How to Actually Become a Morning Person: 9 Proven Tasks That Make Early Mornings Easier

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you fall into one of these camps:

A) You’re tired of waking up already behind because your kids need you the second your eyes open

B) You’re trying to squeeze in a workout before your toddler wakes up and hears you

C) You want to be a morning person, but sabotage yourself at 11 PM with your phone six inches from your face while doom scrolling Instagram or TikTok

I get it. I’ve been a morning person for seven years now, but I didn’t magically wake up one day craving early alarms and cozy routines. Back when I first started waking up early, I gave myself exactly 30 minutes from the moment I rolled out of bed to the moment I needed to start my workout. That included driving to the gym, grabbing a banana, and sipping coffee with eye crusties still intact.

If becoming a morning person feels impossible, this blog post is going to feel like a loving slap in the face. Because mornings are about systems, and your current systems probably aren’t working.

Early mornings require self-respect, honesty, and structure. 

So today, I’m walking you through nine specific (actually helpful) tasks to help you prepare for calmer, more consistent mornings. 

NUMBER SIX IS MY FAVORITE!

Let’s dive in.

1. Do a Night Audit, Not a Night Routine

Everyone talks about night routines, but if I asked most people what theirs is, they’d list things they wish they did. So instead, conduct a night audit.

Ask yourself:

What made my mornings chaotic this week?

What stressed me out?

What was an excuse I used to fall off track?

Get brutally specific.

Here are common morning derailments:

Not having gym clothes laid out, so you’re tiptoeing around trying not to wake anyone

Forgetting to charge your watch

No workout planned, so you get to the gym and wander around

Kitchen clutter creating instant irritation

Toys or laundry everywhere causing visual overload

Headphones dead

Hair ties missing again

Staying up late scrolling and waking up exhausted

Pick one thing that generally SENDS YOU, and create one micro system to fix it. For me, my workout clothes live in the bathroom at night so I’m not wandering around in the dark. 

YOUR HOMEWORK:

Open your Notes app and create a checklist note (the checklist format is important) titled “Nighttime Audit.” Add the exact things that irritated you this week, followed by a simple step you can take the night before to alleviate that irritation in the morning. That is your Nighttime Audit  list.

And remember: reviewing and checking off this list is satisfying even on nights when the task isn’t technically “needed.” Your brain loves completion. We’ll get into that more in tip six.

Here’s a screenshot of my Nighttime Audit for some ideas:

2. Your Phone Must Sleep Somewhere Else

I know this one hurts, but your phone sleeping next to you is like sleeping beside a slot machine in Vegas. It’s too tempting.

Charge your phone somewhere strategic. A great option is the bathroom. When the alarm goes off, you have to physically get up and walk to turn it off. And when you’re there, you see your clothes laid out and your environment ready for you. It’s like future you left a breadcrumb trail back to your goals.

You say you want to be a morning person. That means you owe it to yourself to follow through. Consistency = responsibility. Most people don’t fail from trying – they fail from not trying LONG ENOUGH.

3. Build a Transition Ritual, Even if It’s Only 5 Minutes

This is the moment between the alarm and the workout. Your “flip the switch” moment.

Right now mine is:

Coffee

Devotional or reading

THEN Workout

→ The coffee and reading are my transition ritual, where I talk myself out of / back into working out. 

Yours can be:

Turning on a lamp

Starting coffee

Eating a pre workout carb

Letting the dog out

Putting on workout clothes

Even just five minutes is enough. Your brain just needs a cue.

Back in 2018, my transition ritual was clothes, banana, coffee, out the door to the gym. Total time from wake up to workout: 30 minutes including drive time. Now my routine is longer, but I built up to that over the years. 

4. Pre Load Your Environment

Your environment is either helping you or hurting you.

If you want to work out in the morning:

Lay out clothes

Fill your water bottle

Set supplements on the counter

Place your resistance bands on the floor

Get out your dumbbells for the first exercise

Pre load your barbell if you’re doing squats or hip thrusts

If you want a calmer, more reflective morning:

Lay out your Bible, devotional, journal, and pen

Set a blanket on the couch

Clean off your workspace

Open your planner to the first task

You should wake up to a world that welcomes you, not overwhelms you.

5. Don’t Be an Idiot. Go to Bed.

This is your tough love moment. You cannot out hustle poor sleep hygiene.

Set a bedtime.

Honor it.

Don’t scroll past it.

Don’t fall into Netflix autoplay.

Treat bedtime like an appointment. When you hit snooze, what you’re actually saying is:

I’d rather scroll other people’s lives than prioritize my own.

I know I know, but it’s true.

6. Audit Your Consistency with a Habit Tracker

You can download my free habit tracker at THIS LINK so you can see your progress stack up.

The science behind why this works: When you shade in a box to mark a habit complete, your brain releases dopamine. Dopamine is not just the pleasure chemical – it’s also the motivation chemical.

A shaded box → accomplishment

Accomplishment → dopamine

Dopamine tells your brain → do that again

This is why checking off a to do list feels good.

This is why Apple Watch rings and Peloton streaks are addicting.

This is why Snapchat streaks became a thing.

Every shaded box becomes visual evidence.

Action → Evidence → Confidence → More Action

A habit tracker turns something invisible (your discipline) into something visible. By the end of the month, you aren’t just guessing whether you were (or were not) consistent – you can see it!

And once you get two, three, four days in a row, you don’t want to break the streak. This is human nature. Losing a streak feels worse than the effort it takes to keep it going.

ANOTHER PENNY IN THE JAR.

At the end of each week, ask yourself:

How many mornings did I follow through?

What helped?

What got in the way?

What’s one tweak I can make?

7. Create a Morning Mantra

Your decisions must anchor to an identity.

Try something like:

I am the mom who shows up before my kids wake up.

I keep promises to myself.

My day is better when I start strong.

My mantra is the “another penny in the jar” mentality. One day feels small, almost insignificant, but those tiny deposits compound over time. 

Days → weeks

Weeks → months

Months → years

Choose a mantra that supports the person you want to become.

8. Reduce Morning Decisions to Almost Zero

Decision fatigue kills consistency.

Write down every task you do in the morning and ask:

How many of these can I do in advance?

Some ideas: coffee, water bottle, clothes, supplements, headphones, keys

More (unconventional) ideas:

Pick 2 or 3 breakfast options for the week & don’t deviate.

Buy multiple colors of the same workout set so you always love what you wear.

Create a weekly time blocked morning template.

Every decision you make at night is one less opportunity to quit in the morning.

9. Treat Your Morning Routine as a Season, Not a Rule

Your mornings will change. Let them.

My pregnancy mornings looked different from postpartum.

Postpartum looked different from HYROX prep.

Fall looks different from spring because of my husband’s coaching schedule.

Summer break looks different than school mornings.

Morning routines are seasonal. Not permanent.

During football season, my husband leaves at 6:30 AM, so I have to be home by then. My wake up time shifts. In spring, he leaves at 5:30 AM. That changes everything again.

And if your jaw dropped reading those times, remember:

Wake up times are relative.

Your 6 AM can be someone else’s 4 AM. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that it works for your life.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS…

Here are your nine tasks again:

Do a Night Audit

Phone Sleeps Somewhere Else

Build a Transition Ritual

Pre Load Your Environment

Don’t Be an Idiot Go to Bed

Audit Your Consistency

Create a Morning Mantra

Reduce Decisions to Almost Zero

Treat Morning Routines as Seasons

Becoming a morning person is about systems, consistency, and honest preparation. Repeatable routines will always beat aesthetic routines.

Download your free habit tracker HERE.

And if you want to eliminate decision fatigue with your workouts, join my monthly strength training subscription at karleekuykendall.com.

Now go set up tomorrow morning. Tag me on Instagram so I can cheer you on.