7 Journal Prompts to Start Each Day for Success

My daily morning ritual for success consists of 4 foundational practices, which includes offering gratitude as soon as I open my eyes,  yoga, meditation, and journaling.  With the start of the New Year, while many are creating resolutions, I choose to focus on intentions and maintaining my morning ritual....something that got away from me during the holidays, and I noticed a drastic difference in my days without it!  During my most recent training 5 Tips to Live with Intention, I referenced my stellar morning routine and some of you were asking more about the layout and overall purpose of this ritual.  

First, let us look at some of the benefits of having a morning ritual:

• Sets the tone for the day: It provides us with a purpose and intention for our day.  A morning routine gets you on track from the moment you wake up and puts you in the right frame of mind.
• Increased productivity: Through setting the tone for the day, it better allows us to control our schedules rather than our schedule controlling us. As we start each day fresh, we can better focus on what is in front of us, where to prioritize our time, and, ultimately, increase our productivity.
• Creates a sense of control.  We often feel out of control when we are rushing to complete all of our daily tasks-both personally and professionally.  By having a set schedule and routine, this creates a sense of control and stability.  It may cover just a small part of your day, but it could be a step toward helping you regain control.
• Decreased Stress. When we begin our day with a routine and feel more in control of our day, it naturally decreases our levels of stress.  We are able to flow into our day with ease as we continue to build this healthy habit of a routine, which leads to an increased ability to stay calm throughout the twists and turns of our day!  And do I even need to get into the endless amount of positive physical, mental, and emotional benefits that are created from decreased levels of stress?!
• Increased confidence.  When we are better able to move through the day more calm, cool, and collected, we naturally feel more confident. Plus, better time management will mean you accomplish more, which can also improve your self-confidence.  Also, giving yourself enough time for self care in the morning can improve your self-confidence. 

Now that we have gone through just a few of the benefits of having a morning ritual and you might be more inclined an open to creating one, let me share with you my one of my favorite morning rituals that has done wonders to all the benefits that I have mentioned above...my morning journaling.

I have found my morning journaling to help me realign daily with my values, goals, and intentions, which has increased my focus and daily successes. I will list these journal prompts in the specific order I do them, as there is always a method to my madness!

1. Gratitude: An imperative part of my morning, as well as throughout my entire day.  Offering gratitude opens you up to the abundance in your life.  It sets the tone to embrace your growth mindset.  Since whatever we focus on in our life becomes our truth and reality, why wouldn't you want to focus on all of the blessings in your life? And if you believe in the Law of Attraction like I do, then you know whatever we focus on, we get more of.  I choose to list 10 Gratitudes daily.  Some stay the same for several days, and others change daily.  The focus here is that they are specific, and not just a list.  For instance, one of my gratitudes today included "I am grateful for my husband's support in working away from home, which I know is difficult for him, so that I have the space to be with the kids while I work on building my business".  Here's a quick tip to expand gratitude ...share your gratitude with another person, especially if your gratitude is for that individual.  This practice raises the energy within you, the other person, and in your relationship.  It's an amazing experience!
2. Acknowledgements/Celebrations.  Celebrating our growth and progress is key to success.  We often go throughout the day minimizing our progress and accomplishments.  Take several opportunities to celebrate your successes throughout the day.  Write them down.  Share them with others.  I write down 3 celebrations every morning from the day before.  An example of one of my celebrations from today states "I acknowledge the internal work I have put in to shifting my mindset and actions in order to break generational patterns".  These are sometimes more specific, such as "I acknowledge that I wanted to hit the snooze button this morning, and I kept my commitment to myself and honored my self care ritual because it is important to me". 
3. Moments of Joy.  Just like gratitudes, this section is meant to focus on the positives in our life.  We actually have internal blocks that keep us from experiencing full amounts of joy, which often are created from our experiences throughout life.  This limit is referred to as a "joy set point".  By recognizing my moments of joy, I am increasing my awareness of all amazing aspects in my life, and breaking through my joy set point created by generational patterns and allowing me to experience and express higher levels of joy.  This is more of a list and I choose to identify 5 moment of joy.  One of my examples from this morning was "Lunch with my friend".
4. 10 Big Dreams I Made Happen.  This one actually came from one of my favorite female authors and female powerhouse Rachel Hollis.  I have some huge dreams and love writing them down to remind myself the importance of achieving them and why they are important to me, which helps me maintain focus on my goals and purpose in this life.  These need to be stated as if they are already happening.  Doing it this way anchors in the energy of the goal, which strengthens the manifestation process.  I started with small goals, such as "We travel during the school holidays and visit with extended family (which I was actually able to accomplish this year despite the chaos!), and now has expanded to "We spend summers at our rented beach house on Lake Erie as we visit with family and work remotely".  Do you see the growth and expansion?  When you think of your big dream, I challenge you to make it one or two steps bigger.  We are going for expansiveness here...Dream Big!!
5. Money Affirmations.  This one was a big mindset shift for me.  With starting my own business, it was imperative for me to dive deep into some of my money beliefs and my relationship with money.  I come from a scarcity mindset, which creates intense fears surrounding the abundance in life, and specifically with money.  This belief is created throughout generational patterns, and is so important to examine.  I continue this work daily as I expand personally and professionally.  I choose to identify 5 affirmations, which can change from day to day, but are mostly consistent for a few weeks or months until I really feel them anchored in.  An example of a money affirmation includes "I am grateful for money because it allows us to travel and see family", or another includes "I love how the exchange of money raises vibrational frequencies and creates intense energy all around me".  I strongly encourage you to read the book You Are a Badass at Making Money, by Jen Sincero.  
6. Intentions.  To learn more about the difference between goals and intentions, I encourage you to listen to my live training that is posted in the first paragraph.  I often focus on my overarching intentions for the year, that may actually change throughout the year, but usually only every 3-6 months, if at all.  Writing these intentions reminds me of how I want my relationship to be in the world.  Here, I have 4 main intentions that I acknowledge daily. One example is "I take exceptional care of my mind, body, and spirit", and another is "More and more every day, as I choose to experience and express more moments and levels of joy, abundance flows freely and effortlessly to and from me".  So you can see, intentions can be longer or shorter, but the point is to make them specific to you and be sure they are aligned with mind and spirit. You can also set different daily intentions, as many yogis do as they approach their mat each day.  
7. Goals.  My very last task in my journal is to list my top 3-5 goals for the day. This helps solidify my focus to set myself up for success. I try to keep my focus at 3 goals, so to make them strategic and achievable.  This is something that may just be specific to me, as I can become overwhelmed and feel defeated if I have too many that I do not reach.  For instance, one of my goals for this morning was to complete this blog.  Mission accomplished!  

What is imperative to remember as you set up your morning routine, which may or may not include journaling, is to offer yourself compassion throughout your process.  Setting a routine takes time and patience with yourself.  Self criticism and judgment for not doing it perfectly will only lead to a feeling of defeat and set you further back in your process.  And be sure your ritual is specific to you.  I would love to hear some of your morning routines that work!  It is so powerful when we are are able to share our accomplishments and rituals with each other!

Sending light and love, LJ