I love everything about fall. I love the smells. I love the colors. I love the crispness of fall mornings. Everything! One of the things I love most though is the structure and routine that accompanies fall. While the relaxed nature of summer is a nice change, the truth is my family and I thrive on routine and every fall I'm so ready to find our more natural rhythm again. Today, I'm sharing my top tips for finding a healthy and realistic daily routine you can stick to all year long.

Get Up Early!

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of establishing a good, lasting morning routine. In my personal opinion, beginning the day early and intentionally is the cornerstone to a healthy overall daily routine. These are my top tips for making mornings work for you.

Plan and Prepare the Night Before!

I learned to prepare the night before the hard way. As my kids got older I quickly realized that frantic mornings mostly resulted in tears, temper-tantrums, and momma-trauma! Out of necessity, I learned to plan for the next day ahead of time. In the evening before bed, my "next-day" routine is to:

• Get the coffee ready (this is lovely because it's brewing and waiting for me when I wake up).
• Lay out my workout clothes and have my workout planned
• Have the kids lay out their outfits
• Pack lunches for the following day (or if the kids are home they do it).
• Put anything needed for school (homework, sports "stuff", etc.) into backpacks
• Make my to-do list
• Put anything I'll need for the next day in the car.

Meal Prep!

Okay, yes! We talk a LOT about this around DD. There's a reason though! Meal prep is probably one of the most significant steps you can take toward enjoying long-term healthy eating (not to mention sanity). I find meal prep to be especially important in the fall and winter when schedules get busy with homework, sports, holidays, etc. I cannot encourage you enough to practice meal prepping. I recommend scheduling at least two separate times each week to spend prepping. I usually spend about two hours on Sunday's and then another 1-2 hours later in the week. Once you get into this habit you will never turn back! We have many articles and resources to help you master meal prepping on the Dashing Dish blog.

These are a couple meal prep resources on Dashing Dish to help get you started:

The Ultimate Meal Prep Planning Guide

Meal Plan for One Week of Meal Prep

Start Making Changes Now!

This may seem obvious, but let's face it, time easily gets away from us. It would be easy to intend to establish a good, solid routine for fall, then you blink and it's New Year's. Don't wait. Start implementing changes now so by the time you're knee-deep in activities and events you are well-grounded in your routine.

Write it Down!

I mentioned this in my nightly routine. I find writing out a daily plan to be incredibly helpful! Within my daily plan, I include things like:

• Appointments/Meeting
• Calls, emails, texts I need to take care of
• One daily chore to do
• Tasks I need to prioritize
• A scripture or word I want to stay focused on
• Meals to prep or make

Prioritize

Life is busy! It's just so easy for things to pile up and suddenly the day has gotten away from us. For this reason, I find it so helpful to keep A schedule. Just as you'd put a coffee date on your calendar to set aside that time, do the same for the daily tasks and blessings you want to stay consistent with. On my daily schedule, I block out time for things like exercise, time with the Lord, meal prep, and small daily tasks that can easily culminate into an overwhelming mountain if left undone. We make time for what's most important to us, so I encourage you to get into the habit of prioritizing your day. It will leave you feeling more purposeful, successful, and peaceful, and in turn more productive! I hope these tips were helpful in starting off a healthy happy Fall!