Why Stopping a Strict Morning Routine Was the Best Decision I Ever Made
To be accurate: I didn’t just quit my morning routine - I stopped following time-based routines entirely. What I do instead? Energy-based staples.
Let me explain.
Last Saturday morning, I woke up feeling vibrant, energized, and ready to dive headfirst into a creative project. Ideas were flowing, and I couldn't wait to get to work. But then I caught myself thinking about the 10,356 steps in the "perfect," science-backed morning routines I was supposed to check off first.
Instant demotivation. Ugh.
In that moment, forcing myself through a rigid checklist would have been counterproductive and exhausting. As ambitious, high-achieving women who value high-ROI choices, we know our energy is our most sacred currency. So why waste it on an arbitrary blueprint? Instead of obsessing over perfectly curated time blocks for morning, noon, and night, we need to shift our focus toward energy-based alignment.
How Energy-Based Staples Work
Before you reach for your phone - while your mind is still completely unbiased - ask yourself two simple questions:
How do I feel right now?
What do I genuinely crave to do?
This gives you an honest readout of what will generate energy versus what will drain it. Over time, you’ll notice natural patterns and can build a list of go-to "staples" to draw from depending on your state.
Why is this shift critical? As women, our bodies do not operate on a rigid 24-hour cycle. We flow through an infradian rhythm - a ~28-day cycle where our energy, focus, and somatic needs fluctuate. While cycle-syncing offers great principles, there is no universal blueprint. You are unique, and your routine should honor your true needs without judgment or comparison.
What Energy-Based Staples Look Like in Practice
(Remember: these are my personal examples, not rigid rules to copy-paste!)
High-Energy Days: I like to wake up naturally, and when I get up early and feeling immediately energized and inspired, I know it’s time to take action ASAP. I want to dive straight into your project, with as few friction as possible: getting ready quickly, grab a warm drink, and ride that energy wave into a focused first sprint before taking a quick break around 10:00 AM. On these mornings, I push my movement or workout to the afternoon when your initial focus tapers off.
Medium-Energy Days: This is my steady baseline, how I would describe a standard optimal day. After waking up, I take a few quiet moments in bed to slowly acclimatize to the day - no phone, no reading, just me and my thoughts. When I feel ready (usually about 5 minutes later), I’m getting dressed in workout clothes, make (of course) a matcha latte, and sit down to check emails, outline my daily priorities and the approximate schedule, and spend a few minutes reading, browsing or journaling. It’s my little cozy inspiration bucket time. When I finished my Matcha, I will usually do my workout which gives me a well-needed energy boost, before getting into my Homeoffice wardrobe. By 10:00 AM, my natural high-focus window starts and allows me to dive into work in the best and most efficient way possible.
Low-Energy Days: We all know these mornings - you wake up feeling sluggish, heavy, and tired to your bones. I usually have them just around that time of the month, or if I was super deep into social activities the day before (hello, AuDHD). Instead of forcing a high-intensity routine, I honor a super slow morning. Sipping my matcha usually in my bed (my safe space) while doing a quick priority scan (only identifying what absolutely must get done today) before doing things that inspire and comfort me. My workout is an almost non-negotiable because I always do feel better after that, but I will keep it light and comforting. Then I’ll get dressed in some, you guessed it, cozy, elevated loungewear, and start ticking off those non-negotiable tasks around 10:00 AM.
The Power of Honoring Your Spectrum
Why is this shift so transformative? When you try to push through low-energy days with high-intensity expectations, you prolong the exhaustion and end up stuck in burnout for far longer.
When you give yourself the rest your body and mind are asking for, you bounce back faster. More often than not, a slow, gentle day is followed naturally by a high-energy day - allowing you to accomplish just as much (or more), but rooted in joy rather than force.
"What If I Don't Work From Home?"
Working for yourself or working remotely gives you ultimate flexibility over your environment, but you can adapt these principles even within a traditional 9-to-5 setup:
Soften Your Wardrobe: Swap slim, tight-fitting clothes for comfortable yet chic fabrics and relaxed fits on low-capacity days.
Shift Your Movement: Move your workout from an intense early-morning class to an evening wind-down walk or a lunch-break stretch.
Prioritize Ruthlessly: Focus on a weekly to-do list rather than a daily sprint. On low-energy days, isolate the urgent, non-negotiable tasks (using the Eisenhower Matrix) and let the rest sit.
Elevate Small Moments: Swap a cold, fast-paced smoothie-on-the-go for a warm hot chocolate or herbal tea just to bring comfort into your commute.
You don’t need to follow the 5:00 AM "CEO routine" or someone else's viral 10-step template. The true purpose of a routine is to support and nourish you, not to serve as another checklist to judge yourself by.
And you know what's wonderful about this? You can apply this framework at any point in the day - not just in the morning.
If you're ready to break free from rigid, time-based expectations and design a morning that honors your biological and emotional state, I created the Shining Mornings Roadmap. It’s a guided reflection workbook designed to help you pinpoint your personal "staples" and build a flexible morning flow that protects your energy every single day.
The Shining Mornings Roadmap
Your 5-step, anti-hustle guide to move off autopilot including detailed action steps and weekly reflection prompts. Build personalized rituals that match your energy, not a rigid checklist.
What's your take on this? Are you currently following a strict, time-based routine, or have you already made the shift to energy-based staples? I’d love to hear how you honor your daily energy in the comments below!
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