What do you do in bed in the morning in that half dream consciousness between awakening and planting your feet on the floor to step again into the reality of your world?
It was 20th January 1993 in the Oberoi hotel Mumbai on a long forgotten business trip. The only business thing I recall is blocking out time to witness Bill Clinton’s inauguration on TV, I was especially keen to see a hero of mine, Maya Angelou, deliver her inauguration poem. Her 6 minute poem, ‘On The Pulse Of Morning’, has shaped my awakening since.
I have come to treasure that half awake, half asleep time, when the world is full of new potential again, and I use that time to do 3 things which I share with you today. I’m not claiming to be right here but if it resonates with you just give it a go and let me know.
First step: The first thing I do is give thanks for the day. I believe that gratitude is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves. Give thanks to your God, your Guide, your Higher-Self, The Universe – whatever you believe in, give thanks to it for another opportunity today.
Second step: In this moment, I then revisit and put my new day into the perspective of my highest purposes. There will be opportunities and threats, highs and lows as the day progresses. Starting with my highest purposes helps me put everything into perspective. Allow yourself in your conscious / half conscious state to revisit your higher purpose. You are not reviewing detailed plans or specific goals here, stay with any broad purposes that give meaning to you. Don’t take them for granted, reconnect with them before you get out of bed!
Third Step: I reconnect with my top one or two priorities that I set for the day in my end of day review yesterday. No great planning – just a bringing to mind before I step out of bed. Finally, before you plant your feet on the floor, reconnect your top one or two priorities from your end of day review yesterday with your higher purpose for the month, the quarter, the year – your life. Weld them together mentally now because – as sure as the air you now breathe – those priorities will probably be challenged almost as soon as you start your day.
Here is the best video of Maya Angelou’s Inaugural poem click on the Inauguration of President Bill Clinton link. It is powerful stuff; you might want to allow yourself a quiet 6 minutes to focus on it exclusively!
A text copy of the poem is here.
This is just my approach, I’d be interested to know what you do to weld your purpose to your priorities for the day.
Contact me for support in welding purpose to priorities. I promise you ‘Results Worth Talking About’. My clients, literally, change the habits of a working lifetime to deliver their critical results, manage their conflicting priorities and tame their office technology easier every day.
Thanks Adrian. The beauty, for me, is that this whole ‘process’ takes little time and effort. I found that it became natural quite quickly. Perhaps the less intuitive part is reconnecting with the top 2 or 3 priorities from yesterday’s review. That said, welding those priorities into the purpose reconnection makes it very satisfying as I plant my feet on the floor to start a new day.
Yes that first moment of almost consciousness is a wonderful time and I love your idea of gratefulness and connecting ones higher purpose or stand with the actions of the day ahead. The simple bit many miss out (and I am guilty of it far too often) is the “reconnect your top 2 or 3 priorities from your end of day review yesterday”. The end of day review such an important moment, a0 to recognise ones accomplishments, and b) to have certainty of the day ahead. Thank you for sharing the blog Richard, will share to my audience too.
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Absolutely agree regarding the importance of those first few waking minutes. It is an amazing opportunity to step into the day before stepping out of bed. Gratitude, core purpose, recalibrating and – sometimes – remembering important info. Don’t leave bed without it!
My own daily routine of asking myself how I feel each day and focusing on the first positive word that comes into my mind has resulted in days where I’ve felt everything from energised to gorgeous. It works for me but I like your suggestion of bringing a sense of higher purpose into play.
I spent some time with Penny Power last year thinking about my “core process”, the two words that help define my purpose. I’m going to have a go at including them in my morning waking routine. It is such an important time of the day to establish a focus. Those first few minutes set the tone for the whole day.
Thank you Richard for pointing me at your blog.
[…] own early morning practice to help me weld strategic purpose to daily priorities which I outlined here . My son pointed me to Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 BC – 43 BC, the Roman orator and […]
Thanks Gert, sorry it took a while to respond
Inspirational stuff. It is so true. If you do not focus on welding your short term goals together with the big picture, you can become sidetracked much easier and at the end of the day, you never took the leap in achievang those goals you set for yourself to complete for the day. Without meeting your short term goals everyday, your long term success will always be a vision.