What’s the deal with morning routines, anyway? Just get up and make some coffee and jot some things down in your “go for your dreams” journal?

A morning routine needs a PURPOSE. Yes, a good morning routine can definitely help give you some clarity for what to focus on for the day, but a GREAT morning routine will help you discover and dissolve those sneaky invisible blocks that keep you in endless procrastination mode and away from making progress toward your goals and dreams. 

Those hidden blocks lurk in your subconscious, where all things unknown lie - and also where our mind takes orders from.

So, your conscious mind might be like, “I’m totally gonna get through that course and create my own program and I’m doing it in SIX WEEKS!” 

And your subconscious is like, “hahahahahahaha! But for real. Doesn’t that sound scary? What happens if you actually do it? Will it be like that time you achieved something in 7th grade? With the bad ending? That was awful. What happens if you don’t?! It’ll be a repeat of when you fell on your face during field day and everyone called you Mud Butt for the next several years.  ALSO? Someone else is probably doing it. Let’s skip it.”

And the part of your brain that tells you to actually take effective action or not - THAT part, you guys, is the subconscious.

And if we’re not working to make big strides there, we’re just perpetually stuck.

But this is where a kick-ass morning routine comes in. Sounds weird? Well, being consistent with one changed my life - and the way I show up in my business. And I KNOW it can change yours as well.

When it comes to a morning routine, you need to have THREE KEY PARTS in order to get to that hidden voice and start to shift it. 

The bonus about using a morning routine to shift your blocks is that isn’t not scary! You’re not doing it in public, you’re not even in a group. You can’t fail in front of others, you can’t get judged by others - it’s just you. It’s an amazing place to start healing and taking your own risks - it’s like a baby-proofed healing playground. 

Ok, let’s get to it.

THE THREE MUST-HAVE PHASES OF A BLOCKS-BUSTING MORNING ROUTINE

1. BODY

   1. It’s just movement. That’s it! Just waking your body up! You can even start before you get out of bed, gently moving each part of your body and saying good morning to it. For my body work, I do simple stretches. Whatever is tight that morning, I take a couple of minutes to stretch it out. Neck rolls, bends, rolling down always feels good on my back. 

   2. Body work serves to help keep you from going straight to your head for all the answers, all the to-do lists, all the things. When you start the day by listening to your body and giving it some stretches where it needs it, you start to train yourself to listen to your body throughout the day, which is key for a lot of things.

   3. You can absolutely get more involved in this - going for a walk, yoga, full-on workout, a run, dancing - anything that moves your body is FANTASTIC. The only way to fail here is to not do anything more than walking around your house like usual. 

1. BREATH

   1. It’s just breathing. That’s it!  But the trick is that it’s intentional breathing where, instead of being completely unaware that you’re breathing, you’re actually focused on it. I only do focused breathing for about 90 seconds, so you don’t have to get too intense here!

   2. If you have a yoga practice, you might already know things like Lion’s Breath, Bee Breath or Breath of Fire. But if those sound like nicknames for your partner in the morning, all you really have to do is set a time for 60-90 seconds, put your hand on your tummy, and feel your breath moving your hand.

   3. Tip: if you’re working through some strong emotions like anger, you can also punch the air and breathe out with a loud “ha!” every time you punch!

1. DEPTH

   1. Alright, you guys, this is where the MAGIC happens. You’ve moved your body and done your breathing, which encourages more blood flow and movement of energy, and primes your body for your depth work. This is where we’re gonna hit up that subconscious bullshit that’s set up shop in there. 

   2. Depth work is designed to access the deeper levels of your subconscious and begin to shift your current autopilot patterns to things that are way more exciting, fulfilling and beneficial to you and everyone around you.

   3. Meditation is great for this. I know it’s hard to sit there and “think of nothing” which is why visualization is a brilliant alternative. It gives you mind something to do. Here are some ideas for visualizing:

      1. Create a “safe space” in nature where you can “spend time” just being safe and being you.

      2. Visualize yourself going through an ideal day - what does each part look like.

      3. From Tony Robbins Priming: visualize a light coming from the sky/the Heavens, having it shoot down through you deep into the earth and then shooting back up through you into the sky again. Each time it passes through imaging it strengthening the best parts of you.

   4. There are lots of other depth work options as well, such as journaling, mirror work, Vipassana meditation, and more!

If you’re thinking, “Wow, I’d love a GUIDE to help me create my own personalized morning routine to help me bust through my own blocks,” then guess what?! I’ve got just the guide for you!

Download The Brave Business Gal’s Guide to a Badass Morning Routine for FREE right now!

When you get the guide, you’ll also be given a few little treats in some subsequent emails!

Mary is a writer, she’s had two books published to date and she teaches others to go from idea to book in no time! What I loved about her right away is that her focus was to help people discover their creativity by loosening the constraints of the “rules.”

We had a lot of fun figuring out her brand photography session! We only used her home for the shoot (no other locations, but look at all the variety!) and it was perfect. It’s common to use someone’s home as part of their shoot, especially if they also work from home. People love to see your workspace!

This was the FIRST photoshoot I’d done since COVID-19 quarantine, so I wore a mask the whole time, which was INTERESTING for sure! It kept causing my eyepiece on my camera to fog up, and I didn’t have much peripheral vision below me, so I ran into some things a few times! But we still had a really amazing brand session!

Since she does work from home and is also a mom, we brought her son in at the end of the shoot. She is often teaching other work-from-home moms so it’s important to show that she GETS IT!

One of the things I always make sure of is that wardrobe choices & elements in each photo point to each other. So, she’s got the yellow striped shirt, which also goes with the lemons, and the vase from the lemonade matches the pillows that are outdoors when she’s journaling! These are the kinds of things that will keep her brand photos looking consistent no matter where she uses them!

SHE HAS USED HER PHOTOS BRILLIANTLY ON HER WEBSITE! Check it out to see what’s possible with the RIGHT brand photography!

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