6 Steps to Start Your Mornings Right Every Single Day

Written By: Carly Burr

Do you ever find yourself waking up more anxious than when you fell asleep? Do you notice that the first thing you do when you wake up is go on your phone? Are you ever frustrated because you rushed out the door and felt unproductive the rest of the day? If you said yes to any of these questions, you should consider changing your morning routine. Being able to wake up to a new day is something that we all take for granted, and instead of dreading mornings, we should look forward to them and use them as time for ourselves. Below, I highlighted 6 steps to level up your mornings.

Step 1: Stay off your phone and do something that you love!

In an article from CNBC, a psychologist by the name of Debbie Sorensen states, “looking at your phone or computer right after waking up primes your brain for distraction and can trigger your stress response if you see or read something negative”. The last thing you want to do is scroll through social media and see something that will upset you for the rest of the day. Instead, replace this habit with something that you enjoy. Whether that’s making your favorite cup of coffee or tea or reading your favorite book, there are plenty of screen less options!

Step 2: Gratitude + Positive thinking

No matter how grateful you think you are, you should always be writing down your gratitude and saying it out loud. The book CLUES states that “the secret to your destiny and future success is found in your subconscious mind” (Page 47) and that “the subconscious mind is subject to what the conscious mind is telling it” (Page 50). Simply put, everything you say to yourself consciously is eaten up by the subconscious, causing your brain to actually believe and internalize what you are telling yourself. There is a story from the influential book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill that always comes to my mind when I discuss this subject. Napoleon’s son was born without any physical sight of ears, and the doctors told him that he would be deaf for the rest of his life. Napoleon refused to accept the fact that his son would have to grow up deaf, and instead told himself and his son that he would and can hear. Once his son started to grow older, Napoleon's desire for his son was translated into physical reality, showing signs of hearing! As you can see, the key to changing your life is to control your thoughts. Writing down what you are grateful for and staying positive is extremely important and will work wonders.

My favorite journal is the 5 Minute Journal, you can buy it on Amazon.

Step 3: Meditation

Meditation is an extremely old practice that started in India thousands of years ago. It is a breathing technique used by many individuals to practice mindfulness and stillness. Calm, a popular guided meditation app, stated that practicing meditation shows a 19% decrease in anxiety symptoms after 8 weeks, 32% decrease in stress after 30 days, and a 22% increase in focus after ONE session. Not only do gratitude and meditation help you with the stresses going on in your life, but it also helps you become aware of the way you are feeling and what you are telling yourself, which helps improve your self confidence. Every morning, I meditate for 5 minutes, and for those 5 minutes, I let myself forget about everything I have going on, and just be. I always feel like I get a fresh start to the day after I meditate.

Step 4: Eat a Healthy Breakfast and Move Your Body

People say “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” for a reason! According to the Cleveland Clinic, eating breakfast improves your heart health, lowers your risk of diabetes, reduces brain fog, provides you with energy and power throughout your day, and the list goes on. Making sure you are eating a balanced and healthy breakfast is so important because you’ve been fasting all night. You want the first thing your body consumes for the day to be healthy and balanced, some ideas being greek yogurt or cottage cheese, eggs, toast with peanut butter or almond butter, nuts, oatmeal, a protein shake, or fruit.

In addition to fueling your body with a nourishing breakfast, it's so important for your physical and mental health to move your body. Whether you’re going for a walk, biking, doing a quick ab workout, taking a workout class, or lifting weights, any movement is better than none! Working out helps you blow off steam, get your mind off of that situation you’ve been thinking about, and helps get you into better shape. If you have lower motivation to work out, think about trying a workout class. This way, it forces you to show up, and the coaches push you harder than you'll push yourself.

Step 5: Plan Out Your Day

Something else that I find extremely helpful and makes me 10x more productive is planning out what I want to accomplish for that day. Buy a journal and write down everything you have to attend that week, when your exams or meetings are, random things you need to get off your to-do list that have been nagging you, or anything that’s on your mind. Getting your thoughts down on paper and being able to visualize what you have to do makes you feel significantly less stressed and immensely more productive. Tell yourself that you have enough time in the day to accomplish everything, as our subconscious mind internalizes everything. If you say you’re going to have enough time, you’ll have enough time and accomplish everything you need too.

Step 6: Have a Good Attitude Throughout the Day

The last step to starting your day off on the right foot and finding the key to your treasure is to have a positive attitude throughout the day. When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself that it’s going to be a good day, even if you’re nervous for something you have later in the day. Like mentioned before, if you tell yourself you are going to have a good day, your subconscious will hear this, and you’ll probably end up having a good day. Now don’t get me wrong, every day isn’t going to be great, but it’s your positive attitude that usually determines how your day is going to pan out. Even if something didn’t go as planned, try to stay as optimistic and stick with the mindset that “everything happens for a reason”. This way of thinking has changed my life, and will begin to change yours too!

For more tips and tricks like this, check out CLUES located under the "Books" tab, or click this link to purchase it directly from Amazon!

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