You wake up in the morning, wander to the kitchen, open the cabinet and grab a mug, and pour yourself a cup of coffee. If you’re anything like me, this is the classic start to the day. I set the timer on the coffee pot (okay, my husband Chris sets it), and in the morning the smell of coffee in the kitchen is what encourages me to get going.
How do you go about choosing your mug in the morning? Do you grab whichever mug is closest to the front of the cabinet, or do you have a favorite mug you like to use everyday it’s clean? Perhaps you’re like my parents, who put out the coffee mugs for the next day in the evening.
I’ll share what happens in my kitchen every morning… I purposefully choose my mug based on the kind of day I want to have.
Yep, every morning I stand in front of the cabinet in my pajamas, look at the mugs and grab the one that feels connected to the way I want to show up to the day.
And here’s the thing – the choice is important to me. I sometimes even audition the mugs in my head while looking at them; what it would be like to choose a few different ones based on the day ahead? This way, I start my day by choosing how I want to show up to it. I’m choosing the perspective for how I want to view the day ahead.
I’m sharing this with you because for me, it serves as an incredibly helpful reminder to be in choice with how I want to engage with the day. I invite you to find what that might be for you.
Choose Your Perspective
We are always in choice, whether we are consciously aware of it or not. Actually, this is a lot of what we explore in coaching: creating awareness around your choices. You can’t always control the situation, but you can choose how you interact with it.
If we go back to the morning and the mug, I’m essentially choosing how I want to be with my day. And, I’m using the mug as a cue to ground me to that intention.
It’s easy to go through life unaware of the choices you are making in every moment. In that sense, a day might just start, play out and then end, without you ever realizing that you’re the captain of it. (I’ve definitely been there!) But actually, you’re in charge of how it plays out, and how you show up to it.
When you take a moment in the morning to choose a perspective for the day, you get to choose a lens through which you want to see the day.
When you choose a perspective, you make assumptions, and set expectations. You start to piece together a prediction for the day, based on the assumptions you make about that perspective and previous proof-points in your brain. In doing so, you convince yourself that you can predict what will happen, because you align previous proof points and assumptions to support that viewpoint.
You can use this to your advantage. Decide what perspective you want to have, and choose the mug that evokes that in you. What can you see playing out for your day in choosing that perspective?
Some Examples From My Mug Cabinet
Connected to Me
I have a handmade ceramic mug that my sister bought for my birthday because when we were in the shop, it perfectly fit my hand. I mean perfectly. It was as if the mug was molded for me. When I choose this mug I’m choosing a perspective to show up to the day as really me, the version of me that my sister sees. It reminds me of home. I show up to my day grounded and connected to my values. We call it the “Katie Mug.”
Get Shit Done
We have a mug from a company my husband used to work at. He worked incredibly hard there, often getting woken up through “pager duty” in the middle of the night to fix issues. He performed at an incredibly high level. When I choose this mug I’m telling myself that today I’m going to get in the zone and get shit done.
Elevated, Bigger Picture
I have a blue mug I bought at Anthropologie years ago. It’s light blue and has a Scandinavian pattern painted on it. To me, this mug represents a clean, beautiful aesthetic (frankly how I like to consider my work on my best day). When I choose this mug I choose to show up to my day connected to the bigger vision of my brand, and approach my work from this elevated perspective. It enables me to look past the little stickie notes of “to-dos” and think bigger picture. Having this mug on my desk connects me to bigger thinking and reminds me to connect to the bigger vision.
These are just a few examples of the mugs you’d find in my cabinet and how I connect with them. Consider what those are for you.
Who will you be today
When you choose your mug, spend a minute imagining what kind of person you’ll be today. How will you show up in your life today? What kind of person do you want to be at work? Use your mug choice to bring in those emotions. For example, you might choose a cozy mug, and bring in feelings of kindness, warmth, a slow pace, and listening. As you imagine those feelings, allow yourself to feel those emotions now.
Morning Motivation
Willpower is often strong in the morning. The day feels fresh, and you get to create it to be how you want. You can take advantage of this by using the early morning moments to connect with your higher intention. Use your morning willpower to choose a motivational mantra for the day. Perhaps the choice of mug is that cue for you, to signal the choice of your mantra for the day.
Savor the Meaning
Choosing your mug is an opportunity to connect with story behind the mug. Mug cupboards are often full of mugs from various life adventures. Open my cabinet and you’ll see a Prime Meridian mug from London, a Survivor Know-It-Alls mug from a favorite podcast, an Underground Bakery mug from the bakery where we bought our wedding cake.
You can choose your mug, take a moment to reflect on the story behind it, and savor that memory. Meaning can be seen as the intentionality in life. It is what gives importance to the connection of different concepts, giving an object, say a mug, more importance than being an ordinary object.
Savoring can be defined as awareness of pleasure while it is happening. It brings your mindful attention to the present moment. One form of savoring is reminiscing – savoring a coffee mug through remembering past memories associated with it.
Take a minute to connect with the meaning behind your mug, and savor the history of it. Allow it to help bring awareness and purpose to the start of your day. You can use the mug as a trigger to connect you with that positive emotion throughout the day – honoring the meaning behind the mug as you carry it. What part of that mug’s essence are you taking into your day?
Physical Trigger & Cue
Habit cues, also known as triggers, can be helpful to remind you of the habit you are working on. The chosen coffee mug of the day is a great cue of the perspective you have chosen to carry for the day.
So, what is this stirring in you? Tomorrow when you wake up, what mug will you choose to start your day?
Enjoy your tea or coffee, and have a great day!
