Create Energy by Changing Your Morning

How would your ideal day start?

Energy is an interesting thing. We can create it but seldom think about how to. We can create energy for ourselves by doing the things that matter to us. However, we often go through our days as creatures of habit and convenience, many times letting others' wants drive our day.

Rarely do we ask ourselves, “Is what I'm doing or how I'm doing it creating my ideal day?”

Then

I have never been a morning person. I love to sleep... A LOT. My mornings typically involved sleeping to the last possible moment and then waking up to an alarm on my phone and immediately diving into email and Facebook. Before I even rolled out of bed I knew what was going on with hundreds of people that I never talk to.

I had a sense of what everyone else wanted me to get done that day from my email. I would rush through getting ready and leave the house five minutes late with a quick breakfast in hand to eat on the way. I would be stressed about what my day was going to look like from the emails and frazzled about being late and rushing all morning.

Do you ever have that feeling when you start your day? By the time you even start work or class you are already drained and not looking forward to what's ahead.

That's how I use to start every day. I had big plans for the end of my day - go to the gym, cook a good dinner, and do some reading. But by the end of the day I never felt like it. How could I when my day had started off draining my energy?

Now

This year I have taken control of my energy and started doing things that matter to me. I thought about what my ideal day would look like:

• What would I do?
• Who would I see?
• What did I absolutely have to do to feel energized and happy?

Once I identified the answers, I prioritized them by doing them first. I realized that when I focused on starting my day with the most important things, it gave me energy for the day. When I got the things that really mattered to me checked off my list before I even walked out the door, it didn't matter what happened the rest of the day. Often, the rest of the day went awesome because of how much energy I was bringing to it.

Have you ever noticed that doing things you love gives you energy?

For me, I get up an hour and a half earlier than I use to and do my "morning routine". The most important things for me are:

• Getting in a workout
• Eating a healthy breakfast
• Reading a daily devotional.

So I do them first. The things that were zapping my energy were checking my phone immediately, and rushing all morning, so I stopped doing them.

The first morning I woke up earlier it was hard not to hit that snooze button, but by the end of my morning routine I felt amazing. I never had a hard time waking up after that. The freedom and energy that have come from not letting other people dictate my first thoughts in the morning are amazing!

This simple concept of creating a morning routine out of the most important things to you will change your energy, and that will change your day-to-day life. I encourage you to start your day with things that you love and matter to you, and I promise you'll notice a difference in how you feel heading into the rest of your day.

So ask yourself, "If you could create your ideal day, how would it start?"