July 6, 2024

Create Your Best Morning Routine – Prioritize Important Tasks – The How And The Why

Do you have a morning routine? If so, what does it look like? If not, why? There are so many benefits to setting a morning routine – not only does it get your day off to the right start, but it also helps you ensure your priorities are properly set. What better way to ensure the most important tasks are prioritized than by taking time to identify your priorities and plan how your day will unfold?

Your morning routine can be a standard outline – wake up, get ready, have breakfast, meditate, deal with children, etc. You can apply a standard template every morning. The important bit is that you follow it consistently until it becomes second nature.

The other important piece is that you make time for meditation or quiet time, as well as planning. Some people prefer to plan the following day the night before – you can do that if you prefer but do take time to plan regardless. The benefit of doing it in the morning is having a clearer mind after a good night's sleep.

The Why

How do you do this?

The first part is understanding your purpose. Doing so provides focus, guidance, and direction and helps you to properly prioritize. As you prioritize and plan, you have to ask yourself what you'd like to achieve and what outcomes you want to accomplish.

Beyond that, you need to consider how those play into your values and whether they align with your long-term goals. Remember your purpose and make sure to hold it near as you navigate your day.

The next step is going through your to-do list and prioritize it accordingly. A calendar review is a necessary daily task – you should visit it along with your to-do list each morning. In addition to the things you would like to accomplish, you’ll have to balance commitments, meetings, and deadlines.

It's the efficient way to accurately make your list for the day. Once you do that, you can properly prioritize everything else and create a schedule that works for you.

What is urgent? What is necessary? What is important, but can be dealt with later?

Urgent and important should come first. If there are urgent tasks that aren't important, see what you can delegate. Ideally, you can delegate unimportant tasks that aren't urgent too. That will allow you to fully focus on the key items.

The How

How do you put it all together?

Setting timers can help you stay on schedule, especially when you're fully absorbed in a task. If you assign each item on your list a general time, you can set an alarm. But remember to stick to it. This will help you stay focused as you race against the buzzer.

You should also put your phone on airplane or silent mode so you can focus without the constant distraction of your phone lighting up as you try to work.

Intentions are a great way to help you get your priorities straight. It's an effective tool to describe how you would like to act or feel or simply be during the day that's about to unfold.

You can back up your intentions by writing positive affirmations. In so doing, you actively and positively influence your mindset. Write both down and keep them handy so you can read them regularly throughout the day.

Now that you’ve assembled of all the necessary parts, all that's left is to begin your day enthusiastically and with gratitude and confidence. You took time to plan your day, you’ve prioritized your to-do list, you have a purpose, your mindset is right, and you are ready to take on the world. Time to go do it!

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If you like this content check out my Substack Newsletter on the power of using affirmations in the morning at: https://theunreliablemind.substack.com/p/the-power-of-using-positive-affirmations