productivity Archives - Page 5 of 13

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_

Procrastination Is The Thief Of Time

Edward Young first coined the phrase procrastination is the thief of time. He couldn’t be more accurate with these words. The average human can live now to 79 which is way ahead compared to the 1500s where the average was 35. I’m definitely happy to live in a time where we live so long. But if you compare it to the bigger picture of the universe. It’s not even relevant.

That’s why our short life is precious and should not be taken for granted. With the urge of comfortability running through our veins. Without constant pressure, this can be a life filled full of procrastination.

We can’t take life for granted and look back on it with regret. We have to live life with purposeful action. Knowing that procrastination is the thief of time. This should be motivation enough to make better decisions in the now that can have great benefits on our future.

Inside The Mind Of A Master Procrastinator

To understand procrastination we must first get inside the mind of a master procrastinator. To see what stops them from living a fulfilling life. The best example you can find is usually yourself. I have been and still in some cases a master procrastinator. Knowing masterfully how to guide my life away from anything challenging. The assignment that needs to be done, the morning workout session or perfectionism halting my progress. All challenging and important to do but nonetheless put off in place of video games, Netflix or socialising with friends.

Sound familiar?

The problem comes from the imagination that plans ahead of our life. When we plan ahead to a workout we know it’s going to be challenging compared to watching your favourite tv show that’s super easy. With the craving for ease in the short term, the human mind craves this life as if there is no firewall to protect it from procrastination.

By understanding your own procrastination tricks. This Is the first step to realising you have a problem. From here you can plan ahead with procrastination strategies like making it super easy to get started or minimise distractions within your environment.

Getting inside the mind of a master procrastinator is the first step you need to guide your mind to following through on challenging tasks.

When We Listen To The Mind We Find Answers

When the mind is full of distractions it tends not to work very well. You can even learn the habit of being a master at being distracted. When you think about it, isn’t that crazy!

Eventually, through all your procrastination, the mind will be throwing out signals of what you should be doing with your time.

A procrastination mind though can be fuzzy and totally engaged in the procrastination task that halts all thought of the now and what is needed for the future. That’s why journaling of thoughts and quiet time for the thoughts to flow out of your mind through meditation. Will help you catch the signals flowing through you.

The feeling of anxiousness, fidgety and a mind that’s paralysed of focus. Is a mind that’s blocked and needs unplugging. If not depression, a mind and body that’s lethargic with a topping of the thief of time will you stuck.

This is no place, anyone, what’s to live. This is not our life purpose it’s just an easy habit that’s formed over time. It creeps up on you without knowing and coerced you into decisions that benefit you instantly but robs you of meaning in your life.

Procrastination Is The Enemy

That’s why you have to treat procrastination as the enemy. You must wage war on procrastination. A never-ending war for your life to have purpose and meaning. A war that must be won because procrastination will never stop coming. It will be relenting, frustrating and sneaky.

But to win the war you must have a strategy to win. One strategy is to chasing discomfort. Making it a life goal to chase discomfort for the things you want to do. Skydiving, travelling the world, applying for the job you’re scared to apply for or ask the person you’re attracted to out on a date. Discomfort is where life is at, this is where all the good stuff happens and this is where procrastination loses the battle and eventually the war.

How Discomfort And Fear Changes Everything

If you wrote down all your fear you have presently. How many on that list if you tackled them head-on would make you happier, more productive and following your life purpose? This very list helped change my approach to life. I was scared of so many things, what people would say of me, what if they say no, what is this happened. It’s funny looking back now at how I used to think like this because the things on the list weren’t scary or even close to what my mind imagined them to be.

Our minds are wonderful at creating. Just look at all the beauty humans have created in our minds. Films, art and music. But the mind is also good at predicting the worst-case scenario future. Of course, this is great if you’re looking to avoid death on the savannah. But not in modern life. That’s why you have to look at what the mind is creating and be vigilant.

I like to laugh at my mind now when it comes up with these crazy ideas. “I say thank you brain for letting me knowing of the worst-case scenario and I will be prepared if this happens. But wish me luck because I’m going to do it anyway.”

Treat Fear As A Protective Friend

Don’t fight fear, use it as a guide to prepare yourself in case it happens. But do it anyway. Take skydiving, for example, the mind will show you all the ways you will die. A defiant film of 100 ways to die from an aeroplane would definitely be made from my mind’s imagination. When your mind does this. Take this as a sign to book the safest skydiving company, to double-check your own equipment and make sure you are not doing anything to jeopardise your life.

Fear is an amazing thing that’s a friend that always has our back. But that doesn’t mean we have to live a fearful life of doing nothing that matters to us.

When we chase our discomforts. Life changes for the better.

What’s on your list that you’re going to tackle today!!!!

Procrastination Hurts But When We Guide Our Mind To Discomfort Life Changes

Where To Go From Here

Write a list of all your fears
Write a list of all the things you want to do
Create or buy a calender and write down the date when you overcome your fear or chase your discomfort
Have daily silence to listen to what your mind really wants to do
Journal all your thoughts onto paper to stop the bootle neck of the mind

PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE YOUR STORIES

Do you believe procrastination is the thief of time? How are you going to chase your discomfort and overcome your fears? 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 Procrastination Hurts But When We Guide Our Mind To Discomfort Life Changes. 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_