“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
I’ve been thinking about ways to enhance my life experience throughout the day and realized that there are three main things I do that make a huge difference.
#1 Talk to Jesus first.
Set an alarm to wake up that allows you to listen and talk to Jesus first. Psalm 143:8 says, Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. This doesn’t need to be a liturgical service or intense prayer or perfect spoken. It’s just a conversation with the Man Who is always right there with you. Wake up to Him and say hello. Share your heart with Him and listen to what’s in His. Just an extra 5 or 10 minutes is enough for this.
Psalm 88:13 - But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Psalm 119:147 - I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
Mark 1:35 - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
#2 Enjoy the silence.
Don’t turn on anything to watch or listen in the morning. Don’t scroll or read on a device. My one exception is that I read the Bible app on my iPad, and my point isn’t necessarily that you shouldn’t be on a device as much as it’s something that allows you to fill your mind with things unintentionally. And I believe morning is the best time to be intentional. If you are going to open a device and press play on something, make sure it’s what you want to set your mind on today.
This makes me think of a situation more than 10 years ago, when I decided to stop putting any form of sugar in my coffee. It changed the way my body wanted sugar for the rest of the day. The way you start your day will impact the way you spend it, and how your mind is set to experience life.
Use the silence to listen to Jesus, but also to hear yourself think. Is there really another time of day when you can hear what your soul is saying? Are you paying attention during dinner or in the car line at school or while you’re at your computer trying to figure out how to market on the internet as a solopreneur coach? Let the morning silence be a respite, an intentional time of listening to what you really think, feel, want, need, and question. I know you might have kids to wake up, or a dog to walk or kitchen to clean up from last night. But in the moments where you can, listen to yourself.
Don’t put on a podcast, or news, or anything that will distract you from thinking about what you think about and making wise decisions about it. If you’re the kind of person who wakes up and wants to start talking asap, start singing instead. Or praising God. Or just talking out loud to Jesus. Tell Him Who He is to you, remind your own soul of Who He is and what He’s done. Speak the promises over your life and do the paradigm shifting work that will sustain your day. Speak out the truth and if you need to, choose a couple of scriptures and post them somewhere in your house where you see them and can walk through the house repeating them and mediating on them.
Psalm 59:16 says I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
If you really want something on the tv or computer go to YouTube and put on worship videos. My favorites are Maverick City Music, a female artist named Harvest, Jonathan David and Melissa Helser, and Upperroom, which I literally have on the tv right now while I listen to Justus Tams lead a prayer set. My husband also loves playing Garett and Kate on YouTube.
This helps me feel like there’s movement and energy in the room while I work, but my mind isn’t pulled away and distracted from the work I’m doing. Plus it changes the atmosphere in my home and my office and if I do get distracted from working it is literally to stop and worship Jesus so it’s a win-win situation.
#3 Create a morning vision.
This is a fun one. Before you dive into other things, stop and pull out a piece of paper and a pencil. Write out a full page of how you envision your day going. If you know some of the things you need to do or what’s coming your way, just write out how you want to face them. Let it just flow. Don’t judge it. Don’t edit it. Don’t spend time erasing and rewriting. You will throw this away and no one will look at it. It helps you learn to stop editing yourself too. And reveals how much energy you spend changing yourself to meet unspoken and perceived requirements.
Let it just come out the way it rises up in your mind.
There’s no protocol or formula and it’s not a magical solution to anything. But it does help you to find direction and bear more fruit.
I say to use paper and pencil to put your vision for the day into being because writing on paper engages your brain in a specific way that helps you to tune in and make a stronger connection to your vision. It connects your spirit, soul, and body at a deeper level, eliminates the distractions of technology, allows you to keep writing with less self-editing, slows you down, and makes what you write more tangible.
I created a free resource for you that you’ll find in the show notes. It’s a few pages of prompts you can use as a framework to get you started on your morning vision. Print them and write on them or just use the outline for thought ideas you can use in your own journal or pad of paper. Look at it throughout the day if you need reminders. Throw it away and start fresh tomorrow with new vision, even if some of it carries over from today. Just remember that what you’re doing has no requirements or judgment attached and even the prompts I give you have no power. You make it what you want it, the important thing is that you are getting intentional about what you think and the vision you create for your daily life. This is how you start getting great results for yourself, your business, your family, your clients, and cultivate a legacy for your future.
I recommend making this something you enjoy with different writing tools, like a friend of mine who loves writing on graph paper instead of lines. Or using a specific writing utensil; mine is a sharp pencil, so I have a pretty electric sharpener on my desk so I’m always ready to enjoy whatever I write out.
My morning vision for today goes like this:
I find joy in the unknown today. I will smile more even if I’m alone. I love who I am right now while I’m still growing. I embrace transformation. I will not be frustrated in today’s meeting. I will apologize when I am short and straight to the point with the wrong person. I will hug my girls for no reason. I look in the mirror and don’t judge what I see. I have compassion for other drivers. My work will be fruitful. My computer will work correctly. My clients will get amazing results today. I’m going to show up fully to do what I love doing. God is with me and for me. I’m a great speaker and coach and wife and mom. I can do all the things I’m called to do. I have capacity, capability, worth and value right now without changing a thing. I’m doing what is mine to do and allowing others to do what is theirs to do. I’m not responsible for the emotional health of other people, but I take full responsibility for my own. I love Jesus so much and I’m not ashamed of it.
What this does is create vision for your day and doing it earlier in the morning allows your mind to be set. Get it? Mindset. You either intentionally do the setting or it gets done for you by random thoughts that infiltrate your day, undermine Truth, and impact your legacy. Colossians 3:2 tells us:
Set your mind on things above.
Maybe you can create something like this or use this morning practice with your own clients. You could use this strategy for yourself and then invite your clients to do their own work in the morning as part of their client journey, or even make your own lead magnet or coaching homework out of it. Make it a blessing for them. If you work with clients who aren’t Jesus followers you can still invite them to take time in the morning to hear themselves and pay attention to what they need. And as you pray for them, ask God to reveal Himself to them. He’s faithful and He’s the One Who is responsible for their relationship with Him, but you can plant seeds and pray.
Reader Challenge:
Commit to these three things for the next five mornings:
Talk to Jesus First: Spend 5–10 minutes in conversation with Him before starting your day.
Enjoy the Silence: Skip the distractions and spend your morning in intentional quiet, reflecting on your thoughts and connecting with God.
Write Your Morning Vision: Use a page of paper to write out how you want to face the day, focusing on joy, peace, and purpose.
Psalm 143:8 - Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust.
Lamentations 3:22-23 - The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Psalm 5:3 - O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
Psalm 90:14 - Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Psalm 130:6 - My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 59:16 - But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Psalm 118:24 - This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 88:13 - But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
Psalm 119:147 - I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.
Mark 1:35 - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.
Colossians 3:2 - Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.