New Year, New Daily Rituals
I thought I’d share a few thoughts on daily rituals, as that is the idea behind my latest app that I (appropriately and just barely) got live just in time for New Years. As I’ve gone down the entrepreneurship rabbit hole, as well as advanced in my career I’ve done more reading and podcast listening to personal development material. I’m convinced that a solid morning routine (or one at some point in the day) is a great way to reach goals and stay in the groove.
My goal was to capture the best of everything I’ve heard or read and put what I could into an app that I could quickly and easily use. I settled on an app that sends prompts and reminders via SMS because it is a very simple interface and can be automated. My primary driver for easy of quick use is that I am a parent of a 4, 2 and 8 month old - a quiet morning with a cup of coffee and a paper journal is nowhere in sight.
The routine I propose is: a review of daily intentions, an expression of gratitude, affirmations and visualization, and journaling.
Daily intentions are the small actions, as opposed to a to do list, that if taken every day, will move you closer to your bigger goals. For example, fast 16 hours per day for health or meditate 15 minutes a day for mental clarity. Daily intentions should be tied to quarterly and annual goals, and there are eight areas for daily intentions: health, career, love, spirituality, family, finances, fun, and friends.
Gratitude is arguably the most important daily practice (besides showering) for your happiness. That’s just science. There can always be grateful for something, especially if you have a phone or computer on which to read this.
Affirmations are generally thought of as positive sayings spoken aloud about who we will be in the future, or how successful we will be. I am unsure of any research on affirmations, and plenty of people, myself included, can’t help but think of Chris Farley when they are mentioned. The primary issue with affirmations seems to be how you draft them. When you repeat sentences you know to be untrue, you experience cognitive dissonance. The trick to making affirmations useful is focusing on what you know to be both true an positive. For example, if you are dedicated to exercise, you can say “everyday I am getting stronger and stronger” as opposed to affirming that you are the strongest person on earth (unless you are). Here is an affirmation that I love, especially as someone trying to build new ideas (don’t thank me, thank Thomas Troward):
“My mind is a center of Divine operation. The Divine operation is always for expansion and fuller expression, and this means the production of something beyond what has gone before, something entirely new, not included in the past experience, though proceeding out of it by an orderly sequence of growth. Therefore, since the Divine cannot change its inherent nature, it must operate in the same manner with me; consequently, in my own special world, of which I am the center, it will move forward to produce new conditions, always in advance of any that have gone before.”
Visualization seems to be the way to achieve what most think they will through affirmations. The difference is when you visual a positive outcome and feel the emotions of it, you aren’t lying to yourself and saying you are already there. You can use those feelings to stay commit to your daily intentions, since those are set to help you reach your goals.
Journaling is a wonderful way to help clarify or calm the thoughts in your head. Even (or especially) the ones you don’t realize are there. If it’s good enough for famed Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, it’s probably good enough for you.
So that’s the general idea, read on for a few more details on what I built, and allow me to give credit where credit is due.
The app.
It’s pretty simple. Register with you email, add and confirm your phone number, and answer a few questions to set your intentions and daily focuses. You decide when you receive the texts. That’s it. You will get a series of SMS messages with the information you entered, as well as prompts to journal, express gratitude and visualize, as appropriate. You get to decide which prompts you receive. Any replies will be saved into a daily journal
The visualization prompt is a coming soon feature
The app has a 30-day, no credit card required trial, and for the near term, a steep (over 50%) discount. Check it out and give me any feedback you feel can improve it.
Credit
The morning routine I propose is based on several ideas/sources. The first is The Wheel of Life, the second is the Freedom Journal by John Lee Dumas, and the last is The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. The Wheel of Life is a concept first introduced by a gentleman named Paul Meyer, but adopted and used by the likes of Zig Ziglar, Tony Robins, and life coaches the world ‘round.
The Wheel of Life is a concept first introduced by a gentleman named Paul Meyer, and it has you rate and review your life along 8 areas, or spokes on a wheel:
health, career, love, spirituality, family, finances, fun, and friends. I first came across the idea either from Tony Robins or Zig Zigler, and it is a well used tool within personal coaching.
The Freedom Journal by John Lee Dumas pushes the idea of daily action. While I prefer taking a longer term view - his journal focuses on 100 day sprints - the idea of a little action everyday is important.
The Miracle Morning is a modern classic that combines many important elements to get your day off on the right path. If I didn’t have young children, this would probably be my go to. The tasks include meditation or prayer, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and writing.
There are plenty of other podcasts and writers that have influenced and help me hone these ideas. At some point I will draft a series of resources, but I wouldn’t feel right without mentioning the names above.
