Morning Rituals for success
Every morning is a new beginning.
And yet another chance for you to do your life right.
And get in line with your goals.
For that, we have to have a plan.
You have to take control of your morning by using a morning ritual.
In this blog post, I am trying to answer the questions:
- Why are morning rituals important?
- What morning rituals to adopt and why?
I hope you find this blog useful.
Let’s start by understanding what morning rituals are?
What are morning rituals?
Let me start with the difference between morning rituals and morning routines.
Morning routine
A routine is a list of tasks or steps that are done one after the other in order and as soon as possible.
And it is repeated every day.
Here speed is important, finishing the tasks as soon as possible.
Morning rituals
A ritual is also a list of tasks or steps that are to be done in a sequence.
But the important difference is our mental attitude while doing the ritual.
Ritual has some sacredness attached to it, we have to be more aware and present.
We cannot run on autopilot while doing a ritual.
Here we have to try and complete the tasks to the best of our abilities.
When we are doing a ritual, our mind has to be present at the moment and be aware of the process that we are involved in.
In this blog, I am pushing for morning rituals rather than morning routine.
A morning ritual is something that is done repeatedly with a purpose outside of the action itself.
Daily morning ritual differs from the morning routine in its intention.
Rituals are meaningful practices and are internally motivated.
Whatever part of your life you are looking to improve, whether it’s business, health, or your love life, give some thought to how rituals could improve the results of your efforts.
Why morning rituals are important
It gets things done.
Daily consistent action on any aspect of your life will activate the compounding effect, provided you do it long enough.
Add any actions that you want to compound, into your morning rituals.
Like exercise, meditation, money bringing tasks, etc.
Morning rituals set the tone for the day.
It refocuses attention on your goal.
It gives you a prescribed time and predefined actions to do that will take you to your goals.
What are the best morning rituals
- Getting up early in the morning, any time before 6:00 is good.
- Drinking lukewarm water first thing in the morning.
- Gratitude, Take a time out and think about the things you are already grateful for
- Set the intention for the day
- Meditate for 20 minutes
- After meditation exercising is a very good idea
- Read for ten minutes right after exercise, while recovering from the exertion
- Journal for one page 5 minutes
- Set the intention for the day again
How to create morning rituals
Start small.
Maybe start by getting up a little bit earlier than usual.
Then add drinking warm water first thing in the morning to your morning ritual.
Similarly add one task at a time, till you are comfortable with your morning rituals.
Aim for perfection, always be aware of any scope for improvement.
The idea is to do it deliberately slow and with all your attention on the task.
Add tasks that are meaningful and specific to your requirements.
But you must keep drinking water, meditation, and exercise as part of your morning rituals to get maximum benefits out of this process.
Identify a task that you want to make into a ritual
Decide on the tasks for the rituals from your goals.
Understand what tasks need to be completed for the successful accomplishment of your goals.
Then add these tasks to the two hour work period in your ritual.
Drinking water first thing in the morning, exercising and meditation is very essential as it will improve the quality of your work.
Submit to Shiva
Surrender to God according to your belief.
Have faith, that everything will be alright.
Check your ego and attitude at the beginning of your ritual.
Try not to think in terms of winning and losing.
Think just of your morning rituals, and completing it to the best of your ability.
Decide on the place
Decide the palace and time, where you will be undisturbed for the duration of your morning ritual.
Keep the place clean and clutter-free
Keep everything you need to complete your rituals ready and available.
Start a 21 days ritual
Do your morning ritual for 21 days.
Then take stock of your experience.
Acknowledge any positive experience you have.
Make any changes that you want in the rituals before starting the next 21 days ritual.
The number 21 has significance in various religious contexts.
But here it is just a period in time that is not too long or not too short.
If you want, change it to something else.
21 days is a long enough period to develop the habit of doing the morning rituals.
Make sure that the rituals you select are in line with your goal.
Morning rituals for success
- Getting up early in the morning, any time before 6:00 is good.
- Drinking lukewarm water first thing in the morning.
- Gratitude, Take a time out and think about the things you are already grateful for
- Set the intention for the day
- Meditate for 20 minutes
- After meditation exercising is a very good idea
- Read for ten minutes right after exercise, while recovering from the exertion
- Journal for one page in 5 minutes
- Set the intention for the day again
- Start your work task that will bring in money for 2 hours for the next 21 days.
Morning rituals for productivity
Morning rituals for productivity are the same as Morning rituals for success.
Only difference is you have to be in a productive mind frame.
Trying to understand where you can improve.
How to speed up your process.
Be clear about your intention and why you are doing this.
My Recommendation
Getting up early in the morning
Getting up early in the morning i.e. anytime before 6:00.
It will add extra time for yourself when everyone else is sleeping.
Use this time to meditate and exercise.
This sets the tone for the day.
You have done the first step towards your goal.
To make it a success follow through to the end of the list.
Drink two glasses of lukewarm water
First thing in the morning, drink two full glasses of lukewarm water, even before brushing your teeth.
The body is generally dehydrated during the long night rest.
Our brain is made up of 76% water, and it does not like being dehydrated.
So hydrate your body first thing in the morning.
Drinking lukewarm water will help clean your body and flush out toxins.
Gratitude
Express Gratitude for what you have.
This practice will bring your attention to the present moment.
Think of the things you are already grateful for.
Appreciate your life as it is.
With this, you learn to show appreciation for what you have.
It helps in taking away attention from what you want.
And helps focus your attention on how blessed you are.
You thank and express gratitude to everyone for helping you create your life as it is.
Therefore it is an excellent idea to take some time in the morning to appreciate our life and create a positive frame of mind for the rest of the day.
Set your intentions for the day
Intentions are the fuel for manifesting your goals.
It gives direction and clarity about what you want to achieve during the day.
Set your intention just before you start your meditation for maximum effectiveness.
It is a good idea to know what you’re going to accomplish during the day.
Setting the intention is like drawing a map for your higher consciousness to help you achieve it.
Just remember, you are communicating with your higher self so keep your intentions positive, uplifting.
Meditate
Meditation helps you to quieten the inner chatter of our mind.
It will increase your self-awareness, that is, you will be able to “respond” instead of “react” to your life.
It will also make you more grounded and calmer.
Try and use your intention in your meditation.
Start your meditation with a few deep breaths, and then observe the movement of your breath as you inhale and exhale.
When your mind wanders, bring it back to your breath.
And before you finish your meditation, take a moment, and reinforce the intention you have set for the day and be grateful for its successful accomplishment.
Exercise or walking
Forty minutes of fast walking three times a week has shown to increase the size of the hippocampus by almost 2%.
Hippocampus is the memory management section
As we grow older Hippocampus size starts reducing by 1% every year after the age of 25.
Exercise helps you manage your stress better.
Morning exercise reduces cortisol (stress hormone) in your system and keeps it in check throughout the day.
20 to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise increases BDNF in the blood by 32%.
BDNF or Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor is known as miracle growth for your neurons.
My recommendation is to do 20 minutes of walking every day.
According to one’s ability, increase the intensity of the exercise, both in duration and difficulty.
Consistent exercise along with proper diet will help you reach your ideal weight and maintain it.
To understand the health risk associated with obesity click here.
Reading for 10 minutes
Making reading part of your daily ritual is very important for your growth.
Reading helps you gain new insights in the area of your interest.
To develop a reading habit, make it a point to read for at least 10 minutes daily.
Incorporate it into your daily morning ritual.
Read biographies, inspirational stories, anything with a positive outlook.
Read something that inspires you.
Journaling
Journal one page every day for five minutes.
It will help you to think on paper.
Jot down anything that comes to your mind.
You can use this also as a gratitude journal.
Journaling gives you a different perspective on the things that occupy your mind.
To read about Journaling click here.
Set the intention for the day again
Acknowledge yourself.
Realize that you are enough.
Visualize and see your goal achieved.
See yourself as already being the person who is able and have achieved that set goal
Visualize your goal in whole.
Understand how action today will play a small part in accomplishing the goal.
Start your work task immediately for 2 hours
Start the main task right after setting the intention.
Put all your attention during this period on the chosen work task
Use the Pomodoro method i.e. 25 minutes work on a single task, then take for 5 minutes break
Do 4 Pomodoro’s (2 hours).
In the three 5 minute breaks, do body movement tasks like burpees, Surya Namaskar, Pranayama, Meditation, Kettlebell, Stretching, etc.
Do this for 21 days and watch the changes that start happening.
Smile for no reason
During the day make it a point to smile for no reason.
Choose to be happy.
Initially, it may seem like a fake smile, but if you persist, it will very soon become genuine.
By smiling, you’re being mindful and appreciative of everything around you.
Smiling is neurologically and psychologically known to increase happiness.
People will like hanging out with you more, and you will generally be happier.
And smiling is infectious, so spread it.
Be kind to yourself
Learn from your mistakes, it is done.
The past is past, you cannot change that, realize that you did the best you could at that time.
But you should learn to forgive yourself.
Take a moment and think about it, see how you would have done things differently if you could go back and do it again.
In doing so, you affirm that you have not only learned from your past mistake but also that if you had the skills you have now, back then, you would have done things differently.
Action step
Start at your own pace, the important thing is to move forward.
Start a 21-day ritual
Do one ritual at a time
Check your ego, and attitude before starting the ritual
Surrender to Shiva
Surrender to the process
And take daily action.