how to wake up with purpose & on purpose
BY SHANA LYNN YAO
You know those days that seem to work out just right? Those days when you wake up before the alarm, the sun is shining, you gracefully float out bed, the coffee is made and you go to the bathroom mirror and sparkles come out of your eyes?
It's a morning made for a Youtube vlogger but rarely does it happen in real life. And as a person with a REAL LIFE, you wake up with a jolt when the alarm goes off, the dog is barking or kids screaming, and after grabbing your coffee and getting ready, by the time you sit down to work you're left feeling scattered and not knowing which project tackle first.
It's in those moments of craziness that you most are susceptible to falling victim to distraction. How many times have you found yourself with "so much to do" and then getting caught up in answering your emails full of other people's chaos, or scrolling Instagram only to find your self esteem dropping as you look at everyone else all put together and having the time of their lives?
If that sounds familiar, you're not alone! It happens to the best of us. The truth is, life happens. It's constantly moving and changing, and if you don't have a "system" - a strategy for how you live and work, life will happen to you rather than for you.
So let's create a system - together. A step by step simple process that will start your day off with purpose, help you prevent distraction all day long, give you prolonged clarity and focus, and actually make everything you do easier.
It all starts with waking up. On purpose. And with purpose.
HELLO MORNING ROUTINE
You've heard it from everyone - you need a morning routine. And whether you learned the "Morning Miracle", "The 5 Things Successful People Do Everyday" - in fact - you may already have one. But what people don't tell you, is what actually needs to happen before your morning routine and what happens after.
It's a system - a strategy that pulls together the pieces of your life and the mechanics of your mind. What people who create morning routines tell you is the WHY behind it. Why NOT doing certain things will keep you standing still or moving backwards. And if you're trying to reach a bigger goal - trying to start a new project, grow your business online, or start something new, it's not just a morning routine that will get you there. It's a plan. A strategy. A morning strategy that works.
IT STARTS HERE
“The way you do anything is the way you do everything.
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Do you do things rushed? Are you a little...impatient? It's ok. Chances are, as a person on a mission - whether you're an entrepreneur, a business person - you like to get things done. It's the reason why you've achieved success in the past - and that's a good thing...unless it's not. Too often our own impatience and culture of on demand answers has us chasing our tails, not thinking things through and picking up a lot of "extra stuff" we think we need in the moment, only to find out wasting our time and money on "extra" things.
As an entrepreneur, or someone who is trying to start a new project, it's more important than ever to actually SLOW DOWN rather than speed up.
I know - did that send panic racing through your impatient veins? It's ok - it ends well. Once you know these simple steps, your goals will come together with more efficiency, greater speed, and best of all, you'll have the clarity you crave.
A RITUAL THAT WORKS
1 - WAKE UP EMPOWERED
Do you remember what your first thought was this morning? What was going on in your head the FIRST moment you became conscious?
Most people don't, and herein lies the problem. If you have a lot of things going on in your life and you don't take control of your mind, chances are your mind will race to what you need to do. Instead of owning your morning, your morning and your mind own you. But you can easily change this.
Before you even open your eyes or the second you do, train your brain to tell yourself your intention for the day. What this does is train your mind to see what you want to attract into your life. Starting your day with "Today is going to be full of amazing people and great opportunities" is like sending out a wish to the universe for you to see just that. Call it "the law of attraction" but what the "magic" is is called CLARITY and FOCUS on what you want rather than what just comes at you. Set an intention that empowers you.
"Today is going to be amazing and full of opportunities and positivity."
2 - FEED YOUR MIND
If you ever have found yourself waking up in a bit of a panic, it's not necessarily your to do list or racing mind - it's your dehydrated cells! Our bodies drain and heal during the night so when you wake up, cortisol rushes into your system to give you a "jump start". So managing your thoughts is one thing, but managing your biology is another.
To cure this, immediately after waking, drink at least 8 oz of water (many people add lemon and cayenne to detoxify). For bonus points, you may also want to consume 1/2 tsp of pink himalayan salt, which will hydrate your cells faster.
Then, for EXTRA bonus points, if you really want to power your mind, add a tsp of high quality coconut oil/MCT oil to your coffee or tea. Our brain cells are made of FAT and when you feed it what it fuels on, it's like adding gas to a car. It supercharges it with mental clarity and focus. TASTE TIP: Quality matters! Make sure you use an organic coffee (coffee has a high count of mold otherwise). I like to add Califa unsweetened almond milk, Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil - and put it in a blender with a few cubes of ice (that makes it frothy) and blend for a few seconds. It's like having dessert in the morning, but you're really powering yourself up!
3 - ACTIVE FOCUS MEDITATION
This is not the first time you've heard that most successful people meditate. But "trying" to meditate, "sometimes" meditating, or not knowing WHY you're meditating leaves you at a disadvantage and actually possibly doing more harm than good.
These "on purpose" daily rituals must happen every single day. Because when you do that, it's not part of your to do list, it becomes part of your DONE list. It becomes a daily HABIT. So it happens unconsciously. It's a simple way to stay on track, without even trying!
So rather than trying to find time to "sit still" if you have a hard time fitting it in, I recommend you try Active Focus Meditation. In actuality, even Tony Robbins has said he doesn't meditate. He does something similar to this Active Focus Mediation. It's actually meditating while moving your body in a continuous, fast paced motion (walking or running) outside, listening to your favorite playlist/song, for at least 10-20 minutes, focused on your success goals.
Why that works is that it takes the clarity that regular meditation brings - to help you be more present in your mind - and supercharges it. By moving your body you produce endorphins and combined with your total focus on your highest self and your end goal vision of what you want your business and life to be, while you listening to music - it causes a TOTAL ALIGNMENT of your genius emotional and creative brain. The emotional brain (your middle brain) is where all of your answers live. Active Focus meditation creates new neuronal pathways around your CONFIDENCE and CLARITY in your vision.
4 - SCRIPT YOUR SUCCESS
You've heard about journaling, but this is one step further. After creating the vision in your mind and seeding in your confidence, you need to write it into reality. Scripting your destiny.
When you create the vision you want, how much are you making? Where are you living? Who is around you? What do you eat? What are people saying? Knowing what it is you want to create for your life and putting it into words instead of just thought, brings you a sense of clarity of your vision and goals, and will help you understand the gap between where you are now and where you need to be.
By shining a light on the gap, you can now make plans, know what you need to do, who you need to hire, what you need to learn, to create a plan. Every single day.
5 - CREATE A RESULTS-DRIVEN DAILY PLAN
What is a results-driven plan? It's one that starts with the end in mind.
You know that to-do list? If you created it without looking at your end goal - every single day - chances are there are a lot of things on it that probably don't need to be done...today. A results-driven daily plan means you this one thing identified:
Your MIM - MOST IMPORTANT MISSION - the ONE thing you know you need to do today to push your business and life forward. Something that moves the needle or brings you one step closer to your financial or business goal and also for your personal goal.
Then, and only then, you can create a to do list to accomplish those MIM's. What is you MIM today?
And that's it! There are the 5 things you need to do to live every day on purpose, with purpose, and for the purpose of producing the results you want.
Are you ready? BONUS - if you need more clarity, I've got a plan template for you! It's called the 5 Minute Marketing Journal - and while it's an actual journal, I have a free download for you! Are you ready?
