My Complete Morning Routine: From Renewing My Mind to Powering Up For a Productive Day

Hey Friend!

As I’m writing this, it’s Monday but it’s not a typical Monday because my kids are out of school for the summer. I officially have a first-grader and a fourth-grader. My fourth-grader is basically a senior in high school. What is happening? Why does time move at exponential warp speed the second you have children? It’s not fine! Y’all, if you have friends whose kids are graduating into 6th or 9th grade, please check on them because I’ll put money on it they are not okay.

In this post, I’m going to walk you through my morning routine. Over time, it has shifted a bit. I want to encourage you, especially now in the summer, to get a morning routine locked and loaded. I want you to renew your mind and power up for a productive day even in those chaotic summer weeks. So grab a notebook and pen. This is going to be a very tactical post as I walk you through exactly how I rock my morning routine. Let’s get it!

Testimonial

I stumbled on Stef’s Facebook community when I was doing market research for a mastermind. Her mission of building a Christ-centered business without social media resonated with me. After binge-listening to several episodes and countless God moments, I took the leap to start my podcast by enrolling in Podcast Pro University.

I launched my podcast, Start That Business, on December 31, 2022. I jumped right into her Podcast to Profit course and the results have been mind-blowing. My podcast grew from 0 to 2K plus downloads. It is impacting lives in 41 countries and is ranking top 2.5% globally.

I am extremely grateful that I found Stef and took the leap. Stef knows her stuff and she has an amazing team working to help other Christian women succeed. I’m very grateful for your help, coaching, feedback, and prayers. Thank you so much for saying yes to fulfilling your purpose. So many other women like me can fulfill theirs. I pray for more growth and impact for you and your team.

This is the most amazing testimony, Chichi!

2K downloads, 41 countries, top 2.5% globally. This is just the beginning. I’m so grateful that God led you to me and you have taken this leap and trusted in me as your coach. Friend, if you are like Chichi and are ready to get clear on what it is you are called to do to start that business. If you’re ready to create a podcast so you can grow an audience where you don’t have to work so hard and don’t have to show up everywhere. I promise you can do it in less time. I can make this really simple.

Or if you have a podcast and you’re ready to rank and make money from your show, you need to create a coaching offer or course. If you want help doing all the pieces that are going to get you to the other side of actually making money in an online business, then head to StefanieGass.com/school and take a look at all the ways I can help you and the different ways we can work together.

I pray that God gives you discernment over where to start and that He’ll give you the finances to invest in you. If I am the right coach and mentor and my team and I are the right people to help shepherd you, I pray you will take a big beautiful leap of faith and trust that you’re in the right place.

Let’s Talk Morning Routine

I haven’t mentioned my morning routine in a long time. I don’t know if you guys know this about me, but fun fact, I actually created a journal once upon a time specifically about my morning routine. That journal did not take off and did not make me a bestseller.

However, my morning routine does precede me. Why do I believe we need a morning routine? I believe you must have a morning routine because it helps you get into the mindset of productivity and purpose. When we get right with God we:

• Renew Our Minds
• Get Into the Word
• Are Able to Live Our Life Guided by the Holy Spirit

The difference in how my day goes when I do my morning routine and when I don’t is night and day. I would definitely opt for the morning routine version of Stefanie because I’m:

• More Patient
• More Joyful
• Less Stressed
• Super Intentional

It flows from a place of having my cup full, “my cup runneth over,” Psalm 23:5. It flows into my family, my work, and my team. My morning routine is a must.

The Evolution of My Morning Routine

Let’s dig into the evolution of my morning routine and what it has become. I’ll share what I do so you can see how to get started developing a morning routine of your own.

This began a couple of years ago. I started getting up around 30 minutes before my family because I noticed when I got up with everyone else, as I was feeling chaotic.

When I wake up, I definitely need coffee before I can handle little tiny humans. If we got up at the same time, they were asking for breakfast before I could make my coffee. Then I forgot to make their lunches. That left me feeling stressed and running behind. The day was moving and I could not catch up with it. I was in reactive mode.

So I decided I was going to get into a productive space before my kids got up. My morning routine began as me:

• Waking up and Saying a Quick Prayer
• Prepping for the Day
• Getting the Kids’ Breakfast Ready
• Making Sure Lunches Were Packed, Etc.

I recognized a real difference in my demeanor, my mood, and my ability to be the kind of mom I want to be in the morning.

Then I backed that up by about 15 more minutes, and I started to sit down with the Word. I’ve talked to you guys about my tips here before. As I started getting into scripture, I needed to start in the place that made the most sense for me. That was the New Testament. I would pick a page and start reading a verse and dissect it. That’s all I had time for.

A Deeper Difference in My Morning Routine

I started to notice an even deeper difference in my morning routine. It was my peace, my presence, and my ability to navigate stress. It was different. I was able to think before reacting. I felt more positive about the way I was parenting and the way I was leading my team.

So I backed it up even further. And now in three to four years, it has evolved into a two-hour morning routine. Don’t worry, I‘m not waking up at 2:00 a.m. If any of you are freaking out, I’ll walk you through each and every detail and then tell you how I think you could start to create a routine like this for yourself.

I‘ll say it again, this has been an evolution. As with everything I teach you guys like me:

• Getting off of Social
• Growing the Business
• Growing the Podcast
• Growing the Team

Everything takes time. Remember God makes, “everything beautiful in its time,” Ecclesiastes 3:11.

What’s the First Step in a Morning Routine?

Whenever you hear me talking about my morning routine, I do not want you to feel inadequate or think you can never do this. As with anything you hear from coaches or mentors you trust, ask yourself, what is the first step?

There’s a journey in every successful person’s story. There are chapters about the things they had to do in order to get to the final pages of their story. I think we have to remember and recognize there’s always another level and there’s always another thing we can do to grow into who we are becoming. The practices, habits, and routines we are creating in our life. It’s okay to start with step one and allow it to be an evolution. I am giving you full permission to begin here.

Here’s a tip of mine to get you started. Put your phone far enough away from you so you will be forced to get up. I typically wake up at 5:30 a.m. Once in a while, I’ll hit that snooze button, but I try not to. The other day, Boots, our Sheepadoodle, got wrapped up in my phone cord and pulled my phone off of the nightstand. When the alarm went off, it was out of my reach over by his bed. So I had to get up to grab my phone. I said to myself, I guess I’m up now. Try it and see how it works. You can thank Boots!

In the beginning, I would recommend allowing your morning routine to give you a little space. If you wake up and you’re trying to get into a routine and it feels stressed and rushed, you’re creating the wrong element. At 5:30, I’ll get up and make myself a nice cup of coffee.

Why Your Morning Routine Is a Sacred Space

My morning routine is all about creating a slow, sacred space. My life is anything but slow. I’ve got:

• Two Littles
• A Dog Who’s Barely Out of Puppyhood
• The House to Keep Up With
• Pickups and Drop-Offs
• Sports, Trips, and Camping

It’s a lot! Morning routines for me are like a beautiful pocket of time where I can sit, rest and connect with myself and God. Give yourself space at the very beginning of your morning routine to soak it in. For me, my joy is getting a hot cup of espresso, and making a latte. I love some warm frothy, steamed oat milk with a little splash of vanilla. It’s a form of self-care to be able to sit and have a slow-paced moment.

Start Your Morning Routine With a Devotional

When I wake up by 5:45 in the morning, I start with a Bible study. I’m the type of person if you throw me into a gym, I’ll just stare at the equipment, completely overwhelmed. I don’t know which weight to pick up and I’m wondering if everybody’s going to make fun of me for the way I’m working out.

Sometimes the Bible can feel the same way. I’ll grab my Bible, open it, and have no direction. I really enjoy devotionals. I know some people like them and some people don’t. But I think there’s a time for devotionals and there’s a time when you just want to allow God to lead. I think either way is fine. There’s no right or wrong answer.

I enjoy the Grace Co Devotionals. I’m currently going through the Bible in a year. It’s been great. I love being able to open a devotional and know what chapter to read. I’m reading, and discerning scripture. The devotionals have been very helpful for me. It typically takes about 30 minutes to do a devotional with the chapter and workbook. Then I’ll journal over what I’ve learned, and apply it to my life.

Morning Routine Prayer Time

Around 6:15 is prayer time. Some of the things on my prayer list are:

• People I’ve Been Asked to Pray For
• My Business
• My Team
• My Friends
• My Husband
• My Boys
• The Sick
• Friends Struggling in Their Marriages

After prayer time, I take a moment and ask God if there is anything I need to know about today. Holy Spirit, is there any leading that You have for me on what I need to do as far as prioritizing my day? Sometimes we get laser-focused on what we think we should be doing that we miss an opportunity of what God is asking us to do or asking us not to do. I allow about 15 minutes to hear from God. I’ve talked about this before. Sometimes we’re so busy that we don’t get quiet enough to hear. I hear a lot in these times.

Morning Routine Journaling

I know there are lots of different ways people can hear and connect with God, but my favorite is to journal. I’ll journal and tell God what I’m struggling with, what I’m feeling, and what questions I have.

It’s funny because I’ll look back in my journal and see that almost everything I’ve journaled about has been answered. Things are clear and needs have been provided. It’s a cool part of my morning routine. I would like to encourage you to try it too. It’s now approximately 6:30. I’ve been up for an hour.

Morning Routine Power Hour

I’m done renewing my mind, and now I’m moving into a business space. I call this part of my morning routine the power hour. It’s really about 45 minutes but I still call it the Power Hour because I love anything that has to do with rhyming or alliteration. And Power Hour is way more catchy than Power 45.

The Power Hour is where I move into the productivity space and begin reviewing my day. What’s happening today? I check in with my team. I check the operations system we have set up for the business. You guys can listen to episodes on that. I also check my planner to see what’s happening. I want to get a pulse on the day.

Then I sit down and address my emails. We call them quick hits in the company. The team members correspond with each other inside our operating system on cards. We add anything quickly we need to those cards. Then I go through my inbox and I’m done.

So by the time my kids wake up, I have:

• Had a Cup of Coffee, Maybe Two
• Renewed My mind
• Sat With God
• Gotten Focused

I know what I’m doing today and I know exactly what’s coming up. I am ready to be present as a mom. There’s nothing else on my mind that needs to be urgently addressed at this time.

Morning Routine With My Kids

At 7:15, I prep the kids’ breakfast and go wake them up. I love to have breakfast already prepared before they get up so they can sleep longer. But also so as soon as they get up, they’re doing something. My kids are still young and bickering is at an all-time high.

Another fun morning routine hack is to teach my kids a lesson from my Bible study. You’ve heard the verse from Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

I am constantly trying to think of new and exciting ways that I can instill Scripture into my kids. Because you know the world is definitely a more difficult place even than when we were kids. I think the best thing we can do is to:

• Instruct Our Littles
• Guide Them
• Mentor Them
• Teach Them the Word of God

I’ll create an analogy that has to do with whatever it was I learned in the morning, and I’ll teach it to them while they’re eating breakfast. It’s been a lot of fun to do this with my kids. That’s it, my morning routine is done.

Morning Routine Recap

Here’s a quick recap. I get up at 5:30 and make coffee. If you don’t drink coffee, I would try hot tea. Maybe try some lemon water. Get something that is going to awaken your senses. Something that brings you comfort, peace, and joy so you can get in that right headspace.

The rest of the breakdown for my morning routine:

• 5:45 Bible Study
• 6:15 Personal Application and Prayer Time. Hear From God
• 6:30 My 45-Minute Power Hour for Work
• 7:15 Prep the Kids’ Breakfast, Wake Them Up, and 15-Minute Bible Study

Maybe you’ve tried a morning routine in the past but you can’t get in a groove. Maybe you’re inconsistent. You have little kids and you’re not getting much sleep at night so it seems unrealistic. While I think a routine is best in the morning, it doesn’t have to be in the morning.

If you’re in a season with kids that are young, do this routine over a lunch break or in the evening. Find your own beautiful space to sit with God. That’s okay. The decision to commit to a morning routine takes discipline. There’s nothing easy about consistency. It’s a choice that you make.

Discipline gets easier with repetition. The first week of waking up to a morning routine might feel a little difficult, but the second week it gets easier. And by the third week, you’re craving it.

If I Miss My Morning Routine

If I miss my morning routine, I’m off. I’m not at my operational best and I‘m not a high-level performer that day. I crave this routine but it took consistency and discipline to create this neural pathway in my mind. This is what I do. Friend, your language is super important. When I wake up for my morning routine, I’m going to:

• Be Productive
• Be Intentional
• Renew My Mind Every Single Day

It’s something you say and it’s something you do. And finally, it’s something you become. It’s amazing. Committing and telling someone else about it will help you with accountability.

6 Tips to Position Yourself for Morning Routine Success

I said it earlier, but I want to reiterate this is an evolution. When I started my routine, it was 15 minutes before my family woke up, not 2 hours. How can you tiptoe in but get consistent with whatever commitment you’re making? Maybe you start 10 minutes early. Then do 15 and then 30. What are you going to do? Here are 6 tips to set yourself up for success. Make sure:

• Your Phone Is Away From You
• Your Coffee Is Ready
• Your Bible Isn’t in the Car From Church
• Everything Is Where It Needs to Be
• You’re Set Up for Success
• You Partner With God

Maybe order a new Bible study. It’s so fun to have something new to sit down and work on. I know at Daily Grace Co. they have $5 sales all the time. Head over to their website, and grab a devotional. All of them are amazing.

How to Create a Morning Routine That Works for You

While you might start with a morning routine that looks like mine, be open to creating a morning routine that works for you. Some of my friends love to work out in the morning. I like to work out at night so that I can work out with my husband. You can make this whatever you want it to be. Maybe you want to take a walk outside and do some prayer time or play some worship music on your walk. Feel free to craft a morning routine that really lights you up.

Don’t think your morning routine has to be a certain way. If it doesn’t feel exciting or joyful, we give up on it. So lean into joy? What are the things that bring you the most joy? Is it:

• Worship Music?
• Doing a Devotional?
• Quiet Prayer Time?

I don’t know what you want to do for your morning routine, but you know. You know the things you love. And if you don‘t know the things you love, start playing with this. Start exploring. Try some different things out. The worst thing you can do is do nothing.

Successful People Have Morning Routines

The most successful people I know, and the most spiritually grounded people I know, are people who are close-knit with God. They have incredible marriages and next-level of friendships. They are salt and light. When you look at them, you can almost bet that they have a morning routine and are disciplined in their practices to become the best version of themselves. When they fall off, they’re not afraid to get back up again. They don’t give up on themselves because they messed up. They just get up and they dig in.

How can you start doing these things? I know you have it in you. Tomorrow is a fantastic day to begin your morning routine. I want to hear how this goes for you. Let me know inside our Facebook community. I’d love to hear from you. You can also leave me a SpeakPipe.

I pray this blesses you!

Xo,

Stef

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