27 morning habits, 31 money lessons, 100 tiny changes to transform your life
3 new ideas on smarter living
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27 Short Morning Habits to Start Your Day Right
“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life,” Mark Twain once said. A good morning routine is the key to a productive day. It sets the tone for the day and can have a lasting effect on your mood and productivity. By starting your day on the right foot, you can set yourself up for success all day long.
The secret to a successful day is to get a good start. Remember, there’s no single way to start a productive morning. “Routines are the ideal way to bookend your day. I think they are the building blocks of effectiveness, efficiency, and efficacy,” says Mike Vardy.
The key is consistency. Experiment and stick to routines and rituals that work better for you or bring out the best in you every morning. Aim to make your morning habits automatic, and you will be off to a great start almost every day.
What’s your “get ready process”? Instead of deciding random things to do in the morning, which tends to waste time and brain energy, build a stack of morning habits (your step-by-step system) that get you going without thinking twice or wasting mental space.
“The biggest task in the morning is to try to keep my headspace from being invaded by the outside world.” — Austin Kleon
Be sure to set a regular bedtime and stick to it. One of the best ways to prepare yourself for the day is to get a good night’s sleep. It’s key to feeling refreshed and alert, and it allows your body to recharge for the day ahead.
Start your day with your smallest high-value task. This will help you stay motivated and keep you going throughout the day. It may be tempting to dive right in and tackle the biggest tasks first, but that usually leads to stress quickly.
Start your morning with a glass of water. This will help kickstart your metabolism and give you the energy to start the day. Good hydration also helps your brain clear waste that may impair optimal function.
Commit to regular light exercise. Once you’re up and out of bed, take a few minutes to stretch, and do some light exercise. This will help ensure that you’re fully alert and ready to go by the time you start work. The key is to find something that works for you.
“Movement is so important for helping me to clear my mind and set the tone for a positive and productive day.” — Dempsey Marks
Make time to read a few pages of your favourite book. You can read for just 10–15 minutes. It’s a calming way to start your day, build a consistent reading habit and improve your intelligence.
If you can, go for a short walk. It clears your head, prepares your brain fr creative work, puts you in a good mood, boosts your energy, increases blood flow and quickly activates your body’s systems. “An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” — Henry David Thoreau
Listen to the right music. Calming music sets you up for a productive morning. You can listen to peaceful music while commuting, walking, or running. You could even listen to your productive or focused music when you start work.
Stick to your to-do list from the night before. Reduce the number of decisions you make in the morning by committing to a list of essential tasks you identified yesterday. It’s an easier and quicker way to put your energy to use as soon as possible.
How about getting up 30 minutes earlier than usual to work on your personal project? If you don’t have time in the evening to do something meaningful outside of work, you can do it in the morning.
Don’t make plans in the morning. You are most alert in the morning, so focus on tasks that require massive mental power. Put your brain energy to productive use by getting things done instead of thinking about what to do.
You don’t have to, but you can try meditating for a few minutes in the morning. It’s not something I do every day, but the few times I’ve tried it, I was able to release tension and increase focus.
If you rush to work or start your day stressed, wake up 30 minutes earlier than usual. Giving yourself plenty of time means you will start your day feeling calm and good mood.
Rearrange your to-do list. What’s the most critical task for the day? Move it forward. Aim to get it done before midday. A sense of accomplishment puts you in a good mood for the rest of the day.
Start with a successful end in mind. Write down three things that will make today feel successful? Block time off, prepare your immediate environment for a productive morning, and start ticking them off.
“Waking up early, connecting with nature, and having my quiet time are priorities to me, and they are non-negotiable.” — Danette May
Declutter your desk. Remove all the distractions that take time away from getting things done. Chaos doesn’t encourage productive work. Put paperwork, files, and even your phone in a drawer the minute you assume focused mode.
Break your day into manageable and specific actions. It gives you a better understanding of what needs to be done. Without a daily schedule, we are likely to react to the demands of others and spend an awful lot of time in our inboxes.
Put off checking your phone. It’s hard but not impossible. Many of us are used to reaching for our phones first thing in the morning. When you think about it, it’s a distraction that takes us away from important morning tasks. Limit the sense of urgency a phone creates.
Work with your mind and body. Be mindful of your energy levels. Match your energy level with your tasks. If a specific morning routine or process is not working, switch things up and do more of what’s working.
Make a cup of tea or coffee a secondary source of your daily liquid intake. Water should always be your primary source of hydration. Coffee may be an easy way to feel more awake but water is more important for good health.
To wake up at the same time easily in the morning, go to bed at the same time. It’s a better way to build your circadian rhythm (sleep-wake pattern). A consistent morning routine depends on it.
Find a reason to wake up every day? What feels you with happiness when you think about tomorrow? What are you excited about and look forward to tomorrow morning? Something to look forward to puts you in a good mood for the day.
Don’t forget to ventilate. Open the windows and replace stale air with fresh air (even in winter a few minutes of fresh air does wonders for your mind and mood). It’s a habit that immediately wakes you up for the day ahead.
Wake up a more intelligent, productive, and better person every morning than yesterday. You have an entire day to look forward to. Make the day work for you, not against you.
Food for thought
The achievement society is burning us out, we need more play [Psyche]
The problem is, as achievement-subjects, not only do we burn ourselves out, but the meaning and value of our lives is always deferred. Once we have our dream job, the perfect home, a perfectly optimised life – once we are productive enough, efficient enough, successful enough – only then will we arrive at meaning. But just like the fruit that eludes Tanatalus’ grasp in Tartarus, meaning remains just outside our reach.
31 Lessons I’ve Learned About Money [Ryan Holiday]
–Anticipate the fact that maintaining discipline is hard. Automate. I’m always amazed when I check the balances of accounts where we’ve set up automatic transfers for investing, for our kids’ college, for our emergency reserves–things I set up a long time ago have been doing their job, a far better job that I would have done had I put it on my monthly to do list.
–If it makes you a worse person (parent, neighbor, writer, whatever), it’s not success. If starting a business makes you a worse person—if it stresses you out, if it tears your relationships apart, if it makes you bitter or frustrated with people—then it doesn’t matter how much money it makes or external praise it receives. It’s not successful.
100 tiny changes to transform your life: from the one-minute rule to pyjama yoga [The Guardian]
Consciously choosing my first and last thoughts each day. We have 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day, but 80% of them are repetitive and negative. Every morning, I choose an empowering thought; every night, I choose a grateful thought, which helps shift my mindset. Jay Shetty, life coach
Focusing on joy, rather than willpower. I started exercising only when I found activities I adored (tennis, dancing); I started eating copious amounts of vegetables only when I found dishes I loved. And I started writing only when I took to working in sunny cafe windows. Susan Cain, author of Bittersweet and Quiet.
My 7 Rules for Happiness [Scott Young]
Embrace the seasons of your life. Unhappiness is wishing you could be at the beach when it is snowing. You can’t control the weather, and daydreaming about a possibility that isn’t practical doesn’t make you better off.
A major philosophical tension in the pursuit of happiness is the conflict between accepting things as they are and striving to change them for the better. There is a third way: accepting the broadly unchangeable factors of your life while seeking to make the most of the things under your control.
3 ideas on smarter living
A question worth asking
‘Will this thing I really want actually enrich my life?’ We often confuse price with value – what something costs and what it brings to our lives. I try to remind myself of this before every purchase I make.
A piece of advice worth passing on
Self-initiated work will more heavily shape your career than ‘client work’. We should always do something creative outside of our typical professional obligations. It makes us feel alive and will, eventually, bring new jobs/opportunities our way.
A piece of advice worth passing on:
‘Do the work.’ That’s all the productivity advice you need. We tend to direct your attention to a million optimisation hacks – from time tracking apps and prioritisation frameworks to quantified self sensors and the latest AI-powered tools. We latch onto anything to avoid doing the work, because doing the work is hard. But there are no shortcuts. Doing the work is supposed to feel hard.
Tools for life/career
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Thanks for reading!
Until next week,
Thomas
Medium | Thinking Toolbox | The Write Life | How to Live: Lessons in Stoicism
Postanly Weekly is now a reader-supported publication. To support my work, you can upgrade to a paid subscription for $7 per month or $40 for an entire year. With a modest yearly contribution you’re not only helping keep Postanly Weekly going, you also get free access to Thinking Toolbox (mental models for life) and Mental Wealth Toolbox (practical concepts for smarter decisions).
"Don’t make plans in the morning."
I forget this one quite often. Such a mistake... The brain is on fire in the morning. I shouldn't waste it on figuring out what to do. Great reminder! Thank you!
Lots of good advice here — sometimes it’s hard to know where to start, building habits is a great way to create positive momentum.
I just started a newsletter and reading this format is cool inspiration ! Thanks