Mindset in the morning

Fatima by Jordan Casteel

Mindset in the Morning

Nothing will help your business more. Nothing will do more to help you be a better coach. If there is a magic pill, mindset in the morning is it.

Sometimes I cringe at the word mindset because it sounds so coach-y buts it’s a real thing and as coaches, we really must insure that our mindset is oriented toward the things that are going to help us create the right kind of day, the right kind of results for our clients, the right kind of business for ourselves, the right kind of lifestyle, the right kind of financial situation, the right kind of relationships with those we love…all of it.

But for the purposes of our wise woman livelihood (that’s what I call our holistic, coaching, therapy, consultant, and heart centered businesses), getting our mindset right is the first step to a productive and profitable day. And when we are running wise women livelihoods, we need to get it right.

There are a few things I recommend to help you create the right mindset in the morning.

1. Create your morning intention ritual. This can go by a few different names, like daily success ritual, morning intention ritual, morning mindset ritual etc. Use whatever name feels personally meaningful to you.

2. Create the opening of the ritual. This could include spiritual elements like lighting a candle or spritzing yourself with a hydrosol, incorporating aroma therapy, using an opening incantation or benediction, having a moment of reflection and intention-setting with a mudra, stretching through a sun salutation. Use some kind of action to mark the start of your morning intention ritual. Alternate nostril breathing with mrigi mudra perhaps.

3. Set an intention for your mindset for the day. A good way to narrow down a meaningful intention is to think about what barriers creep up on you during the day and ask for the thing that opposes it. So if brain fog prevents me from being productive and getting started on tasks, I would set the intention perhaps of “I approach my day with a clear mind and open heart.” You’ll have to be the author of your own intention. Just speak of what you want to create in your day.

4. Create a grounding practice if you haven’t already done one. A meditation, a kirtan, a sun salutation, tai chi.

5. Now you need a downloading practice. Morning pages is an excellent choice (three pages of long-hand, stream of consciousness writing done in the morning). This helps you download pretty much everything you’ve got going on in your mind. It clears the path for creativity, openness, and clarity. Other practices could be something like putting things aside for the day. What are the 3 or 5 things you are putting aside until the workday is complete? Or putting aside because they are just unhelpful to be thinking about? Mentally and symbolically put these thoughts or ideas aside. You can write them out on an index card and put them in a box for the day. This symbolic gesture is part of downloading and helps to create clarity and focus for the day.

6. A narrowing focus practice. Here is where its helpful to list the 3 things that are non-negotiable in your day that you will start or complete. Not things like paying the bills or doing the dishes. These are three creative or expansive tasks that you intend to start and/or finish. Be reasonable with yourself about what is realistically possible to get done in the time you have. Set a beginning and ending time for your creative/entrepreneurial work. Set the intention to complete these tasks.

7. Close the ritual in a way that feels energizing and powerful. Something that incorporates sound would be ideal. Like ringing a singing bowl or chimes while stating your intention aloud three times. You could also say aloud “Let the day begin.” in a powerful voice while clapping three times on the syllables ‘let’, ‘day’ and ‘gin’. This last one breaks you out of the ritual and puts you back into the world in a powerful way.

And that’s your morning mindset ritual. It doesn’t have to take long. The beauty is in the consistency. As it becomes a daily practice, the results multiply. As coaches, as women, and as business owners, we must have clarity of mind and openness of heart as we navigate each day. And a morning mindset practice can give us that.

Morning by Sara Teasdale

I went out on an April morning

All alone, for my heart was high,

I was a child of the shining meadow,

I was a sister of the sky.