We’re nearly two weeks in to 2018 and you may be going strong with those resolutions or they may be starting to slip. The thing with resolutions is they require motivation and the thing with motivation is that after a while, it starts to wear off.
Just 5% of us actually stick to our resolutions.
So what’s the answer?
Jim Rohn, personal development guru has it here-
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
The good news is it takes approximately 21 days to form a new habit so if you get started today, latest tomorrow, you can be well on your way to success by the end of the month.
What new habits do you want to acquire? What makes the biggest difference to how you feel and therefore how you perform during the day? For me it’s always exercise and meditation. These are what underpin my well being in body and mind and give me the resilience to deal with whatever the day brings. I use a habit tracker stuck to my fridge and tick it off every time I’ve taken action. I’d recommend starting small, with one or two habits, until you build your confidence and motivation and include a few more.
I read the brilliant Mel Robbins’ 5 Second Rule this summer. She encourages us to take action before we have had time to overthink: 5-4-3-2-1 ACTION. It’s also a great one for getting out of bed 5-4-3-2-1 and get up, without thinking or hitting the snooze button. Then get dressed and set your intentions for the day ahead.
Why first thing in the morning? I’m not naturally a morning person. I still feel that I have years of sleep to catch up on having had 3 children! But I am absolutely converted to the power of a morning routine-
If you take action first thing, NOTHING can get in your way. Exercise is done- no excuses. You’ve set your intentions for the day so that you can choose your focus, before people and e mails start to pull you in a hundred different directions.
Another compelling reason is that your will power decreases throughout the day. That’s why we’re more likely to be snacking on biscuits in the afternoon or our good intentions to exercise can disappear as the day goes on. But if you take action first thing, you can spend the rest of the day safe in the knowledge that you’ve taken care of yourself and you are ready for whatever the day brings.
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod offers a new and compelling structure to the morning routine using 6 aspects: Silence (Meditation); Affirmations; Visualisation; Exercise; Reading; Scribing (Writing). I’m a fan of all of these disciplines but previously they were scattered randomly across my morning routine. Now I get up at 6, dressed for exercise; do my routine and by 7 I’m ready for action and whatever the day brings. The kids are mostly compliant and generally leave me in peace until 7AM although my seven year old marched in this morning to inform me that I was doing my yoga pose COMPLETELY wrong!
So I’d love to hear from you, what is your morning routine? What habits do you have to ensure your day gets off to a great start?
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