How to Have a Blissful Morning Routine (Without Your Phone)
Enjoy your morning without needing to join the 5am club or meditate first thing.
Have you ever felt like it took all your willpower to get up in the morning? Ever reached for your phone before you’re even fully awake? Checked Instagram before saying good morning to your partner?
What if I told you that you could enjoy a phone-free morning without doing something drastic?
Even if you don’t join the 5am club or meditate first thing, you can enjoy your morning.
I’m advocating for a morning routine that is flexible, relational, and chill.
For me, it started with breaking the unwritten rules I had about sleep.
Your Ideal Sleep, Not Someone Else’s
My love of personal development made me especially vulnerable to our culture’s unwritten rules about sleep. I subscribed to the ideas that:
People who get up at 5 or 6am are superior
You’re either a morning lark or a night owl
Everyone needs the same amount of sleep: 7 to 9 hours
Waking up in the middle of the night is bad
You need to [insert torture task] when you wake up
By believing these cultural rules, I was resisting my natural rhythms, which made mornings a battle.
I obsessively tracked my sleep, gave myself insomnia by telling myself, “I should be asleep by now,” and told myself I hated mornings because I frequently woke up exhausted and cranky.
It wasn’t until I started questioning my assumptions that I let myself do things a different way.
The 5am club
I hoped that reading The 5am Club would turn me into a different kind of person. Instead, it painted a picture of early risers as jerks who think they’re better than everyone.
I felt ashamed.
Despite giving it an honest effort, getting up at 5 or 6am only made me irritable, frustrated, and miserable. I didn’t get more done. I didn’t feel more accomplished. And I definitely didn’t feel better than anyone for doing it.
Until I figured out what my needs for sleep actually were and accepted them, the shame lingered.
The (false) bird binary
Being asked, “Are you a morning lark or a night owl?” used to stump me. I went to bed relatively early, but woke up relatively late.
According to sleep expert Matthew Walker, 25 to 30% of people are morning larks, 25 to 30% are night owls, and 40 to 50% of the population like me, are something else. Blue Herons if you will.
“We all have the same hours in a day”
This quote is supposed to be reassuring, but it used to bother me.
While it’s true that no one can escape the 24-hour daily cycle, it made me feel bad about the fact that I need more sleep.
Not only do I not fit in the morning lark or night owl camp, but I also need more than the average 7 to 9 hours of sleep. I’m someone who needs 10 hours to be at my best.
Mono-phasic sleep
Before electricity, humans were bi-phasic. Even more fascinating, this middle of the night period creates a peaceful and contemplative brain state that is different from daytime wakefulness and sleep.
Now, on the rare occasion when I can’t go back to sleep in the middle of the night, I get up and enjoy the silence. When I don’t fight it, the experience can be a refreshing change of pace.
“You have to [meditate, exercise, etc.] first thing in the morning”
Doesn’t this advice make you want to strangle someone?
There’s a difference between choosing not to check your phone first thing and forcing yourself through a meditation you resent or a workout you dread.
When I stopped trying to “eat the frog” in the morning, I didn’t turn into a lazy creep. I focused on things that were actually enjoyable — like talking to my spouse and wrestle-cuddling my baby.
TL;DR Sleep Reflection Questions
By making your sleep routine fit your actual needs, your mornings will improve significantly.
Ask Yourself:
Am I a morning lark, a night owl, or a blue heron?
What time would I go to bed if I got to choose?
What time would I wake up if it was up to me?
How many hours of sleep do I need to feel rested?
The Phone Problem
You’re probably already familiar with the negative effects of phone use. They worsen executive function and sleep quality, negatively impact mental health, and can affect everything from work to creativity to relationships.
Tech companies have done an eerily good job making smartphones the center of our world.
Who wouldn’t want a camera, flashlight, calculator, voice recorder, GPS system, phone, email, video recorder, alarm clock, calendar, computer, notebook, and more rolled into one?
Because they’re part of our daily life now, we downplay how addictive they actually are.
Smartphones impact our brain in similar ways to cocaine and gambling, but with the accessibility of nicotine.
You’re not alone if you struggle with phone overuse and it’s not your fault. They were designed that way.
We can’t control what these companies are doing to manipulate our phone use, but we can put roadblocks in place to take back our mornings.
By starting your day on your terms, you set the intention for your day instead of letting someone else’s agenda take over. You’ll also begin to break the cycle of constant urgency that smartphones create, making space for the calm, intentional life you actually want.
A Rejuvenating Morning Recipe
When I stopped fighting my natural sleep rhythms, I woke up feeling better in the morning. I could get out of bed with ease and on nights when I didn’t sleep well, I didn’t beat myself up about it all day.
I stopped obsessively tracking when I fell asleep and wasn’t so resentful if the dog asked for a 2am potty break.
To my amazement, I even stopped needing an alarm clock. But ironically, it took an alarm clock to get there.
Set an alarm for the same time every day
Once you know your ideal schedule, setup your life around that schedule. Yes, even on weekends.
It’s actually a good test for how well you know your sleep needs. If you feel like you need to sleep in on the weekends, then either the wake and sleep times are off or you’re not sleeping for long enough.
If you’re telling yourself you don’t have enough time to sleep as much as you need, I can understand that concern. As someone who needs a lot of sleep and has a baby, it can be frustrating. But I’ve come to accept that I don’t have time not to sleep enough.
Move your phone away from the bed
Whether you move your phone across the room, to the bathroom vanity, or to another room of the house, simply removing your phone from your nightstand makes a big difference.
It means it won’t be the first thing you see in the morning or the last thing you see at night.
Yes, you’ll have to get an alarm clock that isn’t your phone, but the less your phone is your everything (calendar, alarm, stop watch, notepad, etc.), the less it can control you.
Prioritize calm morning activities
My husband likes to talk about Type One and Type Two fun.
Type One Fun: activities you enjoy in the moment.
Type Two Fun: what you’re glad you did afterward, but didn’t enjoy while doing.
I don’t find it helpful to wrestle with myself first thing in the morning, so I avoid Type Two fun. I’m more likely to do challenging things in the afternoon or evening, so I let that be okay.
Instead, I like to spend time with my family, love on my pets, and make myself a morning smoothie (yes, even in winter).
This routine is simple. There’s nothing to fail at.
The only thing I had to be intentional about was not checking my phone when I woke up. Eventually I realized the world wasn’t going to fall apart if I didn’t check my phone, so the urge dissipated.
If you get excited for a morning run or like to sit down with a morning glass of lemon water or tea then go for it! Be willing to experiment until you find your right combination.
Pro Tip: Let your values guide your morning. One of mine is connection, so I prioritize quality time. You might prioritize health, solitude/reflection, nature, etc. Your values will show you what your morning is lacking.
Create Your Own Blissful Morning
The night before:
put your phone far away from your bed (and get a real alarm clock)
avoid screens one hour before sleep
choose a bedtime that matches your natural rhythms
When morning arrives:
get up around the same time every day
strip your morning routine down to the basics
add in things you actually look forward to doing (AKA Type One Fun)
Yeah But…
This is where things get juicy. The part where your mind objects and tells you that this is all too good to be true and that I’m a lunatic.
That’s completely normal.
I remember the first time I heard someone describe waking up without an alarm clock every day. I was in awe that such a thing was even possible. And then I dismissed them as a privileged person who must be wealthy and have no responsibilities.
It wasn’t until years later that it worked for me too.
I have kids.
Me too. I have a kiddo under a year old.
We’ve learned that after his bedtime, he turns into a monster the same way Cinderella’s chariot turned into a pumpkin after midnight. So we treat his bedtime like a religious ceremony.
No matter where we are or how much fun we’re having, we leave early enough to get home for his bedtime routine on schedule.
If anything, it taught me to treat my mornings (and the prep leading up to them) with devotion too.
My job wouldn’t allow it.
I totally get this. When I developed my ideal morning, I was working for someone else. At first I was terrified, but to my surprise, it was okay.
Often, we haven’t asked for accommodations. We just assume the answer is no.
If you’ve made yourself indispensable, they’re probably more likely to work with you than you think. Especially if you frame it as a way to do better, higher quality work.
I’d be too anxious to start my day without my phone.
Remember, phones were designed to be addictive. It takes time to rewire your brain. Be gentle with yourself.
Even if all you can manage is being without your phone for the 5 minutes it takes to cross the room and pick it up, that’s a win.
If you still have concerns, reach out to me. I’m a coach trained to help you come up with the best solutions for you. Not an exact replica of my life.
Permission Granted
If you’re waiting for a sign that you can stop trying to meditate or drink warm lemon water in the morning, this is it.
You don’t need permission to throw away your alarm clock or stop checking emails at 7am, but if you want encouragement, here it is.
Your phone will be there when you’re ready for it. And you can always go back to torturing yourself with an earlier wake time or morning jogs if you decide want to.
Do things your way. Your peace is worth protecting.
Did you find this helpful? Want more?
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50 alternatives to checking your phone before bed.
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quick & solo
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Jessica Globe is a Digital Freedom Coach and the founder of the Digital Freedom Program, a 1:1 coaching program designed to help people audit their digital time, complete a digital reset, and create habits for sustainable, long-term change.
She believes there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to technology and focuses on helping her clients live intentional digital lives that align with their values.
Jessica is a dual certified life coach and level one Internal Family Systems practitioner with 5 years of experience. She has been a digital minimalist for 6 years and she’s also a published author.