Why You Can’t Stick to Your Morning Routine (And What to Do About It)

Do you feel like you’ve tried everything to get your mornings going? Do you find yourself struggling to get out of bed? If you’re like most people, the answer is probably yes.

How about that anxious feeling before you head out the door to start your day? The one where you don’t know where your day will take you, and you’re not sure if you’ll be able to stick to your routine?

Well, that’s how most people feel most days, only this is how most people feel before they head out to work.

Staying on top of a consistent morning schedule can be difficult. It doesn’t help that our lives are filled with so many distractions and responsibilities that it’s easy to lose sight of what’s essential.

The morning is the most important time of the day. Because it’s the first time your brain is active, and you’re usually sharper than usual. That’s why so many people love their morning routines and morning rituals.

“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days — which inevitably create a successful life,” writes Hal Elrod, the author of The Miracle Morning.

But some people are just bad at sticking to their schedules and routines. For them, it’s almost impossible to get themselves up and ready at the same time every day.

Getting your mornings going is a challenge for many people. The routine is difficult to establish, and once they’ve managed to throw on some clothes and make their way out of the house, it’s almost impossible to keep going.

You can’t stick to your morning routine because you don’t have a strong reason to get up and get things done. Your why is not good enough for you.

You can’t stick to a morning routine because of how busy your days already are. When you’re already running on fumes, it’s nearly impossible to set aside time to prepare for the day.

Without a well-planned schedule, it’s impossible to get anything done.

Most people can’t stick to a consistent morning routine because they don’t set themselves up for a successful morning.

A convincing and specific reason why you need a morning routine changes everything.

If you’re like most people, you probably feel like you waste a lot of time in the morning. It’s hard to feel excited about getting up at the same time every day without a clear purpose.

Why is getting up early important to you? What can a consistent morning routine do for your productivity?

What tasks do you want to start doing first thing in the morning? Do you want to spend some time working on your personal projects in the mornings?

What do you expect of yourself every morning?

And most importantly, what obstacles or distractions stand in your way, and what are you willing to do to remove them?

Define how you want to start your morning before you wake up.

Make it insanely specific. Break the few hours of the morning into tasks. What time do you want to get up, exercise, have breakfast or start productive work?

Don’t cram too many things into your morning — limit your morning to-do to a few important things that mean a lot to your success.

It’s a simple habit that removes decision-making in the morning and helps you get straight to what you want to do?

Whilst we don’t have complete influence over the details of every morning, we can put things in place to create a realistic and practical morning routine we can actually stick to. A routine that can contribute to our success.

“Over my 50 years in business I have learned that if I rise early I can achieve so much more in a day, and therefore in life. No matter where I am in the world, I try to routinely wake up at around 5am,” Richard Branson once said.

Make your morning routine work for you, not against you.

If your current morning routine doesn’t work, tweak it, change it, remove distractions, and add exciting or inspirational tasks to get you out of bed. Make it uniquely yours.

This article originally appeared in Medium.