Morning routines, daily schedules, daily habits…you name it and we all have the knack for wanting to know what everyone does. For some reason, we love to know how successful people go throughout their day juggling all of their personal lives with their business lives. Routines are imperative if you want success, but the beauty about developing a routine for you is that it can be anything that you want. There are no right or wrong ways to build your perfect morning, daily, or evening routine. You just have to find out what works for you and then expand on it.

For me, I developed what I call the MAMMOTH morning. What I love about my morning routine is that there are no time limits to get it done, I don’t have to be doing something by a specific time, nor do I have to hit it all in a specific order. The goal of my morning routine is to just check each section off the list each day. Let’s dive in to how my mornings go…

M & A – For the first two letters of MAMMOTH, we will be focusing on the M and the A. The M stands for Mediation. I got back into mediation in 2015 as a way to help combat stress, pain, and anxiety. This was early on in my chronic illness days and I was struggling to learn how to deal with everything on top of running multiple businesses. Meditation helped me relax, and get to the point where I can start listening to what my mind and body were telling me. For my morning routine, I like to start with a quick meditation and depending on how I feel that day, extend it out. Even a one minute mediation is enough to calm down your central nervous system, clear the mind, and relax the muscles. If you are new to mediation, try an app like Calm or my favorite one Insight Timer. Once I am done with my meditation, I move to the A in MAMMOTH, affirmations. Now I do not sit here and talk to myself for a long time, but I do repeat a few phrases for the day and then focus on gratitude. Doing both of these together helps set the tone for the day.

M & M – Unfortunately, I’m not talking about starting the morning with candy M&M’s. No, I am talking about Mobility and Movement. For me, I need to be stretching my body out daily, if not multiple times per day. I also need to get some sort of movement in whether that be a quick run or walk, working out with TRX straps, or even a bike ride. Its important to get that blood flowing right away in the morning and to take care of yourself first before diving into the fires of running a business.

0 & T – The next two letters in MAMMOTH are O & T. O stands for Observation and that does not mean observing what is around you. Observation here is observing what is on your mind and in your heart for the day. The best way to do this is to journal it out. I like to do this when I am in my sauna and there are no distractions around. It is just me and my thoughts inside of 150 degree Infrared sauna. Once I get done putting all my thoughts out on paper, I go into the T for Thought. Thought here stands for more learning than thinking. While I am in the sauna, or before I start my day, I like to do a little bit of reading. It is way better to broaden your mental capacity than it is to grab your phone and start aimlessly scrolling social media. If you don’t have time to read, consider listening to an audiobook or even an educational type podcast.

H – Last but not least is H. H stands for hydrate or in simple terms, chugging a big glass of water. When you wake up in the morning your body is in “sleep” mode, just like your computer does. And just like your computer, it takes a minute to wake up and get going after being inactive for so long. I like to chug a glass of water as soon as I wake up to get that body going right away. Plus, I know that I am getting a huge chunk of my daily water intake out of the way first thing.

That is my morning routine…nothing special and nothing too crazy. That allows me to start the day off in the right frame of mind while putting my mental and physical health first.