Happiness is a discipline…
I first heard Sara Avant Stover say this during a teleconference interview. I wrote it down and it registered… but I didn’t do a whole lot more with it at the time.
Fast forward a few years and Brendon Burchard is talking about the power of routine to increase happiness, improve health and reach high levels of productivity at his High Performance Academy event that I attended.
Well, I have been disciplined with certain things important to my health and productivity: exercise, eating nutritious foods, taking my vitamins, writing in my journal, and setting my goals for each week.
But I arrived at the High Performance Academy event feeling out of sorts — definitely not on top of my game. I was getting into the pattern of staying up too late responding to emails and catching up on social media forums, and then getting up 15 to 30 minutes past my alarm in the morning and missing my sacred morning time.
I needed to make a change. As I heard Brendon talk about his morning routine, I was inspired to reinvent mine. The first thing I had to do was get in bed by 10:00 pm, or 10:30 pm at the very latest. This was no easy feat, but I did it! Then I set my morning alarm 30 minutes earlier. The first few days were tough, especially since it was so dark in the morning. To get me out of bed, I just repeated over and over again: “Happiness is a Discipline.” It actually worked!
Wow! Having that extra 30 minutes in the morning to breathe, stretch, drink lots of water, and sip my green tea while writing or reading has made such a difference for me.
As I began to enjoy my mornings, I realized I had really let that morning routine slip away and it affected my happiness. I felt rushed and grumpy most mornings, my body felt stiff, and my internal GPS was off. Instead of handling the day gracefully, I felt like I was fighting each day from morning to night!
Do you have a morning routine? I would love to hear what type of routine sets you up for a great day! If you do not have a morning routine, perhaps you have an evening routine that really works for you. Please share in the comments below!
