Letter 44: How I Turned My Morning Routine into A Small Business
When we start our days with M.A.G.I.C.
Welcome to The Learning Curve, a weekly newsletter to share our understandings, joys, and learnings through personal narrative. Our writers span many generations, cultures, identities, and ethnicities.
We’d like to welcome our recent new subscribers! If you haven’t subscribed yet, please join us!
Happy National Scrabble Day!
I had the pleasure of meeting Natalee at a pop-up event in Fort Worth for small, female-owned businesses in October of last year. I was immediately struck by her approachability, generosity, and poise. While I was at the event to help promote gifted., Natalee was there to promote her M.A.G.I.C. Mornings journal. And of course, we had a chance to chat!
Meeting and connecting with Natalee was an incredible reminder that kindred spirits are out there and we can meet them at any time. I was so thankful that she wanted to share her story of starting her intention journal, a practice she honed while in the 2020 lockdown. Morning routines, and especially gratitude rituals are proven to help us achieve everything from our daily goals to improvements in health. My favorite part of Natalee’s method is probably coffee. I can’t seem to start my day without it! Does it count if coffee is also one on my list of what I’m grateful for?
All kidding aside, Natalee’s story is relatable and so inspiring. It takes courage to change, even in small ways. Thank you for sharing your story with us! —Emily
“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.”
E. B. White
In 2019, I created a daily habit of going on “pod-walks,” a quick walk around my neighborhood listening to 20-30 minutes of any one of my favorite podcasts. I save the juicy crime ones for long drives, so my pod-walk themes were in the realm of self-help, high performance, and spirituality. If I didn’t go on a walk, I would take a book and read on the roof of my Los Angeles apartment building. One or the other would quickly become something I looked forward to every single day.
At this point in my life, I had been pursuing the unstable and inconsistent career of being an actor. I had been lucky enough to book a few jobs but my day-to-day was to audition to find the next job as well as find ways to make some income on the side. This led to a lot of free time, a lot of rejection, and a lot of contemplating what the meaning of life was. Hence, the reason I started to read self-help books and listen to podcasts. I have very little control over anything in this career path, just my resilience and willingness to persevere. A career in entertainment may seem unrelatable, but in reality, don’t we all live every day with at least some aspect of uncertainty? None of us knows if our boss is going to show up to work a jerk, if our professor decides to assign an unimaginable amount of homework, if our kids are testing our patience beyond belief, or even worse if some sort of devastation in our life happens. Every single day we are being tested, a new curve ball thrown at us. Then we go on Instagram and see everyone’s highlight reel living their “best life.” It’s hard to make time for ourselves when we are dealing with life and the inevitability of comparing ourselves with others.
There was one thing that kept catching my eye (or ear) during these daily pod-walks or roof-top reads. All of these prolific change-makers I was reading about from Oprah to ancient philosophers, or the modern-day inventor to your mompreneur had one thing in common, a morning routine. They all woke up and started their days with mindfulness. They had a habit of doing some sort of prayer, journaling, drinking coffee, and stating what they were thankful for. I found this so fascinating. Each one of them spoke about how this practice was such an integral part of their day. I knew I wanted in on it.
I went on a hunt for the perfect morning routine. I started by Googling “morning routines of high-performing people.” There were so many results. “Tom Ford’s life-changing morning routine” and “Barack Obama’s healthy morning routine,” followed by scientific studies of how effective a morning routine can be. Unbeknownst to me, there were journals that existed that guided you through some sort of morning regimen. After trying out a few different methods each for a week at a time, I realized none of them were really working for me. They were either too long or too short, had too many directions to follow, or just overall not my preferred style of journal. So one day, I steered away from the conformity of these methods and created my own.
I sat down and meditated for five minutes, followed by writing three affirmations, three things I am grateful for, and three intentions, all while sipping my favorite morning delicacy—coffee. I looked at the once-blank paper in front of me and saw the opportunity for something magical. My very own morning routine method.
M.A.G.I.C: Meditation, Affirmations, Gratitude, Intentions, and Coffee.
I did it every single day for a month. It changed my life.
Closing my eyes and sitting quietly for those first five to ten minutes of my days allowed creative and peaceful energy to flow through me. I opened my eyes in a state of tranquility. The affirmations strengthened my confidence and reprogrammed my subconscious mind to believe the positive statements I had written. Gratitude ignited a warm feeling inside me that lasted throughout each day. Intentions were the driving force behind my goals for the day or dreams for the future. As I kept reading and researching after feeling so inspired by this new daily habit, I found that science supported all four of these steps in my method. Believe it or not, a ton of positive psychology research has been done on meditation, affirmations, gratitude, and intentions. (I’m not so sure about coffee, but it sure does make me happy!) I should also mention that although I finish my method off with coffee every day, it’s actually a metaphor for taking action. So of course, you can still do magic without drinking coffee.
I shared the M.A.G.I.C. method with my friends and family, and everyone started their new morning routine. Each person gave me incredibly positive feedback. After bringing it to social media and the overwhelming response of how it was changing their lives, I realized many more people would benefit from this morning routine.
During the “extra free time” I had through the 2020 pandemic, I created the My Magic Mornings™ brand and journal. One of my favorite parts about this process has been developing our philanthropic model of donating one journal per purchase to students in under-resourced school districts. We have currently worked with schools in Los Angeles county and we are looking to expand.
You may be wondering what propelled me to start an entire business based on the fact that I found a great morning routine? Totally valid question. This takes me back to my 2018 vision board. Plastered on the top right corner in stickered lettering it says “build a business.” I had no idea what or when that would be, but I knew that I had an entrepreneurial itch. I put it on my vision board and went on with my year. Two years later when I created my new favorite morning habit, M.A.G.I.C., and had an overwhelmingly positive response from my friends and family, I knew I had something. It was my sign from the universe. This would be the business I start. I also knew that I wanted to somehow have an impact on the younger generation. They are the building blocks of our future. I thought if I could get a M.A.G.I.C. journal into the hands of malleable high-schoolers, we would have a chance at creating positive change. Our mission at M.A.G.I.C. Mornings is to be the catalyst in implementing health and wellness tools in schools across the country.
Everyone should have access to a little bit of morning magic.
“When we're determined to reach an objective, it's the gap between where we are and where we aspire to be that lights a fire under us.”
Adam Grant
Natalee’s Five Favorite Things
My current read: Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
One of my favorite skincare secrets is the Drunk Elephant Baby Facial. Totally worth the price. Since you only have to apply the mask once or twice a month, it lasts up to a year.
Jay Shetty’s Podcast: You can listen to any of them and they will absolutely make your day better.
This tuna melt recipe has my heart (I may or may not make it twice a week every week).
There’s something so therapeutic about my daily walks that they are definitely among my five favorites.
With gratitude,
Natalee Linez
P.S. Natalee mentioned her “pod-walks” as a source of inspiration. What has been a recent source of inspiration for you?
As I think about leaving the classroom (again!), I appreciate Natalee’s ideas for providing structure to my morning routine and not having to dash out the door to get to school. Thank you for sharing her “magic.” I’m looking for some additional wonder in this new season of life. 💕
I’ve been doing Suleika Jaouad’s 100-Day Creative Project and it’s been a joyful daily touchstone. It’s amazing how even the little things can mean so much.