How to Craft an Empowering Morning Ritual
Hey Angels and Alphas,
What’s your morning ritual? Whether you realize it or not, you have a morning ritual. There are things you do consistently every morning that either build your momentum up or down for the rest of the day.
Imagine two people. The first has a mindful, motivating, and empowering morning ritual that helps them get their day started with energy and enthusiasm. The other person has no real structure in their morning and doesn’t really create the momentum they need to have energy throughout the day.
If you know nothing else about them, which one is more likely to succeed at their goal? Which is more likely to even have a goal?
It’s no secret to anyone – starting your day off right can put you in the state of mind you need to achieve your goal. The majority of the world’s high achievers have structured morning rituals that are designed to help them improve their energy, productivity, and mental focus.
That being said, how can *you* design your own morning ritual? A morning ritual that gives you specifically what you need to start your day off in the right state.
That’s exactly the question we’re going to answer today. Let’s take a look at the seven elements of morning rituals that are consistent throughout all effective and empowering morning rituals.
#1 – Goal Setting
You wake up. You open your eyes. You take a breath. What’s the first thing you usually do?
Do you check the time, quickly browse social media, and go back to bed?
Do you get up, take a shower, and head to work?
Or do you focus your thoughts on the things you have to do to get momentum for the day?
One element is so consistent throughout morning routines that is might as well be a requirement. It’s setting goals! The first and most important part of your day should be all about setting milestones you can achieve that day.
Once you verbalize and visualize the things you have to do, getting on the path to actually doing them feels a million times easier.
Some people go as far as to list out their goals the night before, and if you’re one of them, all the better. As soon as you wake up, you can look at your list and instantly bring yourself to the headspace you need to check things off the list.
If you’re someone who needs more discipline and has trouble getting things done, make this a part of your morning ritual.
#2 – Meditation
Meditation is another element that’s widely adopted in morning rituals.
In the Western sense, meditation essentially means sitting down and thinking about something. It’s more along the lines of pondering and deep thought about a particular topic.
In the Eastern sense, meditation involves awareness of the breath, observation of the thoughts, and a quieting of the mind.
That being said, meditation can also be used as prayer, self-reflection, or gratitude.
If you’re someone who has a lot of things on your mind and you need a natural way of relieving stress, meditation is a must in your morning ritual. It will help you enhance your self-awareness, improve your concentration, and clear your mind so you can focus throughout the day.
#3 – Reading
A lot of people from coaches to business owners include reading in their morning ritual.
High-achieving people understand that they need to consistently learn new ideas and information to get ahead.
However, this goes beyond just reading for twenty minutes every day. Reading without purpose is… well, pointless.
You have to read things that either bring actionable value to your life or things that you just enjoy reading. Studies show that reading for twenty minutes a day reduces stress by up to sixty percent!
If you’re someone who can spare twenty minutes every morning for a dozen pages of an informative book, it definitely won’t hurt to learn something new.
However, if you have to get to work as early as you can, you can save learning for a later part of the day.
#4 – Exercise
We’ve talked about early morning exercise many times, and the overwhelming evidence is that it’s fantastic. It helps you burn more fat and leaves you with more energy throughout the day.
However, in the case of morning rituals, you might find it inconvenient fitting an hour-long workout into your morning routine. If it’s in your morning ritual, it’s likely the last thing you do.
As great as morning exercise is, for some people, it’s just painfully difficult.
That’s why if you’re someone who hates working out in the mornings, but you want to add some activity to your mornings, you should try yoga, some home exercises, or just a basic stretching routine.
Nevertheless, five to ten minutes of physical activity in the mornings will help you clear your head and get you on the right track for the day.
#5 – Journaling
Oh, journaling!
We’ve talked about it a lot lately, and with good reason. Not only does it provide the mental benefits of focus and free expression, but it helps you manage, schedule, and track things throughout your day.
A lot of people like journaling first thing in the morning, be it in a dream journal or in a day planner.
Journaling is widely accepted as an overwhelmingly positive practice, but doing it consistently in the mornings gives you the added benefit of planning out your day and setting a checklist of goals to achieve.
If you’re someone who needs more structure in their days and has trouble remembering ideas, add ten minutes of journaling to your mornings and they’ll change your life – that’s a promise.
#6 – Visualization
One of the most common yet most undocumented elements of a successful morning ritual is called visualization.
There are many schools of thought behind visualization, but the majority of public perception believes that visualization brings actual benefits to people’s lives.
Although it’s basically a method of meditation, spending time visualizing how to accomplish your goals, handle obstacles, and overcome difficulties is something that has its own unique value.
By taking five to ten minutes of your morning to visualize how you’re achieving your goals for the day, you’re going to get a boost of motivation and you’ll put yourself on the track to making the right choices and decisions that day.
If you’re someone who has trouble getting motivated in the mornings, visualization is what you need to break through those chains and get yourself revved up.
#7 – Affirmations
Positive affirmations usually involve repeating phrases and messages that, in a way, send instructions to your physiology. These instructions help you direct your own thoughts and decisions, and including them in your morning ritual is a surefire way to set yourself up for success.
The messages you send yourself should be based on empowering positive habits, attitudes, and beliefs that move you closer and closer to achieving your potential.
Practicing positive affirmations is especially beneficial in the mornings, after meditating, when your mind is clear and open to receiving them. They’ll help you strengthen, energize, and focus yourself on what’s important.
If you’re someone who needs more direction and esteem, add five to ten minutes of positive affirmations to your morning ritual.
Putting it all together…
These seven elements of morning rituals will serve as the perfect foundation for creating your morning ritual. Use these elements to craft yourself a morning ritual based on your strengths and weaknesses.
You now know how to empower yourself and keep yourself focused and inspired throughout the day. You only need thirty minutes to an hour every morning to gain incredible momentum that will help you win the day, every day.
Once you get yourself into a comfortable routine, you’ll find how easy it is to be consistent with it. Every time you wake up, you’ll naturally gravitate to accomplishment.
Remember – the ultimate key to any empowering morning ritual is to build win upon win upon win! It’s momentum you’re looking for.
For example, when you quickly stretch for ten minutes, meditate for ten minutes, read for ten minutes, have breakfast, shower, and you’ll be basically unstoppable – you’ve already completed five tasks, and it’s not even 9 AM yet!
That’s what I want for you, and the best way to do it is by creating your custom morning ritual and staying consistent with it.
Making this choice means setting yourself on a path achievement, and that’s the path I want you to be on!
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