Every successful soul proprietor I know practices a morning ritual.
They all have different rituals except that each of them have one thing in common: Reading for enrichment.
I am endlessly fascinated with the study of productivity and time management. I’ve been studying and experimenting with both for years.
But it was only during the last year that I implemented a regular morning ritual (I’m not yet perfect at my morning ritual, but I love the daily guidance it gives me) and by extension, a daily ritual, and it is making a wonderful difference in what I can get done in a day — without being totally exhausted by the end of the day.
Here’s what my morning ritual looks like:
- Get up at 5:00 am each day
- Drink 16-oz water immediately
- Make coffee!
- Walk (for at least a half hour minimum)
- Brain Dump Journaling (I like the concept of Morning Pages from Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way)
- Read for 1 hour
- Review the plan for my day (I like to also read over my goals and touch them with my fingers while doing so. There’s something magical about touching your goals while reading them.)
- Breakfast
- Start my workday…
I carry my morning ritual right through the weekends, too. I love getting up early because I love having a few hours of “me” time. Once you get used to getting up early, you’ll probably find that the early morning is the best time of day.
Do you have your own morning and daily ritual? If not, you might want to reflect on what would bring you joy and accomplishment with a morning (and daily) ritual. Write it down (I even have mine in my Google calendar so I get reminders) and be sure to look at it every day until your ritual just becomes a good habit.
I’d love to hear what you do for your own morning ritual. Please share by adding your comments in the section below.
Special Note: Every morning and daily ritual is as unique as the person who created it. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits all nor a cookie cutter solution. You can look at another soul proprietor’s rituals to get some inspiration, but you won’t get the same effect if you just copy theirs. Make your daily ritual unique. Make it yours.
Have a great week!
Marty
Call me: 760-835-3854
Email me: marty@martymarsh.com
Soul Proprietor. Huge Adele fan. Email and Direct Mail Marketing Specialist. Lover of all things marketing. Creator of the Stay-in-Touch Marketing System. Graphic designer. Printer.
I have a jawbone that gets me up somewhere between 10 minutes before or after 7am. I get up, dress (shower night before), hair, makeup, make bed and down stairs I go. I take Pebbles my doxie out the door to go potty. Then the fun begins: I give her pills, cut up carrots, make my coffee. At the same time I am making a protein shake and then a veggie/fruit shake by Garden of Life. Then I walk into the office and start my day. Sunday night I set myself up for success for the week and the night before I glance over what I will do the next day. I use plannerpad.com so the work to do is funneled from topic into the to-do list and then blocked off for topics in each hour block. I use actionplanr, google calendar, action machine 3 and my plannerpad to keep me sharp throughout the day. I work from 9 am to 3 pm Monday – Friday (Some saturdays depending) and will get the assistance from my doxy laying on my lap part of the day. I take breaks every few hours (another Jawbone setting to buzz on my wrist). My Husband comes home for lunch and then is here again at 3:30ish so he breaks up some of my day too.
Thanks for sharing your daily rituals, Deborah. I think the Jawbone idea is great. Much better than a regular timer. And I love the PlannerPad concept. And it’s always nice having a doggie in your lap. I miss mine. The problem with him was, though, that he wanted to sit in my lap AND lay his head on the keyboard. Ha!
When it comes to transforming your body and your life, I offer your rituals become your destiny.
I agree with you 100%, Merlene. My morning rituals set the tone for the kind of day I have, and ultimately, as you point out, for the rest of my life. Thank you for sharing here.