Have you had those times in your life where everything just seemed to be spinning out of control?
I know I have. I have had those times where stuff is everywhere, laundry is backed up, school books are in a pile, and I just want to throw in the towel.
As a mom of 5 kids, I know all about the chaos of raising children.
Messes, chaos, the noise it all comes with the territory of raising kids.
If you are anything like me, you like to maintain a tiny bit of control and sanity.
I get it.
Over the years, I have anchored my day to find this control necessary to make it through another day.
Anchor Your Day
What do I mean by anchor your day?
We all go to bed, and we all wake up in the morning.
Therefore, anchoring your day is all about your morning and your evening.
I am not talking about routines. I am talking about a clear way to anchor these two crucial parts of your day.
Anchor Your Morning
#1: Get up 5 minutes before your kids
This is so important. Even when you have babies, give yourself five minutes in the morning.
I get up at least an hour before my earliest rising child, but I also do not have kids up in the middle of the night anymore.
Why should you get up before your kids?
Silence.
It starts your day off on the right foot with a little bit of peace and quiet.
My kids are loud. Like loud from the time they wake up to the time their heads hit the pillow. I have found that that little bit of silence to myself in the morning gives me the energy I need to give my best to my children.
Start your day off with something that excites you and brings you joy.
What you do in the morning is completely up to you, but take the time to anchor your day and see the change it brings to your family.
I love greeting my children with a smile in the morning, and I have found the only way I can do that is get up a little bit earlier.
#2 Three Things in Your Morning Routine
Only three. Come up with the three most important things that you will do every single morning.
My morning routine:
- Make all beds
- Help kids with bathroom clean up
- Clean up kitchen after breakfast
I have found that by having a somewhat tidy kitchen, bathrooms, and bedrooms I am able to focus better on the day ahead.
#3 Use the Productive app
I can be extremely forgetful and scatter brained.
Sometimes I feel like I am running from one end of the house to the other.
I have been using the Productive app to keep me on track.
I put all the things I need to get done in the morning in the app. Then, each day I cross them off the list.
This helps me to build healthy habits and keep me on track.
For morning time, these are the habits I have included:
- Wake on Time
- Take Vitamins
- Brush and Floss
- Make Bed
- Clean up Breakfast
- Check kids’ rooms and bathrooms
- Start laundry and dishwasher
- Work on content for blog
- Drink water
The three things in my morning routine are included in this list with a couple of added healthy habits that I want to cultivate.
Anchor Your Evening
#1: Turn off Electronics
In our home, we like to have quality family time in the evening.
And I like to have this quality time without competing with screens.
The best thing I have found for evening time as a family is to have an evening rhythm.
The kids look forward to our family night knowing we have something planned to do together.
#2: Three Things in Your Evening Routine
Just like the morning routine. Pick the three most important items for your evening routine that will make your next day run smoother.
My evening routine:
- Clean up kitchen after dinner
- Quick clean up of family room
- Coffee ready for in the morning
By completing my evening routine, I am able to wake up to a picked up kitchen and family room AND coffee ready to be brewed.
Anchoring your morning and evening is an amazing habit to cultivate!
#3 Write a to-do list before going to bed
Right before my head hits the pillow, I write down anything swirling through my head.
Even though I will not complete all the items the next day, having them down on paper allows me to schedule them or scratch the item off the list because it is no longer important.
Want to know more?
Here is a quick live video on anchoring your morning.
Watch on #Periscope: Anchor your day. See how here. Moms this is huge! https://t.co/rVQ8QkpSZ1
— Christia Colquitt (@tia5500) October 18, 2016
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Here’s another mom of five who is also often scatter brained 😉 It’s true, setting routines, one little step at a time, makes things go a lot smoother! I love you way of calling it ‘Anchor your day’ – our morning and evening routines truly are an anchor in our day – I and my kids know exactly what to do. It helps a lot!
Love these tips! 3 simple things to implement in the morning and evening to help be more productive. I definitely needed these. Turning off the electronics is a hard one for me but I’m working on really focusing on my kids after work and hiding my phone for a few hours. Thanks for the great tips.
This was very helpful I’m pretty good at my morning routine but the evening seems to get away from me.
3 thrings are a manageable goal. Thanks for getting me to think about this
My days go SO much better with a bit of routine & quiet time before the kids. Occasionally, my 7-year-old will rise before me and come snuggle. But, usually, I can get a good 30 minutes of me time first.