Morning Mindset Ritual
I have written several articles on Morning Routines.
These articles contain content like:
Why you should do it and when to start;
How to start enjoying your mornings;
How to build a habit with your mornings.
See the articles below if you haven’t read them yet.
Want some help to actually put it into practice?
Then I’ve got something for you that will give you THAT kick up the backside 😉
Now it’s time to really set yourself up for success!
Here’s a guide and template especially for you, to get started with your own Morning Mindset Ritual.
This ritual is built upon 3 key elements; thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
These are the elements that create our awareness and productivity. These elements can be used to maximize the impact on your desires and goals.
When you have more control of these three elements you can definitely influence your result of the day, week, month, and year.
Click the button below to get your download now!
5 Insider Secrets on How to Build a Habit with your Mornings
Building a habit can be hard and challenge you on different levels. Tell me about it!
This blog will give you insight into the secrets of securing your new habit and make it easier for you to persist in your new way of living.
These are 5 actionable steps you can take to implement your habit better and be indestructible in keeping yourself to it.
Building a habit is always hard at first since you have to break down your old habit and construct your new one.
Be aware that in the beginning, from my own experience especially the first 2 weeks, your mind is going to rebel against your new habit like a crazy person.
I bet you’ll come up with excuses that you never thought you could have about waking earlier. Know that this is your brain and actually fear that’s making up excuses for you, why you shouldn’t do it. Your brain is trying to protect you and wants to stay with the familiar because, who knows, maybe it will not work out, what are the consequences when waking up early or what if you might hurt yourself in some way.
Please don’t be alarmed and just examine the thoughts and feelings you get from this and be really rational about it. Is this thought actually relevant, true or is it benefiting me?
As long as you take good care of yourself and make sure you get enough sleep, you’ll be just fine.
You can kiss almost any excuse goodbye. If you really want to change your morning ritual, make sure you’re giving yourself at least 2 months to try it out.
There are 3 phases in these approximately 2 months;
destruction of old habit, installation of the new habit, and last but not least the implementation of the habit and making it your new standard.
So what are the “5 Insider Secrets” that helped me to secure my habit?
o Five Second Rule
o Set small goals that push you (out of your bed)
o Build a Routine
o Benefit of Intention
o Affirmations
1. Five Second Rule
This rule is different from the one you might know from dropping food on the floor and picking it up within 5 seconds. This 5-second rule was made popular by Mel Robins in her book “The 5 Second Rule”.
To give you a quick idea of what this is about, it’s actually very simple.
Whenever you try to rise early and some thought or excuse is coming up, to stop it from rattling on and getting you down the rabbit hole and letting you squeeze out from your commitment, you count down from 5 to 0 and just put your feet on the floor next to your bed.
When doing this you push yourself to do that one thing that actually takes you over the bridge and make it easy peasy to do everything else after that. Believe me, actually getting out of bed is the hardest part for me.
After doing this for a while you actually train yourself in doing this without there being a negative thought or excuse that might keep you from rising early.
2. Set Small Goals that Push You
When you wake up and you actually feel tired or you’re just overwhelmed by all the things you want to do in your morning routine, just break your responsibilities down into small or even really small goals. This will feed your motivation to just do it and rise earlier.
One of mine is to brush my teeth (the first thing I do in the morning) at a certain time each morning.
I made it my goal that I just can’t miss. When I’m brushing my teeth at exactly 5 AM in the morning, I tricked my mind a bit by focusing on my small accomplishment and not actually scaring myself with the list of things that I want to do in the Morning Routine. I can check off my first goal for today and most importantly I’m UP!
3. Build a Routine
Have a step-by-step routine and keep yourself to it as much as possible.
We are talking about routine in a morning routine. Could it get any more strict?
Wait ……..I’ll elaborate on this.
When you have an order in the things you want to do in your routine, eventually, you will just go through it like a breeze. It will be your new way of doing things. Do this instead of doing what feels good to do next because this will not stick with you and it will be harder to perform the routine because it’s focused on how you’re feeling or what is most convenient for you at that moment in time.
Here is an example of a routine:
Brush teeth
Exercise for 15 to 20 min.
Journal for 15 min.
Read or listen to helpful or educational material
Shower
Get ready for work
Let’s say this is what you came up with as your routine. If you keep yourself to it, you’ll have hardly any problems with it and just breeze through it with ease.
4. Benefit of Intention
Intentions are strong!!!
If your intention is to become one of those people who are high performers in life and need a morning routine to get a head start in their day, this can be a very strong motivation to keep going.
What is it that you actually want to achieve or accomplish with this new habit of yours?
Do you want to belong to a certain group of people? Do you want to be fit and healthy and invest in daily exercise? Do you want to give yourself a chance to learn, early in the morning and become better in your craft? Your intention has a great influence on what effort you are putting in, use this as an extra drive to push you.
5. Affirmations
You might have heard that affirmations are powerful. They really are!
The most important voice you can listen to, to motivate and propel you, is your own voice.
You can speak your affirmations out loud or record them and listen to them just before you go to bed to implement what you are saying to yourself and you want yourself to hear:
o Tell yourself you are an early bird
o Waking up early is easy
o List your benefits of waking up early
o Promote how you would feel after doing your morning routine, etc.
In any way you can, speak some motivation and inspiration to yourself. Whatever it takes to make you feel pumped and excited to make the best of your morning.
Conclusion
These are the 5 things I did to implement my Morning Routine. Try it out and see what works for you.
You don’t have to do it all but I think it will have a significant difference in how you view your mornings when you implement these “secrets”. When you combine them all together one action will probably have it’s influence on another and will have a positive chain reaction.
To conclude this blog, like I said before, be aware that you will have some urge of drawback and your brain is going to tell you to quit and just don’t do it. I want to encourage you to follow through and get past the phase of destruction and get implementing.
However, do consider your own health, you are responsible for that! I can’t advise you anything since I’m not a doctor of any sort. Do what feels good and seems reasonable for you and your health (mentally and physically).
I wish you all the best and hopefully the tips are helpful for you to implement your new habit.
Good luck!
Do you want to read other posts on Morning Routines? Click here.
The Beginner’s Guide to Start Enjoying Early Mornings
Want to start a morning routine and keep yourself to it but don’t actually enjoy it? Here’s an article that could help you get yourself on the right track and get the best out if your morning.
Do you have the desire to do more with your morning but you just don’t seem to be able to do it?
Is your motivation to wake up early only strong enough to last for a couple of days?
Here is a guide that can help you to wake up earlier and switch your resentment for mornings into enjoying the morning glory.
“The early morning has gold in its mouth”
- Benjamin Franklin
In November 2018 I decided to switch my internal clock around and turn myself into an “early bird” instead of sticking with being an expert “night owl”.
I had enough!!!!
Enough of what you ask?
of aimlessly waking up just a tad too late (read way too late)
feeling rushed to do whatever I had to do
not fulfilling my own needs to reflect on my thoughts, feelings, and actions
pass on setting my intentions for the day
dragging myself to do whatever other people or “work” wanted me to do
not having clarity for myself
not knowing what I really want of my days
I felt empty, not in control, and just not fulfilled with what I was doing with my life.
Why is this helpful for you?
I want to give you my personal experience of how I started to love early mornings and why I wake up significantly earlier than I did before.
For me, it was more of a mindset thing than anything else. I’d like to share with you what made the difference for me and how I learned to enjoy it.
Hopefully, it helps you to get focused and stick it out for the long run.
It’s hard to let go of habits and routines, especially when concerning sleep.
If you have a desire to wake up earlier to do a morning routine or to wake up earlier to do something you never seemed to have time for, it takes some effort.
When you are a typical “night owl” and have trouble getting to bed earlier, here are some tips and tricks to get you fired up to start your mornings early;
What’s your why > what result would be worth it
Start at your pace > make waking up early easy
Snooze? You lose! > why would you do that?
Body is Boss vs. Mind over Mattress > how to find balance in this
What about the Weekend? > give yourself some space to enjoy life
Reflection and Gratitude > How am I actually doing?
If you are on the verge of starting to wake up early but don’t think you have a solid foundation to actually sustain it and take full advantage of it. This is the guide to help you out.
Don’t forget to get your own Morning Mindset Ritual as a FREE download.
You can use it as a guide to get you started in the right direction and build a mindset that will help you succeed in whatever you set your mind to.
What’s your why
I could make this post really long but to save your time, here is a question for you:
What would be the #1 reason for you to even think about waking earlier?
If you have one reason, good! If you have several, great!
Start with a maximum of 3 not to overwhelm yourself at first.
“When your desires are strong enough you will appear to possess superhuman powers to achieve”
- Napoleon Hill
Explore your why
Take this reason or reasons and explore why this is so important to you.
Take a piece of paper or use your computer and take some time to really investigate why this reason(s) is so important to you. Just pour your heart, desires, and will out. Don’t be shy about this! This will determine the quality of your outcome.
Think of as many reasons as you want, but note at least 10. Think that it’s too much? Really use your brainpower and creativity here and just think of it. Even when it seems small, it does not come up for no reason, write it down.
Why this will benefit you
List the top 5 things how this will benefit your life. Do you think this is the same as the reason? It might be, but think again and a bit further. Will your reason to do this also affect other aspects of your life in a positive way?
Effect on your life
Of each of those 5 things note what effect this will have on your life. Is this going to be daily or are you working to complete or develop something for the future?
Example
This is of course a really personal aspect. To help you out, here is a short example;
#1 Reason: Finally have time to dig deeper into myself and find what makes my clock tick and follow this (new) passion.
Why this is important to me:
1. Sense of fulfillment
2. Sense of self
3. Peace of mind
4. Self-exploration
5. New hobbies/experiences
6. Better health
7. Growth mindset
8. Learning new things and insights
9. Self-development
10. Self-discipline
How will this benefit my life:
1. Enjoyment of life will increase
2. Create stronger self-discipline
3. Self-knowledge will increase
4. New ideas and fuel for life
5. My self-worth will go up
Effect of the benefits:
Enjoyment of life will increase: when I am enjoying my days more and eventually my years, my life will be better.
Create stronger discipline: when I wake up early every day I will create stronger self-discipline. This will not only benefit me in this area but can also be beneficial in other areas of life.
Self-knowledge will increase: when I am no stranger to myself, I will be able to get myself onto new heights and stretch myself in my capabilities.
New ideas and fuel for life: when I am exploring new things I get motivated because of learning new insights and new perspectives on life.
My self-worth will go up: because of all the above-mentioned effects, my self-worth will go up since I am growing as a person.
I realize this is a concise example but it is just to give you an idea.
When your foundation is set, write down your benefits on a post-it and put them in a place where you can see them daily so you are reminded of why you are actually doing this.
Here’s a link to our other blog post about Morning Routines and finding your why.
Start at your pace
Waking up 2 hours earlier can be hard at first. Therefore it is essential to give your body the space and time to adjust. Some people might not have problems with going Ninja on this but I think most of us will need some time to calibrate.
First, start with waking up 15 minutes earlier than what you usually do. When you are at the point that this is comfortable (maybe 1 or 2 weeks in). Add another 15 minutes and so on.
Don’t forget to go to bed earlier as well, you have to get your hours of sleep.
It’s important to make this feel as natural and as comfortable as possible so you will not feel any resistance in doing so.
Snooze? You Lose!
Snooze? You lose!
Personally, I would like to hit the snooze button every time it goes off for just those few more minutes of broken and shallow sleep. I know that those minutes of snoozing after you already woke up are just rubbish, but somehow it feels indulging.
After realizing what I was doing when I pressed that snooze button for those ‘amazing’ few more minutes (like it would actually do something for me) it literally “woke me up”. No joke……
Do you ever wonder what is it good for?
The sleep you get after snoozing is not beneficial for your body or whatsoever.
You actually have to wake up for a second time, a third time and so on. Why not be done with it the first time if you really dislike waking up?
When you set yourself a goal to get your feet next to your bed the first time that alarm goes off, and then make your way to the bathroom, you already accomplished your first goal!
There are many tricks to get you actually out of bed when your alarm goes off.
Put your alarm at the other end of the room or outside your room to turn it off. Make the noise so unbearably loud or annoying that you just have to turn it off. This worked for me 😉
Mind or Mattress
Body is Boss vs. Mind over Mattress
You might have heard before that the mind is our master and we can do everything that we set our minds to. Nevertheless, we also have to take our body into consideration.
‘We should listen to our body’ is what I also learned through Yoga and other practices. In the beginning, I found it hard to find my peace and balance with this.
Of course, we have to be the boss of our mood and not let that little (lazy) voice get between our goals and our results. On the other hand, our bodies might need something else at some point then our mind wants to. What is the right choice or decision here?
This all depends on how you feel, what makes the most sense and what’s acceptable for you. Use some logic in this case since we are not robots.
If you went to bed on time as planned, set your alarm at 4:30 AM like you always do, but you actually slept 3 hours in total because the dog kept waking you up every 30 minutes, it might be wise to give your body some rest here.
You might be able to get out of bed, be a true gladiator and do your thing, but the man with the hammer might (definitely) come later in the day, which may be even more inconvenient. (speaking out of experience here.)
When you know you had an okay-ish night but would like to sleep a bit more, because it would be nice. Here is where your commitment needs to step in.
Of course, we all want our perfect 7-8 hours of sleep and wake up refreshed and alert on any day of the week. Sometimes (more often than I wish) this is not the case.
We do have to stand guard at our commitments to ourselves and remember why we do this in the first place.
Again, the progress is in what you do within the hours that you’re up early, not the hours themselves. If you can find the time to do your routine later in the day, you can choose to do so and not be squint-eyed at the end of your workday because of exhaustion.
However, stick to your commitments as strictly as possible.
This is also a learning process. You have to be able to judge for yourself where your limits are. Everybody is different.
What about the Weekend?
In the beginning, I was consistent with my weekly schedule and also inserted this into my weekend. However, I found out that since I had to go to bed quite early if I wanted to wake up at the same time, I would miss out on a lot of things: social gatherings, parties, movies, dinners etc.
Since not everybody in my environment is doing the same morning routine as I do, we could hardly meet up or have (enough) quality time to spend with each other. Of course, we have to make decisions, choices, and sacrifices but the price should be fair. Not being able to spend good time with family or friends is too steep for me.
That is why I have a different wake-up time during the weekend than I do during the week. I give myself roughly 2 hours of space here. Sometimes, when it is necessary, I give myself more space depending on the event.
What is most important is to stick to your routine and ‘just doing it’. The actual time isn’t what matters here. It’s the routine.
For example, if you wake up every day at 5 AM but decide to watch movies or play video games, you might miss the point here.
Reflection and Gratitude
It is important to also reflect on your days and the progress you made so far.
Take 5 minutes each morning to think about the day before and what you did.
What went well?
Are there things that need improvement?
What I am grateful for?
That last question is to be taken as brought as you want to. This could be your morning coffee, that good conversation with your friend, or your car for instance.
Gratitude for what you have right now
Conclusion
I hope this helps you on your own quest to wake up early.
What made the difference for me is the results that I get and the realization of what could be if I made the effort to take time for me. My ‘why foundation’ became so strong that I see it as an opportunity to wake up early and make the best of it. I hope your possible results will motivate you as well.
I have to say, the reason why I started to wake up earlier is because of how I felt and my drive to become a better version of myself. However, I did not wake up one day (late or not) and just started some routine. I deliberately sought sources where I could find inspiration and the ‘how’ in doing this.
The book that really inspired me to start this, is the book by Hal Elrod ‘The Miracle Morning’.
This was my kickstart to wake up early. I made my own version of my miracle morning, which the book also suggests, and I love what a morning routine brought me so far.
There is no going back for me now! The early bird is the best bird for me!
Do you want to read other posts on Morning Routines? Click here.
5 Signs You Are Ready for a Morning Routine in Your Life
You might have seen, heard, and read a lot of things about morning routines to elevate your life, propel you to success, and make your life more productive. It seems like it is becoming more and more of a thing to rise early and invest your first minutes (or even hours) of the day, to structure your day for ultimate fulfillment and happiness.
Because a lot of people (especially the night owls among us) don’t feel much for getting out of their bed’s earlier, it is a good question to ask yourself: “is it really worth your while to invest your time and energy to structure your day in the morning?”. Will it give you more than not doing it?
When implementing a morning routine into your life, this routine could contain many different things. This is, of course, to your own liking and areas where you think you feel comfortable or grow the most from.
Journaling, meditation, exercise, listening to podcasts or books, reading, create or listen to music, speak out affirmations, prayer, you name it. This all could be part of your personal morning routine and you would have to do some honest searching to where you think you would benefit from them the most.
This post is not about what you should actually do in your morning routine but more as to why you should even consider doing it.
Since you are here reading this post, I reckon that you are wondering what the 5 signs are, that show you’re ready for a morning routine. Below the 5 signs are mentioned and explained:
You want more sense of direction for your day
You want to propel yourself forward in one or more areas
You desire a peaceful mind
You need a confidence and discipline builder
You want a sense of accomplishment
1. You want more sense of direction for your day
When you wake up early, when you are not in a hurry, have well enough time on your hands, and take the time to think out your day and plan how it is going, it gives you a lot of direction.
Instead of just rushing through your morning to be able to get to wherever you need to be on time, just take the time to plan your day and also think about what it is you want to accomplish next to your mandatory tasks and appointments.
This is the ultimate time to have control and be the architect of your day and life (since our days become our lives).
When you write it down (on paper or digitally) you actually have more chance of proceeding and succeeding in your goal.
Even if you don’t want to accomplish anything extra, structuring your day ahead will help you a lot in not feeling overwhelmed and rushed.
By structuring I mean:
What is it you want to do?
By when?
What does it entail and imply when you do this?
Are there things to be taken into consideration?
You will have a clear goal and direction for your day, and you know exactly how to go about it.
2. You want to propel yourself forward in one or more areas
Are you tired of being stuck in one or more areas in your life or you just want to get better at something? The morning is the time to do it! There are many ways to go about this.
You can just focus on one thing and dedicate at least 20 minutes to your subject of improvement or when you have more time you can take on more areas.
For example:
You can take on several areas to improve: spiritually, physically, and mentally.
Schedule time that you want to spend on the areas of improvement.
Do you want to meditate for 10 minutes to fulfill your spiritual need?
Are you willing to start working out 15 minutes every morning to get in better shape?
What affirmations could you create to get more resilient mentally?
To fulfill your need for improvement, dig in deep and ask yourself when you are happy with the result you got. Where are you going for?
Don’t just say that you want to work out every single day for 15 minutes What is your actual goal? Do you want to weigh a certain amount, do you want a six-pack or a rock-hard booty? Make it crystal clear where you want to be, to be more focused on accomplishing your goal.
3. You desire a peaceful mind
Intentionally putting things on paper and taking time to work on the things you want gives you tremendous peace of mind. If you decide to meditate and let flow and peace come to you, this might even give you more peace of mind since you are allowing to intentionally invite calmness into your mind.
4. You need a confidence and discipline builder
Waking up earlier takes discipline and can give you a good boost of confidence.
If you are able to wake up at for example 5:30 am to get the best out of your day, what in the world is there that might come at you to ruin your day? Of course, we might have our bad breaks and we never know what comes at us during the day. Hopefully, most of the days you can conquer whatever the wind blows at you.
When you continuously implement your morning routine in your life, you will see your improvements and you will be well and able to grow as a person. You can be confident with who you are, even though you might have more on your list to improve. The fact that you are taking action, already makes you a successful person opposite to the people who don’t take action.
5. You want a sense of accomplishment
Let me ask you; What gives you more sense of accomplishment than already finishing or getting a head start on your personal goals before you start working or doing whatever you have to do that day?
Already doing what is important for you before the ‘rest’ of your day starts gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment. It will keep you motivated to keep you going and get more and more advanced in the things you want to grow in as a person.
Actions you could take
Read to get more insight
If you are wondering if this is really something for you or if you just want a roadmap on where to actually start. There are some good books that might give you the right tools to give you a head start.
Books like “Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod or “The 5 AM Club” by Robin Sharma are books I personally read to inspire me to turn my night owl life around and be an early bird.
Soul searching for progress
What is it that you want to do with your morning? Are there things you always wanted to do? Do you have areas you want to improve in, is there anything else you want to address in your life from now on? Finding your why is important since it will help you keep yourself on track when implementation or keeping yourself at it is challenging.
Ready to sacrifice?
Ask yourself if this is really something you want to do. Are you willing to sacrifice the later hours of your day for early mornings? Yes, you would have to be willing to sacrifice some time to implement this into your life, since just robbing yourself of sleep will not be good for you. This might even have an effect on your health in the long run if you don’t adjust your schedule.
It is good to reflect on this and be honest with yourself. On the other hand, if you really want to improve your life in one or more areas and you are not making the effort now or you just can’t find the time to really go for it (or you made yourself believe this 😉), this should not be such a hard decision.
Start small and give yourself some time
If you want to prepare yourself for the implementation of this routine, you might want to also prepare your body for this adjustment in your life.
Start out small and just check how rising 15 minutes earlier than you normally would, actually makes you feel. Do you really feel exhausted or do you feel no difference?
You can build from there and expand your minutes to, for example, an hour.
Conclusion
Having structure in your day has proven to be very effective if you want to work towards a goal or you just want to be a more productive person.
From my own experience, I can definitely tell you that is has given me so much more than I ever thought to acquire and is well worth the sacrifice. Sacrifice? Yes, I used to be the best night owl in town. This has seriously changed and I don’t regret it for one second (or morning you might say).
Give yourself the chance to explore if this works for you and try it. You will be astounded by what is does for you.
Do you want to read other posts on Morning Routines? Click here.