I have discovered two things recently, a book and an app, which have given me serious pause in the best possible way. The book, Miracle Morning, by Hal Elrod walks though the benefit of creating and implementing a morning ritual. The app, HabitBull, lets you easily track your habits.
As Hal says in the book, "Most of us wake up each day, and life pretty much stays the same." The premise of the book reminds me of the airplane oxygen mask scenario: take care of your own mask before helping others. And that is exactly what I feel like my new morning ritual is doing. I am waking up early and doing what is most important for me and my 2019 goals.
The Miracle Morning involves an hour long daily ritual that includes meditation, exercise, reading, journaling, affirmations and visualizations. You can break up your hour in six increments of 10 minute each, or you can adjust each section as necessary. I piloted my morning with the first four in December. When January 2 hit, I decided to wake up at 5:30 every morning to accomplish these rituals and continued into the weekend. While I have not been doing this for a long time, I am a raving fan because I feel like I have accomplished so much in those first 45 - 60 minutes a day.
Before this daily habit, I would wake up and think incessantly about all of the things I needed to do, or check social media or email or late night talk shows. Honestly, the to-do list is still there, but I find that this morning habit has provided me with clarity and focus and spurs me into actively doing what I need to do rather than just thinking about all of the things I need to do.
To keep track of these habits, I have been using an app, Habit Bull. It allows you to list habits that you wish to track and note which days you actually do them. You can list up to five habits with the free tracker. Do you prefer a paper habit tracker? Click here to download my free habit tracker!
I would love to hear what you think of the idea of creating a morning ritual!