raring to go. It then becomes habitual doesn’t it? Hope you’re keeping well and thanks for the post 🙂
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“Or in my case, constantly making vague references to goat sacrifices.” L. O. L.
“Do. The. Downward. Dog.” Also good!
“Or a daily goat sacrifice.” Oh my goodness. Too much!
“It’s the cumulative effect of showing up every day—get this—regardless of how you feel.” Not funny just good advice. Put in the work. Roger that, Stuart! Thanks for the reminder. :)
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Love it! Simple, so true and yet so motivating.
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