With the summer season, it’s great in most ways but hard to navigate in others.

The weather, the vacations, the pool time, the gatherings, the extra time with your kids – all great.

The lack of structure, routine, and then also the lack of childcare can make it harder to find a good rhythm within your day.

Notice how I mentioned more time with your kids as both a great and challenging thing – both are true.

But a lack of routine makes it very difficult to stick to the habits you say you want to establish or keep.

And this is why in this episode we are going to establish your summer rhythm from a weekly perspective, and we are going to approach that starting with our morning routines.

There Is Hope For You

Listen – I have not always been a morning person. There is HOPE FOR YOU!!

I was forced into an early morning routine in the fall of 2018, so I am coming up on 8 years as a morning person.

I can say will full confidence that I don’t think I’ll ever look back.

If you want to become a morning person you can literally just go to bed tonight and decide to become a morning person!

I want to remind you that routines can change with seasons.

Just a few episodes back in episode 12 of the podcast I walked you through my entire week, laying out what my days look like between my husbands schedule, my schedule, when I workout, where I workout each day whether that’s our home gym or the local public gym I go to, the days I have childcare versus the days I don’t, and what I work on in my business each day.

That episode was released back in February, and now it’s June so my entire schedule is shifting again.

That leads us into step 1 of this summer routine checklist.

Step 1 – Write Down Your Weekly Work Calendar

Or if you are a SAHM mom, your husband’s weekly work calendar.

Maybe there are certain days you or your husband work in the office and some days that you work from home.

Your morning routine might start earlier or later given these circumstances.

For me this summer, my husband leaves at 6:16 Mon – Thurs, but he has Friday’s off.

Maybe you or your husband work from the office Mon-Thurs but you work from home on Friday, so that morning you can start your routine a little later since you have more margin – less commute, not getting as ready, not having to pack a lunch.

Step 2 – Establish Your Daily “On the Clock” Time

Meaning the hour you are held accountable for something other than yourself.

For me, what I mean by “on the clock” time is the time I have to be back to my house because my husband leaves for work and I need to be home with the kids.

Maybe for you that’s the time your kids get up for the day.

Once again, this might be the same schedule for you Mon-Fri, but we still want to write it down just to allow ourselves to dump all of this out of our brain and onto paper.

Maybe your husband is a huge help getting the kids ready in the mornings, so your “on the clock” time is when you leave the house to take them to daycare or to the grandparents house as you head into work.

Whatever time it is, write that time down for Mon-Fri.

Step 3 – Work Backwards Through Your Morning List

Based on step 2 (the daily “on the clock” time you established), work backwards through a list of things you want to complete before your “on time” starts.

Maybe these things are:

• A morning devotional
• Cup of coffee
• Workout
• Shower
• Get ready
• Pack lunch

Get realistic for how long these things will take you.

You might be doing a 30-min version of the workout that day, but factor in getting the equipment out, loading the barbell, traveling to and from the gym, all those things that might only take a few minutes, but when you add them all up can possibly take up as much as 30 min or so.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – showing up to the gym with your workouts already planned out for you makes this so much more efficient.

If that’s something you need – consider joining my app subscription here.

These are the workouts I follow on a weekly basis – it’s what you always see me post on stories.

We have 2 options:

• A 3 day program called FOUNDATIONS
• A 5 day program called SPLIT

Back to my point on things taking longer than you might anticipate, be realistic here.

Maybe even as a test run for a few days time yourself to see how long these tasks take to get a good average.

I’ve realized how some people hear me say that and probably think – okay chill out 😂 I do not know what it is about me, but I am obsessed with knowing how long tasks take me. For example – and I think I am exposing myself with this one – but I timed myself for several days when I was applying makeup and I found out it takes me right at 9 min on average to do a full face of makeup. So now if I am in a rush, but I have 10 min, I know I atleast have time to do my makeup before I leave.

Maybe you don’t want to take things to this extreme, but there are some of you who are listening and think no she’s talking to me actually. So you’re welcome – there’s an idea for you to start tracking your daily tasks so you have a better idea of how long things actually take versus how long you wish they would take in an ideal world.

All-in-all, consider leaving yourself a little more margin than you think you may need, because rarely do things go exactly as planned.

Step 4 – Back Into Your Wake Time

Based on step 3 and the list of things you want to complete before your “on the clock” time, add all of those time estimates together and back into your wake time.

Let’s say your “on the clock” time is 7 am when your kids get up.

So you need to have all those morning tasks complete before then.

Map out the timeblocked tasks backwards.

So timeblock getting ready for the day – let’s say it takes 30 min between hair and makeup. Then timeblock your shower – let’s say 10 min. Your workout – let’s say 55 min between getting things setup or a possible commute to the gym and the actual workout itself. Your morning ritual of bible study / devotional / coffee – let’s say 25 min.

Based on all of these timeblocks, this entire routine would take you 2 hrs.

You would need to wake up at 5 am if you want to have everything completed to be “on the clock” by 7 am.

Once again, this includes:

• 25 min devotional, coffee, Bible
• 55 min workout, gym commute
• 10 min shower
• 30 min hair / makeup

So step 4 was to back into your wake time based on all your morning tasks.

Step 5 – Track Your Habit Streak

I’m going to link to a free downloadable habit tracker in the show notes so that you can shade in a box for every day you follow-through with your summer morning routine. This is a way to visually see your consistency (or lack thereof) over the course of a month.

As I always say – we must stay rooted in reality if we want to change / maintain our health or physique, and a habit tracker is a great way to track your current reality.

I often feel like summer is a season of more fun and flexibility, but it doesn’t have to also be a season where our health and routines take a major backseat.

Marking this tiny circle each day on your habit tracker is a small reward, but it gives you immediate, visible proof that you did what you said you were going to do.

Small wins are important, because most habits have delayed payoffs. You won’t see the results of one morning workout right away, but you can see the box filled in right now.

This gives your brain an instant checkbox of “done.”

The craving to shade the circle becomes its own driver, regardless of whether you actually enjoy the habit itself.

The whole thing is a productive hack.

And instead of an all-or-nothing mindset, have a “never miss twice” mindset. One miss is understandable, but two misses might be the start of your habits heading in the opposite direction.

So “never miss twice” is a good approach – and having this habit tracker shaded in circles keeps you rooted in reality. You can see whether you really are following through with what you say you want to do.

Schedule In The Fun, Too

Those are all 5 of the steps, and while a lot of my podcast episodes are centered around productivity and working towards goals, I also want you to schedule in fun this summer.

So weave time into your week to:

• Play in the back yard with your kids
• Take your kids to the pool
• Go to the playground
• Take an outdoor walk as a family

Lots of things that get you outside in the sunshine.

New To The Podcast?

I wanted to insert this here in case you’re new to the podcast, but if you can’t tell, I am very passionate about a solid morning routine.

I have recorded a few separate episodes on the subject of morning routines or habits in general.

I want you to go back and listen to the following episodes:

Episode 2 – How to Actually Become A Morning Person – 9 Proven Tasks That Make Early Mornings Easier

Episode 12 – Weekly Snapshot – How I Stay Fit and Productive as a SAH + WFH Mom This is the episode I just mentioned where I walk you through what my weeks looked like this past spring with my husbands off-season football schedule. It just gives and inside look on how I structure my days to make time for a solid morning routine, spending time with my kids, my workload as an online coach, going on daily outdoor walks, making dinner, etc.

Episode 14 – 7 Reasons You Keep Quitting (And how to finally stop) This one isn’t specifically about morning routines, but it 100% ties into habits and discipline, so is a great supporting episode for someone who’s wanting to establish a new habit of earlier mornings.

Episode 15 – Stop Winging Your Mornings – How to Use AI to build a routine that actually sticks

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That’s all for today – don’t forget about the free habit tracker, and if you need to offload your workout planning for the summer so that you can have more brain space and less wasted time, I create workouts so you don’t have to!