This week, we are continuing on with how to start your day off on the right foot so you can make time for self-care and ease into your day instead of hitting the ground running.
4. Get grateful before your feet even hit the floor
This is such a good tip for bringing more ease and lightness to your morning. When you press snooze on your alarm* start listing things in your life you are grateful for. Happy moments from the previous day. Just start listing them and developing this as a habit. You will probably snooze back off, but this at least gets your brain with the programme that we are choosing to start the day on a positive note. You will be surprised how quickly this becomes a habit.
It breaks the bad habit of waking up and within seconds being on the anxiety train of “oh God…I’ve got to get XXXX done today, and then YYYYY is probably going to….”
While you are still between the sheets, break the habit by establishing a new, far more empowered habit of starting your thoughts each morning with appreciation.
*Unless you are some kind of human unicorn who bounces out of bed before their alarm trilling, “I’m a mmmmmmmmmorning person!!!! Hello, world!!! ” In which case, you need no help, you’ve got it covered.
5. What would I like to go RIGHT today?
One of the reasons we sometimes have a bad day is because we self-create it by expecting to have a bad day. We wake up and our mind automatically starts off on a train of thought about how underprepared we are about that meeting. And that we are going to be really pushed to get to the dentist and back. And I bet the traffic will be really bad too because it’s raining. And if Tom doesn’t sort that thing out like he promised then….and so on. It’s a really easy train of thought to follow – we start with one thing that might not go that well, and then it links seamlessly to another…and another…so before we know it, we are stressed out about our day before we have even got out of our pyjamas.
You can change this by consciously directing your thoughts. We humans can have a real tendency to gravitate towards the negative without us even realising it – so help yourself turn that around by popping a post-it note on the bathroom mirror where you clean your teeth – and as you brush ask yourself the very deliberate question – What could go RIGHT today? And then link that to something else that could go well, or that you can think of an ideal outcome for. Start deliberately challenging your focus towards the positive.
What are 3 things that could go right today? What would be an ideal outcome?
1. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
2.____________________________________________________________________________________________
3.____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Stop looking at technology first thing
I know I know, I go on about this a lot. Technology is our friend, and fantastic in so many ways. But honestly, if you are looking for a day that’s calm, focused and full of fun/achievement/peace of mind – whatever it is you are after – then checking your email and social media when you are still in bed or still shuffling about in your PJ’s is not going to serve that.
1. Unless you are a heart surgeon on call or similar, no email you have is that important/time sensitive that it cannot wait for 15 – 30 minutes while you ease yourself into your morning in a calm way that works for you.
2. When you check your tech, you are immediately taking yourself out of your own agenda and headspace, and immediately putting it into someone else’s. Reading that email about the problem with production splits your mental focus before the day even begins.
It takes the focus off you, and what you (and your family) need to set you up optimally for the day, and puts a large percentage of it in the office/school/someone else’s stuff. Start the day doing your own stuff. If you want to be calm, happier, more successful in whatever it is you are into – have those few moments at the start of the day focused on what you want, not the 19 other people’s agendas in your inbox. It will allow you to start the day with clarity and perspective.
I commit to not checking my tech, and staying in my own stuff til………am.
