How Your Morning Coffee Routine Can Set You Up for Success

Coffee mug and clock representing morning coffee routine

Imagine going to bed each night confident in what lies ahead tomorrow. Imagine waking up excited about the day ahead. What if I told you that the secret to those good feelings may lie in your morning coffee routine?

In this article, I’ll show you how you can create an amazing morning coffee routine that will help you take charge of your day and feel confident and excited about what comes next.

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Making the Most Out of Your Morning Coffee Routine

Intentional living doesn’t happen by accident. Living life on your own terms means living forward with intention rather than backward with regret.

Deciding what you want your life to look like begins with deciding what you want your day to look like. During your morning coffee routine is a great time to visualize what a perfect day would look like for you.

Many people use their morning coffee time to:

scroll through a newsfeed
browse social media
read email

Sure, these activities are fine for catching up on current events or for their entertainment value, but this precious time of day offers an ideal opportunity to determine how the rest of the day will go.

Your morning coffee routine is the perfect time to build new habits, such as planning your day or journaling. According to Atomic Habits author James Clear, connecting a desired new habit (e.g., planning your day) with an established habit (in this case, your morning coffee routine) is one of the best ways to form new habits. The established habit serves as a reminder to do the new activity.

5 Steps to Creating An Awesome Morning Coffee Routine

If you’ve decided that you’d like to start using your morning coffee routine to plan your day, here are 5 simple steps that can help you start to form the habit.

Step 1: Place your planning tool of choice and a pen right next to your coffeemaker before you go to bed

You’ve probably heard of people who want to start exercising in the morning leaving their tennis shoes and workout clothes by the side of the bed. This is the same idea.

Leaving your planner right next to the coffeemaker will ensure it’s the first thing you see when you reach for that first cup. You can use a blank sheet of paper, a planner, or my free Guide to Block Planning, to help you map out not only your day, but your whole week.

Step 2: Start with the end in mind

You’ve got your coffee and your planner and you’re ready to get started…great! But how? What do you do first? The best way to get started is to imagine that it’s already evening and you’re reflecting back on the day. What did you do? Did you:

spend time volunteering for your favorite cause?
catch up with a friend?
spend time with your family?
plant some vegetables in your garden?
have some “me” time?

This will give you some good insight into what to include in your planning, both for the day and for the week ahead.

Don’t forget to also consider appointments and other necessary tasks and obligations.

Step 3: Start small and be patient with yourself

To prevent yourself from feeling overwhelmed, commit to planning for the next week or so. Focusing on the short-term gives you small wins and decreases the likelihood that you’ll fall back into the habit of mindlessly scrolling through your Facebook feed or email in the morning.

Step 4: Take time to reflect

At the end of each week, look back at your morning planning sessions. Have you started to spend more time doing things you’ve intended? If not, ask yourself why. Think about how you’re currently spending your time and think about what changes you’d like to make for the future. Be patient. Habits aren’t built overnight.

Step 5: Make the process enjoyable

No one likes doing things they don’t enjoy. Your new morning coffee routine should be as enjoyable as possible to help ensure it sticks. Try making it into a ritual where you put on some of your favorite music or try a new brand of coffee. Try using colored pencils and stickers to plan your day/week. Make it fun!

Just Do It!

There is no substitute for just getting out there, putting your plan into action and taking hold of your life. What are you waiting for? Go ahead and get started. You’ve got this!!