The one habit that changed my day is not a habit. It’s something I stopped doing.

Let me explain.

In the morning, I used to wake up and lose control of my day: instantly worry about something that had happened, or get lost reading another article I will forget.

I wanted to write my morning affirmations, but it was always too late by the time I got ready. I wanted to set up my day for success and decide on my main objective, but something else would hijack my day before I could.

In the evening, I used to fall asleep late, tired, and with a sense of dissatisfaction. I wanted to get back into my evening meditation, and yet I could never manage to fit it into my evening. I wanted to read before bed to wind down and catch up with my reading list, and yet it never happened. I also wanted to write in my journal to reorganise my thoughts before bed, and I only managed to write once every week or so. It was a bit random.

What changed everything?

A simple rule.

No screens in the bedroom.

All I did was moving every charger from my bedroom to the living room, and the magic happened.

Taking back control of your day

Our phones are habit-making machines: since we use them for everything, they can be a constant distraction. When your alarm clock is also your messenger, and your journal is also your TV, it’s too easy to get sidetracked.

Instead of losing control of my mornings and evenings, I was back in charge of my habits and priorities. For a few days, I noticed how strong my addiction to checking my phone in the morning really was (that had crept in within 2 weeks in a different environment), and I quickly managed to let go of it.

My sleep became deeper. My evenings meaningful. My mornings grounding.

This small act of moving all my chargers outside of the bedroom allows me to quickly go through my morning habits consistently, and set my day up for success:

  1. I journal every single day. Journalling is awesome and it allows me to feel a lot calmer, understand myself better, and make poised decisions.
  2. meditate every evening and every morning.
  3. My deep sleep has increased by 20% (I use a Withings watch to track my sleep, and the difference is substantial)
  4. go to bed earlier since I don’t get lost in a FOMO rabbit hole of messages, videos, and articles.
  5. It’s a lot easier to wake up in the morning, especially if like me you enjoy an early morning!

Whenever I work with an entrepreneur to help them clarify and achieve their goals, one of the first things that we do is to set boundaries around communication and distractions, so they’re empowered to take full action again. This is so powerful and has allowed a lot of my clients to see massive results quickly in their business and life (if you’re an entrepreneur, book your free consultation on my profile).

Your turn now. Move your chargers (and screens) outside of your bedroom, and get back control of your day!

Originally published on Medium.

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