Personalize Your Midlife Morning Routine And Take Charge Of Your Day!

Episode 82 | (00:00):
Hey there, friend. Are you tired of feeling behind on things? Do you feel like there's just not enough time in the day to get everything done? Do you feel like you're just maintaining and treading water instead of actually getting ahead in your life?

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Today, I'm going to be giving you some ideas for capturing the best midlife morning routine for you. I don't talk about morning routines too much because I think they're a very personal thing. What works for me may not work for you.

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That said, there are some very valuable pieces to this morning routine puzzle that you can start putting together to craft the morning routine that's perfect for you.

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Over the years, I've researched and experimented with a lot of different routines. I'm going to share what I've learned and give you some ideas for creating your own routine so you can start feeling accomplished and alive, well before 10 o'clock in the morning. How does that sound?

(01:10):
I wanted to give you a quick update on the new online course, the Easy Aging® Blueprint, that will be available soon. Everything I talk about here on the podcast is based on my three-part proprietary process called The ACE Approach. This stands for awareness, clarity, and ease.

(02:01):
While I can give you a few tips, hints and strategies here on the podcast, it's the online course that's going to give you an actual framework to take you from point A to point B to point C to point D, and so on.

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At the end of it, you're going to have a complete solution for how to live more joyously in midlife and beyond. You need to be an Insider to find out more about the delicious bits and pieces of this. You're going to have first access to becoming a founding member and to discounts that I'm offering. So if you haven't signed up yet, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com right after this episode and sign up today.

(03:06):
Let's start today's topic with a question: How are your mornings working for you? I have a feeling there might be a lot of grumbling and complaining going on right now. ;)

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First, I want to a couple of myths before we get into the details.

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Myth #1: You have to get up at four or five o'clock in the morning to be a productive, successful person.

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Myth #2: You don't have enough time.

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Friend, it's not an issue of time management. It's an issue of priority management. You're just not clear on what your priorities are and what's most important to you. Because when you're clear about what those priorities are, you work them into your schedule on a regular basis. It's really pretty simple:

It doesn't matter what time you get up in the morning, as long as you have enough time to get to your priorities.

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So let's look at three different morning routines from three popular books to get some ideas of what you want to do. Grab a pen and paper to write some of this down so you can use this information to put together a midlife morning routine that's perfect for you.

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Morning Routine 1: Eat That Frog, 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time

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This book is by Brian Tracy, and he recommends eating the frog first thing in the morning. And by frog, he means the hardest thing you have to do or something you dread doing.

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Mornings are when we have the most discipline and the fewest distractions. So you can eat the frog by getting your coffee, diving in and putting a dent into your projects, whether they're personal or professional. Then, you're going to start your day with a significant accomplishment before 10 o'clock in the morning.

(05:14):
How cool is that? When I was doing this, it was a game changer for me. It increased my productivity dramatically, and it made me feel like I had this huge victory under my belt before the day even started.

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You can either use this as your regular morning routine, or you can use it as you need it for special projects or passion projects that you want to complete.

Morning Routine 2: The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

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This book is by Hal Elrod, and this routine has six parts to it that spell out the word SAVERS: S for silence, A for affirmations, V for visualizations, E for exercise, R for reading, and S for scribing or journaling.

(06:11):
This one takes an hour, and you do each section for 10 minutes. When I tried this, I found it exhausting! I felt like I was barely getting into one step, then I had to move to the next step. It felt very rushed and uncomfortable.

(06:33):
I'm not sure why it didn't work for me -- I think there were just too many steps and I felt overwhelmed by all of it. Granted, there are some excellent parts to this routine. So take a few of them or take all of them and give it a shot for an hour at 10 minutes each.

Morning Routine 3: The 5AM Club: Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life.

(06:54):
Robin Sharma authored this book and says to get up at 5am but I'll tell you again: It doesn't matter what time you get up.

(07:00):
Sharma says to complete three sets of 20 to create Move, Reflect, Grow. That's 20 minutes of intense exercise; 20 minutes of reflecting; and 20 minutes of learning a new skill.

(07:13):
For me, 20 minutes feels like a much more reasonable time frame than the 10 minutes in the Miracle Mornings. This one is much more agreeable with my sensibilities.

(07:20):
This is my current morning routine, and it's going pretty well. Let me show you what this looks like for me.

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Move: I start with 20 minutes of Pilates and stretching. You may go for a walk or a run, or get on the mini trampoline. Anything that's going to get your blood pumping and wake up your body is going to clear your mind, and that's why you're starting with the movement.

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Reflect: For me, the second 20 minutes of reflection means spending time with God, reading my Bible, praying and meditating. Sometimes I'll journal, sometimes I'll listen to worship music. It's a time to reflect on life, my relationships, my health and more.

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Sharma said you could also reflect on your goals, write out affirmations, do visualizations or anything that gives you some insight into who you are and what you're doing in life.

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Grow: The third 20-minute section is grow, and that means learning a new skill. Formats for this range from reading or taking an online course to working on a passion project or listening to a podcast.

(08:27):
In the last episode, I talked about establishing a creativity practice. This Grow section could be the perfect time for you to do that. Maybe you'll spend 20 minutes focusing on your creativity.

(08:53):
So there are three books you can check out at your local library to get ideas of what your want your morning routine to look like. It gets down to personalizing any morning routine for your priorities and your most important tasks.

(09:01):
The key part to your morning routine is preparing the night before. Just like you lay out your clothes for work (when we all used to go into the office), you lay out your workout clothes or your art supplies or whatever it is. Preparing the night before means your morning is going to go much more smoothly.

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So remember: You don't have to get up at four or five o'clock in the morning to be productive and successful. And if something is a priority, you will always find the time to do it, so be crystal clear on your priorities.

(10:30):
I do hope you use some of these tips and strategies to craft the perfect midlife morning routine for yourself. You're going to be amazed at how fulfilling life can be once you conquer those mornings, no matter what time you get up.

(10:47):
So don't forget, go to TheEasyAgingShow.com right now to become an Easy Aging® Insider. I'll see you in the next episode and until then, peace, love and blessings to you and yours. Take care. Bye-bye!