The importance of a morning routine…

A powerful morning routine can change the trajectory of each day!

"You will never change your life, until you change something you do daily."

Meaning how you start the day tends to lead to the direction of your day.

Because your:

Attitude.

Energy.

Confidence.

All impact the decisions you make, what you think and what you think you can do.

I want to share with you some great habits you can try on that might help you feel more productive and positive going into each day.

Try them on like clothes. See if they fit and if they don’t buy them. Put them back.

I’d say try one for a week and reflect on if you've noticed any difference in your attitude and behaviours.

They’ve helped me lots and I am far from a “morning person”.

Hence why around 12 months ago I decided to carve out 10-15 minutes for myself each morning.

Feeling grounded.

When we become grounded into our body and breath.

It's harder for us to be knocked and or swept up in the many things that come up each day.

The quantity of our thoughts slow down.

Worries, jobs, goals are then seen from a broader perspective.

This doesn’t mean we forget about them; it means we get clearer on what we can and can’t control.

Which gives you clarity of when to practice acceptance of what’s out of your control and the boldness to act on the things you can control.

Which saves energy and builds momentum and progress in whatever we want in our lives.

But when you aren't grounded and your mind is racing first thing in the morning, you can become overwhelmed, anxious and swept from pillar to post.

In an attempt to change this, you’ve probably caught yourself trying to dissect and change every single thought that comes?

I know the feeling and that’s why I was determined to find a real solution.

Because fighting thoughts with other thoughts is draining...

And now I’m going to share them with you.

A morning routine has to work for you. And if you don’t know what works give yourself the chance to experiment 😊

An open mind is key 👌🏾

Breathwork –

Breathwork is brilliant as it is low in physical effort in the morning (which means a little less will power to get started). But it does have a relatively high return.

I use a free app called “Ibreathe” where I go for rounds of breathing in for 5 seconds – 5 seconds hold – breathing out for 5 seconds. And you repeat this for 10 – 15 cycles for example.

Benefits – Brings you into the present. Slows down racing thoughts. Anchors you into your body instead of your head.

Think about when you panic or feel overwhelmed, first thing to change is your breathing pattern. Short and rapid breaths.

This is a fight/flight response.

For you to feel calm and present you can change your breathing pattern to take yourself out of fight/flight which is similar to rushing around and overwhelm.

By breathing in a consistent deep pattern. Which informs your mind and body everything is ok, you can relax and be present.

Which all benefit how you relate with people and obstacles that come up in the day.

Yoga/stretching –

Yoga doesn’t have to be for long time periods all the time.

It could be 10 minutes.

Moving your body shifts your thinking more than thinking can shift your movement/actions.

We often try and think our way into action.

Which is an uphill battle.

There are scenarios to apply thinking and will power to make changes.

But will power is like a battery that we have each day. And I encourage you to use that energy wisely.

Yoga releases so much tension out of our minds and body’s which leads to less resistance to up-and-coming events as well as resisting things from the past.

Whether you are nervous about a presentation or a workout coming up.

This will massively help you become calmer, more grounded and present so you can face those challenges with a more accepting attitude.

YouTube has thousands of morning stretch routines that are free for you to try.

Workout –

The challenge for some people here is having the will power to get out of bed knowing you are going into a workout.

The pro here is that if you can overcome that first hurdle of getting out of bed. That is a huge mental win to start the day on.

Which leads to you wanting to continue taking charge of your day.

How will you feel knowing that the hardest part of the day is done?

The endorphins will carry on throughout the day and I notice I have way more mental focus after working out.

Which is great for performance at work.

Finally, there’s nothing wrong with a short 10–15-minute workout to wake you up and get you going for the day.

It doesn't have to be an hour.

When I do the hardest thing of the day first, I feel like everything else is a breeze in comparison.

Walking –

The outdoors are great for getting you out of your head and being more present with your senses.

Sights, smells, sounds, feeling the temperature on your skin.

It’s impossible to be anxious when you are in the present moment as anxiety lives in the future and depression in the past.

So go for a short walk.

Check in with yourself. Notice what sensations come up for you physically.

Notice what thoughts come up for you.

Process them.

Go without headphones or being on your phone.

If you give yourself a chance to think through what's going on in your life, you will also feel more comfortable forgetting about your concerns at other points in the day. When you need to be thinking about work, family and other things.

Clarity of mind leaves space for achieving goals that you want.

Journalling –

Dumping your thoughts on paper allows you to process concerns and doubts rather than letting them play tennis back and forth in your head all day.

Acknowledging thoughts and feelings takes a lot of their power away.

When we don’t acknowledge thoughts and feelings, they control us because we are trying to avoid them.

In that avoidance, we are resisting, and using mental energy trying to ignore them.

So therefore we are under their control...

What you resist persists.

Do the opposite, see them for what they are.

See what you can control and what you can’t.

And if you can’t accept the whole situation yet.

Ask yourself what you can accept in the situation? And ask yourself why you’re struggling to accept other aspects?

This will help you see what is affecting you…

Reading –

I love reading positive stuff in general and I see many benefits to doing it in the morning.

But if I was to recommend any habit to anyone, I would encourage you to do something movement or breathwork based as they have more impact on how you feel.

One Feeling can impact hundreds of thoughts.

Whereas thinking positive thoughts on top of negative thoughts is similar to a plaster over a wound.

It's only a temporary fix.

Do something movement based and then read for 10-15 minutes.

I believe this is a powerful combination of improving how you think and feel ✅

Meditation –

Meditation is my non-negotiable habit each morning.

I won’t say it’s the best as it’s not for absolutely everyone.

Meditation grounds me like breath work and yoga.

I stay aware of my breath and notice the thoughts that come up along the way.

Thoughts can be like houseguests. They can knock at your door but it’s your choice whether you invite them in and entertain them.

Meditation is the best tool I’ve used yet to build the mental strength and focus to think about what I do want, rather than what I don’t want.

And also to have the freedom to think less and be present.

There’s no such thing as being “good” at meditation.

Some people are more aware of their chatterbox mind that tends to be negative and intrusive. And they accept that that chatterbox is part of human nature. So they don't get as swept up in the chatterbox's story's it tells us.

Whereas when we are newer to meditation, we aim to be “good” at meditating by hoping we’ll never have negative thoughts or distractions come up.

Which is when we start to get annoyed at ourselves for not meeting this high expectation.

Try a guided meditation for 5-10 minutes to start.

This will you get you comfortable and better at noticing thoughts go by without piggybacking along with them.

This is a very powerful and detached place to be.

Apps you can use – “Headspace” “Calm” “Medito”.

I hope this article has been useful.

The key is to put some time out for you which will help you see the value in taking care of yourself.

Because that impacts your ability to take care of others.

Let me know if this helps 😊

Send me a message by clicking here.