My New and Improved Morning Routine

In the past, I talked about the benefit of having a morning routine. I even tested out the SAVERS morning routine from Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning.

That routine was useful, but there were also some problems that made continuing this routine non-plausible. My main issues with the routine were that:

1) it was too long, and

2) I felt that not everything Elrod was suggesting needed to be completed in the morning.

That is one of the beauties of trying a new routine, however. After a while, you can put your own spin on it and so that the routine fits perfectly for you. So that is exactly what I did. I took all the parts of the Miracle Morning that I liked and felt were necessary for me to accomplish in the morning, and got rid of the ones that I disagreed with.

Keep in mind this can easily be your daily routine as nothing NEEDS to be done in the morning. You can realistically do all of this at any time throughout the day. However, doing certain things in the morning will help improve the rest of your day.

My New and Improved Morning Routine

I split my morning routine into 4 simple steps, all taken from my original morning routine. I believe these have had the strongest impact on me and are the best way to get my morning started. This is at the top of my to-do list every morning:

Meditate, Pray, Journal, Affirmations

Meditation

Meditation is an extremely powerful instrument you can use to give yourself more clarity and peace to start off your day while reducing anxiety, tension, and stress. I’ve written about the Benefits, Techniques, and Tips on How to Meditate. If you don’t meditate in the mornings already, I highly recommend starting to do so. It is a great way to begin your day and it only takes 10 minutes to do. You can even begin with a 5-minute meditation every day if you want. The important part is the consistency of doing it every day, rather than the time spent doing it.

Prayer

I know this one might turn some readers off but hear me out. I understand that religion, God, prayer, and the likes can be a touchy subject to a lot of people. When I say pray, I am saying to pray to whatever higher power you believe in. Whether that be God, the universe, your creator, or a different higher power.

This is a great way to get in touch with your spirituality. Furthermore, you will begin to realize what is truly important to you as those are the things you will be praying for.

As a side note, when you pray don’t just ask to receive, but ask for what you can give to the world as well and opportunities to do so, since helping others makes us happier people.

Journaling

Journaling is a great way to clear your mind of any pent-up thoughts and emotions and express yourself freely. The words you write are not meant to be read later, although you can if you so choose. They are also not meant to be shared with anyone. These are your personal and intimate thoughts, and while you might want to share some good ideas you come up with, most of your writing should be private.

Journaling is especially powerful for processing negative emotions because it allows you to write out and release your frustrations, but it also allows you to go deeper and analyze the reason you are upset. Oftentimes, I have found writing from a state of negativity makes me feel better afterward and understand that my feelings are often unjustified. President Eisenhower would journal whenever he was mad, writing unkind letters to the person he was angry at, and then crumbling up the paper and throwing it out later.

On the flip side, writing from a state of happiness, or another positive emotion, can expand your mind to greater ideas, expresses a tremendous amount of gratitude, and is more likely to keep you positive in the long run as you are taking the time to realize how good you’ve got it.

As an added bonus to ensure this, try writing down 3 gratitudes and 10 new ideas every day as well. The gratitude will make you a more grounded individual, and the ideas will strengthen your brain, making you more creative.

(I put this in my morning routine, but like most things on this list, this is easily something you can do at any time of the day, especially before bed).

Affirmations

Affirmations are a great way to start your morning. You express what you want to accomplish to the world. Also, during times of difficulty throughout the day, affirmations are great to refer back to. I suggest both writing them down AND repeating them out loud numerous times. Writing it down will help you remember them, while saying it out loud into the universe has a greater overall impact.

If you feel self-conscious saying it out loud try doing it in the shower or in the car when driving.

YOUR New and Improved Morning Routine

I encourage you to find a short morning routine as well. Find what is essential for you to do in the morning that will get your day started off perfectly.

Furthermore, pick things to add to your morning routine that you know are important to do, but won’t get done if you prolong it. For example, many people exercise in the AM because they know they will skip their workout if they wait until after work.

If you are stuck deciding what to include in your morning routine, I would suggest trying my morning routine for a few weeks, see what you like and don’t like from it, and then add your own spin to it as I did with SAVERS.

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Best,

Eric