Retirement Morning Makeover Challenge: Day 1

Why Making Over Your Morning Has A Huge Impact On Your Entire Day 

Double Click the Workbook image above.  This is an automatic download, find & click the ZIP file and Do The Work! 

Woot! So happy you are taking action to change your mornings -- and hopefully, your life too!

There are always small tweaks we can do to assure we aren't stuck in a rut once again! 

Life is meant to be LIVED -- yes, even in our retirement years! 

Taking control of your mornings can lead to taking better control of your days -- thus LIFE!

Are  you a morning person like Wendy?  I love mornings! Each new day brings new opportunities, and it’s a chance to start fresh and do some things better. I am bright and fresh in the morning hours, and I love my quiet time in the morning when my brain is in high gear and ready to take on my day.

Now if you aren’t a morning person, we’ll look at ways to make your mornings better for your personal lifestyle.

How you start your day, or more specifically, how you spend those first few morning hours, has a big impact on the rest of it. Think of it as setting the tone for your entire day. That’s why making over your morning is so important. It’s about much more than those first few hours.

Wake up and say “thank you” for another beautiful day on God’s earth! Breathe Deeply! Say a small prayer of gratitude for all you have (not what you don’t have)...there is much to be thankful for.

WHY do retirees need a Morning Makeover?

We are “stuck”. We’ve retired, done the same morning routine for years… and  yet, there could be a better way! In fact, it probably no longer fits our retired years...

When we worked, we had to get up and get moving in the morning. In retirement, we become lazy or complacent, with little motivation.  This can often lead to retirement depression.

Life is limited. Why not do whatever you can to live the best life possible for as many years as you’ve got left?  You owe it to yourself to live your best possible retired years.

Are you an Early Riser?

Let’s face it -- we have retired and can sleep anytime we like. We don’t have to jump out of bed to get ready and race to work any more. Time is on our side.

There are benefits to being an early riser.  Getting up early puts you ahead of the game. You’re in control. You can take care of everything that needs doing in a calm manner and still have time for the important things you want to work on. In short, getting up early enough sets you up for an amazing, productive day.

• You start the day on your terms. You have peace and quiet. When else do you have this same level of serenity? Wendy enjoys writing in the morning… all is quiet, tv isn’t on, and she is looking through the big picture window at nature waking up! What might YOU do with this perfect time of day?

• You have time to pray or meditate. You can start your day on a positive note and create a good frame of mind for the rest of the day. Wendy’s sister spends time in prayer and meditation every morning. Have you heard that prayer is speaking to God where meditation is listening for his direction? Notice how much better your day goes when you do this first.

• You can get more work done. An extra hour of work each morning can make the rest of the day go more smoothly. You could clean up the house or prepare dinner ideas… or do any task while you’ve got the energy.

• You can get in shape like Wendy’s husband does. Working out later in the day is often more difficult. You're too tired or busy to make it to the gym. If you get up early, you can head out the door early for the gym. You can do yoga on the living room floor. A treadmill in front of the morning news can work well, too. Whatever works for you…

• Indulge in a quiet hobby. Whether you like to read, do needle point, or play the violin, the morning can be a great time to enjoy yourself. Renew your soul with something you love early in the morning when the mind is waiting for stimulation, and is clear and ready to go!

Are you convinced enough to set your alarm clock earlier? If you've been very consistent with your bedtime and wake time, your body has become used to that schedule. Consider going to bed and waking up just five minutes earlier for the first few days. Then work another five minutes into your schedule. Continue on… until it feels perfect for you!

Retirees who Use an Alarm

I’m sure you’ve experienced this yourself. Let’s use the snooze button as an example. You set an early alarm to make sure you have time for exercise, meditation, or simply some much needed “me time”.  When you set the alarm, you have every intention of getting up and doing whatever you have planned.

Some mornings (hopefully most mornings) you get up when the alarm chimes, and go for that walk, do your meditation exercise, or read a book for twenty minutes. Then there are those days when you just can’t seem to make yourself get out from under those covers! You hit the snooze button multiple times, or turn the alarm off altogether and go back to sleep.

Think about how those days went. Did you notice a difference in how you felt? How much did you get done on the mornings when you got up with your first alarm? Were you able to do all the things you set out to do? How did those days compare to the ones when you hit the snooze button over and over again?

If I had to take a guess, I’d say that the mornings when you got up as soon as the alarm went off turned out to be a lot smoother.  I bet you accomplished what you had planned to do, too. Chances are that sleeping through the snooze button didn’t just affect your morning, but the entire rest of your day.

If You’re Just Not a Morning Person, Science Says You May Never Be

WOW! This one surprised me. I just found this article on people with upside down (to me) sleep cycles. Maybe this is you and maybe it will help you!  Go here. 

Set the Tone of Your Day

You can set the tone for how your day is going to go first thing in the morning. That’s what the old saying about “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” is all about. Let’s make sure we get up on the right side and start our day off in a positive and productive way. 

Over the course of the next seven days, we want to guide you through the process of making over your morning. As we’ve already established, this is an important task, and a good thing to work on and pay attention to. Not only will you enjoy your mornings more even if the alarm goes off much earlier than you’d like, it will also make the entire rest of your day go much smoother.

Start the Morning Challenge off right -- download this Morning Gratitude Affirmation. Simply print or right click to SAVE!