Hey love,
Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to start the day with a positive mindset but then end up feeling stressed out like every day, thinking of your to-do’s and rush out of your house in a hurry?
The best way to end this struggle once and for all is by implementing a morning routine into your life. It is one of my favorite personal development tools and has also made such a huge impact in my life.
Let’s be completely honest: How often do you find yourself waking up without a clear intention for the day that is not related to work or some appointments you have later in the day? If your answer is “always” or “often”, you’re in good company. The truth is, most people don’t set intentions for how they want their mindset to be during the day and I used to be this way too.
The problem with this kind of “life on autopilot” is that you are not consciously creating your life but instead, are repeating old patterns from your past (many of which, you’re actually already sick of and would like to change).
So how can you trade your “morning on autopilot” for a productive one?
First of all, start every day by imagining how you would ideally like to feel and what you want to happen. I promise, if you start your day like this and focus on these intentions, your subconscious mind will help you find proof in your environment and, in turn, your mindset will change towards being more positive and optimistic.
Visualization is such a powerful tool and this is how I do it:
Every morning, I close my eyes and imagine my “dream day” , all the beautiful things that I want to happen that day and how I want to feel about myself and the world around me. The important thing is that you visualize everything in detail (!!) and really feel into it (as if you are the protagonist of this movie that is playing before your inner eye).
- How does this version of you feel?
- How does this version of you perceive the world?
- How are other people reacting to this version of you?
- What are you doing throughout the day and how does it make you feel?
You will see, that even when you’re not happy with your circumstances, imagining things to happen in a different way can make a huge difference in your actual life and also manifest this way.
Before starting with the 6 ways a morning routine will give you a positive mindset, I want to tell you a story from my own life.
Here is what I experienced by using this technique
I started setting positive intentions for the day and visualizing in my last two years at university. So whenever I knew that I had to hold a presentation that day or write an exam, I would imagine everything in detail:
I imagined myself feeling super happy; full of joy and confidence. I also imagined how the presentation I was holding was a full success and how everyone was super happy about it.
and I kid you not, it came true exactly the way I imagined it to be every single time. I also visualized the reactions of my professors and fellow students, and even the grade I imagined would come into fruition every single time.
Isn’t that crazy? Like crazy beautiful?
The Universe is not punishing you. It is not blessing you. It is not controlling you. It is responding to your vibration. Think happy and happiness will come to you. Think negatively and negativity will come to you. What we put out into the Universe, we get back like an echo (Abraham Hicks).
By connecting positive thoughts to my studies, I was always happy and joyous to the point that other people would ask me. “Jenny, how is it possible that you’re always so happy? It seems like you enjoy everything and even look forward to writing exams.”
This is the power of our thoughts. What we tell ourselves on a constant basis, manifests. By telling myself that I love everything I do and that I do it with ease, I also started to see this in my reality.
So what are the 6 ways a morning routine will give you a positive mindset?
1. It will fuel your creativity
One thing people who have a morning routine experience are elevated levels of creativity. As mentioned before, when you stop living on auto-pilot and consciously CREATE your day, it is amazing what it will do to your mind. As you implement new habits into your life and change your behavior from the past, you will see that suddenly much more new ideas and possibilities will come to your mind that you couldn’t see before.
It’s as if somebody had finally lifted the veil.
How often do you think things like: “I’m already stuck in this job/city/relationship/friendship..that I don’t like but it’s just the way it is. I have to accept it and can’t change it now.”
This is the typical victim mindset we easily fall into it – It’s a state where we think that life is happening TO us and not FOR us.
However, you are the powerful creator of your life and no matter what your limiting beliefs might tell you right now, you can always change.
One of my favorite quotes is:
Love it. Change it. Or Leave It.
By changing your mornings from “starting the day on auto-pilot“ to “starting the day consciously”, you will see that there are ALWAYS solutions to your problems and much more opportunities than you think.
2. It will help you focus
Especially in the day-and- age of social media, something that many of us lack is “focus” and concentrating on a single task for a few hours, is often a hurdle.
How often do you have a goal in mind only to get distracted by your phone and forget what you actually wanted to do in the first place?
This used to happen to me ALL THE TIME.
Let’s say your morning routine consisted of the following things:
- getting up
- rolling out your yoga mat & do a workout
- Meditation
- Taking a cold shower
- Having a healthy breakfast
- Journaling and writing down your goals and intention for the day
When doing these things mindfully, you learn how to focus with each habit that you’re completing. How you do one thing is how you do everything; so more often than not, you will also end up being much more focused throughout the day.
3. It will give you a sense of achievement and you learn self-discipline
The third way a morning routine will give you a positive mindset is in that you experience a sense of achievement.
After all, why do so many people stress the importance of making your bed in the morning?
It’s simply because by making your bed, you already get to celebrate a small first achievement that you accomplished in the day.
If you have been following my blog and podcast for a while now, you know that in my opinion, self-confidence comes from keeping the promises you’re making to yourself on a daily basis.
Having a morning routine, helps you to exactly build that kind of confidence and self-discipline.
4. It will make you a healthier person
While people want to get healthy and want to work out regularly, only few actually follow through.
I used to struggle with working out regularly but since I included 10-20 minutes of yoga or pilates into my morning routine, it has become somewhat easy (yes, you heard right, “Easy”! I would have never thought I would say that haha).
Health is wealth – so in case you want to get fit, implementing a morning routine is a great start to do that.
Plus, by including eating a healthy breakfast, you also make sure that you give your body the food it deserves and don’t just leave the house on an empty stomach and binge later on.
5. It will alleviate decision fatigue
Something many of us are suffering from is definitely decision fatigue. We have to make so many decisions during the day and ideally, your shouldn’t make too many decisions in the morning, so that you still have enough energy during the day.
because to be honest, every time we have to make decisions like…
- What should I wear?
- What should I eat?
- What should I buy in the grocery store?
- What to do next?
…it tends to drain our energy. Plus, it can easily happen that you have to make so many decisions that you end up feeling overwhelmed (hello analysis paralysis!) and end up not doing anything at all.
Planning in advance is key!
In order to avoid experiencing this kind of overwhelm, a structured and healthy morning routine can help.
When you have everything planned out beforehand (at least in the early morning), you have more energy for more important decisions that you have to make during the rest of the day.
When I was younger, I remember experiencing extreme decision fatigue when it came to deciding what to wear in the morning. It ended up costing me so much time in the morning and could have easily been avoided by laying out my clothes the night before. That’s what the power of planning is!
I love freedom and always thought that too many plans and a clear structure would make me feel incarcerated but actually the opposite is the case.
When you have some things already planned out in some areas of your life, it alleviates the anxiety and stress that comes with constantly having to make a decision.
6. It will quiet your mind and soothes your soul
This is one of the most amazing ways a morning routine fosters a positive mindset. When you stay dedicated to your morning routine, you will see such a change in your overall mood and inner peace.
Often times, when we are already in a rush in the morning and are reacting to everything in out environment (texts, calls, emails, …) before looking after our own well-being, it also affects how the rest of the day will go.
In case you’re suffering from anxiety, implementing mindful practices (meditation, gratitude, affirmations..) into the first hour of your day, will also help you feel more relaxed and at peace. Instead of focusing on everything that can go wrong, you start to focus on everything that is already going well in your life. Reclaiming your inner strength – that’s where it’s at.
See it like this: You owe yourself, at least one hour of self-care a day. That’s 1/24 of your day.
So all in all, having a consistent morning routine can…
- fuel your creativity
- help you focus
- give you confidence and a sense of achievement
- make you a healthier person
- alleviate your decision fatigue
- quiet your mind & sooth your soul
If you’re inspired to create your own morning routine right now, you might also like this article: How To Create a Joy-Inducing Morning Routine
Final Note
The great thing about creating a morning routine for a positive mindset & life is that you can start anytime and modify it to your liking. There are no “do’s” and “don’t’s”. Just do what feels good for you but I want to give you a really important tip:
Start small and don’t try to implement many routines all at once. If you start small, you’re much more likely to follow through.
I’m routing for you and I’m sending you much love,
Jennifer
I also have a book recommendation for you!
When it comes to getting up early and levelling up your productivity, “The 5 am club” by Robin Sharma is THE book to read. It will help you implement a morning routine, adapt a positive mindset and it will help you get up really early (hence, the title “5 am club”).
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