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Differently: Stop living by default. Start living by design.
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Created and hosted by Carla Reeves, creator of The Differently Journal and The Conversation Club, her work is built on over 20 years of helping people use writing to navigate real life. Not as a habit to keep up with, but as a way to calm your mind, get clear, and move forward.
You are always writing your life, whether it’s in your mind or on paper.
It's time to take the pen back.
Turn overthinking and self doubt into clarity, confidence, creativity and momentum.
Stop surviving your life. Start creating it.
Differently: Stop living by default. Start living by design.
Morning Routine: Make the First Minutes of Your Day Count
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What would your life look like if you started every day in the lead instead of at the mercy of notifications, demands, and distractions? The way we begin our day sets the pace for everything that follows.
Ready to shift the way you start your day? This could be the one simple habit that helps you shift everything else.
Listen now, then share with someone who might need this message too.
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Thank you for listening!
The Gift of Creating Your Day
Speaker 1I'm Carla Reeves , and this is Differently . Whether you feel stuck in survival , navigating a change , or seeking more for your life , may this podcast be your weekly nudge to take a risk to build a life that is uniquely bold , authentic and in alignment with your deepest values . What if you worried less about the bumps in the road and instead got equipped for the journey ? Get ready to rethink what's possible . If I could gift you one simple habit that you could incorporate into your life that had the potential to change the course of your day and , ultimately , your life , this one habit would be the way you start your day , also known as morning routine , or I like to call it creating your day . We all have one . We just might not realize it or have stopped to actually look at it . Your morning routine may have just happened by default . Maybe it came from watching or seeing someone model it for you . It may just be there as a way of surviving and getting up every day and getting started , and there's not a lot of intentionality around it . But we all have a morning routine . I want to invite you during this episode to take an honest look at what it is today and what would be possible if you made some simple shifts to your morning routine , the way you start your every day . If you currently haven't ever had a morning routine or created one intentionally , it might feel or look like this Imagine getting in the car to take a trip and you've just thrown everything in the car .
Speaker 1You have a vague idea about where you're headed , but haven't mapped out the best way to get there . You've just had your first sip of coffee . The kids are in the back seat and throwing their stuff in , and they're already needing things from you and have questions , and you aren't even sure which direction to head first . On the contrast , imagine you wake up early , you've charted your path , you've had a cup of coffee already
From Reactive to Intentional Living
Speaker 1, you've thought about the trip ahead of you and the time you want to create for your family . You've moved your body and woken it up . The car is pretty much loaded and you get the kids up and you're now available for them . You're present and you get the kids up and you're now available for them . You're present . You're available because you've already prepared yourself and you're ready for this adventure . You know where you're going .
Speaker 1This , my friends , is the power of a morning routine . Serenivus Rao said the greatest work of your life is inside you . Give it the fertile soil it needs to see the light of day . Plant the seeds today for who you eventually want to become and you'll open yourself up to an infinite set of possibilities . I love to think about a morning routine as the fertile soil that you cultivate every single day to start your day on . Starting your day by paying attention to the inside , to cultivate a space where you feel centered and grounded , is a game changer . Understanding how to lead your day is inside of you . Knowing which thing to focus on first is inside of you . Recognizing the one thing that you could get done today that would have the greatest impact on your day and week and life is inside of you .
Speaker 1So often we look to the outer world for direction or we just start our day sort of at the mercy of the alarm clock and the dings on our phone , of notifications of new email and the phone calls of people needing things , and we start our day off track . We don't start in the lead . What would happen if you started in the lead each and every day ? It's easy to feel frustrated and feel at the mercy of your time or your job or your manager , your to-do list or your demands of your kids and using these things as an excuse . It's really easy , I get it . It can be convincing and it's what most people do , but not making what is important to you a priority is not their job , it's your job . It's up to you to guard your precious time . I love this idea of creating your day , I think because for so many years I felt powerless and at the mercy of my circumstances and what others needed . The pop-up notifications on my computer and it all sort of thwarted my plan for the day . I learned as a young mom how important my sanity was , after feeling like it was slipping away , and how important it would be to carve out space to take care of myself , for my children , for
My Personal Journey to Morning Routine
Speaker 1my marriage , for my home , for my life . That habit stuck and it's one of those little structures that has rippled to every part of my life .
Speaker 1It started with putting my alarm clock outside of the room so that I had to get out of bed to turn it off . This was a trick I had read to actually get yourself out of bed so you don't keep hitting snooze . I began with 15 minutes or 30 minutes waking up before anybody else in the house was awake . I started really small , but it was a few minutes to find my own center , to journal and write , to clear my head , to pray , to plan my day , before anyone else needed me . And that simple chunk of space and time allowed me to show up more fully as a mom . And when the boys did wake up with their sleepy little faces , I was present and eager . When their faces appeared around the corner , I used to let the outer world dictate my inner world and felt completely powerless and I'd start my day off with hope hope it was going to be a good day , but not recognizing or owning the power I have to influence the quality or shape of it . Beginning a morning routine was a step of tuning in and taking care of my inner world , learning to cultivate a place inside where I felt centered and grounded and focused on what matters most . And over time I discovered that this helped me to show up , regardless of what was happening in my day , with a lot greater ease .
Speaker 1I think I know you and I know that you have things on your heart that you're not making traction or time for , and I know that that gnaws at you . What if I told you that a morning routine could be the thing that actually has you start to make progress , put attention on the things that matter the very most . And let me say a couple things . Our minds , they want us to believe that we need big chunks of time . We put things off because our mind gives us the illusion that it's going to be a better time later or our life will be in a different chapter and we'll have more time and space . And this just isn't the time and we have other priorities . And it can be so convincing . The truth is , there won't be time unless you intentionally make time Even later , when you have more space . There won't be time unless you build the muscle to create that time . And it requires you to challenge your thinking and what is possible . And it can happen with micro movements , a ton of commitment and some consistency . Most people are operating by their feelings , what they feel like doing , and a morning routine will be very hard to be consistent if you're allowing your feelings to run the show . So it's really important that you set up a commitment and you just show up for that commitment . No need to overthink it , no need to check in and see if you feel like it . It's really just a matter of showing up more and more consistently to what you're committed to and , if you want to dive a little bit deeper in feelings versus commitments , I did an episode in May a few episodes ago that goes a little deeper into that topic .
Speaker 1A morning routine is essential to starting your day centered , positive , inspired , grateful and ready to lead an amazing day . And it doesn't have to take a lot of time . You can begin anywhere from six minutes to 30 minutes to two hours , starting your day with a priority to center yourself and get focused , set yourself up for the entire day . Choose elements to create your own amazing blend for a morning routine , a way to create your day . Here are some ideas , elements of a morning routine . You can start small and build as you go . You want to create an experiment , so you might start with doing it for three days , or doing it for one week , or doing it for two weeks , or committing
Commitment Over Feelings
Speaker 1to 30 days . Trust yourself to know the right length of time , and then you can revisit and adjust and commit again .
Speaker 1My morning routine is a combination of coffee , reading , prayer , writing , moving my body , music , sometimes being creative . I adjust it as I need to . I don't believe there's a perfect formula . Look to your heart to guide your own morning routine . Ask yourself what blend of activities would help to center and guide and set up your day . Is there one thing , maybe , from the answer to the question in the beginning that you could check off first thing that would set you up for the entire rest of the day ? And that question , in case I forgot to state it in the beginning was if you were gifted one more hour of time to your day , what would you fill it with ? What would you ? How would you spend it ? The answer to that question might be components that you put into your morning routine . Some other ideas or elements of a morning routine can be to drink water . It can be to breathing just intentional breathing or meditation , writing or journaling , drawing or doodling , body movement , exercise , goal setting , healthy eating . You get to create it . It's your blend .
Speaker 1And you might just start with Hal Elrod's idea of a six minute morning routine . He gives a really great example of this . Hal Elrod wrote a book called the Miracle Morning . It's an amazing book . His story is really , really inspiring . But he came up with this six minute morning miracle and I'm going to share it with you , just as an idea of what , if you just started with six minutes and he gives this blend
Elements of an Effective Morning Routine
Speaker 1of minute one is silence , just waking up and just allowing yourself to sit , calm , peaceful , breathe , maybe a prayer of gratitude . Minute two is affirmations , just daily reminders of your most important priorities , who you really are and what you're up to in your life priorities who you really are and what you're up to in your life . Minute three would be a short visualization . Visualization can include your goals and what it's going to look like when you and feel like when you reach them . You might visualize your day going really smooth or exactly how you want it to go .
Speaker 1Minute four is writing , pulling out a journal and taking a few minutes to write down what you're grateful for , what you're proud of and the results you're committed to creating for this day . Minute five spend a minute reading . Grab a book that you've been reading and spend one minute . If you did that every day , you'd move along in that book and you might learn a new idea or something that you pull into your day . And minute six exercise Stand up . Spend the last minute doing 60 minutes of jumping jacks . Get your heart rate up , get energized , wake yourself up so you can have an amazing day . That's six minutes . We all can carve out six minutes .
Speaker 1What would life look like if you just did a six minute intentional morning routine every day ? You guys , some of the benefits of this . We could go on and on and on , but I think you can begin to see perhaps a calmer mind , a clearer perspective , a lot more gratitude , an increased focus for your day , crossing off of a checkbox of something that really matters to you , and doing that every day before you even start the rest of your day , like starting with that win , bringing more awareness and intention . That every day before you even start the rest of your day , like starting with that win , bringing more awareness and intention to your day , an increased focus on your goals . And how would that likely ripple to your day ? And on and on and on . The key is to begin . I invite you to start . What's it going to look like for you ? Remember
The Six-Minute Morning Miracle
Speaker 1to start small experiment , grow it into something bigger that literally fuels every facet of your life .
Speaker 1Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Differently . It's been an honor to share this conversation with you . You know , one of the keys to living fully is to take action when you're inspired to do so . I hope you found that spark of inspiration today and would you help us spread the word . Did someone you know come to mind while you were listening ? If this episode could impact someone you know , please share it and pass it along . New episodes drop weekly , so tap that subscribe button and join us next time as we continue to challenge the status quo and get equipped to live life differently .