Today I am going to share the joys and importance of a morning routine and share mine with you.
Over the summer last year I was listening to Ruth Soukup's podcast Do It Scared (which she recently announced is no longer continuing, but I have listened to a lot of and highly recommend) from July 29, 2019 with Hal Elrod who wrote the book The Miracle Morning. The concept of the Miracle Morning is based on his research into what successful people have done for centuries - had a solid morning routine that includes:
Silence
Affirmations
Visualization
Exercise
Reading
Writing
Yesterday I was listening to the NAPO (National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals) podcast Stand Out and the guest was John Jantsh talking about his book The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur and he emphasized a similar morning routine and how inspiring the morning can be. He asked this question -
"What time would you need to get up to have 30 minutes of me time every day? What would make you look forward to it?"
I am so grateful for my morning time. I get up at 5:30am and while I love all the items listed above, I don't quite get to all of them in the morning.
My typical and current morning routine is as follows:
Meditate - 10 Minutes
Currently I am using the Calm app and do the Daily Calm, which is consistently right about 10 minutes long. I have actually been meditating about 4 times as week, but working on making it daily. This has been one of the hardest to work in for me. Serenity and stillness are not my natural tendencies!
Affirmations - 1 minute
I update them every quarter and I love the fact they all make me smile and feel so grounded.
Read my daily inspiration/reflection books - 1-2 minutes
Currently Hoda Kotb's This Just Speaks to Me and Make Room for Bliss by Judy Stoffel Loewen
I read the Hoda book along with some close people in my life and we often reflect on them together.
“Bliss“ is my word for the year and I am so happy to have found a daily inspiration book on it!
I actually have “Read 5 minutes“ on my Habit Tracker and these don't count toward that, so I also read later in the day.
Writing Morning Pages - 15 to 30 minutes
Officially, Morning Pages are from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way and are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning.
I have tiny handwriting and rarely make it to three pages. This has been the best and most beloved practice. This is my reason for getting up at 5:30am. If I roll back to sleep then I don't have time for it.
Writing for my book(s) or blog
I officially opted to do my writing in the morning and move my exercise time to before dinner. My brain is most productive in the mornings, so I can actually get writing done. Often times the evening workout will energize me enough to get more writing time in after the kids go to bed.
I have other processes for Habit Tracking and gratitudes but that is a lot for one blog post :)
The whole concept of a self morning routine may seem overwhelming, but I highly encourage you to take one step towards a morning routine and see how you feel after a week. I encourage you to try 15 minutes of morning "me" time and pick one or two things that interest you most. Or try 15 minutes after you drop off your child in the morning.
I truly attribute my joy and energy in life to my morning routine. I have learned more about myself, pursued new passions, started a business and feel like an all around better person.