I hadn’t thought much about a morning routine other than every year or so a conference I attended would have a speaker that addressed it.
It always sounded like a “good idea”, but not necessarily important to implement ASAP.
Until I heard Alex Charfen‘s speak about how a morning walk could decrease your entire stress level over the entire day.
I am in.
- Big glass of water
- 20 minute walk outside
- Cup of coffee
- While I read a chapter in a book (currently reading (affiliate) Launch by Jeff Walker and Great Leads by Masterson & Forde <–one of the best books I have read)
- Take notes on right side of notebook from the chapter I am reading and write thoughts on how to apply it to my business on the left side.
- Breakfast
- Create daily to-do list with times of all appointments
OK, back to the walk…
The way I understood what he said was simple. Generally, when stressed, we are in a form of fight or flight response. To a certain extent that is out of our control, but we can calm the response with actions like a morning walk.
You can see this by certain muscle groups being tense (and tight) like the front of your shoulders and arms and the back of your legs. These become tight and tense because the body is gearing up for a fight. Think of a fighter’s pose with the hands up to protect the face and the legs ready for anything in a slightly lunged position.
The morning walk helps reset the muscles at the beginning of the day. To help blood flow throughout the body in a non-threatening way.
I immediately integrated this into my morning routine when I heard him talk about it. Made total sense!
It was crazy, but it worked immediately. I started feeling less stressed throughout the day.
And then I listened to Momentum podcast episode 48 about The Primal Walk.
I can’t say I have integrated everything in that episode, but it certainly has me thinking…while I walk each morning!