In this blog article, you will learn about three great morning habits that will give you a good start to the day. If you follow them consistently, preferably every morning, your life will change for the better. In addition, by following these habits, you will start the day proactively. This means that already in the morning you choose your attitude towards the day. You gain more control over the day and feel more liberated. Especially if you think you are trapped in a hamster wheel, I recommend that you start a morning routine.
At the end of the article, you will get an example of what a 60-minute morning routine might look like.
Start your day right – what do I mean by that?
More precisely, the question is: What does ‘right’ mean? If there is a ‘right’, there must be a ‘wrong’.
To explain this, I start with the ‘wrong’ but very common start to the day: The first thing you can do wrong is to ‘check’ your smartphone (social media apps, emails …). It doesn’t take much, and you get lost in the depths of the smartphone. I suppose everyone has already done that or maybe it has even become a habit.
It is only after this first grip on the mobile phone that you get up, get dressed, have breakfast, and go to work or school, perhaps already under time pressure.
When you start your day in this way, you tend to react to things rather than being proactive (i.e. consciously choosing your attitude for the day) and thus being well prepared for the activities and situations ahead.
The above is a very common practice when asking people how they start their day. I also observe this in my immediate environment. My wife has exactly the habit described (by the way, I have received permission from her to mention this here:)). I am working on convincing her of the benefits of starting the day differently. And basically she already knows it herself. But as so often, it is important to put things into action (i.e. implement a habit) to make a change.
Fortunately, there is a much better way to start the day. In fact, there are many different ways. I’m talking about a morning ritual that consists of several activities that you can turn into positive habits.
But why should you do a morning ritual at all?
From my own experience, I can say that you should do this because it will change your whole life for the better.
However, this is not only my own experience, you will find it in just about every book on self-development. Many (if not all) of the personalities that we would consider successful also start with an empowering morning ritual, such as Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey.
So it’s best to start right away! But please do not exaggerate! Please do not want too much at once. Changes are difficult for the brain to accept and therefore it takes time. This is where the expert opinions diverge. The time span ranges from 14 to 90 days until an activity becomes a habit. Probably the truth lies somewhere in between (about two months) and may of course vary from type to type and from activity to activity to be practiced.
Well, I have to admit that it takes a little discipline and it takes time to implement a stable morning routine. The range to implement a new habit goes from 14 days up to three months or even longer. And of course, it depends on the type of habit you wanna implement and on the type of person you are as well. Most experts though today say that a new habit needs about 66 days to be set in the brain.
Nevertheless, it is absolutely worth it to do the work.
Morning Rituals – Power boosts for your day
If you consciously approach the day with encouraging and inspiring habits, you will be proactive. This means that you give yourself the desired attitude towards the day and you will, therefore, look more positive all day long than without this ritual.
Now it is time to introduce my 3 great Morning Habits.
As I mentioned above, there are many great ways to do morning rituals. But only after weeks or months will you have found out the best routine for you. And of course, you can always change them.
But I promise you that it will be worth it.
There are several areas that you should address with your morning habits and here is the first one.
Amazing Morning Habit #1: Smile
Imagine having to leave the house at 8:00. Then you should wake up at 6:30 at the latest to have an hour just for you. Immediately after waking up, start the day with a smile.
If you smile for a minute (you may, of course, extend the duration, you will feel a feeling of joy. This is even scientifically proven. Body and mind are closely connected. Your conscious tensing of the laugh muscles in your face evokes the same emotion as a real laugh or smile.
So: Smile:)
Practicing this activity really doesn’t require much. You just have to think about it. But the effect is really great.
This brings us to the next activity.
Amazing Morning Habit #2: Something for your Body
I can almost hear what you are thinking now – “Really – getting up early and then a workout”?
My answer is ‘no’ and ‘yes’!
On one hand, I say ‘no’. You don’t have to put down a “crazy workout” á la Arnold Schwarzenegger here. Of course, you may if you want to. But actually it is more about doing something for your body.
This brings me to my ‘yes’ because you should do something, anything, for your body shortly after getting up.
You could do some Yoga, Pilates, Lifting weights, Stretching, etc.
It doesn’t matter what you do exactly – just do ANYTHING useful to your body. I guarantee you will appreciate it.
I, for example, have set myself the goal of having a visible six-pack within three months. Therefore I consistently train my abdominal muscles for at least five minutes in the morning. Most of the time, I then do some other training (e.g. stretching) all by myself.
Furthermore, I deliberately keep the training short so that I do it at all and secondly, so that I can also incorporate my other activities into my ritual.
A third positive effect of this only short training is that I can stay in bed longer, which is of course very pleasant and also allows me to get my seven to eight hours of sleep more easily.
After the training for the body, I recommend taking a shower, preferably cold. This is also not one of my favorite activities. The positive effects became known at the latest by Sebastian Kneipp, already in the 19th century. That’s why I’m just getting into the habit of it.
Amazing Morning Habit #3: Something for your Mind
The next area you should address is the mental part of you. You could read, affirm or meditate. Another good action is to journal. In this journal, for example, you could rewrite your goals, write about gratitude, etc.
Again, as far as I’m concerned, at this moment I do some meditation attached with visualization and after that, I write into my planner, and very often I also speak affirmations. Additionally, I recorded my affirmations on my phone. So I can listen to them during for example working out.
I also want to read in my morning routine but I don’t get it done at this moment yet.
I am still working as an employee. So, I can’t decide when to start my work and I have to get up even earlier if I want to be able to put everything in my morning routine what I like to have in it. And as I mentioned earlier I like to sleep and in addition, we all know about the importance of good sleep for our health.
But now back to you! I recommend you: Test the things above mentioned. To do this, in my opinion, it is necessary to try out things at least a few days up to one week. After that period you could conclude if the new action was helpful or not. And thus, by trial and error, you will discover the best morning habits for you.
But, please, give it a try! You will appreciate it!
Example of a 60-minutes-morning-ritual including amazing morning habits
- After waking up directly switch to ‘smile-mode’. Get dressed and do some kind of workout. Then take your (cold!) shower. This first part should last up to 30 minutes.
- The next part could consist of gratitude. You could do this in writing (get a journal!) or only in your mind. But try to get emotionally involved with this. The good emotion is absolutely crucial! I recommend doing this exercise for 15 minutes.
- During the lasting 15 minutes go to day-planning: Structure your tasks and assign priorities to your activities. Most important are those tasks that are urgent and important.
- Now, have a nice day:)
If you wanna go more in-depth with this topic I would recommend a program that had helped me creating my morning ritual as well. Here you cant get Morning Ritual Mastery.
Summary
As you can see, the right morning habits are a very subjective thing. I am not able to decide what rituals work best for you but what I do can say is that with those 3 amazing morning habits you will start your day in a good way. They will bring you more happiness and give you more control over your life.
If you are pursuing the recommended morning habits above you will start your day absolutely great. Try different habits and implement those which work the best for you.
I hope, his article was helpful for you.
One last question: What morning ritual do you practice? Please leave your answer in the comment section below.
