A Morning Routine

For a hot minute in August, I decided to do Balance Athletica's "Elevate U Challenge," where you commit to six life-changing daily habits for six weeks:

1) Get 7–8 hours of sleep.
2) Drink a gallon of water.
3) Stick to your nutrition goals.
4) Develop a morning routine.
5) Stretch for 10 minutes before bed.
6) Get one hour of movement.

However, you know how I feel about streaks and how I might suffer from mild OCD, so sometimes the kindest thing I can do for myself is not put myself in a position to form a streak that I will then be a slave to. Elevate U quickly revealed itself to be something I would be wise NOT to commit to officially.

However, two of the habits I found surprisingly pleasant and beneficial, one of which is the morning routine.

Honestly, my mornings were already fairly routine, but I added a tiny, specific routine that I try to do "first" ("first" in quotation marks because, again, I need to leave flexibility so as not to lose my mind XD).

I get out my journal and I write down three things:

1) A person I'm going to pray for throughout the day
2) A "theme" word to guide me
3) A concrete, measurable goal

Then I say the Lord's Prayer, trying to pay attention to every word, and end with a quick prayer for whomever I decided to pray for that day.

(NOTE: This sounds weirdly Holier Than Thou when I write about it, but it's really not. I started saying the Lord's Prayer because I wanted something that would center me on God, but not require a lot of me right away. How's that for not particularly holy at all?)

This whole "routine" takes about two minutes, and I like the way it sets up my day.

A Person to Pray For
I started this hoping that God would lay someone clearly on my heart each day to pray for, but he usually doesn't. I usually just search around in my mind and pick someone. I pray for the person every time I think about it during the day. Some days it's many times, some days it's not, but it's more than it would be if I hadn't intentionally picked someone.

A "Theme" Word
I started with a daily fruit of the spirit, and then started on Aristotle's virtues, but the latter did absolutely nothing for me. I could never remember what virtue I was supposed to be focusing on, and it just didn't feel right. So I went back to the fruits of the spirit.

As I'm writing this, my theme word for the day is Joy. Joy is my favorite day. I always get that childhood song stuck in my head: "I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart to stay.*" Somehow, it's not annoying. It actually brings me Joy.

A Goal
I usually pick a work-related goal because I find that's the area in which I get the most lost or discouraged. It's very easy for me to end the day having not completely checked off a single item on my work to-do list.

I make this goal incredibly attainable; it is never a "stretch goal." If I reach this goal, it always inspires me to work better afterwards. It not only increases my productivity, it makes me feel happy and accomplished, which colors everything.

This is one personal change that I would recommend others try. Find something tiny (five minutes or less) that sets your day up the way you like it, and do that. You'll start the day feeling like you did it on purpose, on your own terms.

~Stephanie

* I thought the last two syllables were "to-day" until I just Googled them. Apparently I've been singing it all wrong XD Either way, I like it.