It is a well-known fact that many successful people swear by their morning practice. Oprah Winfrey starts her morning with meditation, treadmill and a healthy breakfast whilst Jennifer Anniston wakes up cuddling dogs, works out for 90 minutes then has a sauna bath. Michelle Obama works out at 4.30am every day and says” there is no magic in achievement, it’s really about hard work, choices and persistence”.
Morning routines are powerful, addictive, energizing and don’t just set the stage for achieving the day’s objectives but also for achieving our long-term goals and bringing our dreams to fruition.
I personally think there is great value in it for everyone, whether you aspire to be a global success, a leader in your community or a role model to your family, morning routines are highly beneficial.
For a while now I have been working on my morning routine, experimenting with wake-up times, breakfast options, journaling, earthing and more. Though I am still new to this I have to say that I am loving it!
Waking up early when the house is quiet and having some quality time to myself is gratifying, invigorating and a great opportunity to get some focused work done which sets the tone for the rest of the day! Is it easy to do, not at first, it does require will power and determination, but I can truly see the benefits of this practice and today I am sharing my own personal practice, its not yet where I want to be but it’s a great start!
My morning (for now) starts at 7am, unlike Sheryl Sandberg who is in the office by this time, but this is the best I can do for now and that is good enough.
I start with 10 minutes of prayer or meditation, if Meditating it is simply focusing on my breath, nothing fancy or complicated, this is followed by 2 minutes of reading out my affirmation. Affirmations are statements you make to yourself about where you want to be in life or what you want. These can be statements for increased wealth, career growth, love, better health anything that you want to attract in your life. Affirmations are based on the Law of Attraction which states that whatever you think or feel can shape your reality. Many successful business leaders practice daily Affirmations.
This is followed by 5 minutes of Visualization which is a mental rehearsal of what one wants in life, e.g. the trip on a luxury cruise, a billion-dollar business, a baby and the 5-minute mental rehearsal is experiencing what that moment will feel like when it happens. I use a storyboard that I made last year with everything that I want so I spend my time looking at the story board and imagining what those accomplishments would feel like.
Next, one of my favourite activities- Journaling, I take 5 minutes to scribe my Gratitude and my 2-3 main objectives for the day, and this activity alone creates a feel-good sensation and intensifies the motivation to get rolling!
This is followed by sipping a mug of warm water with freshly squeezed lime for detoxification whilst taking a barefoot walk in the damp grass for a few minutes of grounding. Though this sounds like a lot it’s all done within 30 minutes!
My breakfast comes a little later as I enjoy Smoothies for breakfast and its still too early to whiz that blender into action without waking up the household! So, I hop over to my computer and start the daily grind.
Is this going to be my daily morning routine forever? No because I must still make more changes to it, but for now ‘yes’! Upcoming changes will include waking up earlier and adding on 2 more very important activities: Exercise and Personal development. I hope to start Exercising soon with yoga or walks as it is one of the most energizing and uplifting activities to do and yes, I want to bring out those happy hormones as early in the day as I can!
Daily dose of Personal Development is very important, the likes of Richard Branson, Robin Sharma, Sheryl Sandberg, Oprah Winfrey thrive on daily personal development initiatives and strongly recommend it. I remember reading a quote once along the lines of ‘the mind once stretched cannot go back to its original shape’ and that is what daily investment in personal development does. This can be in the form of reading a book, watching a video, listening to a podcast whatever learning method works for each individual. Lately I have been reading a lot of books and really enjoying them, but I have a long list of videos and podcasts that I want to get my hands on, so my objective is to bring in 20 minutes of Personal Development every morning to catch up on those gifts.
These habits have been slowly building up in my life and the big push came from an excellent book I read, Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, if you are interested in starting or enhancing your morning routine this book is a must read! It is inspirational, practical, full of tips and a very fast and engaging read!
If you already have an awesome morning routine, please share it with our community at https://www.facebook.com/WellnessRedone/, sharing is inspiring!
References
https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/#4
https://www.storypick.com/morning-routines-successful-women/
