We are living in one of the most prosperous and advanced times in human history. There are more opportunities and resources available to us then ever before. Still, most of us aren’t getting the results we want to have. We are not tapping into the unlimited potential that is within us. I’m not okay with this. Are you?

There is a huge potential gap in our lives that separates who we are from who we can be. We spend much of our time thinking what we should do to live the life we want, but then we don’t take those actions. In order to save your life from this unfulfilled potential and mediocrity, you must prioritize and dedicate a good amount of time each day for personal development.

Here are five daily practices that will develop different aspects of your life so that you can create the life you want:

1. Purposeful silence

Purposeful silence is one of the most significant tools for development for our noisy and fast lifestyles. Here “purposeful” means we are engaging in silence for a beneficial purpose. An hour of silence can teach you more than you can learn from just reading books. If you study the lives of the most successful people, you’ll find out most of them frequently engage in purposeful silence to achieve extraordinary results.

If you want to reduce your stress level and focus on the most important things in your life, you ought to start your morning with a period of purposeful silence. How do you do that? It completely depends on your choice. Some of my favourite activities to choose from and practise during my period of silence are meditation, prayer deep breathing and focusing on gratitude.

Some mornings I just do meditation and other mornings, I combine them to get the best benefit. These activities will help you relax your mind and body. But it is important that you leave your bed while performing these activities because there is greater chance of you falling back asleep if you stay in your bed.

2. Affirmations

I’m a huge fan of Mohammad Ali. He used to repeat the words over and over again ” I’m the greatest” and then he became the greatest. Affirmation is a very effective tool to become the person you need to be to achieve the things you want in your life. By repeating positive affirmations regularly you will be able to design and then develop the mindset to improve any area of your life.

How do affirmations work? When you repeat an affirmation over and over again, it leads to belief. Then the belief turns into deep conviction and you become the exact person you want to be. Write down some positive affirmations and repeat those every morning after waking up. Within a short time these affirmations will turn into deep conviction and you’ll see how quickly you are becoming the person you want to be.

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can” – Nikos Kazantzakis

3. Visualizations

Many highly successful people like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Will Smith, Oprah Winfrey and Tiger Woods have advocated the use of visualization to accomplish goals. Famous golfer Tiger Woods, is well known for using visualization to perfectly execute his golf swing on every hole.

Famous actor Will Smith said, he used to visualize his success and fame long before he became successful. So every morning after repeating your affirmations, visualize what you really want to be, Visualize that you’ve achieved your goal, how this achievement has changed your life, how happy you are after that achievement.

Try to feel, see, touch taste and smell every detail of your vision. To be more comfortable during the visualization period, you can play classical, instrumental or any kind of soothing music in the background. Sit up in a comfortable position wherever you prefer, take a couple of deep breathes and get ready to visualize.

4. Exercise

Daily morning exercises even for a few minutes will significantly boost your energy. Some of the benefits of morning exercises can be helping you sustain higher levels of energy throughout the day, enhance your mental clarity, help you think better and concentrate for a longer period of time.

How you use your exercise time is up to you. You can go to the gym, go for a long walk or run. But every morning try to dedicate some time for exercise. Don’t convince yourself by saying ” I don’t have time” or “I’m so tired” to ignore exercise.

5. Reading

Reading every morning will help you transform your life. It’s the method of acquiring the knowledge, strategies and ideas needed to radically accomplish your goals. Don’t Just read random books, read the books about the people who have already done what you want to do. Model these successful people’s strategies and techniques.

“If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads” – Vera Nazarian

There are thousands of high quality books on almost every topic. There is no limit of knowledge you can get from reading these books. How much should you read? I prefer reading at least 10 pages every day. Before reading a particular book, ask yourself what do you want to gain from it? Why are you reading this book?

These points originated from Hal Elrods “Miracle Morning Transformation.” Go check him out to figure out more on how to transform your life with your morning practices.

What morning practices do you partake in that are beneficial to your life? Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below!