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I’ve been asked how I manage to be productive despite juggling various priorities, and how do I even get things done when I work from home, I have no boss, no employees, and apparently I have no urgency in the near future. My answer is something that usually leaves people unsatisfied with what they just heard. I trained myself on self-discipline.

One of the main reasons why I can do everything I do, is my morning routine

In fact, this is one of the most helpful things I have ever done for myself. It took me a couple of months to get to a place where I start every work day with my high peak morning routine, and it has made a world of difference.

I now feel like I am starting my work day primed for success. I now feel like whatever is going to come my way that day, I will be 100% capable of taking care of it. I now start my days feeling empowered, ruthless, safe, strong, and confident.

How freaking awesome is that?

Before I became an entrepreneur (full-time) I didn’t really care that much for my mornings.

In fact, when I was still a teenager I decided I will do everything in my power to avoid jobs that requested me to wake up at 7 am and leave the house before 9 am. And for many years I was successful doing just that. I didn’t want more for myself, I didn’t want to give more of my time or my comfort to someone else. I would actually have days when I would wake up at 12 pm and then randomly get shit done until my now husband would return home from his job.

Back then, I was still shifting through life feeling numb, like I wasn’t really there. I wouldn’t have much of a motivation, other than getting my clients where they needed to be, creating value and results for their businesses. As for my personal life, everyday routine, meeting friends, going to spas, or concerts and all that jazz, I would sort of make time for all of that after I finished my part-time job, and my part-time business tasks. I was always exhausted. There were times when I felt so depressed I did ponder what would happen if I cease to exist tomorrow. I felt oftentimes like I was going nowhere.

Then full time entrepreneurship hit me, and I was love struck.

I soon realized this was the big league. This was where I was actually meant to be, but at the same time, I become aware that for this to work, I have to commit on working on myself.

Thanks to starting my morning in high peak mode, I have grown at an insane pace.

It feels like I can create time and space for everything that needs to be done daily. I know that my morning routine gives me clarity, purpose, and energy. I know that my morning routine is strongly linked to my financial growth in the past months. And I am convinced my morning routine is a big part of how happy, energized, and restful I have been feeling every single day lately.

I would even go as far as to say my morning routine is a big reason why I am not scared of the future anymore. It’s also one of the triggers of my confidence, my knowing that whatever I set my mind to do, it will happen. I know I am going to arrive wherever I envision.

Oh well, enough with the bragging, but I wanted to share the kind of results (or benefits) I’ve been getting from creating and following a morning routine with those of you who aren’t really sold on the morning routine thing. But once again, I wasn’t either, until I realized that I am in control of how I live my life.

Here’s how my mornings used to look before my high peak morning routine:

• Waking up late, hitting Facebook even before going to the bathroom

• Waking up late, jumping straight into my shoes and off to wherever I needed to be in 30 minutes to 1 hour

• Waking up late, jumping straight to my laptop, to work

• Waking up feeling insanely stressed about the amount of thing I would have to do that day. There would no breakfast, no positive thoughts, just the constant anxiety that I wouldn’t have the time to finish all my tasks that day

Here’s how my mornings look like now:

• I wake up relaxed, calm, with no pain in my body, before my alarm clock

• I normally avoid Facebook, Instagram or emails within the first hour, however I do play some nice music to get me moving

• The first thing I do after I get up from bed is yoga

• My first hour of the morning is entirely dedicated to myself – I set myself for an awesome day with intentions, I calm myself down with meditation whenever I feel anxious about doing a tone of things, and I empower myself through affirmations

• By 12 pm, I usually finish 80% of my tasks for that day, without feeling tired, annoyed, or even be distracted by other things

Here’s my awesome morning routine:

• 5 to 10 minutes of listening to music (it’s usually jazz, funk or some jive) that starts when I wake up and ends as soon as I get on my yoga mat.

• 15 to 20 minutes of yoga (I do easy flows, stretches, a lot of sun salutations, and breath work).

• I then shower, brush my teeth make my bed, change my clothes, and then spruce up my work desk a little bit.

• 10 to 20 minutes of journaling: I write down my intentions for how I want the day to go on, on how I would love to feel or act. I write down a couple of affirmations that are basically reprogramming of inner fears or dark thoughts that when left unaddressed would normally hinder my progress for the day. There’s usually a little bit of freestyle journaling, which is usually focused on a topic that’s been eating at me lately, or some new limitation that I’ve discovered and I’m poking at it, bit by bit.

• 3 minutes of loud affirmations: I repeat loudly the affirmations I wrote down, and then I go through a list of 10 other affirmations that my lovely self care coach, Haneen, has shared with me.

• 10 minutes of writing down my schedule for the day – what needs to happen, and when, particularly if I even calls or any other appointments for the day.

• I then eat a superfood, sometimes it’s a banana milkshake with chia seeds, other times it’s a spoon of honey.

Obviously, this might not be the ultimate morning routine, but for me, at this time in my life, this works. I think I read somewhere that a high peak morning routine should have something for the soul, the body, the mind, the heart.

I didn’t really make a list of things that would pertain to all those aspects, I just asked myself how I would like to spend my mornings instead of jumping from bed straight to work, or into the subway, or straight to looking at my Facebook feed numbly and without enthusiasm.

Sure, in the beginning it was frustrating. It felt like yet, another thing to do on my daily agenda. But after the first week when I managed to do it daily, I realized the benefits outweigh everything I’ve done before.

And why wouldn’t it? I’m actively taking an hour of the day and I am dedicating it to myself, to my well-being, to my growth, to my health. I am actively programming myself for success in the first hour of myself being awake that day. I am actively focused on myself. On my being, my desires, my plans. It’s such an awesome way to start the day. And once I got the hang, and I realized how beneficial this is, it has become a lot easier to be constant in following this routine.

So, how did my high peak morning routine helped me as an entrepreneur?

• I am starting my days telling myself that I am able to achieve every single goal I plan for. I am starting my days allowing myself to grow, learn, fail, and succeed. I am starting my days giving myself power, confidence, and trust. I am starting my day fueling my brain with positive reinforcements, rather than Facebook trash, or even worse, just doing nothing.

• Strangely enough, scheduling a morning routine has actually given me more time or it has given me the power to stretch time. I literally feel that I can make time for everything in one day. I no longer fear that there’s not going to be enough time for myself to grow my business, do more of what I love, focus on my health, spend time caring for my relationships, make money, experience life etc.

• I am more committed to my dreams than I have ever felt before. And it’s not just that I feel more passionate about them, but I now have the confidence that I can materialize them, take them out from my imagination, and bring them into real life.

• I feel like there’s nothing that can stop me, except for myself. But now, I no longer fear that I would sabotage myself, because I have the journaling practice in my routine, which usually brings out all the shit. And then I can talk about that with my coach and focus on finding ways to work through it.

• I feel empowered. And it’s the thought that I am the one responsible for this amazing energy, power and focus, that makes it all the more of an extraordinary thing for myself.

Read more of stories from my Entrepreneur Journal:

Hi there! My name is Monica and I am a content marketing specialist who creates blog & Pinterest strategies to generate website traffic and leads.

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