Personal Development 101: Morning Routine
I love personal development and can soak in quotes for hours at a time, if I'm bored enough.
Actually, now that I'm building up my blog and dropping in now and then here at Wealthy Affiliate, I can only afford to spend a few minutes reading quotes.
That's why I love reading quotes that others have posted like those by johnwnewman.
Today, I want to discuss morning routines.
My Old Morning Routine
I used to do the following:
- Check my Wealthy Affiliate rank and dashboard
- Check my inboxes
- Read my favorite blogs' feeds and comment
- Read my social media feeds, like, love, tweet, retweet, comment ... heh, heh, heh. Phew!
- Make my bed.
- Clean my CPAP machine's hose and nasal pillows (I have sleep apnea).
I've read enough books and blog posts. I've listened to enough audiobooks and podcasts. I've watched enough Ted Talks and YouTube videos. They all tout the importance of having a morning routine.
And they give very specific examples of what I should do.
But I haven't fully implemented them, yet.
My New Morning Routine
Hal Elrod calls his morning routine the "The 6-Minute Miracle Morning." I like that a lot.
I just recently published a post on my blog about morning routines.
I've committed to do the following, publicly ... [gulp]
I'm not going to log in to my computer, smartphone, or tab until after I've completed the following:
- Have a quickie - What? Yes. If you must know, take a look at my blog post. - no change
- Meditate - What? Really! - new
- Drink a fat-plus-stimulant drink - new
- Journal with pen on paper - This is gonna be tough because I hate physically writing. - new
- Practice gratitude - Write down in my journal what I'm grateful for and have a plan for the day. - new
What Is Your Morning Routine?
Recent Comments
32
I like the gratitude Journal Idea! I need to get one! :) My routine consists of waking up to my puppies jumping all over me, kissing, me, so I spend some time playing with them, by wrestling, and then I feed them fresh water, and their breakfast! My daughter starts the coffee for me the night before on a timer, so I wake up to fresh coffee! Her reason "You and dad work so hard, and mom you're my best friend, so I want to" Ya, my girl..she;s amazing..23 years old, and still a mama's girl! Than I pour myself a cup of coffee, sit at my computer and start dealing with all I have to do at WA! I LOVE this part of my day! I take a break to take my meds..take 11 pills a day for my illnesses, but people are a lot worse than me, so I'm grateful for what I do have! :) I need to add excercise into my routine! I'm 115 ibs, so it's not to lose weight, but to keep in shape and give my eyes a rest from the computer...lol
What a great daughter! Having a great relationship with your children is a key component of having a successful life for me. I can't wait until my daughters do something like that for me, although I don't expect it.
Working out can be easy if you have something. I have a kettle bell right next to my desk that I'll swing or I have a pull-up bar to do sets of pull-ups in between writing and social networking.
That sounds like a good idea! And ya, my daughter is great! We are always laughing, and we both have a warped sense of humor...lol
There are certain things I do in the morning, but there are times when I can rush into the day. I attempted to wait until 9am before going online, but that doesn't always work. I did start a gratitude journal the beginning of this year; although I don't write in it daily, I usually write in it a few times a week. As with anything, its about being consistent.
Looksike you have a solid plan in place, Darren.
You're right Veronica. Consistency is key. I'm pretty good with setting goals and being focused on them. However, I think it's time to up my game and really grind!
There's that saying that some people like to stay in their comfort zone, but I discovered that my "comfort zone" is anything but comfortable.
I've been hesitating from taking it up a notch, so I appreciate reading about the steps you're making towards personal devlopment.
I don't have a set schedule. First thing I do is check
My emails. After that, the day is wide open
That's what I used to do...except for work, of course. I want to be more deliberate about achieving my goals, so I'm doing this.
Thanks,
Darren
Best of luck on your new morning routine! Meditation actually saved my life. Once you get used to it, and it does take some getting used to, meditating a little everyday can make a world of a difference.
Also, you can totally get the benefits of journaling still if you type it! At least its not the physical act of writing that helps me but the organizing of my thoughts. The only good thing about writing with pen and paper is that you can't erase anything. It helps more to clarify than to edit.
Sending all sorts of love and success your way,
xx
Helen
Helen,
I got goose bumps from your words of encouragement!
I'm really going to give the meditation a try. I'm going to do this for one month and see what happens.
I find myself not doing the journaling on computer anymore. I want to try something else. I am pretty good with routines, but I want to be disciplined with this just as I am with following goals.
Thanks for your reply,
Darren
You must mean that your work schedule constantly changes? It's tough. Still, there must be something you do routinely to improve productivity and, more importantly, your state of mind...?
Don't worry I'm working on that. My night job is working me so hard that it's making me sleep than I want to. Like this morning I woke up a little too late.
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Yup.
My 'morning' is at 9pm. I work nights. Things are a bit different.
Get up at 9pm, throw myself together, assemble lunch, then get to work by 10pm.
Get off work at 6am, get home by 7am, go through the emails, mostly from WA, for about 2 hours.
Run my errands and to my appointments, and maybe an errand for my mom, then wind down, and back to bed by 1pm.
This only works if nothing comes along and derails any of this.
Then repeat.
Wow! That's a challenge to have your days and nights flipped!