Have you ever noticed that how you start the day dramatically impacts the flow of how your day will go? I believe that one of the most powerful changes we can make to improve our sense of life balance is to craft our morning ritual intentionally.
Most of us go through our mornings largely on autopilot, so shifting these rituals requires some focused decision-making in advance. I would say that I adjust my morning ritual usually at least 3-4 times per year, sometimes due to the changing seasons and sometimes due to new projects or priorities.
My Mornings
Let me start by describing my current morning ritual:
- 1. Wake up & go to the bathroom.
- 2. Do 3 French lessons on Duolingo (I’ve been trying to refresh my high school French.)
- 3. Meditate for 8-20 minutes – depending on the morning I do different meditations for grounding, mantras, quantum jumping, etc.
- 4. Taking care of home tasks while listening to my morning playlist: get dressed, make the bed, clean the cat litter box, start a load of laundry
- 5. Self-care time – Do some qi-gong or yoga and get my water infuser started (I love infused water… it actually encourages me to drink more)
- 6. Start writing (usually minimum 60-90 minutes) – my mind is freshest and it’s easiest for me to write at this time of day.
- 7. Have breakfast & take mid-morning break
- 8. Start work – Complete my Inspired Action (One Thing), Skyping with clients, working on projects, etc
That’s my morning most days, and I love this routine. It continues to shift and evolve as new ideas and opportunities arise. For instance, I was just introduced to qi-gong in May, and I’ve discovered a real appreciation for it, so I’m exploring how I incorporate it into my day.
Do you notice any similarities between my morning ritual and yours? I find that in general there are several themes to be found across most people’s morning rituals: Self-care, exercise, home tasks or prep, spiritual practices, reading/reflection time, and eating.
What’s Missing
Notice that there’s one item completely absent from my morning routine that may be present in yours: checking email. I do not check email until after breakfast. I do however, check slack which is what my team uses to communicate internally. So, I will respond to my team’s needs, but I don’t have to respond to or get distracted by anyone else’s agenda until I’m ready to focus on that. The #1 killer of most people’s great mornings is something they read via email, so don’t give it a chance to throw you off! It can wait just a little while longer.
Think about your morning routine… what is your pattern?
Is there anything that you want to do more often?
Where could it fit into your existing pattern? Think specifically, what are the steps that it would go between. Often I hear people say that they want to start working out in the morning, but they don’t take the time to consider where specifically in their morning that new habit would work best so they delay starting that workout and creating the habit.
When you think you’ve identified a good place for it, then take the time and visualize it in your mind. Play the image of your new habit or ritual through from beginning to end.
This visualization process will do two things:
- allow you to see if there are any essential logistical changes you’ll want to make to ensure that items you need are easily available in the right places
- create a stronger internal “lived-experience” of the process that will make moving through it externally that much easier.
There was a study done by psychologist Alan Richardson of basketball players which showed that even just visualizing yourself making free throws (without any further practice) can improve your ability to actually make them. The same is true for any other behavior, including your morning routine. If you want to create a new habit, then practice first in your mind to solidify the habit.
Two Key Changes to Make Immediately
If nothing else there are two specific changes that I would encourage EVERYONE to make to their morning ritual:
1. Eliminate checking your email first thing.
2. Introduce completing your Inspired Action (One Thing) as early as possible.
Start each day intentionally working on what’s most important to you rather than reacting immediately to everyone else’s requests and priorities for you. Those requests will still be there an hour later, and if someone’s got an issue that’s mission critical, then they will most likely call you.
Reclaim both your sense of spaciousness and intentionality in your morning, and watch how it begins to shift how you feel about your whole life.
Next Steps
What’s your morning routine? Is there something that you want to start doing differently?
I’d love to have you share it in the comments below so we can encourage and cheer you on!
