So many people have been sending me direct messages and emails asking about my morning routine!!! This includes everything from my gratitude journal to my devotional to my personal development and how I schedule time in my day. I figured the best way to explain it all is with a blog post that has links to all of the things that I love!!
About a year ago I read the book Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and that was the start of me really beginning to adopt these principles. Getting up and reading in the morning, doing my personal development, reading my devotional, and doing my gratitude journal. I’ve always been an early riser – for the past 7 and a half years I’ve made the conscious choice to get up before the rest of my family and to start my day with this practice because I feel like it sets me up for a better mood and a better mindset for the rest of my day. Believe it or not, I’m way more productive when I have this quiet reflection time in the morning!!
My routine starts at 5 am when my alarm goes off. I get up, go to the kitchen, and drink my Energize. Then I go into my office, turn on my desk lamp (keeping my computer OFF) pop in my ear buds and start with just 5 minutes of meditation using the Simple Habits App that I love!!! If you are someone who has never meditated before this is a great app to start with. 5 minutes is just enough for my short attention span.
After I do my 5 minute meditation its time to start my gratitude journal. I recently got this one on Amazon and because ,of the simplicity. I didn’t want to commit to something that would take too much time each morning. I can always build on the gratitude journal once the activity becomes a habit. I like this journal a lot because every day it has you write down three things you are thankful for. It really makes me take a step back and think about my past 24 hours and what I’m thankful for. I also love that at the end of the week it asks what your highlights from the week are. It’s so easy to get swept up in the negativity of the world but adding this into my daily routine really helps me with a positive outlook!! There is nothing great than starting your morning with a positive mindset and just being GRATEFUL for the BLESSINGS you might even take for granted in your daily life.
That takes me about five minutes and then I move on to my daily devotional. I use an app that’s called She Works His Way and this is what you probably see me screenshotting a lot on my Instagram stories. Michelle Myers is the creator of the app, and all of the content is geared towards women of faith in business. I love this devotional and it’s usually related to something I’m going through in my business at the moment. It IS a small fee, but I love it and truly think it’s worth the cost. I also sometimes use the 365 Devotions for Finding Unwavering Strength in God’s Word by Christine Kaine, which is a simple daily devotional book.
After my devotional I read a chapter of my personal development. I just finished reading Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who has problems with comparing yourself to others and self-limiting beliefs. I choose personal development based on where I’m at in my life, so sometimes it’s leadership, sometimes it’s personality styles, it could be motivational, tactical or strategic. Because I don’t have a lot of time every morning (and I have a short attention span), I will literally read one chapter every day. So it takes me awhile to read a book, but that’s what I feel like I can personally handle in this season of my life. I underline and comment and reflect on what I’ve read, and usually it gives me ideas for my social media posts for the day.
From there, I go to my regular journal. The prompt for this journal is just “how I am working on myself today.” So I sit down and write about how I felt when I woke up that morning (anxious, rested, etc.) and then I will talk about whatever is going on in my life. Sometimes I write goals or things I’ve read or something that’s bothering me. I always try to end it with what I’m going to do to myself better that day.
Then I make my to do lists for the day. I usually do this on sticky notes and I will write down the top five things that I want to accomplish before the day is over. I know that as a business owner (and a mom and a wife) that I’m pulled in a million directions. I used to make longer to do lists but then I got overwhelmed with all the things I wasn’t getting done, so I’ve narrowed it down to my top five tasks for the day. For me, everything needs to go on a list and everything needs to get written down because if I keep it in my head it might slip through the cracks. Plus I get some SERIOUS satisfaction out of being able to check things off the box! As I sit here writing this blog post, ideas pop in my head and they immediately go on the sticky pad so that it doesn’t clutter my mind and leave me unfocused.
After that, it’s workout time! I go down to the basement and press play on whatever program I’m doing at the moment. My workout is my me time and it’s been part of my routine for seven and a half years now. Thirty minutes or an hour of working out is not going to kill me!! I try to leave all my stress and anxiety outside the door and focus on how great I’ll feel when I’m done. So many women say that they do not have TIME to workout! I remember saying those things to myself and then when it became something that I NEEDED to do- I miraculously now had the time! For me it was setting the alarm 30 minutes earlier each day. I made the sacrifice because at the end of those 30 minutes I felt so much more empowered to take on the day. My mind was clearer, I had a great boost of endorphins and I just have a better mindset when I sweat first!!! If you were to read any article on the routines of successful CEO’s, most will include waking up early or working on as part of their routine! I think we are on to something here… RIGHT!!!!!
I go directly upstairs after that and make my Shakeology and coffee, then take a shower. I try to be efficient and ready for my 8 am start time and I’m usually able to get the boys on the bus to school before I get started with the rest of my day.
The weekends are a little bit more flexible, but I never miss this morning routine. I take it on the go when we travel and I make sure to fit it in when we have guests at the house!! This is what gets my mind in the right place to conquer the day ahead of me. I hate the feeling of waking up when my kids get up and scrambling to take care of myself and take care of them in such a short amount of time.
So that is it!! My morning routine begins at 5:00 am and the devotional, the journaling, the meditation only takes me about 30 minutes! Then, off I go to do my workout which is usually 30-40 minutes as well. In reality an hour to an hour and 15 minutes is what you should set aside. If that is too much, start with just 30 minutes a day! My friends I’m telling you that adopting your own self care routine is going to be life changing. Can I give you a task? Will you try it for 30 days? Make it a priority by scheduling it into your calendar like a meeting with your boss that you cannot miss. Then, lets report back and see how you are doing. DEAL!!!!
I hope this was helpful and answered all of your questions!! Feel free to reach out if I missed something and I’d love to hear about your morning routine as well!
xo
Melanie