I am a big fan of podcasts and in many of those on a healthy lifestyle and personal development praise the importance of having a morning ritual. The benefits of a morning ritual are well known and a number of successful businesspersons find it essential for their productivity and performance during the day. Of course I tried it myself this past summer.
For those with small children this basically means getting up earlier than usual, before all the daily craziness starts, and filling this extra time with activities that will set the course of the day.
So, here we go:
First step: Setting the alarm clock earlier than usual. At 5am, 6am – whatever suits you best. The thing is that a good night sleep is super important so waking up early means going to bed soon enough (do the maths…). In my case, I went for a “softer” option – 6.30 instead of 7am.
Second step: Deciding what to do with all this additional time. The entrepreneurs usually go for activities that need most focus, such as the most important task of the day, some other do sports, read, go for a walk. Completely up to you, of course, the only “rule” being that you try to stay away from distractions, such as checking your Facebook thread or work e-mails (unless this is your most important daily task). I decided to go for some stretching and guided meditation. Especially the latter had been on my to-do list for a while.
Results? While there was not much problem setting the alarm;-), the “rise and shine” part was a bit more challenging (especially if going to bed too late). The early meditation proved to be a great start of the day though! Calming and energising at the same time. And when I woke up my daughter, I was happy by the things I had already accomplished by then. What followed was the usual getting ready for work, preparing her breakfast and my take-away green smoothie and coconut milk coffee. And off we went!
How long did it last? (blush) Well, only two weeks or so – obviously not enough for my new morning ritual to become a part of my morning routine… But! Having written this post, I feel motivated to do it again (and stick to it this time).
Will keep you posted how it goes and look forward to hearing about your morning rituals.
