Morning Rituals to Change Your Life
Success comes to those who strive to achieve it. I was wondering what will be the morning habits of the most successful and happiest people in the world. Many of us might think that only smart work and consistency is important for becoming successful but only a few people would have known the huge effects of the morning routine in setting up the tone of the day.
What do Bill Gates, Tony Robbins, Lady Gaga, Benjamin Franklin, Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey have in common? They would tell you what makes them more successful is working out their morning ritual. They will always find time for it despite of their very busy timetable. Even if it means rescheduling their time. To them, morning ritual is a ritual - not only a habit.
I researched many successful people and collected information on their morning routines. Modeling a successful person can have a huge impact on the quality of your own life. They have cracked a code of success by consistent efforts and learning from their mistakes. If we are able to properly emulate them we tend to save our time making newbie mistakes.
All the most effective and empowering morning rituals include at least one habit from the following three areas: body, mind and spirit. The more you can combine, the more power you can gain from the ritual. For example when you are working out on the body and can combine elevating your spirit by repeating daily affirmation, it will help both your body status and your spirit. I will list important habits summarized from many successful people and you can try and cherry pick what work best for you. I will also explain how I pick and formed my morning ritual and fit in my busy schedule in the morning.
Breathing - Do you know we breathe almost 20,000 times/day? But many of us don’t know how to do breathing properly? What I learned from the book - Just Breathe is profound. With our faced life nowadays, we normally take shallow breaths and never understand how breathing can impact our health and life. Engaging in deep breathing when you first walk up helps you connect quickly with your body and improve different body systems.
Hydration - We are dehydrated after a night’s sleep. Drinking at least 16 ounces of water would boost your body’s metabolism and help your body flush out toxins.
Exercise - Most people exercise to get fit or lose weight. The benefits of regular exercise go far beyond simply having a “good beach body,” it can also help alleviate anxiety and depression. It is really the key to your optimal health and mental status.
Eat healthy - Juice, smoothies or healthy breakfast will help your body to have more energy and transform you from inside out.
Affirmation - Affirmation is the act of repeating positive words in mind or by speaking to yourself. I am.... You may fill this line with positive and powerful words to rebuild your self-image. Research says that repeating strong words affect your mind positively. The words like strong, powerful, smart, peaceful, resilient, cooperative, successful, empowered
Visualization of goals - Visualization technique means that you need to imagine in mind about your goals and suppose that you have achieved them. This lets you send positive vibes in the universe which will help create events likely to bring you closer to your goals in real life.
Gain knowledge by reading/viewing/listening - learning something new will excite you. Find something that will help you learn or grow in advance and draft a list. Then in the morning depending on your style, you can read a book, view an inspirational video, or listing to the audiobooks. It is a great way of motivate the muscles of your mind.
Get ready for the day by review the schedule/goals - Be proactive, not reactive. Plan your day so you are the master of your daily life. This will help you mentally prepared for the day.
Gratitude - Think of something your are grateful every morning. This helps you stay positive in your daily life. Harvard Medical School has published that “In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
Meditate - Meditation helps to start the day with a calm and mindful head. If you wants to get in the habit and need some help, here are two apps that can help you to form daily meditation habit - Headspace and xxx.
Delight someone you love/care - Think about a person who you love and care and show them that you appreciate them. We often take our family and friends for granted. Send them a short message or verbally tell them “I am grateful that I have you in my life” or just “I appreciate you xxx”.
Help someone - Small gesture and contribution to the lives of others will build the sense of purpose for fulfillment in life. Holding the door for a stranger, giving $1 to a homeless person, sending positive energy to a person in need online - this will set up your day in a positive start.
Feeling overwhelming that so many things to choose from? Don’t think you have time to do them? Don’t worry. I was in the same spot before. As a working mom, I refined a morning ritual that fit with my lifestyle. Here is how I do it:
Importantly to me, the morning ritual started from the night before - see the other article - Daily Planning. So it saves time that in the morning I can use 10-15 minutes to finish the following first 4 steps:
Morning Ritual
That Will Change Your Productivity
Deep breathing with gratitude – This involves taking a deep breath for 3 minutes and in the meantime, I take time to think of the things I am grateful for. This step puts me in the position to control my day. Tip: Put your cell in airplane mode so you are not being led by the first impulses but rather plan the day accordingly. Don’t turn it on until you finish the morning ritual.
Affirmation – Affirmation is the act of repeating positive words in mind or by speaking to yourself. I use the phrase “I am…” You may fill this line with positive and powerful words to rebuild your self-image. Research says that repeating strong words affect your mind positively. The words like strong, powerful, smart, peaceful, resilient, cooperative, successful, empowered. Or sometimes I also read out loud the inspirational quotes I collected. This instils positive ideas in my mind making me feel positive. I am able to concentrate my target of the day start on a high notch.
Exercises – Before I struggle with this step as I can’t go to gym or finding equipments at home takes time and space. Later on I learn I don’t need any equipment to work out this step. All I do is pick up exercises like push up, sit up, squats etc in 3 sets of 10-20 repetitions.
Gain knowledge and inspired – I don’t have time to physically sit down to read in the morning. But with the availability of audio books and videos, I can listen to an audio book or watch inspirational YouTube videos while I am doing my morning cleansing, dressing, preparing breakfast. With consistency, I have “read” so many books and learned so much from the Youtubers. Note: I always pause this step when it is the family breakfast time. I like to enjoy my time with my family and am 100% present with them. After I drop off my son to day care, I will then resume listening as I drive to work. This really helps me to start the day with positive ideas.
Scribing – I love taking some time to write something. During work days, I make sure I am at the work place before time. And the first thing to do is to spend 5 minutes to scribble the following in my journal:
I am grateful for - (listed what I thought of in the step 1)
What would make today great? - (any task that will be finished will make me feel great? Or sending an appreciation message to a friend that hasn’t been in contact lately?)
Daily Affirmation - (write down my affirmation on step 2)
Lesson learned | new commitments for today – (any thing I want to commit today)
During the weekends when I don’t get to work, I take time to do this step after breakfast.
By applying only a couple of these simple tips every morning, you can greatly enhance the result of your whole day. You'll start to feel more joyful, more profitable, more empowered, and at last show signs of improvement comes about. Other people will see that you appear to be changed. You'll feel not so much pushed but rather more casual. You'll feel like you are accountable for your life, which will give you more certainty. I hope the steps are clear but in case of any queries or clarification please feel free to drop them on the comments section below.
Remember this - spending just 15 minutes or more, each morning can drastically transform every area of your life!
So start doing it today!
