The Morning Rite

You're one of the few that have made the decision to press forward even though the world seems grim. You deserve to be the man God has called you to be and this guide will help get you there.

The Morning Rite is a map to the life you choose to live, designed by you. The sections outlined below is the template. In order to get the most out of the Morning Rite, you must take your time and think about the life you want to live.

You'll update and refine this map as you grow. It's an ever-changing document that you control. It's your ship in the sea of our unknown future and you're its captain.

When you fall short, it will help you get back on course. When your are feeling defeated it will give you strength. And when you reach your goals, it will help you redesign for the next stage in your life.

The Purpose Is In The Name

Let's break down the name to better understand the intention of the Morning Rite.

Morning:

The time beginning an hour or two before sunrise, or at break of day, and extending to the hour of breakfast and of beginning the labors of the day.

The Morning Rite is intended to be read and dwelt upon in the morning. This is before anything else in your day tries to take your focus off God and your goals.

Rite:

The manner of performing divine or solemn service as established by law, precept or custom; formal act of religion, or other solemn duty.

Your faith is to be embedded into this document. But not only that, you should guard your time to read and dwell upon your Morning Rite. It is your "solemn duty" to stay focused on God and your goals.

Components of the Morning Rite

Vision

• The first section is for images. These images should reflect where you want your life to be in the future. Spiritually, physically, and mentally.
• Seeing these images each morning will help you keep focused on your goals. Images are a better trigger for your subconscious mind than written words.
• Spending time visualizing your life goals give your subconscious mind something to work with.
• In 2003, a group of scientists studied the effect of visualizing a physical work out mixed with the physical act of working out.
• Turns out that the group that visualized working on showed increased strength then the group that did no visualization .
• Since visualizing has a significant effect on the physical body we can leverage this phenomena. However, it's more than just looking at the images.
• The study mentioned had the participants visualized the actual act of the workout. So for maximum effect, be sure to spend some time imagining yourself in the life you are striving to achieve.

Identity

• Here is where you want to write out what your ideal life looks like. More detail the better!
• As you read this each morning the key is to believe what you are reading is already in effect.
• You're shifting your identity from what you are now. (Which likely happened by chance.) To what you want your identity to be.
• Include your desired habits here as well because habits are the base of our identity.
• Any habit that does not align with our identity will fall away. While any habit that solidifies our identity will never go away .
• So, if you identify as a man that gets up at 6:00 every morning you are more likely to get up (and stay up) at 6:00. The same goes for any other habit you want to build.

Example:

• Say a man named Gordon is using this method. He may say something like the following:

• Gordon and his beautiful wife live in the country with their three children. Gordon owns an online business that generates $100k dollars each year. Each morning he works out, reads the Bible, and eats a healthy breakfast.

• Be sure to expand as much as possible to cover every part of your life which you want to see positive change.

Routines

• In this section we want to write our our daily routines.
• Routines are just chains of habits we do consistently. These routines must be daily. Because when starting new habits repetition is the goal, not prefect execution .
• The more we repeat a habit, good or bad, the stronger the connection in our mind becomes. Until we get to a point where not preforming the habit is not longer an option.
• When building out your routines it's best to use habit stacking. Habit stacking is when we use already existing habits and attach our new desired habits to them .

Example:

At 6:00 I will wake up.
After I wake up, I will do as many push-ups as possible.
After I do push-ups, I will drink a pint of water.
After I drink water, I will shower and get dressed.
After I get dressed, I will read the Bible.

Meditations

• This section is for meditations in the original sense of the word. Which has nothing to do with clearing the mind. And everything to do with pondering, dwelling upon, and studying ideas.

• To dwell on any thing in thought; to contemplate; to study; to turn or revolve any subject in the mind; appropriately but not exclusively used of pious contemplation, or a consideration of the great truths of religion.

• Spending time to think, especially about scripture, is an important part of becoming the men God calls us to be.
• By thinking about the word of God and it's practical application in each area of our life, we gain wisdom.
• Update this space frequently and use it as a staging area the ideas you want to get deeper on. Once an idea is starting to flesh itself out, move it into a more permanent location.

• For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. - Proverbs 2:6

Rules for Self

• This section is to define your self-discipline. These rules can help you define and refine your habits, routines, and your identity.
• These rules must be specific and to the point. If you find that a rule you created is too difficult to keep narrow it down.
• Review your rules each day and think about what changes or additions need to be made in order to achieve the life you want to live.
• If a rule conflicts with a current habit, change the habit. If your habit is in line with the your identity (as defined in the identity section) then change the rule.
• Be sure that your rules do not contradict God's laws. Other than that, it's entirely up to you.

Principles to Live By

• Here we want to list quotes, scripture, or own own thoughts which exemplify your ideal life. This is where you choose your standard.
• It's less strict than more open ended than the Rules for Self section. You can have many rules associated with a principle you define here.
• This is a great place for Bible verses that you want to see each day. You can also add quotes from the people who have achieved what you want to achieve.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. - Isa 55:8