How to Build a Neurospicy Spoonie Morning Routine

So you're neurospicy and/or a spoonie and you want to build an effective morning routine for yourself. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly how to do that and more.

Watch the video below or read on for the full transcript.

If you're neurospicy or a spoonie and are looking to master yourself and your time in a compassionate way, this is the place for you to be. Subscribe to my channel and hit the bell to be notified when I post a new video every other Tuesday.

Since this is one of my most popular posts, I thought I would revisit the topic and go more in depth with how to build the perfect morning routine for you, so let's get started.

P.S. If you're one of my Action Navigator students, what I'm talking about today follows along with the Routine Builder Cheat Sheet.

First of all, let's define what a routine is.

A routine is simply a sequence of actions that take place in the same order at approximately the same time each day or after the same habit trigger. Routines can also take place weekly, monthly, yearly, et cetera.

Then there are also what I call ritual or micro routines which are simply a short sequence of actions to prepare yourself to do something else. Common micro routines or rituals are like a writing ritual or a homework ritual, that kind of thing.

So now that we have the definitions out there, the first step is to define the purpose of your morning routine.

This is a critical step because so much of the information about morning routines out in the internet these days are based on the routines of quote unquote, "successful people." And without taking that extra step to really decide, "what is the purpose of my morning routine?" we can fall into the pitfall of just trying to be ambiguously successful, trying to mimic someone else successful without taking the time to really think about the elements of a morning routine and how they would or would not benefit you.

And we'll get to this a little bit later today, but a lot of elements of successful person morning routines are actually contraindicated for people with chronic illness, mental illness, and neurodivergence.

This why part is really important. So some examples of what can be included in the purpose behind your morning routine is: to wake up fully, prepare your body, prepare your brain, prepare your emotions, plan for the day. These are things that help set you up for success in your day. Not somebody else's day, YOUR day.

Something else that can be really helpful to include in the purpose of a morning routine is to make progress on something meaningful/important to you, but that isn't urgent. So for example, if you're wanting to write a novel, you can just incorporate five minutes of writing into your morning routine every morning and then that important and meaningful, but not urgent, thing is done and taken care of before you go about the rest of your day. And that can be so motivating and transformative.

Other purposes you can have behind a morning routine is to accommodate your health, your physical health, mental health, your neurodivergence.

And then for a lot of you I know there was some criticism about my previous morning routine video because it didn't take into account parents or people who work. And I was simply sharing my experience as someone with disabilities that prevent me having a standard job working for somebody else. I have to work for myself in order to accommodate myself, and I live with a partner and I don't have children. I have fur babies, but I know that's not the same thing. So if you are someone who does have those things, if you do have children, if you do have a job, taking into account what would set you up for success to have a healthy, compassionate day where you accomplish the things you need to accomplish while not burning yourself out?

That's important stuff to take into account when considering what is the purpose of your morning routine. So the first step to designing a morning routine that meets your needs is to basically figure out what your needs are. What is the purpose behind your morning routine? What do you need to accomplish in that time to set you up for your version of success each day?

Once you've figured that out, comment below and tell me what the primary purpose of your morning routine is.

Now, the next step after defining your purpose is to simply brainstorm and choose elements for your morning routine.

Like I mentioned before, due to the popularity of morning routines in hustle culture, many people feel like they're supposed to choose elements for their morning routine based on the morning routines of successful people, instead of thinking critically about what would or would not meet their specific needs. So we're fixing that today.

As you brainstorm, keep your purpose front of mind. So some popular elements in that successful category are: journaling, exercise, and meditation. Can these be valuable elements to add to a morning routine? Yes. But they're not necessarily great for everybody.

For example, in this post I talked about why meditation can actually be harmful for some of us with trauma. For those of us with chronic illnesses, exercising is often simply out of the question in the morning. And journaling can be really helpful. Like I know a lot of people are a fan of Julia Cameron's morning pages, but that's a huge investment both cognitively, emotionally, and for some of us physically. We simply just don't have the capacity to spend that many spoons in the morning on that kind of activity. And that's why I invented Anytime Pages.

This is where taking into account what will benefit you and weighing various elements of a morning routine against that can be really helpful. I don't journal. I don't exercise, and I don't meditate in my morning routine. I have released myself from the obligation to include those "successful people" things in my morning routine, and by giving myself that permission, I now have a morning routine that meets my needs and I am so much more successful (my version of success) because of it. And that's what I want to encourage you to do as well.

So some other elements that can be really important, like especially if you have children or if you have a job is, you know: wake up the kids, feed the kids, prep them for school, take them to school. You have to prep yourself for work, take yourself to work. Often those are non-negotiables that a lot of people need to include in their morning routine. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's just something to consider, because those are the non-negotiables, how many nooks and crannies, if at all, do you have left in your time and capacity in the morning to do other things and what elements, if you were to fit them into the nooks and crannies of your time and capacity in the morning would give you the most benefit to help set you up for the day?

So, like I talked about in my original morning routine video here are the elements of my routine and why I include them.

First thing I do is I snooze on purpose. I have two alarms set for every Monday through Friday and they're half an hour apart. So what this does is if I need that extra half an hour of sleep, I get it. If I don't, I get half an hour to be an inert potato in bed. This helps me mentally, emotionally, and physically prepare for the next step in my routine, which is booting up my brain. And like I talked about in my original video, that involves passively scrolling a curated social media feed that helps me feel positive. I learn interesting things and it's just a safe space for me to be while my very foggy chronic illness brain is getting plenty of time to boot up.

I can't just go from alarm to doing stuff. I function like a Windows 95 computer. It takes time. And as soon as I came to terms with that, I do so much better now because I give myself the time and space I need to boot up. And I realize not everybody has that time and space, but just because you don't have as much as I do doesn't mean you cannot accommodate yourself in a unique way that meets your needs and suits your circumstances. So please think critically about these things. How can you accommodate yourself and your needs in the morning?

So after booting up my brain, I do at least one chore. And then that way, at the end of the day, if I don't do a single other chore my house is in better order than it was when I woke up. And I know that I'm not gonna fall extremely far behind. And the other great thing about a chore is it's not cognitively taxing. So I'm getting more time to boot up my brain. And I often listen to a podcast while I'm doing my chore. So it's more like passive enjoyment, not having to think really hard. And it's something that warms up my body. So I'm preparing my body for the day while my brain is getting more time to boot up.

Then I have breakfast, and then I rest, because even though the chore was great and making breakfast was great to warm up my body, because of my chronic illnesses, I then need to recover from that movement. So I rest next, and that rest includes leisurely eating my breakfast and probably scrolling more curated social media.

The next part is how I transition into my work day, and that involves planning my day and actually consciously transitioning into the first task of work. And that's how I blur the transition between my morning routine and my morning work routine.

So that's a quick run through of the elements that I include in my routine and why. And so hopefully, that information can help you critically think about what elements, if you were to add or take them away from your morning routine, would provide you the most bang for your buck. Ultimately, the goal is to have a morning routine that is as lean as possible while still meeting your needs.

Next, you wanna choose the order of those elements.

You wanna order your routine in such a way that accommodates your needs instead of adding more stress and/or draining your gas tanks unnecessarily. And if you're unfamiliar with the gas tank terminology, I talk about it in this post.

So if you were to go back and re-listen to the explanation of the elements that I have in my morning routine, I gave them in the order that I do them. And you'll notice that the order is just as important as the elements themselves. Doing my chore after doing my morning social media allows my brain more time to not have to think so hard, which is really important for my foggy brain, while starting to slowly wake up the rest of my body even more by adding some physical movement.

Normally the next step in building a routine would be to choose your habit trigger, which would start the routine. But as this is a morning routine, the habit trigger is automatically either when your alarm goes off in the morning or when you wake up naturally.

Now you know exactly how to build a morning routine that meets your needs instead of someone else's. Earlier I mentioned that this video would be a great compliment to the Routine Builder cheat sheet inside my signature course, The Action Navigator. My course is packed to the brim with tools and techniques for mastering your time, getting organized, and offering yourself radical compassion as a neurospicy spoonie.

If that sounds like exactly what you've been looking for, use this link to book a Zoom call with me to learn more. I can't wait to meet you!

Check out this post next to hear me rate common productivity tips from a spoonie perspective.

If you liked this video, hit that like button and subscribe and be sure to share it with your friends. I'll be back in two weeks with another video. See you then, bye.