The “That Girl” Morning Routine That Actually Works (+ FREE Checklist)

ByChanel Campbell
"That Girl" Morning Routine

Let’s get one thing out of the way: “That Girl” has been misunderstood.

Somewhere between the viral 5am workout clips and the aesthetically perfect green smoothie content, the whole concept got flattened into something that felt more exhausting than aspirational.

Like a highlight reel dressed up as a lifestyle.

But strip away the aesthetics and what’s actually underneath is something worth paying attention to — a genuine commitment to starting the day with intention.

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Moving your body, nourishing yourself, creating space to think before the world rushes in.

That part? That part is worth keeping!

This isn’t about waking up at 4:30am or overhauling your entire life by Tuesday. It’s about building a morning that actually works for you — one that leaves you feeling grounded, clear-headed, and ready, rather than already behind before the day has properly started.

What Is The “That Girl” Morning Routine?

At its core, the That Girl morning routine is a structured, intentional start to the day built around three pillars: movement, mindfulness, and nourishment.

It’s less about the specific activities and more about the underlying principle — that how you spend your first hour sets the tone for everything that follows.

The version that went viral on TikTok and Instagram had a very particular look to it: expensive activewear, golden-hour lighting, a kitchen that appeared to clean itself.

Real life looks different.

But the framework — wake up with enough time to move, reflect, and eat something that actually fuels you, before you open a single app — translates regardless of what your mornings look like in practice.

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How To Build Your “That Girl” Morning Routine

The most sustainable version of this routine is the one built around your actual life, not someone else’s.

That means being realistic about your wake-up time, honest about what you’ll genuinely stick to, and flexible enough to adjust when life inevitably gets in the way.

Here’s how to think about each element:

Wake Up With Intention

This doesn’t necessarily mean 5am — it means waking up with enough time to move through your morning without rushing. For some people that’s 6am, for others it’s 7:30.

The goal is to stop treating sleep as the enemy and start treating your morning as time that belongs to you before it belongs to anyone else.

A few things that actually help: keeping your phone on the other side of the room so getting up becomes non-negotiable, setting a consistent wake time even on weekends to regulate your body clock, and having something to look forward to in the morning — even something small — that makes getting up feel worth it.

Move Your Body

Movement is the non-negotiable anchor of the That Girl routine, and the form it takes matters far less than the consistency.

A 45-minute Pilates class counts. So does a 20-minute walk around the block. So does a YouTube yoga video in your living room in yesterday’s pajamas.

The research on morning movement is genuinely compelling — it regulates cortisol, improves focus, boosts mood, and creates a sense of accomplishment before most people have opened their laptops.

Even on the days it’s the last thing you feel like doing, it’s almost always worth it.

Mindfulness & Mental Clarity

This is the part that gets skipped most often and matters more than people realize.

Before you reach for your phone — before the emails, the group chats, the news cycle — give yourself some time that belongs entirely to your own thoughts.

Journaling is the obvious entry point here, and for good reason.

Even five to ten minutes of writing — whether that’s a brain dump, a gratitude list, or working through a single prompt — has a measurable impact on clarity and mood.

Meditation works too, if that’s more your speed. So does sitting quietly with a coffee and doing absolutely nothing. The point is the pause, not the method.

Set Your Daily Intention

This is different from a to-do list — and the distinction matters. An intention isn’t a task to complete, it’s a quality you want to bring to the day. Show up patiently. Protect your energy.

Be present in conversations rather than half-distracted. It takes about sixty seconds and has a surprisingly anchoring effect on everything that follows.

The simplest way to do it: after journaling, ask yourself one question — how do I want to feel at the end of today? — and let the answer guide the way you move through the next twelve hours.

Plan Your Day

Not a sprawling, unrealistic list of everything you’d theoretically like to accomplish — the kind that makes you feel behind by 10am.

A real plan: three priority tasks, a rough sense of when you’ll do them, and anything time-sensitive that needs to be on your radar. Five minutes, maximum.

Done in the morning before the day gets loud, this kind of intentional planning has a way of making everything feel more manageable — less reactive, more deliberate.

I’d take a focused five-minute plan over an hour of inbox-checking any day!

Nourish Yourself Properly

The That Girl breakfast isn’t about being photogenic — it’s about actually fuelling yourself before the day makes demands on you.

Protein in the morning stabilizes blood sugar, sustains energy, and reduces the kind of mid-morning crash that sends you straight to the office biscuit tin by 10:30am.

This doesn’t need to be complicated. Greek yoghurt with fruit and granola. Scrambled eggs.

A smoothie with protein powder, nut butter, and frozen banana. The bar is not high — it just needs to be real food, eaten sitting down, ideally before you’ve looked at your phone.

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Limit Screen Time Until You’re Ready

This is possibly the single highest-impact change in the entire routine, and also the hardest.

Reaching for your phone first thing floods your nervous system with information, comparison, and other people’s priorities before you’ve had a chance to establish your own.

Even a 30-minute delay makes a noticeable difference!

Try keeping your phone out of the bedroom entirely, or at minimum committing to not opening social media until your routine is complete.

It feels uncomfortable at first — and then, quickly, it feels like the best decision you’ve made all week.

A Sample “That Girl” Morning Routine

This is a flexible template — adjust the timings to fit your actual wake-up time and lifestyle:

  • 6:00am — Wake up, make your bed, drink a full glass of water before anything else
  • 6:10am — Skincare and getting dressed for movement (doing this first removes the excuse not to work out)
  • 6:20am — Movement: 30-45 minutes of whatever you’ll actually do consistently — gym, Pilates, a walk, a home workout
  • 7:05am — Shower and get ready at a pace that doesn’t feel rushed
  • 7:30am — Journaling or quiet time: 10 minutes, no phone, no distractions
  • 7:45am — Breakfast: something with protein, eaten properly, not over the sink
  • 8:00am — Review your priorities for the day — three things you want to accomplish, not a list of 47
  • 8:15am — You’re ready. Now you can check your phone.

Your FREE “That Girl” Morning Routine Checklist

Print this out, save it to your phone, or stick it somewhere you’ll actually see it. Tick off each element as you build the habit — consistency is everything.

THAT GIRL Morning Routine - FREE Checklist
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4 Common Mistakes That Derail The Routine

  1. Making it too complicated from the start. The most common version of this mistake is trying to implement the full routine — including the 5am wake-up, the hour-long workout, the elaborate breakfast — all on day one. It lasts about four days. Start with two or three elements and build from there.
  2. Treating a missed day as a failed routine. One off day is just a Tuesday. The routine isn’t broken — you just didn’t do it yesterday. Get up tomorrow and start again without the guilt spiral.
  3. Copying someone else’s routine wholesale. The That Girl aesthetic is aspirational by design, and it’s easy to mistake someone else’s routine for the template. But if you hate mornings, a 5am wake-up is going to feel like punishment. If you hate the gym, forcing yourself there every day is not sustainable. Build the version that fits your actual life.
  4. Skipping the mindfulness piece. It’s almost always the first thing to go when time is short, and it’s almost always the thing people notice most when it’s missing. Even five minutes matters. Protect it.

Download the free checklist above and stick it somewhere you’ll see it — your bathroom mirror, your Notes app, your fridge. Small reminders have a way of making big differences.

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