Personal development Archives - Page 6 of 21

Why A Morning Self-Care Routine Matters

If you have been in the personal development world for more than 5 minutes you have probably come across the importance of a morning routine. Every successful person you can think of has probably written down their top tips of why they’re successful based on their own morning self-care routine. From waking up at 4 am to Tony Robbins jumping into ice-cold water first thing as he awakes.

No matter what morning routine you will come across without doubt based on countless studies and real-life examples. A morning self-care routine works and definitely helps your day rather than hinder it. Over time if it’s consistently performed the compound of action will change your life with the output and productivity of your day.

No matter what you having a winning morning routine is a must for building mindset strength.

How To Create A Morning Routine And Stick To It

I have tried out morning routines from successful people and as great as they are. Copying someone else’s morning routine doesn’t feel right. It feels great at first but then becomes forced. Furthermore, I have come to the conclusion that you should only look at others morning routines as a guide.

From there you should create your own morning routine that suits your personality, time restraints, areas of focus and so on. The reality is if you don’t enjoy your morning routine the chances of you making it a habit will be difficult. Who wants to wake up to do chores no one. You want to wake to do something you know will be challenging but fun, rewarding and above all easy to do.

Having this mindset in place then you must plan what you want to do. Planning is the first important part of your self-care morning routine. Without a plan, there is no focus or accountability. So planning the time you will awake and what you will do is crucial for any implementation of the morning routine you wish to create.

Within the plan, there must be 4 headings that must be fulfilled to create a winning morning routine.

The 4 Musts Of A Morning Self-Care Routine

Kick Start Your Mind With The 1-Hour Morning Self-Care Routine

1. Set Your Intention

Where the mind goes your intention will flow. This statement is a powerful one. It shows exactly how the mind works when it comes to taking action with anything and that’s where you focus the mind.

When setting an intention for your morning routine make it easily achievable. If your attention is to break your personal best with every routine you are going to wake up with the opportunity to doubt procrastinate and roll over back to sleep. But if your intention is to just give your best effort, to focus on 10-minute meditation etc. You’re waking up to something you can easily achieve. Starting your day with as many little wins you can achieve will build momentum into your day for harder challenges.

Setting your intention as well on paper will allow the mind to process what’s to come and will subconsciously prepare you to wake up ready to go. If you don’t point your mind in the right direction it will inevitability choose the easy road.

2. Get Up Straight Away

Waking up is in my opinion the most important part of your morning routine and also the most challenging. This is the part of the routine that’s make or break your day. Studies have shown that hitting the snooze button or waking up late can affect your day for the worse. There is nothing worse than waking up to know you only have 5 minutes to get ready even after the 5th snooze button you wake up all groggy.

Waking up straight away is the first battle and sets your intention for the rest of your day. It will be challenging and thoughts might race through to keep you comfortable but just get up anyway. There are many tricks you can do to force you of bed that you can easily think of and look at it online.

My favourite one I’m practising at the moment is from ex-navy seal Jocko Willink who on his Instagram page publishes his watch with the time he woke up as inspiration to others to attack their day. For me, this has put my mind into accountability mode to take a picture and also to focus my mind on the importance of looking at my watch for the time.

Whatever strategy you pick waking up straight away no matter what time you pick is of importance for winning your day.

3. Stimulate The Mind

The next part of your self-care morning routine is to wake up the mind. There are many you can do this. The reason why it’s important is that this is the time when your mind is at its freshest for taking in information and being able to be the most creative. Getting your mind focussed, calm and ready for the day will allow everything around you to flow better. This could be the music you play, gratitude, meditation, writing etc. Whatever it is set a time limit of 30 minutes and enjoy the process.

4. Wake Up The Body

After waking up the mind it’s time to wake up the body. Yoga, ice bath or a full-body warm-up and stretch can go a long way. Connecting the body and mind together is important. If the mind is ready but the body is lethargic. You will not at your best as the body reflects the mind. But when there are both working in harmony great things happen. Also working out the body release chemicals into the brain that stimulate it in such a way it gives us motivation and energy to move forward with the day.

By thinking of the body and the mind as two moving parts that work best together you will understand the importance of making sure the body is worked out too.

The Habit That Creates The Law Of Momentum

Like anything the first time you prepare your morning routine the first two days are easy and motivating and you feel like you will do this routine forever. Don’t be fooled by this. Prepare the mind that sooner rather than later the mind will get bored and will not wake up to do the morning routine you previously thought would never end. This is the most important part of forming a morning routine habit. It doesn’t matter what time you wake up, what mindset or physical routine you have in place. Mine change all the time.

The most important part is following the 4 steps no matter how you feel. Over time like every habit that’s done long enough and consistently will be done without much effort. The law of momentum will take over and the benefits you will reap from your effort will literally change your life.

What’s The Benfits

Control of your time
A proven winning habit
A boost in wellbeing
A focused mind
A creative mind
Mind & Body working together
Your first win of the day
Redusing stress & anxiety

What To Prepare For

For missing a day (It’s ok just don’t make it two days in a row)
Not having enough time to complete an hour morning routine (rare occations)
Missing your alarm
Your mind waking you up to persuade to stay in bed
To not find your perfect routine staright away
To comapre your routine to others (DON’T DO THIS)

PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR STORIES

What routines are you going to implement for your mind and body? What do you think about the 4 points to a morning routine? I would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with dealing with this. Always remember you are not alone and everything can change.

A Final Word From The Future Mindset

I hope you enjoyed today’s article Kick Start Your Mind With The 1-Hour Morning Self-Care Routine. I hope the article has helped in some way. If you need extra help or any questions answered. Don’t hesitate to contact me at adam@thefuturemindset.com

We are on social media platforms below but we are really excited to announce our weekly newsletter about everything mindset. Sign up below and enjoy the process of building your mental strength.

@thefuturemindset/@futuremindset_

When The Mind Can Take No More

Why Finding Time To Be Alone In Solitude Improves The Mind — Photo by Bob Price on Pexels.com

To find out whether you need to spend time alone or go into solitude, There are many signs that you will clearly see if you pay close attention. It could be your snappy with people, can’t concentrate, feel lost, you want to hide away from the world or you feel your motivation has gone.

This happens when the mind doesn’t have time to relax. When we are in contact with colleagues, our children or the work we have to do. Our mind is in external mode focusing on their needs not our own. When turning our attention to the internal mode we find time to focus on ourselves and let the brain relax on what’s best for ourselves.

Finding time to be alone can offer our minds the chance to catch up and recover. Much like sleeping repairs the brain. Finding time to be alone repairs the mind from exhaustion. You probably noticed when you don’t get enough sleep how much easier it is to get annoyed and frustrated. You feel the same when you don’t find time to be alone.

Main Benefits Of Alone Time

Studies have shown that spending time alone or going one step further and finding solitude.

Strongly increased happiness
Better life satisfaction
Improved stress management
Reduction in depression symtoms
Creative thinking

This goes to show why in everyone’s mindset toolkit, alone time or solitude has to be included. Being more introverted myself. Finding time alone away from the responsibilities of life makes me a better person when I’m present with my wife, children and work.

Even extroverted people need time to be alone too. They excel at being the life of the conversation, life of the party or exuberant leaders of people. As much as they love this role there will come a time when it’s time to take a break and find time alone away.

This is healthy and every human needs it as you need sleep. Without you will be drained and not the person you want to be.

How To Find Time To Be Alone

Making time to be alone will go a long way in increasing your wellbeing, productivity and performance. Below are just some of the activities you can do to strengthen the mind with alone time.

Travelling Alone

Travelling alone is a refreshing way to claim your thoughts back. This could be taking the train on your own or it could randomly pick somewhere on a map to travel to for a weekend alone. Doing this takes all the external responsibility away from your life where you can just focus on yourself. Whether that be finding time to read, learn about a new culture, or find out more about yourself.

Hiking In Nature

Exercising the brain is important and hiking in nature is a great way to spend time alone with yourself. You will feel challenged and at home in nature. As nature allows you to connect with it in a way that’s peaceful for the mind. When hiking you will have time to listen to your thoughts, come up with new ideas and focus on what you really want from your life. I always take a small notebook with me to jot down any new ideas and systems I want in my life.

Work Alone

Teamwork makes the dream work is a famous saying that’s actually true. When humans work together magical things happen. But there is also space for working alone too. If you’re constantly getting distracted or need time to process your own thoughts. Get away and find your space to work alone. If I’m at home working I find time in my week to work from a cafe. This allows me to focus on myself rather than be distracted by what’s at home.

Do A Hobby Alone

A great way to find your alone time is picking up a hobby that can be truly yours. This could be joining an MMA class, photography, writing or learning a new language. Whatever the hobby is it will give you space where you can take the mind internally to focus on the self-care of the mind needs.

Plan For It

Planning your alone time can go a long in preventing any symptoms of a lack of alone time popping up. Scheduling in your hobby or when it’s time just for you can go a long way in making sure you make it a habit in your life. It will make you excited and be able to give your external responsibilities all your attention. You can even plan for time in your day when it’s just for you. Waking up before everyone else or having your own room to do whatever you want will help too.

How To Find Solitude

Cabin In The Woods

Famously every year Bill Gates spends 2 weeks out of the year on his own in solitude. This is a time where he can reflect and plan for what he wants to do next. This is a great way to recover the mind the external responsibilities of life. In Scotland, many affordable cabins are far away from human life to spend in solitude. Wherever you live find somewhere you can go to find your solitude for a couple of weeks out of the year.

Your Own Space

You’ve probably heard of a man den before. There’s a lot of jokes about this and females can think it silly. But this is a super healthy way for someone to take a step back to find time for themself in solitude. It’s crucial in your own life to create somewhere in your home that’s your space. Whether that’s your own room, garage, shed or a time in the day that’s yours to command.

The Benefits Of Seeking Solitude

Clears the mind
Increases focus and what’s a priority
listen to what you really want
Problem-solving

Remember It Has To Be A Fine Balance

We are of course social creatures so we feel at our happiest when we have family, friends and a community around us. Because there is a clear distinction between loneliness and finding time to be alone. This article isn’t about overcoming loneliness it’s about finding space in your life to internally heal, repair and stimulate your mind.

Only you will know how much alone time and solitude you will need in your life and I expect introverted will need more than extroverted people would. But finding time to be alone with yourself and your thoughts is the foundation of mindset strength to build your relationship, career, and habits.

Let’s all find our alone time, our place of solitude and become stronger mentally for it.

PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR STORIES

Has this helped you today? What’s your favourite mindset strategy you’re going to try out. I would love to hear your thoughts and your experiences with dealing with a negative mindset. Always remember you are not alone and everything can change.

A Final Word From The Future Mindset

I hope you enjoyed today’s article If you’re struggling with dealing with mastering your own mindset. Don’t worry you’re not alone. Millions of people go through the same experience every day. I hope the article has helped in some way. If you need extra help or any questions answered. Don’t hesitate to contact me at adam@thefuturemindset.com

@thefuturemindset/@futuremindset_