I have been adding new healthy components to my morning routine, and I want to share my process with you!  Then you can see how to re-work your routines when you consider new challenges and solutions.  

Here are a few truths I have discovered, perhaps you can learn from them:

1. Stressing out about healthy habits defeats the purpose of healthy habits. I’m adding these habits for wellness.  How about you?  Stressed out about being less stressed?
2. To feel good all day and defeat temptation, I need to start strong so that I can stay strong.  Do you agree, for yourself?  For example… last weekend, I had a slice of cold deep dish pizza for breakfast.  And it was GOOD!  However…. blowing off my routine made it easier to blow off good habits for the rest of the day.  Maybe it was because it was Saturday and routines are meant to be blown off once in a while, but I think the pizza was a delicious but unwise choice.
3. Decision making slows me down in the morning. Maybe this is just me.  But now is the time to think things through, put the healthy habits in the right order, and make them routine.  So I can think about other things.

 Here are my challenges, and what I am doing about it:

• My health care professionals advised me to drink more water. Not a gallon a day, or even 100 ounces, just More.
• Based on what I’ve been reading, I also want to drink 12-24 oz of lemon water in the morning (http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/11-benefits-lemon-water-you-didnt-know-about.html)

• I’m avoiding a few food ingredients that happen to be in most breakfast foods. So I need a healthy, substantial and easy solution that I don’t have to think about.
• I’ve gotten very consistent about taking my vitamins daily, now I need to be consistent about taking them in the morning.

I work with a “morning line-up” when I get ready in the morning (go to the original blog article here). I line up what I need – face lotion, contacts, toothbrush and paste, etc. – on the bathroom counter, and put each item away after I use it.  The goal is a Ready Me and a clean counter.  Knowing the line-up works, I decided to try the same idea with my morning nutrition – lining up all the items I need to consume in the morning and throughout the day on the counter and putting the items away when I am done.  Here’s how:

• Attach the new habits to a habit that already works.  I will never forget my coffee.  So, my kitchen line-up starts when I make my first cup of coffee, even if I don’t drink it right away!
• Choose the location for the routine: The counter with the coffee maker is where the kitchen line-up will live.
• Choose a few specific steps and put them in a efficient, time-saving order. I can start my first cup of coffee brewing; then standing at the same counter, pour the lemon water, mix up my vitamin shake, start my oatmeal, and fill my reusable water bottle and set it by the door and my briefcase.
• Have a back-up plan.  I programmed my phone to remind me to take everything before 8:15 when we leave the house for school and work.
• Some tasks can remain flexible.  I’ve been aiming for a banana-orange smoothie (3 servings of fruit) every day, but it makes a great afternoon snack, and doesn’t need to happen in the morning.
• The goal is a Ready-and Fortified Me and a clean counter.

So, what’s it going to be?  Do you have health and wellness goals you need to cultivate?  Try the steps above and add healthy habits to your morning routine!