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Overview

The way you start your day sets the tone for the rest of the day. It’s like steering your brain in that direction. Choose wisely and get ready to get empowered!

The 10 Empowering Morning Habits that Will Change Your Day
Why Morning Routine Is Important?

How do you start your day?

Hitting off the snooze button and hoping to catch a few more precious minutes of sleep?

Wishing it was the weekend already?

Grabbing your phone to check your messages?

Rushing to get out of the door? Dreading what’s ahead of you?

Best Morning Routine Habits

1. Don’t waste time sleeping in

We all know that sleep is important and restorative. But. If you oversleep or if you wake up late, then you tend to miss a good part of your day. Learn to get up early, or earlier than usual, even if that’s 30 minutes earlier. Make it a habit to notice it and plan how you will use the extra precious minutes to empower yourself. Then, enjoy your morning routine!

2. Smile

First thing when you get up, let a smile spread across your face. Savor it. Let it be the signal to your brain that “everything’s fine, everything will be OK.” When you smile, the muscles in your face send the message “I am happy” to your brain, and feel good natural hormones begin to flow in your system, giving you a good feeling. 

3. Set a positive intention for the day

How would you like your day to be? This is your chance to tell your brain what you want to do and begin your day on a positive note. Isn’t that better than moaning about what you don’t want to do in your day?

4. Breathe

Breathe

Powerful Morning Habits

Take some deep, slow breaths. Breathing is a natural technique that, when done in a slow, deliberate manner, grounds you and sends the message to the brain that you are relaxed and peaceful.

5. Answer two important questions.

You can use a plain piece of paper, a sticky note to stick it to your refrigerator, phone, or computer. The questions are:

  • What is one thing that I am grateful for in my life?
  • What are three small things that I appreciate in my life?

6. Make Your Own Bed

The inspiring University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Commencement Address, Naval Adm. William McRaven, ninth commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, encouraged his audience to change the world by making their bed every day!

It’s simple, yet powerful. The explanation is that when you wake up and accomplish something, no matter how small, it gives you a sense of accomplishment that fuels you to complete the next task and then move on to the next task.

Starting with a small accomplished task, at the end of the day, you will have a list of a whole lot of small accomplished tasks. This reinforces the idea that little things matter and can make a big difference. And if you can’t do the little things right, you can bet you can’t do the big things right either. 

This way, you reinforce and encourage yourself to start building new habits and practically a new life. So, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your own bed.”

7. Do a powerful yoga pose, like the warrior

Besides the substantial physical benefits in circulation and balance, this pose is awesome for increasing the body-mind connection, opening your heart, and fostering courage and inner strength.[5]

Yoga

Morning Routine Yoga

8. Meditate in the shower

Even if you don’t have a lot of time to do a morning routine meditation, you can still reap its benefits as you get ready.[5] While in the shower, focus on your breathing—breathe in, breathe out. as simple as that. Notice the sensation of the water on your body and enjoy how it feels against your skin. Research shows that meditation has a host of positive effects, including a sense of calm, a better mood, better self-esteem, more creativity, and better mental and physical health.

9. Have a to-do-list

Prioritize what you need to accomplish during the day. Make sure you experience the joy of crossing off items once you have accomplished them. See if you can group together related items—such as grocery shopping and going to the dry cleaners—that happen to be close to each other. Make sure that you include self-care stuff, such as a massage, time to read a book, a coffee break, etc.

10. Create Something

Start the day in an inspired and creative way; write a blog post, a poem, start working on your novel, draw something, or make something with your hands. This way, you set a positive mood and tone for the rest of the day.

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Dr. Liza Varvogli

Liza Varvogli, MA, Ph.D., is a bilingual Harvard-trained psychologist, award-winning picture book author in her native Greece, and pare