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Whether you’re a morning person or not, how you start your morning profoundly affects how the rest of your day unfolds.
I’ll be the first person to admit that I haven’t been much of a morning person in the past. But in recent months I’ve started to realize that, whether I like it or not, the choices I make in the morning essentially set me up for the entire day.
While it can be hard to break some of our old habits, starting new, healthy habits in small, yet manageable ways is the best way to ensure that you’ll actually stick to them over time.
So if you want to make the most of your morning, and ultimately have a more fulfilling, productive day as a result, try these 7 simple morning habits to kick-start your day.
7 Simple Morning Habits to Kick-Start Your Day
1. Don’t sleep in. As tempting as it is to hit that “Snooze” button, resist the urge to sleep in. When you contradict your alarm clock by letting your body continue to sleep, you’re effectively training your brain to also ignore the wake-up call, making it harder and harder to get up. So when you hear that alarm clock, be ready to get up.
2. Wake up with a cold shower. If you’re feeling groggy and want a quick, easy way to energize yourself for the day, take a short, cold shower. The cool water will instantly wake you and leave you feeling refreshed. Plus, when you take a warmer shower at the end of the day, you’ll appreciate its hot, relaxing benefits a hundred times more.
3. Drink lemon water. Your body has been dehydrated for at least 7 hours (if you’re getting a decent amount of sleep), so the first thing you should do once you wake up is hydrate. Slice up a lemon and add it to iced or hot water, and you’ll find that not only do you have more energy throughout the day, but also improved digestion. Plus, the added vitamin C from the lemon will give you an extra immune boost.
4. Soak up the sun. Natural light signals to your brain that it’s time to wake up. Light exposure in the early morning also aids in regulating our circadian rhythm, which is responsible for ensuring that our brains are in “awake” mode during the day, and “sleep” mode at night. So when you get up, be sure to open up the blinds, or better yet, head outside for a short walk, or even drink your coffee outside.
5. Eat some fruit. Whether you eat fruit as part of your breakfast, or alone if you’re not much of a breakfast person, be sure to eat a piece of fruit as you get ready for the day. Fruits are packed with vitamin C and other essential nutrients that strengthen your immune system, provide lasting energy, and also promote clear, healthy skin. Some experts recommend eating fruit on an empty stomach to maximize nutrient absorption, but as long as you’re in the habit of eating fruit daily, you’ll still be getting a ton of nutrients and antioxidants.
6. Take a few moments to collect your thoughts. Through journaling or meditation, take a few moments to collect your thoughts for the day. By bringing yourself back to the present and refocusing your mind, you build a foundation of mindfulness for the day, and an opportunity to clear away the clutter from your mind.
7. Prioritize your goals for the day. Whether you have a major project you have to make headway on at work today, or if you’re trying to tick off a number of tasks that have been stuck on your to-do list for a while, take a few minutes to prioritize your goals for the day. If necessary, write them down in order of importance or urgency. When you can say that you completed them later today, you’ll feel that much more accomplished and fulfilled by the day’s activities.
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