How you start your day may say a lot about your entire day!
This post was written by a former team member in 2018 but my morning routine of over 2.5 years is still the forefront of well-being as a fitness professional and business owner. I cannot speak for everyone in the caregiving/service field but for I feel strongly that making a way of taking care of yourself first and an on an on-going basis when you spend your day helping and teaching others to do the same is at the center of being able to sustain oneself in the fitness business or any work related to caring for others PLUS why would anyone trust someone dispensing and educating on health and well-being if they do not appear to practice what they preach?! So ponder my level of craziness getting up now as early at 3:30am to keep sometime for myself each day.
Trainer Christie Garofano wakes up at 4 a.m., when the rest of the world is still in bed.
Why?
Ask her and she’ll say it’s the most critical part of her day.
In her profession, where she’s constantly giving to everyone else, this is the time she gives to herself.
For the past 11 months, Christie has structured her mornings around what she learned in the book, The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
Elrod teaches you to start your day with this routine called S.A.V.E.R.S.:
SILENCE (AKA Meditation)
Sit calm and peaceful. Breathe in and out slowly. Be in the present.
AFFIRMATION
Remind yourself of how capable your are. Focus on what’s important to you and read positive affirmations out loud.
VISUALIZATION
Close your eyes and visualize your daily goals, what it will feel like when you reach them. Imagine what your day will look like and then create it.
EXERCISE
Get your heart rate up and get energized.
READ
Read a self help book to learn a new tidbit or a new fact or to discover something new about yourself.
SCRIBING
Write down what you’re grateful for – what you’re proud of – to put you in an empowered state of mind.
Christie heard the author speak at a business owner’s conference and she said it’s changed her life.
“It means that I am giving to myself everyday prior to taking care of everybody else all day long as a trainer, coach and business owner,” she said. “It helps me focus and proceed mindfully into the day.”
This is what her S.A.V.E.R.S routine looks like, from start to finish:
4 a.m.-wake up (no alarm needed).
5-10 minutes – SILENCE-Christie mediates for 10-20 minutes.
2-3 minutes – AFFIRMATION Christie uses the ThinkUp app on her phone which has a selection of pre-recorded affirmations. It also allows you to pre-record your own affirmations.
Examples:
- “I choose happiness no mater what the circumstances are.”
- “I have the energy I need to accomplish by goals.”
2-3 minutes – VISUALIZATION-Christie visualizes what the day will look like.
25-35 minutes-EXERCISE-Christie walks her dog for 1-1/2 miles if she’s not doing a strength training routine or yoga.
20-30 minutes –READ– Christie is currently reading
- Successful Women think Differently by Valorie Burton
- Less (Fiction) by Andrew Sean Greer
1 minute –SCRIBE-Christie writes in an online journal with the app Stigma. (in addition to noting daily gratitude handwritten (lost art) in a journal) The app is handy because it limits journal entries to 200 characters. It also allows you to rate how you’re feeling.
There you have it. Who’s ready to give it a try? If you feel like you need to freshen up your daily routine or just feel like you would like to increase the meaning in your life, week, and day, I highly suggest this book and routine. Soon after I read the book the author was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer with a very low survival rate. He fought the cancer and is alive and thriving today……perhaps due to the high quality of life and daily practice of SAVERS and the value it brings into the rest of his day and overall well-being. Exercise is not the only tool in our box of health and well-being. Weaving in practices that keep our mindset as strong as our fitness are as equally important to stay resilient to life’s challenges.
BE. Well.
