3 Ways to Wake Up With Purpose

As a businesswoman, it’s easy to realize that you are conveniently connected to your business and clients in unique ways. Whether it’s being connected through social media or email, today’s technology has made it pretty effortless to contact and respond with just a click or touch of a button. However, due to this instant way of communicating with the outside world, it has become difficult to resist all those beeps, dings and whistles.

While you’re on this entrepreneurial grind, you have probably had many mornings where you wake up raring to go. There are emails that need answering, clients that need assistance, products that need to be created and websites that need to be updated. In many cases, all these things may have ran through your mind before you’ve even taken a sip of your freshly brewed coffee! In your world, there’s no time to waste.

It’s true that the early bird catches the worm, but there will always be plenty of worms to catch once the bird gets her mind right. The truth of the matter is that you can improve the quality of your day and the success of your business simply by taking the time to wake up in a manner that serves your mind, body, spirit AND purpose.

If you are waking up with all of these things on your mind before even getting out of the bed, chances are you may be a little more clouded in judgment and easily frustrated by the time you hit the midday rush. Giving yourself a chance to breathe, enjoy the sunrise and reflect on all the things you’ve accomplished thus far will help drastically change the pace of how the rest of your day (and week) goes. Fortunately for all of us, there are some surprisingly simple ways to do this.

1. Leave Your Phone Alone

Yes. It sounds completely backwards, but there’s a method to the madness. More than likely, your phone also functions as your alarm clock. Since you have to turn it off (or press snooze, let’s be real) anyway, the temptation to find out the latest tea on Facebook in between checking texts and emails is oh so real. Don’t feel bad, we have all indulged in this temptation many times over.

The Solution – After turning your alarm off, put your phone on silent, turn it face down and take a few deep, slow breaths. Become more present in that moment with your body and your thoughts. What are you feeling? What is coming up for you?

When you’ve taken a minute to do this, you will naturally feel your body adjusting to this small change.

2. Stretch For Success

There is no coincidence that one of the first things we naturally want to do upon waking up is to stretch our limbs. Think about it. For about 5-8 hours, we are limited in movement. Because our bodies are just as intelligent as we are, it knows that stretching will help wake up all of our joints and muscles so that getting out of the bed is just as pleasurable as getting in it was the night before.

The Solution – Take your stretching a bit further by turning it into a daily yoga practice. You don’t have to get really intense with it; just a 5-10 minute morning yoga routine like this one will give you the jumpstart that you need. After all, you need your body to help accomplish everything you have to do for the day!

3. Put It On Paper

Remember those thoughts you allowed yourself to be more present with right after you turned your alarm clock off? Revisit them by grabbing a journal and a pen so that you can let it all flow out. For best results, it’s a good idea to always keep a journal and pen right beside you for easy access.

Sometimes you will wake up with a lot on the brain and it’s a good practice to check in with yourself emotionally so that those things don’t bleed into the rest of your day. Writing out your thoughts and feelings is also a good way to set the tone for your day. Feel free to be as authentic and raw as possible; the only witness to your innermost thoughts is always there to be an open book for you.

By putting these daily morning practices into use on a regular basis, I can guarantee you that you will see a difference in your peace of mind, business and beyond!

What are some other ways you like to start your day?