Take Five: Morning Rituals Start Off Each Day Right

By: Jon Dwoskin

One of the most important things you can do for your business – and your life – is to have a morning ritual. It is the foundation of not only how you start out, but also the pace and the vibration of your day. If you don’t take care of yourself and set your mindset and intention for the day, you simply can’t be as sharp and effective.

It all starts with two commitments from you:

1. Decide: Make a pledge to do something for you and make your mornings the most powerful part of your day.
2. Wake up earlier: You don’t want to rush through your morning rituals. Make sure you have ample time to do them with the peace, silence and calmness your mind requires.

To get things started for you, here are five rituals I do to start my morning. Some may work for you, some not. For me, it’s never a perfect formula as some days I naturally sleep in, some days I need a break, and some days I’m just not interested. (That’s when I realize I need to change up my rituals a bit because they’re not working for me anymore.) The point is, be flexible and have fun with them. Rituals are not meant to over-structure you, but to get your mindset ready for the day and open you up to all the ideas you will fill the world with.

Here are my current five rituals:

1. Wake up at 5:30 a.m. and meditate for 20 minutes. I practice transcendental meditation (TM) and find it’s a great way to train my brain to think about nothing and get into a peaceful place. Meditation puts things in perspective and calms my nerves and my mind. Although I try my best, some days I can only think about nothing for a few seconds or minutes. That being said, I get some of my best ideas from meditating. I’ve been doing it for nearly 20 years. I started with simple silence, then did the Silva Mind Method for years and took TM a few years ago. I highly recommend it. I have learned, in time, how to retrain my brain and get into a meditative state when I’m not meditating, which helps me focus and makes me a stronger listener.

Today, you can find many apps that will help you. My 11-year-old daughter Aria uses an app called Calm to go to bed every night. She loves it.

If you don’t meditate, take two to five minutes of complete silent time in the morning and/or at least one time through the day. You will experience a significant difference after just three to five days. I’m not a doctor, yet I was pre-med in college for one year — and failed every class (wasn’t my calling) — but I have watched, suggested and experienced meditation enough times to know that it works. Try it out, you have nothing to lose. Silence is free. Take some time, take as much as you’d like!

2. Write in my gratitude journal. There are so many things in life we can point to that are wrong, not the way we want or like them, and things that just add stress to the nervous system. I find that taking a minute to use my Day One journal app and write at least one thing I am grateful for puts things in perspective for the day. I personally need the constant reminder of what is important. It’s a great way to shed some of the minutiae that I think is a big deal and simply isn’t.

3. Work out for one hour. Nothing gets out those wakeup thoughts and stress better than a good workout. I have a gym in my house and vary my routine with cardio, weights, TRX and circuit training. I do something different four to six days a week; if I don’t mix it up, I get bored. My goal is not to burn out and it’s also good for my mind and body. I’m done exercising before 7 a.m., which is when my kids get up for school.

4. Make the kids breakfast and lunch with my wife. There is nothing more fulfilling then getting in some good solo morning time and then seeing my kids come down the stairs or waking them up with a kiss. They are the reason I do what I do. It’s also a special time for my wife and me. Something about the hectic mornings of getting the kids fed, packing up their lunches and backpacks and getting them off to school makes me happy. It is important for me to be able to do that and not rush off to the office like I did for so many years.

5. Eat breakfast and have a power drink. I mix hot water with a little lemon, apple cider vinegar, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, turmeric, Bulletproof Butter, one drop of oil of oregano and Bulletproof Oil. It’s a killer drink. Some days I make different variations, but this drink gets me going and it’s a natural detox. My buddy Jim calls it the Think Big Rocket!

These are the five rituals that work for me. There are no wrong routines as long as what you’re doing is giving you the space you need to get grounded and mindful to bring your best self to each day. Pick one, two, three, four or five things that work for you each morning. I promise you will see a huge difference in your capacity for the day, your attitude and the amount of business ideas you get from the extra time you give yourself each morning.

Adopt morning rituals and watch your business soar!

Think Big!

Jon Dwoskin
The Jon Dwoskin Experience
Grow Your Business Big. Very Big!

Executive Advisor/Business Coach
(248) 535-7796
www.jondwoskin.com
jon@jondwoskin.com