Here is my question for you this morning. What’s most important to you? What is the one thing you really want to do daily that would make a big difference, but you just can’t seem to find the time for? You need to write this one major priority down and date it. This will change over time.
If you are not already using a dedicated journal, use our free “Makeover Your Morning” daily planner and Journal pages to help you get started. There are several pages to choose from. For this exercise, I recommend the “Morning Make Over Worksheet” worksheet. Print seven, one for each day of the next week. Each day, work to identify one thing you’d like to improve about your morning.
What good habits do you want to cultivate that would make a real impact on your life? Think about this for a moment. It could be in any area of your life from exercise and healthy eating to self-improvement or getting ahead in business or at your job. It could be working on your relationship with your kids, finding time for creative pursuits, or getting in the habit of reading every morning. Put this information into it in the morning section.
Once you’ve figured out what you want to work on, what you want to improve, and what’s important to you, we’ll think about how you can make it part of your morning routine. Sit back and imagine your perfect morning. It isn’t stressed or rushed. Most importantly it’s a day when you have time for everything on your list. Maybe it means having time for a long shower. Maybe it’s going for a run before breakfast. Maybe it’s having a few minutes to connect with your spouse over coffee or maybe it’s carving out an hour first thing in the morning to work on your side-business.
That’s a lot of “maybes” but the key is to start with what’s most important to you and think about how you could fit it into your morning routine. Remember, you’re just dreaming and imagining at this point. We’ll work on figuring out where to find the time to fit it in and how to make it all work out later on. For now, I simply want you to paint a vivid picture of what your new morning could look like.
I want you to become very clear on what you want that perfect morning to look like. Part of this process is figuring out what’s working well and what could be better. Be sure to fill out the worksheet to help refine exactly the things you’d like to change.
Why is this so important? Because you can’t make any meaningful changes until you know what your weak points are. You need to know what’s working and what’s not before you can pick a route and figure out how you’ll get there. That’s what today’s task is all about. It’s figuring out what you want to improve. Don’t stop until you have it figured out and firmly pictured in your mind.