I love having my morning time.  I’ve done the Maximize Your Mornings Challenge, I’ve read and taught Kat’s eBook many times and I’ve made my morning time a habit.

Yet something has happened quite often since I’ve begun saying Hello to Mornings.


It goes in waves.

I have a few weeks of perfection where I’m up at 6:00am praying, reading my bible, organizing my day and tweeting!

But then it happens.  A strange crashing down of all that I used to be so good at.  It’s called life.  Things get busy: kids get sick, parties are going on, church responsibilities, vacation time. And before I know it, I’m out of my morning habit.

This has happened to me numerous times.

At first I would get really frustrated and question what was wrong with me.  I would beat myself up for not staying consistent.  I was disappointed in myself.

But then, as time passed, the routine would kick back into gear and I’d quickly be enjoying my morning routine again.  So I’m learning that it goes in waves.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

As long as I have intentions to start back up, I simply need to let life happen sometimes, and go with the flow.  Now I’m not saying stop fighting for what you want, Yes fight.  Fight back hard!

But there are times when life is screaming the obvious, and we must re-prioritize and focus on those things that need our attention most.

Mornings are like breath to me. 

I’m more alive when I have that solitude and focus time.  I can only hold my breath so long before I must start back up and breath freely every morning!

If you’ve ever felt this way whether in your morning time, exercise routine or any other area of your life, I want to encourage you to keep facing forward.

Don’t give up.  

Just remind yourself, like I have to, that life is full of waves.  Sometimes you must ride the wave.

So my quest to begin saying Hello to Mornings has been off and on.  I have great days and not so great days, although I guess that’s to be expected.

If you’re new here or you’ve missed out on Hello Mornings, Week 1, or Week 2, it won’t take you long to get caught up!

Today I’m combining Week 3: Develop and Exercise Plan and Week 4: Create a Planning Routine from Kat’s {free} eBook, Maximize Your Mornings. I’m very excited to continue this with you!

So grab your coffee and let’s get started!!

• Calendar
• To-Do List
• Dinner

So there you have Week 3 & 4 in a nut shell.  Developing a new habit takes time, I’m having to be patient with myself in the process of Maximizing my Mornings (MYM).

MYM is a part of So I Married a Mennonite.
Join in the club and be encouraged on Twitter, use #HelloMornings (don’t forget the ‘s’ at the end).  You can follow me @happyandersons

Download Kat’s book here; and I’ll see you back next week for the final reflection and wrap up of saying Hello to Mornings!

This week began my Morning Challenge and I’m looking forward to starting a new routine.  This challenge is (or should say “was”) inspired by Kat’s Book and hosted at Michelle’s Blog during the month of August.  I missed it, but was still inspired to do it on my own because I could use some serious inspiration in this area.

I am much more of a morning person than the Hubs, who’s a serious night owl; but I’ve never maximized the time I have when everything is quiet and I’m all by myself.  This month long challenge is going to help me do just that. 

Kat’s @IspiredtoAction has written the eBook Maximize your Mornings, and so I printed it off and am in the process of reading through it again.

Step number 1 is How to Get out of Bed.

There are times I can literally jump out of bed and be wide awake the moment my alarm goes off.  And yet there are other times (lately, it’s been all the time) that I’m so groggy and don’t want to do anything but go back to sleep and I hit snooze over and over and over.

It becomes a balancing act for me when I must balance early to bed with spending time with the Hubs; because like I said he is such a night owl.  And there’s nothing I love more than watching Everybody Loves Raymond or playing Nintendo Wii (yes I rock at tennis!) or just hanging out with him! Yet, if I stay up too late, I’m exhausted the next day and can’t function properly.  I also get up to nurse once a night with baby, so my sleep is interrupted and that definitely affects my ability to get out of bed in the mornings.

So the first thing I need to tackle is getting out of bed.  In Kat’s book she has given us some Action Steps that I wrote down on page 5 & 6.

1. What time will you wake up? My goal is 6:00am, but I’m going to start with 7:00am and work my way back to 6:00

2. What time do you  need to go to bed to make sure you still get enough sleep? I need 7 – 8 hours, so I need to go to bed at 11:00.

3. Collect all the items you need for your morning time: For me this includes my Bible, journal, Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, phone (iPod), workout items (Jillian Michaels DVD, mat, weights, shoes), my Homemaking Binder and a pen

4. Set your alarm clock. Phone set for 7:00

5. Find an accountability partner.  Hubby 

Whew!  That wasn’t so bad, it’s actually getting up and doing it that will be key.  I’m also curious how the kids will do because they wake up sometime in the 7:00 hour.  So this will be interesting. 

Here are some Discussion Questions that Michele asked the first week.

What will be your biggest obstacle to overcome this month?
This month my biggest obstacle will probably be consistency.  Making myself do the prep the night before when I’m tired knowing that it will make my morning run all the more smoothly.

What time are you setting your alarm clock for this week?
7:00 am

Here we go, wish me luck!