Are you setting yourself up for an intentional day or reacting to the next bouncing ball? For many of us the notion of a nailing a morning routine is an aspiration. We get up because we must and react to what comes along – as it happens.
Think about it. We wake to an alarm clock – in most cases that’s our smart phone conveniently located bedside, charging overnight and updating with a myriad of notifications which are lurking enticingly for our curious minds. This, even before we’ve stepped up off the bed.
And so, it begins. Our reactionary day. Facebook updates, Instagram notifications, LinkedIn, email, to do lists and calendar all demanding our attention. Fingers glued to the screen, we’ve lost ten minutes before brushing our teeth and our busy minds already foggy before our day has begun.
But what if it were different?
Most of us are well read and do invest in personal development, why then is something so basic and so regular as getting up each day and building a successful routine so difficult to master? I have a theory here – that simplicity is the secret. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act but a habit (Will Durant)
Here are my tips to creating a 60 minute morning routine that will set you up to literally smash your day into oblivion every day!
1. If you do use your phone to wake you – don’t. Leave it downstairs and swap it for a small alarm clock to gently tease you from your slumber. Have the alarm clock far enough away you must get up to switch it off. Once out of bed stay out! Don’t snooze your alarm
2. Spend the first 10 minutes awake on something intentional. Be that a meditation, or writing gratitude's in your journal or stretching your body in the morning light
3. Drink your first litre of fresh, cool, delicious water
4. Write down your top 3 prioritised activities – what must be done today. Commit to them
5. Move. Get your body outside in the morning light and exercise. Walking is so effective, getting your heart rate up for even 15 minutes will make a difference.
6. Read for 10 minutes. Listen to a podcast. Invest in your self-development or simply read or listen to something that gives you pleasure.
Don’t deny yourself a great start to an intentional day. Telling yourself you are not a morning person is simply a lie. Humans are evolved to have their circadian rhythm awake in the light and asleep in the dark.
Staying up and binge-watching Netflix or MAFS might feel like the release you need but it’s not part of our evolutionary design and it may be the very thing preventing you being the best version of yourself. An intentional day supports you achieving your goals.
Go for it.
To your continued future health, success, and happiness
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