As you all probably know, I’m SUCH an advocate of a powerful, consistent morning routine – and I’ve experimented a lot with different inclusions! But throughout all that experimentation, here’s what I’ve found.

The formula for a good morning routine is this:

1. Short
2. Repeatable
3. Meaningful

Your morning routine should prime you to have your best day ever – EVERY day. There’s a saying I love that goes something like, “Every day I wake up and think there’s no reason today can’t be the BEST day of my life.” A good morning routine should set you up EVERY day for this opportunity.

The 5 minute routine I’m sharing with you today – I like to call it my 5 Minute Morning Mindset Mastery Routine, because it’s brief (no more than 5 minutes), easily repeatable, and gets me in a great head-space EVERY morning. I’ve actually gotten to the point where if for some reason I don’t do this 5 minute morning mindset mastery routine… my whole day feels off!

So enough chatting about it – I’m going to share this 5 minute routine with you now. There are 5 elements to this Morning Mindset Mastery Routine, so if it helps you to think of one minute per element – great! Let’s start now.

Minute 1: Make your daily gratitude list

Take about a minute to write down a list of everything that you are grateful for RIGHT now – in this moment. I call this making your Daily Gratitude List.

Making a quick Gratitude List is the perfect way to start your day since it primes you to see the GOOD in the day ahead. When you do self-reflection on the things that you are grateful for, you realize that – “Hey, I actually have a lot to be grateful for in my life!” You are counting your blessings.

And the more grateful you are for all that you have, the more you realize ALL that you have to be grateful for… and more and more awesome things begin to become apparent in your life. It’s a self-perpetuating relationship. And once you begin to reframe your mindset for constant gratitude, you will continually gain MORE things to be grateful for.

In addition, practicing gratitude has a number of benefits for the mind and body, including lessening feelings of stress and anxiety, and helping train your brain to become more optimistic.

Your Gratitude List can be 5 things or 15 things (I normally shoot for at least 5, but some days your blessings will seem more abundant than others)

So when it comes to starting your day on the right foot – the best way to do that is with gratitude!

Minute 2: Write down your yearly and monthly goals

Another habit I’ve developed that’s become a crucial part of my morning routine is writing down my goals daily. I started doing this in January of 2019 – I had just set my yearly goals, and I thought to myself, “What if I just wrote these down every day in the month of January? What would happen?” (You can read all about that experiment here).

Now, this has become an essential part of my 5 Minute Morning Mindset Mastery Routine. I write down my big goals for the year EVERY morning (I have 3 primary goals, and 2 secondary goals. If you need help setting goals, I have a free worksheet that can help you do that right here.)

Why write down your goals every day? Simple. Writing down your goals every day (specifically every morning) reminds you of your biggest goals in life and what you are actively working towards. Writing down your goals energizes you and gets your fired up to dive into work and action that will advance you down the path of achieving your goals.

And the effects are tangible: according to a study cited in the Huffington Post, “…you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing them down on a regular basis.”

Plus, there’s a mental benefit as well: the more you think about your goals (and talk about your goals), the more likely they are to happen. This is for active reasons (by reminding yourself of your goals daily, you are more likely to take daily action ON those goals), as well as passive reasons. Writing down your goals carries the benefit of settling those goals into your subconscious mind – to the point that you may find yourself making decisions without consciously realizing that you are doing it for a reason: to achieve your goals!

The previously mentioned Huffington Post article does a great job of explaining this concept as well:

When you write down your goals, “you send your consciousness and every cell of your body a signal that says, ‘I want this, and I mean it!’

Just the act of writing down your dreams and goals ignites an entirely new dimension of consciousness, ideas and productivity to the powerhouse that is your subconscious mind.

This simple act also opens your subconscious to “seeing” opportunities that simply can’t be observed if you’re tied up with THINKING about your goals.”

…How’s that for dreaming your goals into existence?!

Why Monthly Goals?

In addition to writing down your yearly goals, I also recommend writing down monthly goals for yourself. If you haven’t gotten in the practice of creating monthly goals, now is a great time to get started!

Monthly goals are a great way to break your BIG yearly goals into more digestible, achievable stepping stones, and to give yourself wins that you can celebrate on a more regular basis.

Minute 3: Write down your top 3 priorities for the day

I recently wrote a full blog post about this new prioritization and daily output technique I learned from watching a video by brain performance expert, Jim Kwik. This technique has become an integral part of my Morning Mindset Mastery Routine, and helps me gain clarity going into each day on exactly what I need to complete that day to feel like the best, most accomplished version of myself.

Here’s how it works: In minute 3 of this morning mindset routing, write down three things that you want to accomplish today in your professional life (work), and three things that you want to get done in your personal life. These should be your three biggest priorities in each area of your life going into the day ahead.

Why does this matter? First of all, it creates focus. When you have clarity on exactly what you want and need to get accomplished and clarity on your TOP priority items going into the day ahead, it primes you to stay focused on those tasks, and not get distracted by other less important, time-consuming tasks that may come across your plate.

Second of all, it energizes you. When you gain that clarity on your most important tasks, the path to daily success for you is clear! You know what you must accomplish (and it’s not overwhelming – its just a total of 6 tasks, right?) to be successful. This energizes you for the day ahead.

Once you get clear on your top priority action items for the day, move on to Minute 4.

Minute 4: Come up with an intention for the day

The second-to-last thing I like to do as part of my Morning Mindset Mastery Routine is come up with an intention (or a mantra) for the day ahead. And this varies from day to day, depending on what’s going on in my life, what I’m currently reading, and what my priorities are for the day.

It can be a simple mantra, such as, “Today is a great day.”

It can be one of your signature power phrases, such as “Beautiful, powerful, capable.”

It can be a quote or an excerpt from a book you’re currently reading, or a podcast you’re listening to – something that inspires you and speaks to you today.

It can really be ANYTHING. The only thing that matters is that this daily intention means something to YOU and your mindset going into the day ahead.

Once you come up with your intention for the day, repeat it out loud to yourself a few times. Name it and claim it as YOUR intention for the day ahead.

Minute 5: Meditate

Once you’ve gone through the first 4 steps of this Morning Mindset Mastery Routine, the final step is to meditate.

Now, I am a recent adopter of meditation. Up until very recently, I was one of those people who “didn’t have time to meditate.” (And if you find yourself saying that too, trust me, it’s not a good sign!) In fact, if you are like I was and you feel that you “don’t have time” to meditate…well that just means you probably need to do it even more.

There are a lot of different ways to meditate, but the way I like to incorporate it into my mornings is by closing my eyes, focusing on my intention for the day, and trying to clear my mind of any other thoughts or worries I have going into the day ahead. Inherently, that’s kind of one of the nice things about a morning routine is that the routine-element of it becomes calming, and helps to assuage anxiety and worry on its own… which will help you with this meditative piece too.

Now, normally, you should strive to meditate for at least 10-20 minutes (at least that’s what the experts say), if not longer. But according to my research and personal experience, what’s more important than the amount of time you meditate for is your consistency. According to meditation website Mind Empowered, “It’s important to meditate on a daily basis in order to build up momentum and to condition your mind to meditation.”

So, end your 5 Minute Morning Mindset Mastery Routine with at least 1 minute of quiet reflection and meditation – commit to that. You can ALWAYS commit to one minute, right? But if you have the time (and you do…), strive to extend it to 5 minutes, or 10.

Once you open your eyes and return to reality at the end of your meditation session, you’ll find that your are SO primed and ready for the day ahead. After completing this routine, you will have:

• Gratitude in your heart and a positive mental attitude to take into your day
• Restored vision on your big goals for the year and for the month, which will energize you to take action
• Clarity on your biggest priorities for the day
• A grounding intention to keep you centered through the days stresses and events
• A quiet mind ready to work, explore, and CREATE!

So… give this 5 Minute Morning Mindset Mastery Routine a try, and let me know how you feel! This simple routine has changed by mornings, and I have a feeling it’s going to change yours too.