High-Five Mornings; Setting Tone & Direction
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What’s all the buzz about MORNING ROUTINES? The buzz is excitement - excitement over the off-the-charts benefits that come from setting tone, attitude and direction for ourselves every day.
A morning routine combines night-before sleep and prep practices with intentional actions taken upon waking, actions that promote tranquility, health, readiness, and ENTHUSIASM regarding the day to come.
The formula we work with Executives to incorporate is:
MOVE. CENTER. AFFIRM.
and importantly - to slide directly into WORK or FITNESS within 30-minutes of waking.
Why the MORNING?
Because what we do in the morning MATTERS. What we do in the morning has a bigger effect on our day that we realize. You have mission, purpose, and things to do, and when you meet every day with the tone, attitude and direction YOU have chosen, you are on the road toward and closer to all three. You've taken actionable steps toward personal and professional fulfillment, toward service, meaning, achievement, contribution and success. That’s game-changing. Figure out your mornings friends, and things will turn around and take off.
Image by Ekaterina Kasimova from Unsplash
Tranquility is the foundation of the practice with which our clients have had the most success — tranquility via a bit of time with themselves the first minutes of the morning. Move-Center-Affirm is all about unhurried time to engage with and greet the day. Move-Center-Affirm is preceded by protected, quality sleep the night before and by acting with consistency when it comes to both prioritizing night-before rest and a degree of calm when rising each morning.
In our busy world, tranquility may seem distant. Cultivating tranquility is possible however, and for many the first minutes of the morning are a great place to start. Rising from a disposition of calm benefits our emotional and physical health. We are more relaxed and see opportunities rather than obstacles. What to do the first minutes of the day? We suggest the following:
1) MOVE
While still in bed, gently lengthen and flex the fingers, wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles and back. Take some time to limber-up and stretch before rising.
2) CENTER
Next, take a few minutes to be present and relax. Let go of anything that’s weighty for a few minutes to greet the day, set a tone and establish peace. Centering for you may mean reading, breathing work, writing in a journal, or going outside or to a sunny window for some additional stretching and bending.
3) AFFIRM
Take note of what’s positive, good, and working. Review your mission and purpose, your priorities for the day and how you’d like the day to go. Confirm and affirm that today is going to be a good day.
4) REST
Tranquility and terrific mornings begin the night before with calm, cues, and protected, quality real rest. Decades of data show without a doubt that people who prioritize and invest in SLEEP have best outcomes across the board. Their life and job satisfaction are higher, inflammation and fatigue are reduced, personal agency and feelings of fulfillment and contribution rise, and they tend to live longer happier lives.
5) CULTIVATE CONSISTENCY
BEING CONSISTENT with positive practices contributes greatly to physical, mental, emotional, social, personal, professional, and even financial dimensions of our lives. Invest in and protect consistent quality rest along with the positive practices that serve you well, and your mornings will have an entirely new feel.
For most people MOVE-CENTER-AFFIRM is a 5 to 10 minute sequence. You don’t need a lengthy routine to reap the benefits of consistently setting the tone and direction of your day.
Photo be Getty Images via Unsplash+
In summary, what you and I do in the morning has great effect - what we do in the morning MATTERS. As a result of deep-dive study and decades of decidedly positive outcomes, the High-Five Morning™ Routine formula we recommend and work with clients to incorporate is MOVE, CENTER, AFFIRM, to slide directly into WORK or FITNESS within 30-minutes of waking, and to get consistent, quality sleep every night — to invest in, prioritize and protect the rejuvenating rest you need.
The morning and the day are yours. Be grateful for all the good and opportunity there is and all that you have as you strive for all that you want, can be, and can do for the world and others. Good luck as you figure out your mornings friends, and please be in touch with questions or for further explanation and implementation of City’s High-Five Morning ™ routine.