You probably already have a morning routine, where you get up, clean up, get ready for the day, and head out the door. What you may be missing is a morning ritual, or something you do to set the stage for the day and start yourself off on a positive note. Here’s what I mean.
A morning ritual lets you start the day on a proactive, “I did something good for me today” note, rather than a reactive “What do I have to deal with today” note. It’s a simple mind shift, but super empowering when you realize that before you even left the house, you’ve done something good, crossed an item off your to-do list, and practiced a little self-care.
A ritual you choose lets you manage your emotions, or do something as healthy as look at something that makes you happy, think about the things you’re grateful for, or enjoy something that brings you joy. Like the previous point, it lets you do something good and feel good about it, rather than being subject to whatever comes your way.
Morning rituals let you combine your most powerful habits together. Maybe it’s a little exercise and a healthy breakfast, along with a little gratitude journaling, or maybe it’s just some light stretches and deep breathing. Whatever you want to make a habit, turning it—or they—into a morning ritual can be immensely helpful.
HAVING A MORNING RITUAL MAY BE A SIGN OF BEING SUCCESSFUL
Successful people have all different types of morning rituals. They’ve likely tailored their routines over the years to fit them best—some read the newspaper, some get good family time in, some meditate or do yoga and an awful lot of them exercise. But what they don’t do is roll over, hit the alarm and say, “Screw it, I’ll just sleep a bit more.” They get up, do their morning thing and hit the ground running.
All The Way In is fascinated by the life coach Tony Robbins’ morning ritual. Robbins is 55 years old, but he maintains a packed schedule of events and is more frenetic than ever on stage, regularly jumping with and running through crowds that often number from 5,000 to 10,000 people. The days can last 12 to 14 hours, and in his most intense seminars, he is putting in as many steps as he would in a marathon.
Wake up. Get a cold plunge.
Ensure yourself at least 10 to 15 minutes for your routine regardless of how much sleep you have got. Jump in the shower and go straight for the cold. Keep yourself submerged for a full minute. Tony Robbins says that he doesn’t do it because he’s a masochist — he does it because there is nothing that can change everything in your system like a radical change in temperature.
Prime for the day.
“I made a deal with myself: If you don’t have 10 minutes for yourself, you don’t have a life,” Robbins said. “There’s no excuse. So I have 10 minutes, and I do this little ritual.”
He calls this ritual “priming,” and it is broken into three parts. He will usually play some form of instrumental meditative music throughout.
— Part one: Breathing exercise.
Robbins does three sets of 30 Kapalabhati Pranayama breaths. In this ancient yoga exercise, a person sits straight and takes a deep inhale before exhaling forcefully by constricting his or her abdomen. The inhalations in between are slight, and the full breaths are done in quick succession. They’re concluded with a deep inhale followed by a deep exhale. This breathing exercise is for advanced yoga practitioners and may be dangerous for novices. Martine, the founder of All The Way In, is by contrast breathing in a normal way and focusing on how the breath goes it and out.
— Part two: Expressing gratitude.
He then takes a few minutes to think of three things he’s grateful for, with one of them being something small, which can be something like “the wind on my face or the smile of my son.” “The reason I picked gratitude is because when you’re grateful you can’t be angry,” he said. “And when you’re grateful you can’t be fearful.”
— Part three: Pray.
Robbins then spends the next three minutes seeking strength and wishing good things on his family, friends, and clients. He considers it a spiritual exercise, but it doesn’t need to be tied to religion.
Fuel up.
Once he’s done with his rituals, he’ll typically go for an unexciting but nutritious breakfast, usually fish and salad. He keeps it boring, he told writer and podcaster Tim Ferriss in an interview last year, “because I just know it’s fuel.” Then it’s off to go motivate some people.
GET ALL THE WAY IN WITH YOUR MORNING RITUAL
First of all, you gotta be determined to get all the way in with your morning ritual. The determination rely on that you’ve visualised your gains of doing the ritual that you’ve set up. What do you want to get out of it? Who do you want to feel like after performing your ritual? How are you gonna stick to it? These are all important questions you can ask yourself in order to get all the way in with your morning ritual.
