They say your success is found in your daily routine! For me success is not defined by the way the world defines it. For me, it’s being healthy in my spiritual walk, honouring the body God gave me, serving and loving others well. This is what I do to achieve daily success all before 8am…

Stretch it Out

Dogs do it every time they wake up! They have it all figured out *wink.* After sleeping, it’s so important to stretch out your muscles and wake them up. It gets my circulation moving — I do a few flows I’ve picked up from Yoga class and it doesn’t have to be very long (just 1-2 minutes).

Skincare Routine

Washing my face helps re-energize me and when I go through my full morning routine skincare, I feel ready for the day. My skin is prepped and I’ve saved myself a step if I have to apply makeup later (if i’m shooting, filming or going out) otherwise I stay makeup-free at home. Currently loving this Noni face oil, I pat it in my skin and it just feels so luxurious on my skin! Very relaxing way to wake up. Comment below if you’d like a morning skincare routine video and I’ll film that!

Hydrate

I try to drink 1L of water before my day starts! After sleeping for 6-8 hours, it’s so important to re-hydrate. It gives me energy (where some get it from coffee), water gives me life. It flushes out the toxins in my body, gives my brain fuel and fires up my metabolism! I love this water bottle and it encourages you along the way (it’s also just super cute).

Quiet Time

My phone stays on airplane mode so it’s not the first thing I wake up to. My job requires me to be on my tech a lot, so I had to set healthy boundaries with this over the years. When I wake up I fill myself up and read something life-giving. For me, I go through the bible and journal my thoughts. I love this Everyday Life Bible (deconstructs verses so you can really understand and absorb the message), I also love The Message Bible (easy to read translation) and She Reads Truth bible (I get asked this a lot, so thought I would share my faves). I like to pour myself hot water and lemon, light a candle, get under a cozy blanket and do this! Making it a ritual that I look forward to everyday helps me keep my centre. I always start my day off right when I carve out this time. The word is alive — when I say that or you hear that, it means it’s actively able to bless you in any and all seasons and provide a wisdom and peace that surpasses all. I can’t explain it, you’ll only feel it when you really get into the word and experience it for yourself. God has been able to move in my life and heal a lot of areas just from me taking the time to be in His word. There’s no replacement for this.

Set My Intention

For me this is my form of prayer. I don’t have to use fancy words or recite something. I just talk to God (He already knows what’s on my heart). I ask Him to go before my plans for the day, I commit them to Him and I ask His will be done in my life. I invite the Holy Spirit to come with me in this day and lead me to love people well, do good work and offer myself as a vessel for His purpose. I have goals in mind, but I always commit them to God first when I start my day. If I don’t set my intention, I see how I fall into patterns of distrust, anxiety and lose my peace. Things don’t make sense or add up, I feel lost and scattered. I can’t get through a day without speaking to God and staying in prayer. Whatever this is for you, meditation or prayer, I hope you just get quiet with your thoughts and pay attention to where they go before the day starts and the world dictates them for you.

Eat a Healthy Breakfast

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it is so true. When I was in high school and starting out as an entrepreneur I would frequently skip it and man, how I wish I didn’t! I can’t eat too early in the morning, I prefer an hour or two after waking up (I usually rise anywhere between 6:30-7:30 am). Sometimes Lucy wakes me up early to do her “business,” haha! It makes such a difference in my day, mood, productivity and overall health when I honour my body in this way. For breakfast I love a good smoothie with lots of greens, eggs or avocado toast. I shared some of my favourite, easy and quick breakfast ideas in this blogpost.

Exercise

I don’t always get to this one, especially in the winter! Bad, I know. I just had to be transparent here! I really don’t have any excuse other than I feel so cold I just want to hide under blankets and not go down to our gym. Getting into a routine is what’s the most important, and I can admit I still haven’t found my groove because after everything above, I’m ready to just dive into my work. Then I go through the struggle of if I sweat now, my hair is ruined and it’ll take me forever to shower and get ready again for the day when I have to do shoots or videos (oh the struggle). In the months where the weather isn’t a total polar vortex, I always take the dog on an hour-long walk (morning and afternoon). I usually plug in a podcast or some worship music and it is so therapeutic! Since there have been crazy snow storms, our walks have been limited. I really want to get back in to my Yoga flow. I just lay out a mat and put a video on my TV (through YouTube) to guide me through. Again, it doesn’t have to be an hour, this could just be 10-20 minutes!

Make a To-Do List

Before I start my day, I always make a list of what I need to accomplish (I use my “Work It” desk pad which keeps me organized). I log my important e-mails, groceries, shoots, content creating time slots, appointments etc. so that I can keep track. I can get easily distracted by other projects for the blog and our shop, so it’s important for me to stay focused daily and weekly. I can’t complete everything each day or get back to everyone, and I don’t try to burn myself out like that anymore. It’s important to have healthy boundaries and know when to turn it on and when to turn it off. We usually shut off around 5pm and get started on dinner or other home chores, visiting family, friends etc. otherwise work can totally take over our lives from morning to night! I don’t try to over cram my to-do list for the day. Give yourself time, space and grace. You are not a machine!

Cardigan: Aerie (now on sale for $30! made for leggings, I got the XS/S) // Cross Necklace: Alex + Ani // Esther Gold Disc Necklace: PS46 x ME! We collabed on this! // Cami: H&M (now $10.99!) // Hoop Earrings: Similar // Bag: Gucci 

I hope this post inspires you to instill some positive ways to start your day (before you actually start the day) and found this helpful! Love you guys! xoxo