No matter the mood you wake up in you have the choice and power to change the frequency of your day. Which will eventually change the frequency of your life. You have to practice who you’re trying to become, it’s a daily walk.

Gaining control of my morning is by far my favorite and most impactful life hack. Three years ago, I decided to change my life and implement a morning routine and over the years, I have been refining and restructuring that routine based on the season that I’m experiencing.

I first did some research on youtube about morning routines and put mine together based on the routines of successful people I admired. I simply took the steps that resonated with me and could fit my lifestyle.

My morning routine really starts the night before. So to give you a full picture — I set my phone to Do No Disturb from 9 pm - 9 am. My goal was to be in bed by 10:30 so 9 was a good time to disconnect so I could wind down and put my night routine into effect. Before bed, I would put my phone in my purse that way I wouldn’t touch it until I got in the car. The major key to my routine was my iPad I used this as my alarm clock + morning inspiration guide. I removed texts, emails, social apps, and any notifications that would distract me.

My alarm would go off at 6:15 am and I would perform the following steps just about every day.

1. Pray: This was a short prayer -“ thank you God for waking me up and giving me the activity of my limbs”. *if I received any divine downloads or had a crazy dream make sure to jot that down.

2. Drink Water + Stretch: Keep a glass of water by your bed. I would simply touch my toes and shake out all the kinks and relieve any pressure in my body.

3. Make My Bed: This is so important, the very first action step of the day.

4. Put on a Motivational Speech: Go on youtube and type in “motivational speech” in the beginning I just clicked on the first ones I saw until I found speakers who I really enjoyed. My faves are Steve Harvey, TD Jakes, and Les Brown to name a few. The key to this step is to find a speech that you enjoy so much you want to hear daily. Repetition breeds revelation so the more you listen the more the video will resonate and speak to you. This speech is one of my favorites and gave me the courage to leave my 9-5.

5. Visualization: as my speech played I would go on Pinterest to look for outfit Inspo + visualize the life I wanted. This step is another major key! A lot of that visualization manifested into my current reality.

6. Get Ready for the Day: I made the decision to start dressing for the life that I wanted and became super intentional about my outfits. Pinterest really inspired me to boss up my outfits and in turn, it translated into how I operated at work.

7. Journal: Start off with gratitude, being grateful for the little things is so important. Then create a set of affirmations that combat any limiting beliefs or things you want to reinforce. Then write your intentions for the day, ideas you’d like to execute, and or anything you want to ask God for.

8. Pray + Worship: I would do this in the car on the way to work. I’d start with prayer and express my gratitude verbally, unload any thoughts, desires, or ideas and ask God for guidance for the day. I would follow up that prayer with worship music and just get excited about the day ahead.

The intention behind the structure of this routine was to pour into my mind, body, and spirit. It’s so important to check in with yourself before you check into the world. I used to be one of those people who would grab my phone and check Instagram (aka check on other people) before I checked on myself.

Doing this drastically changed my mind and energy daily. I started having way more good days than bad days. It’s nearly impossible to have a bad day after doing all these steps. This routine was my saving grace as I was going through the transition phase of leaving my job. Doing all those steps helped me equip my mind, build my confidence and have the courage to make the leap into the unknown.

Fast forward to the present, I am living the life I was dreaming and visualizing. It’s not exactly what I imagined but I’m on a whole new journey of self-exploration and in this season of uncertainty, I am constantly referencing the time when I desperately needed this routine. I am living proof that what you do daily is a direct reflection of who you will become.

All in all, the real tea is that you are the secret. Only you can change your situation. It’s tough in the beginning but so is settling for less than you know you want. Making the necessary changes to up-level your life will bring you so much happiness and clarity. Below you can download a FREE printable planner that I created to help me on my daily pursuit of excellence. Let me know in the comments if you try it out!

xx, SIx