E4: Boost Your Productivity By 72% With This Tool Used By The Most Successful Entrepreneurs

The truth is, you already have a morning routine. The question is: How meaningful is it?  

If you're ready to break the habit of starting your day by scrolling and stressing about everything you've gotta do then you'll love this episode.  

Its time for you to start your day in full alignment and clarity like the Purposeful Powerhouse CEO your vision and goals are calling you to be!

In this episode we're chatting all about:  

• why some of the most successful entrepreneurs credit their morning routines for their growth  
• how exercising or doing yoga in the morning actually boosts your productivity, performance, and creativity all day long  
• the many lessons to be learned from the King of Morning Routines: the Rooster on confidence and consistency  
• 3 pillars to include in your routine for an intentional and impactful start your day    

Ready to align your self care and business strategies to overcome anxiety and sell out your programs without exhausting yourself? Then check out the Goal Getter session! https://www.megan-nolan.com/goal

Want to learn more about Me (Megan Nolan) and what I'm up to? Check out my website here: https://www.megan-nolan.com/  

Follow Me On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iammegannolan  

Make sure to subscribe to my channel so you never miss an episode! 

Please find the show notes below. Since it is a transcription there may be spelling errors and/or weird grammar. Ignore that and enjoy!

You already have a morning routine.
The question is how meaningful is it? That's what we're gonna be talking about today.
How to create your own meaningful morning routine? Why it is foundational for your success for you showing up fully in your business during your launches, for you to really take some time and intentionally start your day in a place of alignment and how you can do that and why I think it's so important and how I was inspired to create my morning routine after I accidentally adopted a Hawaiian rooster named Chirpy.
That is what we are gonna be talking about today in this episode of the Purposeful Powerhouse podcast.
So, welcome back.
Welcome back.
So yes, I think there's a few reasons why morning routines have been talked about for a long time.
There's a few reasons why Super Uber, Uber successful people that you probably have heard of before.
Like Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins, Brandon Bouchard, Arianna Huffington are huge advocates for morning routines because they allow you to start the day by bringing your focus back to your vision back to your goals, starting in that aligned energy, taking some time to focus your mind, take control of your mind.
Oftentimes they include movement, meditation, visualization, journaling again, they're all customizable.
And the other thing is no, they don't have to happen at 5 a.
m.
You know, there's a huge 5 a.
m.
club and that's cool.
But the thing is, is that the most important thing about a morning routine.
And this is the question I get a lot is what's the best morning routine? Well, cheekily I answer the one that you're actually gonna do.
The one that feels good to you.
Right? Because all of these suggestions that I'm gonna be sharing with you today and that you read in the 5 a.
m.
club or, you know, the magical morning or whatever it is that you have heard about before.
It's only gonna work if you actually integrate it into your life and make it part of your routine.
Because let's go back to the fact that you, whether you have a morning routine already, that includes yoga and movement and breath work and all of those things or your morning routine includes grabbing your phone and going right to Instagram and checking your D MS and your notifications and scrolling through that for a minute and then go to Facebook and then going to email and then maybe go to Tik Tok, who knows that might be your morning routine.
Right.
And it's all good.
It's all good.
We are all where we're at and it's all good.
But I think as we are, you know, having a new week, a new day and at this point, a new year, then it's an opportunity for you to look at what you're doing and how you're doing it and how it leaves you feeling.
Because I know for me when I grab my phone first thing in the morning and I'm like, oh, I just got to check that one DM for my client just to make sure that, you know, we're starting at the same time or whatever.
And then I check some other ones and then inevitably there's something I need to go check on and then it goes into this work spiral.
And then it's more challenging for me to stay present during my yoga and my meditation time because I'm already thinking about work.
And so of course, you know, if you're working with somebody that's expecting a baby or some things are very time sensitive, right? So you may need to go and do that.
But my challenge for you is, is starting your day by going right to your phone, really serving you.
How does it leave you feeling? Those are the questions that I want you to kind of start with and think about because that's, that's what this is, is does this help you to really align with your vision and live into your goals and show up with intention? Or is it just something you do because you've always done it again? Said with love and just a question to ponder, right? And so what I want to share with you is that I shared a little bit in previous episodes about when I got to a point of being so completely exhausted.
My brain was always on the, I got to do something more.
This isn't working.
What should I do now? What should I try now? Trying all the different strategies, trying to show up consistently on social media, but just posting and then not really engaging and there wasn't a lot of traction happening.
And I was getting really frustrated.
I was also helping someone else to grow their business.
And so I was giving and giving and giving a lot, but yet I wasn't really intentionally giving back to myself.
So I got to a point where I was really defeated and felt very depleted, was really anxious, was constantly kind of caught in that spiral of that whirlwind of anxiety where you feel like you're a kite in a tornado and just getting whipped around by everything or was feeling completely just, you know, in that space of, I don't think this is gonna work.
And I was really under the um influence of the voice in my head that was like, it's never gonna work for you.
I don't even know why you're trying this and I felt, I felt really sad and I was so frustrated and, you know, and so that was before I learned the tools of mental fitness.
And it was a time when I really was in that place of believing everything in my mind, everything my mind said to me, I believe, to be true.
But we hopefully, you know, and, and, or maybe you're gonna learn right now is that your mind is constantly working in your best interest of safety when we stretch ourselves as entrepreneurs and as humans that stretches us outside the realm of familiarity or a comfort zone.
And so your brain perceives that as threatening.
So it will do everything that it can to default to these old patterns of self defeating, talk, overworking yourself, perfectionism, maybe procrastination, all of these different techniques of self sabotage that are self conscious, right? And they happen below the level of our awareness until you start to become aware of them, right? And you'll learn how to do that listening to this show.
But I was really just under the influence of my mind.
And as such, I was really, really struggling personally, professionally financially in relationships.
I just like I was ready to, you know, wave the white flag and throw in the towel.
And so there I was outside on the lanai on the patio and like in that moment of uh this isn't gonna work, it's never gonna work.
I don't know what I'm doing.
What the fuck.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I'm not cut out for this.
Maybe I should just quit.
And I had a moment of realization when my heart spoke to me and said, this isn't your path.
There's more for you.
You're a warrior, you'll find the way.
And I was sitting with that and I thought what, I don't know, I don't feel like a warrior right now, you know, and, and instantly my brain just went right back into that.
Like, you know, what's the point of this? Who, what does this even mean? And you're, you're not a warrior and all that stuff? And so I yelled out, stop and I asked for help.
I asked for guidance.
I asked for support from the universe.
I believe the universe is constantly interacting with us and there to support us.
And so I said, I don't know what this means, but you're right.
I don't wanna go on like this, I can't go on like this.
This is not why I started a business.
This is not sustainable, it's not fun and please send me some help and some guidance and so true to form.
I kept plodding along doing the same thing over and over.
A couple days later, I'm out there in the, on the Lanai and I'm thinking, man, this is so hard.
I don't know what's about, you know, and like still in that spiral and still in the, in the funk if you will and was really in it.
And a family of little baby chicks came trotting into the yard chicks and a mama hen.
So I live on Maui and so this isn't a, you know, weird occurrence because we have chickens and roosters everywhere.
And, you know, if you've been to Hawaii or you've been to a warm climate, you probably noticed, like there's a lot of chickens, they don't have a lot of predators aside from humans and maybe mongoose and kitty cats.
So they just kind of do whatever they want much to my landlord's chagrin.
And so I'm out there.
And, oh, yeah, the other thing, I'm mildly terrified of birds.
When I was five years old, my parents took me to see the Birds by Alfred Hitchcock.
And all I could see in this very first 3d movie that I ever saw in my whole life was the beaks and the talents flying towards me.
And I was terrified.
I started crying, I was shaking and, you know, we left the movie because I was raised in a Catholic family.
So I don't know what the hell we were doing watching an Alfred Hitchcock movie in 3D.
But my dad wanted to see it.
And so anyways, it left a mark so fast forward however many decades.
And I'm sitting in the backyard and this little mama hen and the baby chicks beep, beep, beep, so cute.
Peeping their way through the yard and I'm all ok.
That's nice.
You just stay over there.
They're so small and fluffy.
But the, the beak on the mom and it challenges.
Well, it's a little bit triggering.
Definitely working on it.
I'll probably do a whole other episode of how it's really evolved into an expression of my own self acceptance and, and self love.
But, you know, I digress so baby checks are there and I'm like, oh, this is so cute.
Here we go.
Here we go.
And so, you know, a couple days later I'm, I'm watching them.
I love animals.
You know, I, I just have always loved animals so I'm watching them.
They're so cute.
They're so fluffy and they're just peep people all through the y couple days later, there's no ma ha.
And I'm thinking uh oh something's happened but they already know to go to the banana plant where there's a puddle of water and there's probably bugs and stuff.
So the, the little baby chicks are clearly stressed.
Like by this time I've been watching them a couple of days and their peeps now are very sharp and they're fast.
They're clearly stressed and they're looking for their mom and, and I'm like, oh no, this isn't good.
Something happened to the mom ahead.
I don't know what to do.
So there's me still a little scared, a lot scared I should say.
But I'm out there and I'm being a little brave and I'm going out there, you know, outside by the banana plant and, and sprinkling down some quinoa and some gluten free bread crumbs and they're loving it and they start following me around the yard.
I'm still a little scared.
I was getting a little brave because they're so cute.
Like they were, like in your hand, sort of small.
Like you could put them in your hand.
I didn't touch them, but they were small.
So, you know, they start following me around the yard.
I'm super freaked out, I'm sure it was quite the scene.
And so unfortunately, nature continued to take its course.
And gradually there were fewer and fewer baby chicks until there was only one left.
And I'm still feeding it because at this point, you know, I've realized it's probably imprinted on me.
It thinks I'm the mom.
So it's coming up to the patio door and like beep, beep, beep, tapping this little beak and my friends all know that I'm scared of birds.
So it was kind of a funny joke and I'm like, please don't let the chicken in the house anyways.
One morning there, I am laying in my bed and in that spiral of let me know if this is relatable to you.
I for a long time dealt with like middle of the night anxiety or am anxiety where you wake up at some point either first thing in the morning and your brain is already like, I don't know what you're doing here.
This is like, what's gonna happen today.
I don't know what's even happening in your business.
Like why, you know, and just that barrage of self doubt and self criticism and every mistake you've ever made in your life, your brain wants to talk about it at 3 a.
m.
and it just causes that whirlwind of that stomach flipping feeling not the best way to wake up.
So I'm in my bed and I'm in that swirling mess and I'm, you know, trying my best to shift my mind but not really being successful at it.
And then I hear it.
A tiny little c can do.
Mm.
And with that, wait a second, I don't have any rosters in my yard and then it got a little louder.
It was still a little scratchy.
It's a little louder.
And I thought, and I looked out the window and guess who was sitting in the tree outside the window, a different tree than the tree that I had seen earlier.
Um, Chirpy.
Chirpy the chicken, which is what I named it because it chirped a lot.
Chirpy, the chicken sitting in the tree just outside my window.
But guess what? Chirpy is? Not a chicken chirp is a rooster.
Fun fact.
Unless you look closely, it's really hard to tell whether or not they're male or female until adolescence when they get the opportunity and the ability to crow like a rooster.
So there I was thinking to myself.
Oh, that's, that's great.
Yeah, that's good.
You adopted a rooster? He now lives in the yard.
And he thinks you're his mom and he's gonna be here every day, waking you up and you barely sleep as it, isn't it? And then my heart said hi.
Hey, you remember a couple of weeks ago when you were asking for help? And you said any form of guide would be welcome? Do you think it might be possible that the universe has sent you a rooster? A because you're scared of a b because it's hilariously ironic.
And see, because we soon to find out what other reasons, maybe this might be helpful.
And I thought, yeah, you're right.
Maybe so, maybe so.
And the reality of living near rooster is that you can't beat him.
I mean, what's the expression? If you can't beat him? You join him, certainly not gonna be aggressive towards him.
It's not what I meant.
But I realized, ok, well, there's something to be learned from this fellow that wakes up happy every day.
And so I started to observe him and I started to recognize that there was a few things for me to learn here.
I had really gone the wayside with my own morning routine at that point.
And I thought, well, this is really interesting because, you know, of course, the classic totem of a morning routine is a rooster.
And so I started to observe chirp the rooster.
And I recognized there are a few really powerful qualities about him that I think are really applicable to morning routines to make them more meaningful and impactful in your life.
The first one is how consistent he was, how every day he would wake up and celebrate the new day.
That celebration is another quality we are given this day.
It's not guaranteed he would wake up every day.
I don't know if you heard that, but one of them just went in the backyard.
You wake up every day and celebrate crowing, crowing to the new day.
You can't even make this up.
I don't know if you can hear it.
I hope you can.
But there's literally a rooster, rooster crowing in the backyard right now.
I'm so happy um celebrating each new day, right? So he would consistently celebrate each new day and there's no other way that he could be anything but that because he was so deeply connected to who he was.
He just was that right? And that's something for us to remember because we get so in our head that we forget who we are at our deepest core and our truest essence.
So how can you connect back to that true, inner guidance of your heart, right? So connecting back to to who you truly are and doing something or maybe it's just those few things that do this or maybe it's movement or dance or something that allows you to feel truly confident because I kid you not, he would just throw it out, fluff his little feathers do a little shaky break and then go strutting across the yard with incredible confidence.
So that consistency of celebration and connection and confidence became such a guiding light for me that I thought, well, this is clearly why I've been gifted this rooster.
This is clearly why I have them still living in my yard.
Because for me, the morning routine was, had been, you know, something that I'd used many times over to really come back into myself to shift out of periods of sadness to get grounded.
And so I was still doing it.
But as I'm, as you mentioned, it wasn't particularly meaningful because I would just go out there and cry and swirl about in my head in the self doubt and self criticism and all of that.
And then that's important.
Of course, we always want to give ourselves the opportunity to process.
But I was very much stuck in that pattern.
And so seeing this about Chirpy, seeing that way that he just did this automatically every day and how powerful and potent it was for the way that he just showed up because it allowed him to truly show up that way every day.
I realized that that's what makes a morning routine.
That's what makes a morning routine more meaningful is that it allows you to align fully to the truth of who you really are that aligns you to your vision of how you wanna show up every day in the world because otherwise we just go back on autopilot and we default to the very things that we did yesterday.
Most of our thoughts operate as on a subconscious level and they operate as the ones that we thought yesterday.
And unless we begin to use one of the pillars of being a purposeful powerhouse, and that is learning to think on purpose and be intentional with the way that you use your mind and that's really powerful.
So what I realized is that when you can begin to start your day with a more meaningful morning routine, it allows you to really do these things that are so essential of learning to think on purpose, to move your body on purpose, to keep it strong and healthy, right? Because there's loads of science that shows us that productivity increases significantly when we exercise in the morning because of the oxygen through the body and through the brain also with posture, your confidence level, right? If we think about one of those seas from the chirpy framework of your confidence level is directly impacted.
When you feel strong, you feel grounded, you feel healthy, that changes the way that you show up into a meeting or a Facebook live, it changes your body language, it changes the way people perceive you.
Your energy is very different when you're an up open, strong posture versus when you're weak and slumped.
But I don't know if you can see me if you're watching, listening only to the audio, but I just like basically collapsed, you know, in my body and it's like where it's really hard for me to talk normally because I can feel like it gets a little more creaky in the voice.
So moving your body so that you can show up intentionally so that you can show up feeling vibrantly energized and magnetic, authentically confident.
So how do you create your own morning routine? That is more meaningful that aligns you with your vision? Well, the precursor to that is knowing what your vision is, right? What are your goals? What do you see for yourself and your business? What are you working on, on a monthly basis? I'm not big on like a whole year plan.
I like a singular focus and then I go 90 days at a time because for me, it's easier for me to stay in that flow.
Otherwise I get overwhelmed and I stop.
But anyways, what is your vision? And what do you want to really focus on this year? And who is the version of you that lives in that vision? Right? How do they walk and talk? And what if they let go of what beliefs do they have that all of that sort of investigation that you can really sit into to truly begin to have that information so that you are connecting to it daily or often throughout the week? OK.
And so that's the precursor to the morning routine is knowing where you're going.
So you've expanded your vision, right? You expand your vision and so the first step, so meaningful morning routine, the acronym gives you the three core pillars of a meaningful morning routine.
So the first one is M and that's where you meditate on your vision.
And that's where you begin to realize what you get to let go of what you no longer have the space and time for the old patterns of self criticism or self doubt or playing small or being inconsistent or whatever it is deciding that you're no longer allowing that to pass by your conscious awareness because that doesn't align you with your vision.
So sitting in that for a moment but then having that conscious decision of OK, what is your vision feel like? What is it gonna feel like when you grow your, your movement to hundreds of entrepreneurs around the world? What is it gonna feel like when you're able to serve your clients at a very high level? And you're seeing the ripple effects into their life, whatever it feels like for you, whatever your vision is, that's what I want you to get into the energy of your vision.
And then the version of you that is in that vision meditate on their beliefs.
And this is where we can start to integrate some of the tools that you may already like as in a more um traditional style of meditation or maybe visualization, seeing yourself walking on the stage, seeing yourself holding your book, whatever it is, right? And you can integrate some journaling, gratitude, maybe some tapping whatever forms of mindfulness or focus attention of the mind you enjoy that would fit into this first pillar of the meditation.
OK.
And, and I'm open to ideas because sometimes meditation is movement, it's walking, it's chanting, you know, it doesn't have to be necessarily sitting on the cushion with the incense lid and you know, traditional style, although that's beautiful if you like it typically for myself and many other really busy brained entrepreneurs that's really challenging.
And so we don't do it.
And so what, what ways of meditating actually are doable for you and enjoyable for you so that you get the benefit, right? That's the, that's the thing is in order for us to get the benefit, we got to do the thing, right? OK.
So first um of the meaningful morning routine is meditation.
Second M movement.
This is where you're moving your body on purpose to keep it strong and toned and fit and energized, right? To rev up your metabolism, to oxygenate your whole body because you're moving.
So move in a way that feels good to you.
Maybe that's going out for a walk, maybe that's doing some yoga, maybe it's working out, maybe it's dancing, maybe it's tai chi, whatever it is, move your body.
Many entrepreneurs live life as an out of body experience in that they live from the neck up but beautiful one.
You have a body that needs and deserves your love care and attention.
It should not be an afterthought.
It literally is the vehicle that gets you to the finish line.
It is the tool that you are using on a daily basis and, and we want to make sure that you're taking care of it.
Right.
Think about it when you get something really nice and new, like when I got my current car, it had been rarely had been driven.
And so there's like barely any sand in it.
It was super clean.
And I was like, I just treat this really well and I was so good about cleaning it and maintenance in it and all the things and then I started to kind of just get in my group again and I got out of habit with it.
But think about it when you've invested in something of a very high quality, you take really good care of it, right.
You, you tidy it up, you take it to the mechanic or, you know, whatever it is that you, you do, if, when you have this investment, say it's a car, right? You make sure you put the good oil and the gas and da, da, da, da da.
Yet with our bodies, we tend to treat it like an afterthought.
So some sort of movement that feels really good to you super beneficial to include in your morning routine because it helps you to embody the intention.
And so that's where you can really move your body in a way that really helps you to drop into that powerful grounded energy, right? The version of you that lives in your vision, how do they move? How do they walk? How do they talk? So we want to make sure that you're healthy so that you can do the things necessary to achieve the goals.
The being doing, the doing is very important and the being doing the doing has a body that deserves to be cared for, right? So that movement helps you to do that.
And then so that we have our meditation, we have the movement and then we have repetition of your power statements.
So power statements are much like affirmations or affirmations.
I heard recently if what if something can be true? And so that we were having these statements to yourself, statements of facts, statements of belief that will help you to align your mind and integrate these new beliefs and new ways of being so that they become second nature to you, right? Because what we practice, we become.
So this is where when you have that information from your vision, that vision version of yourself and they have these statements of I am powerful.
I am driven, I am focused, I show up, I take action whatever it is.
That's where I want you to start to really repeat the power statements to yourself.
And that can be an intentional moment during your exercise during your yoga and dropping into the intention, giving your attention to that intention, right? The original A I attention on the intention and really repeating these power statements to yourself.
So that's the essence of a meaningful morning routine so that you can align yourself with your vision.
And what this helps you to do is truly show up for yourself so that you can show up for others.
It's like putting the water in the watering cans so that you can water the plants, right? That's really where it comes back to is because in order for you to do the things necessary to achieve your goals and, and live into your vision and make it a reality.
It does take you showing up for yourself.
And the ideal is to show up for yourself in a way that also supports your business growth also supports your ability to show it vibrantly for your clients, your creativity, your focus, your productivity, all of that because they're all interconnected, right? That's a holistic way of looking at you and looking at your business is that all of these parts support each other, all of these parts support each other.
And truly, especially when you are someone like myself and many entrepreneurs who are also working with challenges like AD D A DH D depression, anxiety, bipolar.
Then these are really powerful to have as your routines so that you have something that you're doing consistently for your physical mental, emotional, spiritual health.
So you have them on your routine.
But look how there was so much room to play in each of those pillars so that you can be creative, right? We have that consistency, but we have the opportunity to have the fluidity within it that gives you the space to play And that's, that's fun, right? It kind of satisfies your, your shiny squirrel, restless tendencies of like, oh, I want to do something different now, I'm so bored of this.
I, I haven't seen the results yet.
And so we get to play within that framework of the mmr so meditation movement and repetition of your power statement.
So that's what I wanted to share with you today.
I hope that that was really helpful.
And so in the end, as you probably heard earlier, Chirpy and friends still live in the yard.
But in the end, it really helped me to solidify those habits of consistency and celebration and confidence and deep connection by having the meaningful morning routine and really living into those pillars and truly living into the that decision to show up from that place every day to truly show up as the purposeful Power House CEO that is in charge of the life and the health and the direction of your business and your self.
And so for me that was just such a power game changing tool and it has become a nonnegotiable for me and it's a nonnegotiable at any point in my business cycle and sales cycle because it is really directly impactful and beneficial because your energy is everything and you can't fake your vibe, right? So if you pick up your phone and you go right into that spiraling chaotic feeling inside a launch or inside a busy time during your business, then it's really hard for us, at least for me to get back on track.
And I'm very much more likely to be in that frantic frazzle, chaotic energy if I start the day that way.
So that is what I wanted to share it with you.
Because when we start the day with intention, we show up and live and move and breathe and show up on purpose, then it directly impacts your outcomes, your ability to sell out your programs without exhausting yourself and avoiding that dreaded crash after cart closes because you've just given it all and you haven't poured back into the watering can like you've just been watering all the things, right, all the plants, all the flowers, but the the watering can itself, you, your reserve, your reservoir is empty.
And so my vision and my goal for you is to have an aligned self care strategy that supports your business strategy that supports your launch strategy that supports your vision and your goals.
So if you would like some support on that if you're feeling inspired and you would like to refresh your morning routine.
So it's more meaningful to align your self crest strategy with your business goals, with your vision for your business.
Then I would invite you to check out the Goal Getter Power section.
It will be in the show notes and in the comments below because it's a brand new offering that I've created that helps you to truly have this foundation in place so that you are showing up vibrantly energized, authentically confident, magnetic, intentionally creative and inflow.
So you're on point at inflow and you're able to respond to challenges and recover from challenges if and when they happen so that you continually show up in that aligned energy.
And then that way you're able to achieve the launch goals and not get to that point of that defeated and depleted crash.
After the fact, you're able to really avoid the outdated patterns of self sabotage so that you can continually keep coming back to that intentionality of the way that you use your energy in your mind.
If that sounds interesting to you, check out the link in the show notes and in the comments about the goal setter goal getter, excuse me, the goal getter power session because I think that it would be really supportive for you to be able to overcome launch anxiety to stay in that ground and connected place.
So take a look at it.
If you have any questions, reach out to me on Instagram or on Facebook, I would love to connect with you and I look forward to seeing you soon or having you be part of this community.
And until next time, thank you for being here and thank you for making the time and the intentionality to live and move and show up on purpose every day.
Take good care.
Bye bye