Start the Day with a High Five
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Tired of dragging through the day and feeling like you accomplished nothing? Start the day with a high five and have a sense of accomplishment. You’ll know you got five things done!
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Here we are at the start of a new week. Are you ready for it? Many weeks and days, I am not. Maybe I’m not alone?
Perhaps the weekend was a whirlwind of fun activity and your house looks like a cyclone did, in fact, come through. Maybe the kids were sick last week and you’re still recovering. Or maybe life has just thrown you for a loop lately and your surroundings are as much of a wreck as your emotions.
I totally get you, sister. I have been there. I am still there.
We have so many things in our lives — both good and bad — that call for our attention and wreck havoc when we don’t answer. These things can overwhelm and make us want to curl up in a ball of inactivity. They can highjack the day and leave us at 5 pm with hungry kids and nothing to show for the day.
Please tell me I’m not alone.
Yet, we can make sense of our opportunities and make the most of the time we have as moms of our children, managers of our households, and partakers of this beautiful earth. We just got be smart.
I’ve talked before about the Morning High Five for my kids, the routines that I’ve put in place for my kids since they were little, things that they need to do each morning to be ready for what the day holds. And I’ve mentioned nine ways to get a jump on the day, things that moms can do to be better prepared for the day’s activities.
After a few weeks of not knowing whether I’m coming or going, I’ve narrowed those nine down to five. Five is easier to remember. Five is just a handful. Five is doable for those days when life has thrown you a curve ball and you just need to get a base hit to save the game.
Every day can’t be a homerun kind of day. This is why I propose the MOM’s Morning High Five:
These are five things that I can do (you can do) each morning to feel more alive, more organized, and more ready to face the challenges — and blessings — of the day.
1. Quiet time
Lately I’ve been getting up between 4 and 4:30 each morning. (Yes, really.) I started doing this in the jet lag of our return from London. I liked being up early and found that I accomplished more. Since our return from Europe my kids also wake earlier than they used to, so getting up at 4 am helps me have a head start. I’m not saying you should set your alarm earlier, but I do think that time by yourself in the morning can be helpful.
Having quiet (read: silent) time helps me immensely. When I fill that time with God-centered messages, that helps me even more. I listen to music, read the Bible, journal, and pray. These things help center me in the big picture, though they rarely guarantee me a perfect day.
(Don’t believe the lie that daily devotions will miraculously give you a better day; they don’t. But they do give you a better life.)
Starting the day with my mind in a God-ward direction helps me — and gives me food for thought as I go through the rest of my tasks.
I’m not suggesting you get up at any specific time, just sharing what helps me. I am suggesting that you have a little quiet time each morning, even if it means hiding in the bathroom for ten minutes with your Bible. 😉
2. Exercise
You know how I am a reformed couch potato. Exercise has not been my friend for long. It was like the too-cool popular girl who thought I was a dork. Or at least I thought so.
But, I’ve realized — at 42 — that exercise and I can be friends. In fact, we need to be. When I don’t exercise, I have all kinds of aches and pains that make me feel like I’m 82.
Exercise can be as simple as doing some stretches and jumping jacks, taking a walk, or following the moves on a yoga app. (I like this one.) Go whole hog and head to the gym. Whatever you do, try to work movement into every morning.
3. Meal plan and meal prep for the day
You and your family need to eat, probably at least three times today. It’s kinda one of those things that you can’t avoid. So, plan for it. In fact, take 30 minutes each morning to make sure you’ve got what you need and that it’s ready to go.
Don’t know how to meal plan? Read my Meal Planning 101 series. Don’t really want to make your own meal plans? Grab one of my free ones.
Even if you spend 30 minute in the morning chopping vegetables and shredding cheese, your meal prep time will go more smoothly and you will feel like a rock star chef. With a prep cook.
4. A load of laundry
If your house is like mine, there’s probably always at least one of load of laundry to be done. The beauty of modern day laundry chores is that a lot of the work is passive. The machines do a lot of the work. Think of our foremothers who hand washed everything. Count your blessings that you were born in this age. You still have to fold, but that is worlds easier than what folks used to have to do.
Get a load going or better yet, make your kids do it.
5. 20-minute speed clean
I hate cleaning, but I love a clean house. I’m convinced that if I really, truly spent 20-minutes every day purposefully cleaning (not just maintenance) my house would look loads better. Go for the cleaning blitz.
In case you didn’t read that right, that’s a confession. I don’t purposefully clean every day. I fight fires and wipe up puke and spills as they happen, but I don’t have a practice of daily get-er-done kind of cleaning. But, I want to.
And that’s really the purpose of this post. I want accountability on these five things. I am making it my next 21-days goal to do this Morning High Five every morning. Wanna join me?
Commit yourself in the comments. And if there’s one or two things out of the five you wanna change for yourself, let us know that, too.
I wrote the Morning High Five where I can see them each morning. I am following your steps to establishing a routine and already feel so empowered with a clear direction where I am going. THANK YOU! You are my hero. I love your recipes and ideas for managing family and home, with real expectations and God’s guidance. Thank you for sharing your experiences and wisdom. Have a blessed day!
Yay! So glad to hear it. Let me know how I can help!
Is there a place to do a daily check-in? I checked your FB page but didn’t see one. If you thought about doing that I would find it helpful to stay motivated through the 21 days. I got 4 out of 5 accomplished today…I never got to the 20 minute speed clean. My 1yo did not go to bed tonight until 10:30pm so I am giving myself grace. 🙂 Thanks again for starting this!
That is a great idea. I hadn’t thought about that. What do you think would work best?
I’m in though too!
Can anyone suggest a good yoga app for Android though? The yoga studio one looks like a great solution but sadly only for iOS.
Bummer! I know nothing about Android. Sorry I can’t be more help.
I need to do something different. I am an early thirties mom of 3 and even though I am blessed to stay at home with a part time job my 80 yr old grandparents have more energy than I do! I’m completely scattered and have never been able to be organized and all together like so many of my friends. Not looking for perfection but I would like to learn the idea of organized chaos as I have three kids and realize I can’t have it all together all the time. So I am in. I don’t know you ladies but I am now committing myself to this high five system and am hoping you will keep me accountable. To myself and my family.
What’s your diet like? I’ve found that my diet makes a big difference in my energy levels.
You are not alone! I loved this line: “Don’t believe the lie that daily devotions will miraculously give you a better day; they don’t. But they do give you a better life.” I’m impressed with how early you get up. Good for you! I don’t do mornings. I don’t do exercise either, but when I do, I feel great. This is a great list! Thanks so much for sharing it.
Rescued from spam. 😉 The spam checker said it cleared you, but it left you there. Hopefully, we’ll free you a few more times and it will stop. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I definitely need to put a few of these things into practice. Exercise and some mom alone quite time is a must for me. I just haven’t been able to implement them yet.
I feel like I cannot get everything done before my Little Man wakes up at 6 a.m. He still does not always sleep through the night so waking up at 4:30 a.m. does not seem realistic for me. I could do 5 a.m., but I don’t think I can get all 5 items done in that 1 hour before he wakes up. I will try though.
I think I did a bad job explaining. I’m not suggesting a wake-up time for anyone or a finish time. I’m suggesting focusing on accomplishing these five things before lunch, if you can swing — with or without the kids. I think that these five can set a good tone for the day and the week, so I’m going to try to do them every day for three weeks and see what happens. I’m still on #4 and #5 and it’s already 10 am. I hope that clears up any confusion.
Use Sunday as your day of rest as God did and told us to. Then you are more ready to tackle the new week.
We have done your Morning High5 for the kids since you first posted it I think, and now I am so glad you posted this, because I have to use your hand-print out again to make two new ones!
A high-five for me? Why didn’t I think of this? Great idea- just don’t think I will start at 4am!lol.
NO! lol. I don’t want anyone to wake up that early. I better go edit the post. I’m just saying have some quiet time.
YES. I SOOOOOO need this. Literally. Right. Now.
I am SOOOOOO in.
I know it will make all the difference in my life. Thank you!!!
I am in. My goal is to focus on the waking earlier to get me time to get my mind and day together. I’m constantly woken by the kids usually because one of them has come into bed with me at night. (Ugh)
Thanks Jessica as always your posts are very helpful!
So great to hear!
I am in! Starting right now.
these sound totally doable! I used get 2 or 3 of these in, but with a 2 month old and two other littles in the house I’ve fallen off the wagon in the last few months. This is the inspiration I need to jump back on. Don’t worry though – I’m giving myself generous helpings of grace with a new baby in the house!
Glad you know your limits. Good job!
Ok, I’ve done a pretty good job today: up early to go for a walk (exercise & quiet time in one!), washed the sheets and about to make the beds, dinner is sorted (veg stirfry with lots of basil), and I’ll do a tidy up with the kids this afternoon.
I’m planning to get back into the habit of a walk before the kids get up – it’s much easier with the sun coming up so early now it’s summer!
Have a great day!
Okay, I’m in too! I am not happy with how my days are feeling so chaotic. I do have a 1yo (along with a 6 and 10yo) and I am still trying to adjust to life with a baby/toddler and it’s been a YEAR! lol Our house is back to messy and instead of accepting that things may not be as tidy as I would like, I have just been avoiding most of it altogether. So, for this challenge, I plan to focus on the 20 minute speed clean a day….I can do 20 minutes, right? I really need to work exercise into my routine too. I will check out that yoga app, thanks!
Sounds like a great plan!
Yes! I need this. But I don’t think I can make 4:30 am! I like the high five. I have been trying a routine for months but always make it too complicated for myself.
Nope. No one has to do that but me. 😉
I’m in! We have used your high five for the kids. What a great idea to have one for moms. I will need to change the exercising to something like drinking coffee. Ha! Seriously, I think I will spend 15 minutes working on a clutter spot. I have some areas that need some work, and it will make the speed cleaning easier. Thank you for the inspiration! Oh, and I put two meals in the freezer this weekend and have plans to put at least three more in the freezer this week. More inspiration from your December meal plan!
Now, why no exercise? Don’t get me wrong, cleaning is good. But exercise is too. 🙂
Oh, I did not mean to imply that there is anything wrong with exercise. It’s just that with our current routine, exercising in the morning does not work. I need to do that later in the day.
Gotcha!