Mornings are chaotic. As clock-in time draws nearer, the chaos only thickens. An extra sleepy toddler. A lost shoe. The coffee brewing onto floor because somehow your mug didn't end up in the right spot. And you in the middle working to unwind the chaos and push everyone out the door with full bellies, packed bags, and good moods.

If that kind of morning sounds familiar to you, this post is for you. You keep thinking if only you could simplify your morning routine as a working mom, you wouldn't feel so frazzled the rest of the day. If only the kids were a little older, they could dress themselves. If only you could finally go part time, you would have more time at home to get things ready. IF ONLY everyone followed that morning system you tried to implement last week, mornings would run smoother.

The truth is, mornings will always feel chaotic unless you make an intentional shift to experience them slower and more peacefully. With that intentionality comes boundaries around what you will and won't do in the mornings and a mindset shift around the purpose for that time of day.

Mornings are the foundation for the rest of your day and for your kids' days. Get them right and you can start to welcome an ease into your days you may not have even realized was missing. But as a busy, working mom, how do you simplify your morning routine? When everything still has to get done, how do you truly embrace a calmer morning?

How to Simplify Your Morning Routine as a Working Mom

Simplify Your Morning Routine: Identify the Gap

Define the gap between your chaotic mornings and your slow, simple mornings. What's missing in your morning routine now that would be ideal in your simplified routine? Maybe it's a little more space for rest or play, the opportunity to drink your coffee at home, or family breakfasts.

You need a clear picture of the simplified morning routine you desire before you can go about creating it. Don't think about what needs to get done in the morning. Instead, focus on how you want to feel in your mornings and what would happen during your mornings for that feeling to become reality.

Finally, work on your mindset around those simplified mornings. The best way to move into that dream morning routine is to first believe it is possible for you and your family. Then, get to work creating it!

Simplify Your Morning Routine: Create Space

Most working moms feel strapped for time in the morning. You've tried waking up earlier, you've tried implementing an ideal routine that knocks every morning to-do out before the kids wake up...but nothing really shifts. At the end of the morning, you're still rushing out the door.

The simple fact is - you're scheduling too much for a simple morning to become reality. If your morning is stacked with to-dos, it's no wonder you're always rushing. Look around you tomorrow morning and evaluate where your time is really going. Pause for just a few moments every thirty minutes or so and think about what you just did for the past half hour.

When you get a free moment post-morning rush, ask yourself whether the things that took your time were priorities in your life and whether they aligned with your ideal morning. Anything out of alignment can be dropped off the morning task list the next day.

For to-dos that are critically important to complete in the morning, but don't align with your ideal morning, leave them on the list. But notice whether you can solicit help to tackle those tasks or if you can find another form of support that gives you the space to accomplish that task without feeling rushed. Some preparatory can be shifted to the night before where they are easier to handle without the rush of the morning sitting on your shoulders.

Creating space is the most challenging aspect of simplifying your morning routine for working moms. Everything seems important. But this step is where the rubber meets the road. Get serious about what you're doing and set boundaries around whether you will continue doing them in the morning. Give yourself the structure (like shifting some tasks to the night before) to succeed in a finding morning simplicity.

Simplify Your Morning Routine: Build Your Dream Morning

Now that you've experimented with creating space in your morning, play with plugging nourishing activities back into that space. Be careful not to overdo this step by re-creating a hectic morning all over again. Start with just one activity from your ideal morning and build from there.

Support for Simplifying Your Morning Routine as a Working Mom

Your mornings are sacred and you deserve to experience slow, simple mornings that set you up for a peaceful day. Your family deserves to wake up calm and head to work, school, and daycare feeling nourished a regulated.

If you'd like to dive deeper with the morning routine reset framework outlined above, I hope you'll join me in Cultivate Calm Mornings. This 3-part yoga workshop series offers a slow shift from chaotic mornings to simple, supportive mornings that work for working moms.

Each workshop is pre-recorded so you can access them whenever works best in your busy mom schedule. They come with yoga movement, meditation, journaling, and homework to help you make the shift into simplicity over the course of three weeks.

Start building your simple mornings today.

More Simple Living Resources for Working Moms

• The online yoga studio for busy, working moms seeking a slower way of life offers monthly pre-recorded yoga and meditation you can use to sink into a slower pace, plus a slow down framework where you can restructure your most overwhelming challenges into peaceful, rhythmic routines that support you and your family.

• Two-minute Reset Meditations for Routine Calm Days includes ten completely free two-minute meditations for you to capture a moment of calm right now, without spending an hour at the yoga studio or taking paid leave.

• The Mama Naturalist on my website and Substack is a space where I share both conceptual and practical guidance on slowing down, connecting to nature, and living seasonally.

• Mindful Moms Digest offers exclusive yoga and meditation classes, nature stories from a wildlife biologist (me!), and free, supportive resources including links back to every blog post for busy, working moms journeying toward a slower, more seasonal way of life.

• Cultivate Calm Mornings is a structured series of three yoga workshops that supports you in transforming your morning routine from chaotic to calm.