The Grounding Morning Routine That Empowers Me to Achieve My Goals
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When I actually follow through with my morning routine, I feel like I can literally move mountains! Something about the combination of self care, moving my body, filling my spirit and exercising my mind creates an almost inexplicable high that results in the empowerment I need to create and achieve my lofty goals.
If you’re a beginner at the whole personal growth and waking up early thing, you’re not alone. We all have to start somewhere and I wasn’t a bubbly morning person that shot out of the bed each morning with a song on my lips and joy in my heart. And I’m still not on a regular basis. Let me tell you, even though I’ve been doing this for a while, it can still be tough sometimes and I’m not always motivated. I don’t do everything on this list every single day and I don’t spend an equal amount of time on each step, either. There were times when I would beat myself up for not completing this morning routine in its entirety or for not spending more than an hour on the whole routine (which is PLENTY OF TIME to make this list happen if you so choose). Y’all. IT’S OK! I’m one that has to learn the hard way a lot of the time. No matter how many books I read or experts I listened to telling me, “Give yourself grace,” I couldn’t NOT beat myself up sometimes if I didn’t do it perfectly. And don’t even get me started on if I slept through my alarm or (GASP!) CHOSE to sleep in. Here is the main secret and take away from all of this: you have to do what YOU need. Do what YOUR body, mind and soul need. And sometimes, that means sleep. Sleep can actually be an insanely productive thing that can catapult you into achieving your goals!
A morning routine that grounds you and empowers you to achieve your goals is going to look different than my morning routine or your best friend’s morning routine or even your spouse’s morning routine. We are uniquely and wonderfully made and each season of life brings on different needs and goals. At this time in my life, I am a working stay-at-home mom (because what stay-at-home mom ISN’T working her ass off?!) trying to run and expand my online business. At the same time, I’m also trying to reach my potential to be the best version of myself in my relationships, health and spiritual life. That’s no small task and the goals you want to achieve aren’t small either. Let’s allow ourselves to explore what we want and who we want to be!
So, if you’re a go-getter (and I know you are, because you are reading this right now!) looking for some morning routine inspiration, read on! And remember, pick and choose what you may want to try out and discard the rest. A morning routine made up of things that can ground YOU and empower YOU to achieve YOUR goals is the best thing for YOU.
I wake up with my first alarm.
You read that right, the FIRST alarm! I don’t even use my phone alarm so that I can snooze, either. My phone and watch actually charge through the night downstairs in the kitchen on the charging station with the rest of our family’s devices so I don’t get distracted when I’m trying to get my sleep on. I use this alarm clock that has the old school switch you push down to turn the alarm off. There’s a lot I want to do and accomplish before my daughter wakes up in the morning and I want to belong to myself for a little while before running around doing everything for everyone else. With a focus on what I can get accomplished and gain from those accomplishments rather than a focus of missing my nice warm bed, it makes getting up a little easier. Also, I don’t know how to snooze the alarm clock I have (maybe it doesn’t have a snooze option?) and I don’t want to know, so that helps too.
I immediately get ready for the day.
Since I’m not wasting precious moments scrolling on my phone or hitting the snooze button, I don’t have to hit the ground running without getting myself ready for the day, first. I complete my skincare routine and brush my teeth. Most days, I throw my curls up on top of my head and pull on yoga pants, a sports bra and anything else I need to be comfy, yet active (forever a dancer, even though I’m retired). If I have somewhere I need to go or just feel like putting on “real” clothes (anything other than yoga pants), I’ll do that and maybe put on some makeup too. Whatever I need to feel clean and ready, I make it happen!
I drink the water.
At this point, I have most likely downed any of the leftover water from the glass on my bedside table from the night before. I’m still super thirsty, so I make a 32 oz ice cold water in this cup. It’s something psychological I’m sure, but for some reason, my water intake increases when I have this size cup and drink through a straw throughout the day.
I move my body.
With my water in hand, I go downstairs to the garage that we have sort of made into a gym. If I’m doing yoga, turn the dimmers down low and light some candles. If I’m in need of a super sweat sesh, I’ll hop on the elliptical and crank up my Spotify to full volume. I also LOVE a workout app. Something about just turning on a workout I can mimic makes me feel like I’m back in the studio from time to time. I don’t have a set routine for how I move my body, I just evaluate how I feel and what I need and get it done.
I fuel my body.
Back in the kitchen, I down some vitamins while I make my lemon ginger tea or coffee. I use this cup because it keeps my drink warm hours after I’ve made it. I always always always have a smoothie for breakfast during the week because it keeps me full for a while and they’re always packed with nutritious ingredients I might not normally eat outside of its liquid form masked by a banana, yogurt and chocolate protein powder. Click here for the smoothie recipes I created for the maximum overflow of nutrition first thing in the AM.
I get into my creative flow.
Walking into my home office with a warm drink, ice cold water and healthy smoothie in hand, (how awesome would it be to have 3 hands?) I literally drink all the things to get the creative juices flowing. At this point, I’ve physically worked my body and now it’s time to get my mind right. I go through a daily mindset routine that I learned from my girl Jennie Leigh that includes a list of specific steps to center myself and flip on the creative switch in my brain. I can absolutely tell a difference in my focus, productivity and quality of work when I take 5 minutes to complete each step vs. when I skip a step or two or dive straight into work because I feel like I don’t have enough time to go through it in its entirety. Taking the time to transition into a state of flow is crucial to unlock the potential that is within.
I get to work.
At this point, I’ve prepared my mind, body and spirit to take on whatever the day throws at me. I already have my plan for the day prepared weeks in advance, but something might come up that I need to edit in or out of my day. I take a few minutes to make sure all my ducks are in a row and that I’m focusing on the right things TODAY. I let yesterday go and (read: try to) let tomorrow worry about itself.
This morning routine is one that grounds me and empowers me to achieve my goals. Before I cracked the code on my morning routine, I was lethargic and got really easily overwhelmed with life. It took a little bit of time, trial and error to create this, but it’s completely worth it. Through creating this routine, I gained something that I wasn’t even expecting: I got to know myself on a deeper level. I learned some of my likes and dislikes that I wasn’t even aware of. How did I not know things about myself?! I found that the key to working my plan and getting after my goals is feeling like I CAN do it and WANT to do it. In this experience, creating a daily intentional routine to get in that headspace has only resulted in amazing growth in all areas of my life.
So, now what? The biggest factor in achieving your goals is creating a foundation of simple routines that set you up for success each day. I’ve got something just for you to help make that happen! In my free Morning Routine Maker, I show you just how quick and easy creating a morning routine actually is. Click the button below to get instant access to the life changing magic that is the morning routine. Brace yourself, you just might become a morning (read: routine) person!
To make our dreams happen, we’ve got to feel good, right? Our mind, body and spirit are all connected and if our body is out of whack, our mind and spirit aren’t going to be in tip top shape either. Something that is an important part of my intentional lifestyle to feel at my best is having a protein packed smoothie for breakfast. My Sunrise Smoothies are what I drink for breakfast every single day to pack in the nutrients needed for crushing my life & biz goals. Skipping breakfast because mornings are too chaotic to even think about eating something? Skipping breakfast because eating in the morning makes you feel nauseous? Skipping breakfast because you’re trying to lose weight? All of those are myths that can leave you feeling hangry and how can a hangry person achieve their goals? Let me show you the magic that are the Sunrise Smoothies and I bet all of those skipping breakfast excuses will fade away and your achievement will skyrocket.
How well do you know yourself? Do you know what really sets your soul on fire? Maybe you’ve taken a deep dive into getting to know yourself before but it’s been awhile. In the Happiness Helper, you’ll go through a quick and easy exercise to really dig into some parts of you that you may not have stopped to think about before. Once you’ve explored these areas of your likes and dislikes, you’ll experience clarity and may even be surprised at some of the things that make your wheels turn. Don’t live inside a tightly structured box of a narrative that you or someone else has placed on you anymore! Prepare yourself to feel empowered to go after the kind of life that YOU want to live; not a life that someone told you that you were destined to. Get ready to take a deep sigh of relief!
Putting small biz owner’s and serial entrepreneur’s plan into action with step-by-step breakdowns of long-term and short-term goals so you can obtain your version of success every day, month, quarter and year!