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You know how they say that if you don’t have the time to meditate for ten minutes, you should meditate for an hour?
When I first heard that, at a time when I really didn’t know how to make the time to meditate at all, I knew they were right, but I still didn’t know how to start meditating.
If you, too, struggle to find the time to meditate, I have three tips for you, which will enable you to start meditating, no matter how much time you have.
But first: Why meditate at all?
I remember speaking to an old friend not long ago, who, when I mentioned something about meditation, immediately said something like: That’s not for me!
But meditation is for everyone, and it’s beneficial for everyone.
Meditation is nothing fancy, it’s not just for some people, it’s not attached to a certain belief system or anything one needs to learn.
It’s just a reset.
Sometimes when you have too many tabs open in your browser, or too many programmes running on your computer simultaneously, everything freezes and you need to restart.
That restart is what meditation can do for you, among other things.
It can take you out of the busyness, the stress, the needs, the wants of your daily life and reconnect you to what matters most.
It’s proven to improve your concentration, your overall feeling of well-being, it can help to support your immune system, help you manage stress, deal with new situations and so much more.
There’s really nothing to lose, but everything to gain, if you start meditating and it’s the best gift you can ever give to yourself.
But how do you start? I learned what I’m about to share, from my Coach Brian Johnson from Optimize/Heroic. It’s a combination of what he learned from BJ Fogg who wrote Tiny Habits, and Stephen Guise who wrote Mini Habits.
If this works for you too, maybe you too can teach it to somebody else!
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1. Choose a Time to start meditating
Our days can get busy easily, so if there is something that we really want to do, it is best to do it in the morning or the evening, as it’s least likely that we have distractions then.
Now it requires some self-awareness, to choose the best time for yourself.
If you have a hard time getting out of bed in the morning and have to hurry to get to work already, it might be easier for you to start meditating in the evening.
If, however, you’re so tired in the evening, that you already fall asleep on the couch, then maybe it’s a good option to get up a little earlier to have time to meditate in the morning.
If neither of these work for you, see if you can find a certain time in the day that’s good for you.
When I started meditating, I often meditated in the late afternoon, when I felt my concentration decline and I had a hard time to work effectively.
It not only kept me from procrastinating, it also boosted my energy for the evening.
Just try different times and see what works best for you.
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2. Choose a Trigger to start meditating
It’s a great help to connect your new habit to something that you already do.
For example: “Every morning, after I brush my teeth, I meditate for x minutes.”
(I just saw a talk by Wayne Dyer, who said that he used to run for an hour every morning and that people called his behaviour obsessive. He pointed out, that nobody calls it obsessive if we brush our teeth every day. It’s just a question of what we deem necessary.)
A different trigger could be: “Every night before I go to bed, I meditate for x minutes.”
My favourites are: “Whenever I feel overwhelmed, whenever I feel like I don’t have enough time, to accomplish everything I want, whenever I’m not sure what’s the best thing to do next – I sit and meditate for x minutes or until I have found clarity and feel calm again.”
Because you can meditate more than once per day!
Maybe you want to have a longer period in the morning or/and evening and take a couple of supportive meditation breaks during the day.
No matter what you choose, eventually, you will realize, that you do save time if you meditate more because what you do in between meditation becomes much more effective.
And to start meditating daily is not obsessive. Obsession only starts, if you do it to escape from other things, or when you feel like you can’t do anything without it, but not when you use it to support you to do what’s important best. 🙂
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3. Start Crazy Small
Now again, thanks to my coach Brian, who pointed this out again and again, the magic in creating a habit is to start crazy small.
In the beginning, don’t try to meditate every morning for half an hour. Don’t even try to meditate for ten minutes. Try to meditate for one minute.
Not only does a minute of meditation already have a benefit to your overall well-being, it’s also really hard to find an excuse, why you don’t have a minute.
And when it is linked to a trigger, it’s also hard to forget.
Once meditating for a minute has become your new normal, you can increase. But don’t reach too high!
You’ll feel much better if you meditate for a minute each day, than when you do ten minutes occasionally.
It’s much easier, too, to do something daily, to make it a habit you don’t have to think about, than something to remember to do occasionally.
And once your daily habit is up to ten minutes, or even half an hour or an hour regularly and you miss your slot, you can always squeeze in a minute, even if it’s in the bathroom at work.
Or on the train. Or while waiting in the supermarket line.
Just make sure, to make it a daily a habit, if you want to fully embrace all benefits. Something that you do, like brushing your teeth.
Nothing fancy, nothing strange, just something to bring you back to yourself, to reset yourself and to make you feel empowered. Something that will help you to create more positive changes in your life.
I hope this has helped you to start meditating.
Basically, you could create any new habit this way. Find a time, connect it to a trigger, and start really small. And do it daily.
But if you are not meditating regularly yet, and there is anything you want to change about your life – start here.
Simply start meditating for a minute a day and you will notice how things change and new possibilities will open up sooner than you may think.
If you’d like to start meditating regularly, but feel like you could use a community to support you in this, join the I AM CREATOR School.
Photo by Tetyana Kovyrina on Pexels.
In the 12 months of the I AM CREATOR School, we are looking at twelve different key areas, that are essential to living life with ease, love and success. Training our mind to become more mindful is one of these key areas.
