An article featured in Inc. with the title This 7-Minute Morning Routine Will Change Your (Work) Life has gone viral.

Written by John Brandon, the article introduces a 7 minute routine that can “change your life.”

I thought the article would be about the 7 Tibetans (a wonderful morning routine), but it’s actually 5 Tibetans, not 7. Guess I need to work on my morning routine and my memory…and my morning routine.

The Inc. article is still very interesting (even sans the 5 Tibetans). There are four steps that the author outlines to be completed in the seven minutes:

  • Minute 1: Clear your head
  • Minute 2: Breathe a little
  • Minutes 3-6: Write notes and draw
  • Minute 7: Debrief

The first couple minutes are about mindfulness. You could call it your mindfulness minute. What a difference it would make if all of us would take two minutes to slow down and breathe.

Ahh…

More relaxed?

Go ahead.

Take your time.

After clearing your mind, the third task is what really caught my attention: Write notes and draw.

The instructions are not for notes on a computer or phone, but to write, sketch or doodle (such a fun word).

From Mr. Brandon:

It’s a way to figure out what is important, and what is stressing you out. It is a record of your preparation and a way to help you look back and see, for these seven minutes, what was really important.

That sounds really nice. A wonderful way to thoughts for the day written or drawn in a journal.

I have a secret.

I love my journals so much and am very careful for what I use them for (listing groceries? I think not..although my grandfather once told me of his “grocery list” when he was young, and it was fascinating), but I digress again. I love my journals so much, that sometimes, I do not write in them.

Gasp.

I wait to find the perfect theme for a journal. Our family uses the Nepali Traveler Journal (link, cough, cough) to record our hikes and adventures.

There’s a journal that has sat near my computer wanting to be written in, but the theme has eluded me. The article by Mr. Brandon provides a wonderful idea of how to focus our thoughts and energy each busy morning, and now I know where I’ll jot down those thoughts. I’m placing the journal where it will remind me each morning because now it’s found it’s theme and doesn’t need to fear being turned into a grocery list. I wouldn’t do that (looks at journal…).

I encourage you to read Mr. Brandon’s article. Write down the steps, and let’s all have better mornings.

Namaste.