My New Morning Routine
The life we’ve built and the person we are is a direct result of the habits we’ve maintained – good habits and bad habits. If you want to change your life, start by changing your habits, and when you do that, you’ll change your identity – and it all starts with the way you start every new day.
In this video I’m going to share with you my new morning routine and the fundamental tool that’s changed my identity…
Learn my new morning routine…
I’ve been a fan of structured, ordered morning routines for a few years now, ever since I read the book Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod.
Since his book, it feels like the intentional morning routine movement has taken over the world to the point of being a cliche.
Cliche or not, I am now and always will be a fan of waking up in the morning, especially during the week, with a set choreography of self-care practices that get my mind, body and soul in alignment.
Prior to this simple but effective practice, I would wake up, grab my breakfast and turn on my computer where I’d sit all day every day from morning to night, placing all priority on client work, business admin and general busy work.
This lead to a very unhealthy daily practice, increased anxiety and a decrease in self-worth because my actions were essentially telling my subconscious mind that I was only valuable if I was working every hour of every day with little to know me-time.
Now, by starting my day with a morning routine, I’m telling my subconscious mind (and the universe) that I’m my top priority, that my mental, emotional and physical needs are important and I’ve realised that when I do make these my top priority, I work on the right things, and I have more creative ideas and inspiration that are meaningful and impactful, for me and my clients.
But, of course, I’m human and I still fall off the wagon sometimes. Every time I do though, I’m reminded of the value of this practice. Because in those periods where I don’t do my morning practice, I feel the negative impact throughout my day. I’m irritable, I’m distracted, my mental dialogue becomes meaner and meaner, and I generally feel less productive, less connected and less clear about who I am, what I’m doing and why.
My Old Morning Routine
Over the years my morning routine has evolved – and that’s because I’ve evolved.
As with anything we learn from someone else, we should take what resonates, leave the rest and add our own flavour.
So a few years ago, I evolved Hal Elrod’s morning routine into my own which I called the ‘I’m A Giver’ morning routine.
This was an acronym for:
- Intention
- Meditation
- Affirmation
- Gratitude
- Inktrospection
- Visualisation
- Exercise
- Reading
I followed this practice, presented talks on this practice, built this practice into many of my online courses and even created a guided audio track around this and it has served me well for many years.
But as I said, I’ve evolved and my morning routine needs to evolve too. And this is the very power of morning routines!
The importance of finding a morning practice that works for you
When we connect with ourselves, we’re able to notice what’s working, what’s not and we’re able to hear the callings that are seeking to be expressed through us. You’re actively listening for when a change is needed in your life when you do these morning routines.
I also found the I’m A Giver practice a bit long, the order of the activities didn’t really gel for me and there was something missing.
So one morning, while doing my morning routine, I was inspired to outline a new one that covered all the bases, felt resonant and made me feel grounded, so that I could go out into my day feeling empowered, on-purpose and feeling like I’d already achieved something before my day had even started.
So that’s what I’m going to share with you now – My new morning routine….
But first, this calls for a cup of coffee, a new journal…
I’m LOVING my new Paperjam Dotdrid Journals from The Papery.
My new morning routine - The 2 ACES
This is my new 2 ACES morning routine…
🙏 Appreciate ✍️ Affirm
🧘♀️ Connect 🎨 Create
📚 Educate 🤸♀️ Exercise
Let me explain…
Appreciate: That’s easy. I spend 5 minutes thinking about and writing down what I’m grateful for…. My day is infinitely better when I appreciate everything I already have and remember – what you appreciate, appreciates. Write it down…
Affirm: I declare what I want and who I want to be. I want to be more creative so I’ll affirm that I’m infinitely creative. I want to have a successful business and I want to live in a cottage in a forest, so I’ll declare what I want in writing and re-write my vision and goals for my life. I’ll also declare what I aim to work on or create in the coming day. Write them down…
Connect: While doing the previous step I’ll connect to the feelings in my body which connect me to my future self and to something that’s bigger than me – bigger than my ego and my fears. I’ll listen guided meditations and music that calms, soothes and grounds me. So it’s about connection with myself without the influence of the outside world.
Create: Now this is a game changer for me personally – being intentional about the act of creating for the sake of creating. We are ALL creative, whether we label ourselves as artistic or not. Just like all living humans breath and beat our hearts, we also create. Our presence on this planet creates impact whether we’re aware of it or not. I’ve chosen to be intentional about creativity and the act of creation. Whether that’s writing, sewing, cooking, painting, filming, photography – whatever brings joy in the process of creating.
I’ve spent too many years reserving my creativity for other people. That’s been one of my biggest downfalls in life and business. So I’m taking back my creative power and making this part of my intentional daily morning routine and it feels incredible!
It’s liberating, it’s exciting, it’s fulfilling and it’s transformative. I feel like a different person. My self-identity is changing as a result of this and so is my business…. (I’ll elaborate more on this later).
We each have creative energy pulsing through our veins but some of us have cut off the flow and are left wondering why every day is such a struggle. So please, if this resonates with you, if this feels true for you, include creativity or the act of creation into your morning routine and tell me how it impacts you.
Exercise: Moving my body in the morning is an energising way to signify the start of a new day. But that doesn’t mean running a 10k round the neighbourhood… For me, that’s doing 6 – 12 sun salutations just to stretch my muscles and get the blood flowing for just 10 minutes.
Educate: And finally, like creativity and creation, daily education is a top priority.
Whether I read a book, or watch a YouTube video or listen to a podcast, I’m intentionally learning something new every day before I get stuck into my to-do list. A nugget of wisdom or a practical tip can literally change the way I tackle tasks in my day, and the ripple effect could be life changing – from developing a new income stream, to learning a hack that saves me time, to making a decision that alters the course of my journey. I never want to stop learning and make it an intentional part of my daily morning routine.
Maintaining a Morning Routine
So this sounds like a lot, right?
It sounds like you’d need a whole day just to do your morning routine in this way…
But I broke these steps down to fit into just over 1 hour.
🙏 Appreciate: 5 min
✍️. Affirm: 5 min
🧘♀️. Connect: 15 min
🎨. Create: 15 min
📚. Educate: 15 min
🤸♀️. Exercise: 15 min
The life we’ve built and the person we are is a direct result of the habits we’ve maintained – good habits and bad habits. If you want to change your life, start by changing your habits, and start with the way you start every new day.
By investing just over an hour every morning, I feel like I’m changing everything about my life and you can too.
Take a look at the 2 ACES morning routine, take what resonates, leave the rest and add your own flavour. But start today, or at least… tomorrow morning.
Take what resonates, leave the rest and add your own flavour.
But start today, or at least… tomorrow morning.
Changing my identity
As mentioned, for me the biggest impact of this new morning routine is the introduction of creativity.
As you’ve seen, I’ve pretty much been doing all the other practices already in the old I’M A GIVER routine, and they’ve become an integral part of who I am.
These practices have literally changed who I am because I’m learning more about myself, and if it weren’t for these initial practices of
Appreciation, affirmation, connection, education & exercise, I wouldn’t have realised that there was something really important missing from my routine – and that’s practicing creativity.
As a result of of this one change to my daily habits, I’m more excited for each new day because I can’t wait to make something new – it’s like having an epic discovery every day. Creating things like this video, or building this puzzle, or practicing my hand lettering…
And all these creations and creative experiences are giving meaning to my day to day life. They bring joy & happiness, and some of them even bring income because they actually impact and help others.
Something else I’ve learned about myself in the past 18 months or so is that at my core, I’m an Explorer. No really, I know it doesn’t look like it right now because I’m here in my inner-city apartment, but really, in the model of the 12 personality archetypes, I identify as an Explorer.
Realising how important creativity is in my day to day life has brought me back in alignment with my Explorer archetype as I give myself the freedom to experience exciting new things and escape into the world in my own mind.
Each time I create something new, I’m creating my dream life experience. One creation at a time.
But this is my experience, this is what I’ve learned about myself and I’m sharing it here in the hope that it inspires you to get to know your self a little better and figure out what works best for you.
Discover Your Identity
If you’d like to get started on this journey so that you can start designing your day, one morning routine at a time, then take my free Archetype quiz and discover who you are at your core.
This quiz is the very same one I start my clients on in my 12 week personal brand programme, but whether you use what you learn about your archetype in your business or not, I know you’ll find value in discovering more about yourself.
This knowledge has not only improved my business, but it’s improved my self confidence & my relationships too, and as you’ve seen it’s improved the way I design my morning routine. I know it will help you too.
Do the free quiz at abigailk.com/quiz and start designing your day the way that’s meaningful for you.
If you’ve been inspired to change your morning routine, or at least add one thing to it, please consider liking my video and subscribing to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out on more videos like that that will help you to explore, expand and express yourself.
And then drop an emoji in the comments below and tell me what you’re going to do differently each morning. Or if you already have a morning routine, what do you do to start your day well?
🙏 Appreciate ✍️. Affirm
🧘♀️. Connect 🎨. Create
📚. Educate 🤸♀️ Exercise
Until next time, keep exploring, expanding and expressing yourself with confidence.