My days went from chaos to order when I made the decision to organize my time around when I would pray. All other tasks and duties revolve around my first task and duty, to communicate with my Creator. Prioritizing time with God put my entire day into perspective and simplified my routine.
Disciplining My Heart, Mind, and Will
It took a lot of discipline to get to this point. I promised myself that I would pray during the times I set aside each day no matter how I was feeling. My prayer times range in duration throughout the day, but it’s not the length of time that matters—it’s the fact that I am prioritizing my relationship with God above all things and all people.
How to Simplify Your Morning Routine
This has led to both freedom and simplicity. I used to fall into my day without a routine and reacted to everything and everyone that came at me. Now I wake up and give my first fruits to Christ, no matter how I feel. I know that no matter what happens in my day, all my failures and successes, I have done the most important thing: speak with God.
Envision the Person You Want To Become
We are created for holiness, to become Saints! Envision the person, the Saint, you want to become. Do you want to be a leader, motivated by love? Do you want to offer sacrifices for our Church? Do you want to use your time wisely and for His greater glory? Picture that person and write down the qualities of the person you desire to be. This will help you make a routine that enables you to become that person.
All of our sacrifices and actions—whether it’s waking up twenty-five minutes earlier so we can pray or going to monthly confession—shapes us and molds our hearts.
Write Down Your Routine
Taking time to write down a schedule to simplify our routine is essential. We are better able to take care of ourselves and serve those around us. We begin to respond instead of react.
Take the time today to create a weekly routine. Write out the hours of your morning, then write down when you will pray. After that, list the essentials (this includes prayer, rest, and leisure, too!) you need to accomplish before noon. Visualizing what we need to accomplish each morning helps us reach our goals.
Next, list the non-essentials you’d like to accomplish. Everything from scrolling Instagram to making a phone call, write it down and when you’d like to do those things after your essentials are completed! Visualizing the details of our to-do lists helps us feel less overwhelmed and brings peace.
My Morning Routine
My routine looks like this: I set aside time for prayer, first thing, after waking up. I read the daily Mass readings and pray the Office of Readings and Morning Prayer found in the Divine Office.
I eat breakfast, exercise, shower, teach my son his pre-k lessons, prepare lunch, eat, and clean up.
Some Practical Tips
- Don’t be afraid to adjust your routine if it isn’t working out. With a four year old son, I am revising my morning routine often. Our routines are meant to free us, not enslave us.
- Challenge yourself. Refining ourselves is difficult and takes discipline. Don’t give up! Ask for the grace and strength from God to reach your goals. If you miss a prayer time, don’t toss away your entire routine!
- Offer it up and try again!
- Read A Mother’s Rule of Life, The Pope and the CEO, and Atomic Habits.
- Place your daily routine somewhere you can see it often. Have scripts of encouragement that you can repeat when things get hard or you don’t feel like sticking to your routine.
- Set out anything you need for the morning the night before. Our mornings begin before we go to bed!
- Have an accountability partner! Find someone on the Blessed is She Instagram page or a friend who is yearning to simplify their mornings, too! Exchange ideas and tips.
- Don’t touch your phone (social media) until your morning essential to-do list is complete!
What are ways you simplify your morning? What times do you have set aside for prayer? What have you found helpful? Share in the comments below!
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Claire Couche is a wife, etiquette instructor, blogger, homeschooling mother, and registered nurse. She is passionate about sharing content that helps her community live a beautiful and virtuous life. Using her degrees in theology and history, Claire shares about the Catholic faith often on her IG account @findingphilothea and her website, Finding Philothea. You can often find her reading a good book in a beautiful dress! Learn more about Claire and all things etiquette here.
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