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April 1, 2019
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June 4, 2019
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How to Create a Powerful Morning Ritual
One of the most common questions I hear from clients is "What is the most powerful thing I could change in my life that would make the biggest impact on my life?". My response is simple: Commit to yourself in a powerful way by designing the perfect morning routine for you.
It's essential that we start our days on purpose with clear intentions. Otherwise, we wake up and our day and our schedules run away with our dreams. We loose control....in seconds.
So let's choose a different path. Let's choose to design a morning that helps us grow, helps us focus, and allows us to create BIG visions for our lives.
Now that is EXCITING!
When we shift to this new perspective, we find ourselves looking forward to our mornings, to the next day, to envisioning what we can accomplish. We stop dreading our next day because we are taking back control of our lives.
Without this intentional daily practice, ultimately we are only reacting to events that life throws our way. With this daily practice, we are creating our own personal northern star that guides us clearly, intentionally, and with purpose to everything we desire in life.
What is Holding Your Back?
Most of us don't even realize we are stuck when it comes to this topic. We think our life is going pretty well. But if you look at the statistics, only 5% of people achieve and design the life that they desire. The rest of us are happy to stick with mediocrity. And guess what, society supports this so it's easy to coast.
If you do want to take a closer look at your life and your potential capabilities, then this is where the gap becomes quite apparent. For most of us, the thing holding us back is ourselves. We aren't setting aside time so that we can grow into the person we need to be for the life we desire.
Two thirds of Americans have a strong desire to start their own business. Unfortunately, most of us don't even attempt to build a business and those who do fail at alarmingly high rates upwards of 50%.
81% of Americans feel they have a book in them and should write it. However, the percentage of people who actually aspire or even uncover what it would take to write a book is very small.
So we can't say that as a country we don't aspire to do great things because we do. And yet, the data shows incredibly low success rates for individuals and their goals.
What BIG goals or dreams do you have that you are afraid to tell anyone? And what have you done to start mapping out a plan to achieve them? For most of us, the trouble is, we don't even know where or how to start.
This is where a morning ritual can help you build skills, visualize what it is that you actually want to design, and grow the skills you need to succeed.
So What is the Path Forward?
The first step to fixing this problem is awareness. If you have big dreams but haven't gained any momentum in achieving them and it's been years, then this post is one you should read carefully and integrate into your life.
The path forward is to follow these steps and act as a curious scientist to discover the perfect formula for your morning ritual. Each formula will vary for each person as we all have different goals, personalities, and needs.
Step One
Commit to Experimenting With Your Morning Routine for 30 Days
To give this a solid try, you must commit to at least 30 days of experimentation. The first 7 days will be the most challenging but by the time you hit the last 7 days, you will be reaping the rewards of this new habit and routine.
I promise this will provide you with positive rewards...guaranteed.
Step Two
Find An Accountability Partner
We all have good intentions when we set new goals but we aren't always great with follow through. Find a friend, colleague, or partner to either commit to the challenge with you or support you and hold you accountable for 30 days.
Consider scheduling your morning ritual time in your calendar with alarms so you don't forget. You may need to get up earlier than you are used to to make space for this new routine.
Step Three
Explore What You Want to Include in Your Routine
While I can't take full credit for this outline, I must say I've been doing this routine for years intuitively. Hal Elrod's, The Miracle Morning book provides a wonderful outline to consider and he calls them Life Savers. After reading his book, I have made this a required part of my daily routine.
- S-Silence (i.e. meditation): allow yourself 5 minutes of guided or silent meditation
- A-Affirmations: find affirmations that build the vision of yourself you want to believe
- V-Visualization:visualize how you'd like your day, week, and year to go with a focus on your BIG dreams
- E-Exercise: consider getting in 20+ minutes of exercise in a day
- R-Reading: commit to reading 10 pages of self help or education books to grow your skills each day
- S-Scribing (i.e. writing/journaling): to track your progress, or big Aha's, consider daily journaling
This month I will be posting some live videos, where we dig deeper into each of these concepts. For now, I encourage you to experiment with a combination of these in the order that works best for you.
Personally I like to do the following:
- Meditation-5 minutes
- Affirmations-5 minutes and part of my meditation practice at the end
- Visualization-5 to 10 minutes
- Reading-15 minutes plus evening reading too
- Journaling-5 to 10 minutes
- Exercise-5-20 minutes (this varies, on busy days I have a short morning exercise with longer exercise in the evening)
Step Four
Make it Fun!
I like to visualize enjoying my morning the night before. I also like going to sleep with the intention that I will get the rest I need and wake up feeling energized. This helps me fall asleep faster and without worry.
Consider having fun with your exercise. I like to do morning dance parties if I am particularly tired in the morning to get my blood flowing. It makes the morning fun and helps me focus on the rest of my morning routine.
While I do my reading and journaling sometimes I like to put on some inspiring music. I personally love classical and jazz music. This is my favorite music to write to.
Find what works for you and inspires you!
Step Five
Step Five: Don't Give Up
The first 7 days are the most challenging when you try to make any changes. Be patient with yourself. Reward yourself when you make progress. And most importantly, believe in yourself.
You've got this! I know you can do this!
Does it Really Make a Difference?
YES! This will profoundly change your life in DRAMATIC ways. Within my first four days, I found myself more clear and excited to start every single day. I found myself enjoying my morning routine. I also discovered that I wanted my morning routine to last longer and longer.
When my schedule allows, I like to create space for longer mornings so I can savor my visualizations, take notes on new discoveries or ideas, and really sit and think about where I want to go with my life, my business, and my relationships.
I also find that I am less stressed even when the day doesn't go according to what my visualization outlined for the day. The fact that my intention was to have a powerful day somehow helps me show up in a different way to stressful life situations. Life circumstances don't throw me off as easily when I stick to this routine.
Need Support?
Sometimes making changes to our daily routine can feel overwhelming and even daunting. And hey, you are not alone. Most of my clients feel this way. I am here to partner with you in creating attainable action steps side by side to get you to your desired destination.
As a coach, women hire me to ignite their ambition while balancing their drive with rest. I help them identify, capture, and rewire limiting beliefs so that they can achieve anything they set their minds to.
If you need coaching support, please schedule a complimentary Total Transformation Discovery session with me today.
