3 Daily Rituals for a More Intentional & Less Distracted Life
In this post I share:
My morning ritual that sets the stage for a day filled with clarity and joy.
My during-the-day ritual to keep you feeling less distracted and more in flow throughout the day.
My evening “fairy godmother” ritual that sends you to bed feeling calm and centred and ensures you wake up with intention and clarity.
Every day, we make choices about how we spend our time, and those daily choices shape the life we live.
Annie Dillard once said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” So just imagine if your days were filled with more intention, more purpose, more beauty, and more presence for the things that really matter to you. And instead of feeling constantly distracted and caught up in the noise of the world, you could cultivate a sense of calm and clarity.
Today, I’m pulling back the curtain on three rituals that will help you to start doing just that. They have truly elevated my days, helping me reduce my screen time, live with more intention, and bring more ease and flow into my life.
These rituals aren’t complicated or time-consuming. But done consistently, they’re incredibly powerful.
So grab your favourite cuppa and let’s dive in! You can watch the video, or continue reading below.
No. 1 | Coffee & Intentions Ritual
Picture starting your day in a cosy corner of your home, with a warm cup of coffee in your hands, the morning light coming in your window, the world is still kind of quiet and it’s this kind of sacred time just for you.
It’s a bit like having a morning date with yourself: just you, your intentions, your cup of coffee and maybe a beautiful journal ~ is anyone else a complete journal and notebook addict like me?
I used to really struggle with scrolling on my phone in the morning, in particular, scrolling on Instagram. It was such a default thing for me and I’d turn around and realise I’ve lost an hour of my morning to stuff that I don’t even remember or that, quite frankly, just wasn’t important. And not only that – it was wasting my morning energy! I don’t know about you but my energy in the morning is my best energy and I needed to shift things around to make sure I wasn’t wasting it.
But as soon as I switched up this scrolling habit with this coffee and intentions ritual, I found that I was getting much more joy, energy and focus that I wasn’t getting from my morning scroll.
And this really taught me that in order to overcome certain unwanted habits ~ like my morning scroll ~ swapping it for something that brings me so much joy makes this much easier, and you’re far more likely to stick to the new habit rather than reverting back.
You’ve probably heard people talking about romanticising your life. And that’s exactly what I do each morning with this ritual.
I truly get so excited for this ritual each morning when I wake up. It genuinely makes me so happy and is now a favourite part of my day.
It also reduces decision fatigue. I know exactly what I’m doing when I wake up in the morning and that’s another really important thing that helps us to not get distracted. Decision fatigue opens us up to all these different options and often, that results in us choosing the easiest ones or the ones that we’re used to doing, which are very often things we don’t wish to do any more.
THE RITUAL
Let me walk you through my own version of this ritual:
1. COFFEE: I start by brewing my favourite coffee ~ I have one of those drip filters and refuse to change to anything quicker because I love that intentional, slow moment each morning! (And obviously, you can drink what you like! Coffee, tea, juice, broth… this isn’t an exact science!)
2. BREATHE: Once my coffee is ready, I sit in my favourite spot where I can look out the window, watch the sun coming up and I take a few moments to just breathe.
3. INTENTIONS: Then, I open up my journal and write down my intentions for the day. I like to write three intentions to give me a clear focus for the day ahead, and one of them is always how I want to feel that day. I find this is such a powerful way to set myself up for a day of intention and purpose. And finally, I jot down three things I’m grateful for which starts my day on a lovely, positive note.
BONUS! I also encourage you to have a dedicated space in your home for this: a little pocket of your home that brings you joy and feels cosy and beautiful.
This ritual has truly made a huge difference to my anxiety levels and my mood, and I really notice the days when I don’t do it (because no, I don’t manage it every day – I’m not perfect!) But it’s helped me stop that morning scroll in its tracks and I wake up with much more clarity and intention.
No. 2 | Mindful Tech Time
Mindful Tech Time is about setting aside specific, intentional pockets of time during your day to engage with certain digital tasks.
Essentially, it’s the same as Task Batching. So instead of your day being peppered with all these random moments of checking your phone for text messages, emails or having a quick look on social media, you know exactly when you’re going to do those things and you’re going to do them in one intentional chunk. In order to live with less distraction, we really need more intention and better boundaries around how and when we engage with technology.
Personally, I set aside 10 or 15 minutes at lunchtime to check, label and respond to emails. Depending on your own inbox, you might need more time, or you might want to split it into two sessions during the day.
Let’s consider Instagram as another example. I’ve designated 20 minutes at 5 pm (post-work) as my personal Instagram time for the day. And because this time is intentionally set aside, I can fully enjoy those 20 minutes without guilt. As a result, I feel less compelled to check Instagram sporadically throughout the day, knowing that I’ve already reserved a specific time for it after work.
And, in the near future, I plan to use Instagram more to share content and build community. It’s a platform that I do genuinely enjoy *so long as it’s used with intention!* So I may extend my daily Instagram time to 30 minutes or an hour, depending on the content I plan to share. But this will remain an intentional block of time to ensure it doesn’t become a distraction and to make sure I continue to use Instagram mindfully. So if you’re a creative or a business owner, this approach to mindful social media use might be worth considering.
The key here is to actually schedule these Mindful Tech moments. Whether you use a paper planner or something like Google Calendar, actually start scheduling these moments so, for the rest of the time, they’re out of your head. You don’t have to think about them.
This way, when you’re engaged in deep work tasks or spending time doing something you love, you don’t have these distractions vying for your attention. You’ve ring-fenced that time with intention.
You’ll discover that your mind feels less scattered, less tugged in multiple directions. And, of course, these moments will evolve and change and they’ll look different for each individual. But it’s so important to start setting those boundaries with yourself and your screens. It really does make a world of difference.
YOUR CHALLENGE
Choose just one thing that you do on your phone (or something else that’s a big distraction for you) that you could set a certain amount of time aside for each day in one Mindful Tech Moment. You could use the examples that I gave earlier or choose your own. But try ritual for at least a week and see how it goes. Let me know how you get on in the comments !
No. 3 | The Night-Before Ritual
This ritual serves double duty: Firstly, it prepares you for the following morning and sets the stage for a smooth and intentional start to your day. Secondly, it serves as a gentle signal to your body and mind that it’s time to transition into your pre-sleep wind-down routine.
It’s a bit like being your own fairy godmother ~ making sure everything is ready for your ‘Coffee and Intentions’ date the next morning and taking care of your future self. You’re setting yourself up for a day of intention and going to bed with clarity.
Your evening routine is your morning routine’s best friend.
SET THE STAGE
So here’s how it works for me:
Each evening, I make sure everything is ready for my ‘Coffee and Intentions’ ritual the next morning. I set out my journal, I make sure I’ve ground enough coffee and I get out any supplements etc. I even try and choose what to wear the next day to give me that really smooth transition in the morning.
And, you might be wondering, “What does this have to do with reducing distractions?”
Well, does this sound a little familiar? You wake up in the morning and realise you’ve run out of coffee, or can’t find your journal or your clothes are in the wash. Suddenly, you’re in a scramble, starting your day on the back foot. And you could still do your morning ritual, but this makes it so much harder – right?
And when something feels difficult or requires a lot of effort, it’s incredibly easy to fall back into the ‘easy’ trap which can often be things like scrolling on our phone and starting our day in a distracted state.
One of the biggest ways to change your habits is to make the habit you want to do as easy as possible.
By having everything prepared, you’re reducing the effort needed to go about your morning routine, making it more likely that you’ll stick to it and you won’t feel the need to be distracted.
So by preparing the night before, you’re setting yourself up to start the day with intention and purpose. And it’s easier to stay consistent with your morning ritual. Everything is ready and laid out for you, keeping you feeling centred rather than reactive and distracted.
It’s a small act of kindness for your future self.
SIGNAL TO WIND-DOWN
And the other benefit of this ritual is that it acts as a signal to my body that it’s time to wind down, and start preparing for sleep. So this is the first step in my full, screen-free, evening wind-down routine. It acts as a transition and takes me around ten minutes.
After it’s done, I’m able to just relax and know that everything is ready for me the next day. It gives me such a sense of peace and calm which, of course, is so important for a good night’s sleep!
YOUR CHALLENGE: Spend 10 minutes each evening being your future self’s best friend and set yourself up for your morning ritual. Let me know how you get on in the comments below!
I hope this was helpful. Remember, that striving for perfection or completely eliminating distractions isn’t the goal (I’m not sure that’s even possible!). But it’s about making small, intentional and consistent changes that align with what matters most to you. It’s this consistency that creates the biggest change in our lives.
