Words: Adrian Gonzalez
PUT YOURSELF ON DO NOT DISTRUB
Before beginning your Morning Zen routine, make a list of everyone important who might want to reach you in the morning. Tell each of them about your new Morning Zen plans, and ask them to avoid contacting you until a specific time when your Morning Zen ends. That way, your mornings will be distraction and disruption free.
WAKE UP 35 MINUTES BEFORE YOUR USUAL TIME
If you usually wake up at 7am, wake up at 6:25am. Wake up at 5:55am if your usual time is 6:30am. Waking up earlier will make you feel like you’re making the most of your day, which will give you that all important morning motivation-boost.
DO NOT SNOOZE YOUR ALARM
The worst thing you can do is keep hitting the snooze button. Set one alarm, and invest in a digital alarm clock instead of using your phone. Don’t have your alarm clock on your nightstand. The best place to put your clock is on a table in front of your bed, so you have to get up to turn it off.
DO NOT LOOK AT YOUR PHONE
For Morning Zen to work, you need to disconnect from the outside world and focus on yourself. This means no TV or phones –no social media, no news, no text messages. Forget about the world for a moment because this is your precious time, by and for you.
CREATE YOUR MORNING CONCOCTION
Go to the kitchen and make this special morning juice that will support a healthy diet and boost your energy:
Pour 2 fingers of water inside a glass
- Put it in the microwave for 22 seconds
- Take 1 lime, cut it in half and squeeze each half into the glass of warm water
- Take a knife tip’s worth of sodium bicarbonate and add it to the lime warm water
- Give it a good stir
- Let it rest for 10 seconds
- Drink up!
You need to drink this juice 30 minutes before eating anything so your body can absorb it better.
PRACTICE COLLECTED CONSCIOUS BREATHING
To counteract the onslaught of stressful thoughts throughout the day, you need to clear your mind and not think of anything. Set aside 10 minutes to focus on your breathing, by practicing meditation:
- Sit with your legs loosely crossed on a comfortable mat, allowing your spine to follow its natural curvature – upright, yet natural.
- Close your eyes
- Exhale deeply
- Inhale through your nose for 5 seconds
- Hold your breath for 5 seconds
- Exhale through your mouth for 5 seconds (be conscious – think that with this exhale process you are releasing energy, needed to be let out)
- Repeat this breathing technique for at least 7 minutes
PRACTICE GRATITUDE
Learning to be grateful will allow you to develop a happier state of mind, and this positive mindset will pave the way to a more successful and stress-free day:
Take a blank sheet of paper, letter
size (8.5” x 11”)
- Turn the sheet of paper horizontally and divide it into three vertical rectangles of the same size, and then tear the sheet into three columns
- You will work with one column per day, so take one and put the rest away for now
- Divide your first column into upper and lower parts (draw a line across the middle to make this division clearer for your eyes)
- In the upper part, bulletpoint in any order 3 things that you are grateful for.
- In the lower part, write 3 intentions:
- Your middle to long-term intentions-e.g. you want a promotion. You’re not there yet, but you’ve taken on more responsibility and feel this is achievable in the next few months, in time for your appraisal.
- Your daily intention- this could be a project you need to complete, a problem you want to resolve, or a nice thing you want to happen to you.
- A miracle-don’t be specific about what you write; in fact, all you need to write down is “today a miracle is going to happen to me”
Adrian Gonzalez, worked for more than 10 years developing a mix between skills, habits and disciplines, putting it all together into one concept, and with this he discovered all the amazing benefits that comes from it. Then he cracked it by developing a seamless way it can be followed and performed by anyone, during the mornings. And from there he helped managers, CEOs and businessmen who were passing through difficult times like bankruptcies, divorce or life plateau, by empowering them to seek their goals again, and finding out the meaning of success by transforming their mornings, and enjoying their life.
www.themorningzen.com
Leave feedback about this