Welcome to The Spark Show! In this episode, I’ll be covering:

• How to structure and personalize your morning routine to start the day off right
• The 2 things you should absolutely NOT be doing in the morning 
• The 3 non-negotiables for a successful morning routine 

Why a Morning Routine is Important

How you start your day is important and sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you start with negativity, chances are, you won’t feel too good throughout the day. If you start with positivity, then you can expect to have a good day. 

I’ve noticed that ever since I started practicing a morning routine consistently, I was more productive and focused. I felt ready to take on the day and I felt really good! 

I do believe that my morning routine helped me when I first started building my business when I had my full-time job. I would wake up at 5:00am so I could work on my business before going to my 9-5 job. It helped me build my influencer business to $10,000 per month in revenue just through brand sponsorships. 

Once I launched my online business and my membership, I was able to get to $50,000 per month in revenue this year after just 2.5 years, so I definitely think it’s working. 

Emotions play a huge part in our lives. When we don’t feel good, we’re generally not going to get a lot done. So, a lot of it has to do with making sure we feel the way we wanna feel in a proactive way and not just reacting to things. 

How to Structure and Personalize Your Morning Routine

Here are some of the things you can include in your morning routine:

1. Meditation

There are so many studies out there that tell you why meditation is good for you, but, I’m just gonna share my own experience. 

I meditate every day (as much as possible, I’m only human) and that’s because it really helps me get centered and eliminates that negative self-talk and it just gives me peace of mind, literally. 

It doesn’t have to be an hour long meditation. I do about 10 minutes a day and use the Calm app or you can go to YouTube and listen to some free ones. If you’ve never meditated before, I would start slowly and do 2-3 minutes to start and work up to 5-10 minutes and so forth. 

You can sit in silence if you want or do a guided meditation like I do. 

2. Visualization

This has been super helpful to me in reaching my goals. They say that you can’t achieve a goal until you can see it in your mind (seeing is believing) or if you don’t believe that you can do it. 

Sometimes we’re in our own heads with thoughts of - can I really do this? Is it possible for me? So, visualization is a tool to help our mind see the outcome and get into the emotions of how would it feel if it already happened, if we already reached our goals. 

Most athletes visualize themselves crossing the finish line or standing at the podium getting that Olympic gold medal. Some people visualize the money in their bank account. 

It doesn’t have to be long - I usually do 2-3 minutes of visualization and some people like to go even further and either do a journal entry or a vision board so you can actually see everything in the physical reality. 

3. Gratitude

The energy of gratitude is so powerful and counters the energy of lack. Sometimes when we want something, it’s easy to focus on what we don’t have. Stepping into the energy of gratitude does the opposite - it helps us focus on what we already do have. 

It creates an energy of abundance. Every day, I write down 3 things that I’m grateful for. Usually it’s something that just recently happened yesterday or today, it could be something that I can see - every day is different. 

I found that ever since I practiced daily gratitude, I have been flooded with an abundance of opportunities, wealth, and connections, so for me, it’s definitely working. 

4. Journaling 

If you’re like me and you always have a bunch of thoughts in your head, then journaling is really gonna help you. 

It helps me when I put my thoughts down on paper so I can see things right in front of me and they’re not just swirling in my head. I do a daily journal entry and I start off with my intention. 

For example, today I wrote, “I choose to listen to my intuition…” because I was having a hard time making a decision, but once I did this, it was actually easy. I write down my intentions for the day, the 3 things I’m grateful for, what I’m excited about and then I write down some affirmations. 

5. Affirmations

This is the last thing I’m going to talk about including in your morning routine (some people also like to include exercise/stretching, reading, etc - you have to find out what works for you and what fits in the time you have). 

Affirmations are a great tool to start rewiring your brain and removing all the old programming that’s been in there for years or decades, things like: I’m not good enough, who am I to be doing this?

If you find yourself constantly thinking negatively about yourself, it’s because you’ve been telling yourself those stories for many, many years. So, you have to rewrite those stories and affirmations can help you do that. 

Affirmations are statements that help reinforce your new reality. They can be “I am” statements like "I am beautiful," "I am worthy," "I am enough." It can be weird in the beginning, but that’s how you can start cultivating new beliefs. 

There are many different ways to do it. I like to write them out during my journaling. Some people say it in the mirror. Some like to write it down and post them up on their walls, because it takes time to write new stories about yourself that you’ll actually believe. You can also listen to affirmation audios on YouTube. 

How Much Time Should You Set Aside for Your Morning Routine

There are a couple ways to do this. First of all, how much time do you have? If you have 30 minutes, then choose 3 things and do it for 10 minutes each. If you have more time, you can do more. You can add and remove whatever you like - that’s the fun part! 

If you say you don’t have time, you have to ask yourself - is what you’re doing now working? Are you feeling stuck and like you need to change how you feel about your day and your life? If so, it means you need to do something different. 

So, I invite you to try a morning routine for the next 7 days, starting tomorrow morning. Stick to one routine and then only change it every 7 days. I find that I’m more consistent when I do the same thing every morning. 

If you are looking at your schedule and find that you usually only have time to get ready and go, then it’s time to set your alarm clock 30-60 minutes earlier (or however much time you need). 

If you find yourself saying you don’t have time, it’s not that you don’t have time - it’s that you’re not making it a priority. 

Let’s go back to the WHY. If you wanna be more productive and more successful and you found out about this thing that productive and successful people do, would you do it? Or would you at least try it? If it made your day at least 30-40% better, would it be important to you? If you felt more confident, more relaxed and happy, would you do it? 

The 2 Things You Should Absolutely NOT Be Doing in the Morning 

1. Check your phone

You shouldn’t check your phone first thing in the morning because it can negatively affect your entire day. Our brains are scientifically more malleable in the morning, so if you see something that annoys and irritates you, it can stay with you longer and affect you more.

It’s also a giant time suck! If you’re scrolling on social media, you could be using that time to devote to your morning routine instead. 

2. Jump into work

If you’re like me and work from home, sometimes I go straight to my computer, and this sends a signal that I’m prioritizing other things first and not myself. 

I like to think of my morning routine as priming my mind for my day and my life and anything I interact with. I’m usually so much more calm and creative when I do my morning routine, so I try my best not to jump into work right away. 

I shared with you my morning routine for success, why I practice one and most successful people do, and what you shouldn’t be doing in the morning. 

Mindset is super important especially for influencers who are putting themselves out there and have fears of being judged, rejected or not being good enough. That’s why I make sure we have weekly mindset coaching calls now in my membership, The Spark Society, as well as trainings to help you rewrite those stories that have been keeping you small and stuck for so long. 

Listen to the full episode here: 

Watch the Masterclass

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Listen to Previous Episodes: 

How to Balance Life as a Momtrepreneur featuring Suzy Ashworth

Brand Deals 101: From Collabs to Sponsorships

How to Start Your Influencer Business from Scratch

The Dos and Don'ts of Working for Free

Let Your Menstrual Cycle Guide You featuring Cassandra Wilder

                     Connect with Gwen Lane

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