Who doesn’t want a better morning? Mornings are often portrayed and characterized as being hectic, stressful, rushed, and anything but relaxing. But what If I told you this doesn’t have to be your reality. What if you could design your mornings so that they were inspiring, motivating, and could set an incredible tone for your day.
Would that be something you would want? Would that be something you could commit to creating in your life?
Well It is totally possible and not as complicated as you would think. I use to dread my mornings. I had to get up early to avoid traffic, I always felt rushed to get breakfast made, and my mornings certainly were not setting and inspiring and incredible tone for the rest of my day. Until I created a better morning routine and committed to sicking to it.
This routine has literally transformed my days and I know it can do the same for you! I am so excited to share it with you! Let’s jump in.
Prepare Before You Go To Bed
This was a huge game changer for me! By setting your morning up for success the night before you create more time in the morning for the things that will set the tone for your day. So what are the things you can do at night to set yourself up for a successful and inspiring morning?
- Pick out your outfit so it is ready for you when you wake up
- Make your breakfast & lunch so they are ready to go
- Create your to-do list so you know what you need to accomplish the next day
Doing these things the night before will free up your morning for the things that will start your day off in a relaxed, organized, and calm fashion.
Begin Your Day With Gratitude
One of the best ways to set a positive tone for your day is to start the day with gratitude. I like to keep my journal on my night stand so it is one of the first things that I see when I wake up. You can try this out and see if it will work for you.
Start by writing down the things that you are grateful for. Try to think of five to ten things that you are grateful for each and every morning. Expressing your gratitude helps to set your day off on the right foot, it will also help you to attract more of what you are grateful for into your life.
Once you have written down the things you are grateful for feel free to free write whatever comes into your mind. I really like this practice because I find that it helps me get out ideas, process emotions and feelings, and helps me from feeling stuck.
Avoid Electronics, TV, and Social Media
This is a great way to get your time back and have a better morning! So often the first thing we do in the morning is grab our phones to check social media, email, our to-do lists, etc.
Maybe you are thinking, “Hey I don’t spend that much time on Social Media!” but my guess is you are spending more time on it than you think you are. Its pretty easy to check the time you are spending on each app on your phone.
All you have to do on an iPhone or iPad is go into your settings, click battery and scroll down to battery usage. From there it will show you what you are spending the most time on. This way you will actually be able to see how much time you are really spending.
I know that doing these things have had a large impact on being setting a tone for my mornings. I have seen it also work wonders for others. I am sure that it can produce similar results for you if you are consistent.
Give Yourself More Time
When you give yourself an extra 15 minutes or even just 5 more minutes to get where you need to be you significantly reduce your stress.
Think back to the last time you were running late. Didn’t it seem like everyone on the road was going too slow. That everything, was frustrating and it felt like, you would never get there.
Now think about the last time you were not in a rush, and had plenty of time to get to your destination. It was a much less stressful experience, wasn’t it. It is totally possible for the second version to be your everyday reality.
All you have to do is give yourself a little extra time. Start putting this into practice by setting your alarm 5 to 15 minutes earlier to give yourself a jump on your day.
Read Positive Affirmations
Affirmations are a powerful tool that you can use to create a life you love. They are also great for setting whatever tone you want for your day. The affirmations you choose will depend on what you are working to create and bring into your life.
For Example: If you are working on living a whole-istically healthy life in mind, body, and soul these could be some affirmations that support you in creating that in your life.
- I always have time for the self care that I need
- I enjoy moving & taking care of my body
- I love nourishing my body with nutrient dense foods
- I am committed to living a healthy, balanced, vibrant, wildly successful life
- I have incredible relationships in my life
- I know the Universe has my back and wants me to succeed
Move Your Body
Moving your body first thing in the morning is one of the best things you can do for yourself. After sleeping and being mostly stationary, the fascia that covers all of your muscles and organs have tightened up. So, doing some mindful movement like yoga, or foam rolling, or stretching will help your body feel its best through out the day.
I always make sure to foam roll every single morning right after I do my gratitude journaling. Then I do a quick 15 to 30 minute yoga practice to get my body feeling great. Before implementing this into my morning routine I had chronic back and neck pain and my body would ache all through out my day. So if you suffer from aches and pains through out your day, I highly suggest trying this out!
Read Your Vision
Reading your Vision is one of the most powerful ways to set the tone for your day. Not only does it connect you to your vision for your life but it lights you up and keeps you motivated to keep working toward your goals.
After I started reading my vision every morning I noticed that I became at least ten times more productive than I was before I was reading it every morning. Putting this into practice also had a profound impact on the number of days that I was not feeling inspired to work on my goals and get stuff done. Before implementing this practice my tough days were much more frequent than they have been since ready my vision each morning.
So put your vision somewhere where you will see it and read it every single morning. To make sure that you stay consistent with this practice schedule it in to your morning, each night when you are writing out your to-do list for the following day. I promise it will have a huge impact.
Meditate for at Least 5 Minutes
Having a regular and consistent meditation practice is a total game changer. It can set your whole day up for success, it can also help you reset during a stressful time, it can even help lessen anxiety.
Adding meditation to my routine helps me to fall asleep faster, it helps me let go of things more quickly, it helps me to be present in the moment, it helps me focus, and it has helped to increase my self-awareness. There is a reason that meditation is an entire limb of the 8 limb practice of yoga.
Don’t be intimidated by the idea of starting a meditation practice, it doesn’t mean that you have to sit in silence and have an empty mind, there are many different kinds of meditation.
Some of my favorite types of meditation for beginners are:
Mantra Meditation: This is meditation where you repeat a word or phrase continually, silently to yourself. It is a great type of meditation to start with because it keeps your mind focused on the mantra and keeps it from wandering. I love to do this type of meditation with affirmations as well.
Mindfulness Meditation: In this type of meditation you focus on being present in the moment. Focusing on the flow of your breath, noticing the noises that you hear, noticing your thoughts and emotions come and go with out judgement.
Guided Meditation: This is where you are guided through a meditation by a teacher. Often guided meditations have specific topics and goals associated with them. I love having guided meditations as part of my meditation practice. I choose ones that are aligned and will help me reach my goals and support the mindsets I am working to develop.
I hope these 8 tips can help you slow down and enjoy your life more.
Prioritize, Schedule, and Review Your Daily Tasks
For a long time, I operated on the idea of just seeing where the day took me. While this is just fine for days off, I found it was not so great for the days I had work to do. I would find myself looking at the clock at 5pm and wondering where my day had gone. Maybe you can relate?
When I started planning my days and prioritizing my to-do lists I was shocked at how much more I actually could get done in a day. it was amazing! It became even more powerful when I would review my schedule as the last part of my morning routine.
Prioritizing and creating a schedule allowed me to stay on task, it gave me more structure, and it allowed me to be much more productive. I am now a firm believer in the power of prioritizing and scheduling because it has allowed me to slow down and enjoy more of my life. It has also helped me to have more balance in my life as well.
Experiment with different scheduling tools to find out what works best for you. Maybe you love apps and don’t want to carry around anything else to keep yourself organized besides your phone. Or maybe you are like me and there is just something about having things written down on paper that works for you. Either way is great, its all about finding what works for you and sticking with it.
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