How Do You Start Your Day? It Matters, and This Helps…

How you start matters…

The importance of how you start your day really can’t be over-estimated.

Henry David Thoreau knew this and summed it up simply and concisely when he wrote, “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

Indeed, the start of your day sets the tone and establishes the foundation for everything that follows.

So, you can see that finding time to give yourself the gift of a good beginning is well worth the effort that it takes.  And, as with so many wonderful things, it does take effort.

How you start matters…

Whether it’s an early-morning walk, time spent journaling, a run, a visit to the gym, or meditating, there are lots of ways to take charge of your day and your energy with a self-nurturing start.

There are always lots of things waiting to intrude on your self-care plans.  That’s why this takes effort — and why discipline and follow-through are so important. Plans quickly become dreams if they aren’t implemented.

3 Tips

Here are three quick tips to help you start your day in an energizing and self-caring way!

1. Have a plan. Whether you vary your routine or do pretty much the same thing every morning, be sure to think about it the night before.  Write it down if that helps you follow through.  Visualize yourself getting up and taking the first steps toward your planned activity.
2. Know yourself. If there are things that you know will knock you off course, avoid them (or plan for them).  For example, I have a friend who easily gets caught up in computer activities to the detriment of other things.  Her plan is to NOT turn on the computer until she has followed through on her plan for the morning.  Or, let’s say you plan a walk and wake up to teeming rain. It’s always good to have a contingency plan, whether it’s a different activity or a raincoat that you laid out the night before.  Anticipating and dealing with possible impediments beforehand helps keep you going in the morning.
3. Appreciate and congratulate yourself. After you complete your activity, take some extra time to pat yourself on the back for your effort.  Be direct with yourself, acknowledge any challenges that you overcame in following through on your commitment.  This builds self-trust and self-awareness.

Start a new routine

Each and every piece of this routine adds to the store of energy that you carry forward into your day. You can count on that.

So, here’s a challenge for you: Think about a self-nurturing morning routine that you can put into place for yourself this month.

• Write it down and track your progress.
• Maybe you want to enhance something that you already do.
• Or perhaps you want to start a nurturing activity that’s entirely new.

Whatever you choose, try it and let me know how it goes.

This helps, too…

Time is pure potential. You decide how to use it; and once you do, it’s gone.  That’s why it’s so important to build on your best time choices.

If you feel like your time slips through your fingers, then you’ll want to claim your copy of my complimentary “Daily Choices Template:  Proven Strategies for Tracking Your Best Time Choices Today, Tomorrow & All Year!”

There’s no time like the present – to start moving toward the future you envision for yourself.

Let’s explore time together …