Tip #2: Set Your Goals

🎧 Morning Tips for Night Owls: Setting Goals for Your Mornings

Getting up early is hard. We've figured the why behind an early morning, and now we need a what. What is it that we are shooting for?

Plan Your Ideal Goal

I like to start by dreaming about what my ideal morning would be, given my current stage of life. What do I want my ideal mornings to include?

• Time with God
• A bit of planning for the day
• Work on writing projects
• Exercise
• Shower

What does your ideal morning look like?

Do Some Calculating

Now I need to take an honest look at how long it would take for each component.

• God: 25 minutes
• Planning: 5 minutes
• Writing: 10 minutes
• Move: 10 minutes
• Shower: 10 minutes

So, if my dream morning would take about an hour, assuming there are no interruptions and I stay on task. From here, I can work backwards to figure out a wake time. My kids wake up—on average—around 7:00, so to have the hour chunk of time alone I would need to get up at 6am.

How long would your ideal morning take? What time would you need to get up for your ideal morning to happen?

Plan Your Current Reality Goal

OK, so we all know this is not going to happen overnight. This is why we need more than one goal. We should start with the foundation goal of a 3-Minute Mornings and then add this long term goal. If our ideal morning is our only goal we are likely to get discouraged. 

With this ideal long-term goal in view, a more achievable goal needs to be made. Take a look at what is reality now and work toward a small move forward, a transition that can be made in a few months.

Remember the ultimate goal is a life-long morning routine, so feel free to take baby steps.

If I just woke up 5 minutes earlier each MONTH, then by the end of the year, I'd have a rock solid hour morning routine that I eased into painlessly and without having to utilize will power or superhuman self discipline. 

 What is your morning goal? How can you break it down into tiny, simple steps?