When your first action is a win, you set yourself up for success.

The Morning Routine: How To Have A Good Day

Start the day acting, rather than reacting

Starting your day on the right foot, on the right side of the bed, is a magical feeling. Your first action sets you up for the day. You start the day with a few small wins. You accumulate confidence and momentum to push even harder. It gives you the time you need to mobilise your brain, time for the fogginess to wear away. It sets you up for the day. It means you start the day acting, rather than reacting to events.

This was the trick that I’d been searching for.

For years I struggled with understanding why my emotions would jolt up and down. One day would be good, the next bad. There seemed to be no pattern to my feelings. Bad days often came after spectacular ones. It was up and down, up and down.

I didn’t understand.

Whilst part of it may have been because of the naturally fluctuating hormones of a teenager going through college, what helped me, and helps me now, is starting the day with a routine at a set time. It was this that allowed me to have strings of good days, end on end, because I started the day right, giving me the momentum to work on the things that I find truly meaningful later on.

At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: “I have to go to work — as a human being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for — the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”

Marcus Aurelius

For me this meant:

1. Waking up early: Either 7 am, or 7:30 am… Recently I’ve been alternating between the two but the key is not in the details but the fact I just wanted/needed to wake up early. I have realised that when I wake up later — around 10 or 11 am; I feel anxious. Once I’ve done my exercise and had my breakfast, it’s already midday! I feel so much more at peace when I start the day off on my own terms, knowing that I have the day ahead of me to achieve my goals.
2. Having a short 20-minute exercise session: 100 pushups and 50 pullups. Sometimes it would be less, sometimes it would be more. It’s incredible how such a short amount of time can transform your body and your mood each day.
3. Having breakfast and reading: Eating my porridge/cereal with lemon green tea whilst reading a book. When asked how he finds the time to read so much. Ryan Holiday replied, “How do you find the time to eat? You just do.” Reading during breakfast, lunch, and before I go to bed is where I get most of my reading done.
4. Showering and dressing: This is self-explanatory: washing after exercising and also providing an end to the morning routine and setting me up for the day ahead. To look into it technically, it reinforced my identity as someone prepared, ready, clean.
5. Avoiding my phone for the first hour of the day: This is absolutely key. If I check my phone when I wake up, I am instantly bombarded with seemingly urgent notifications and messages before my eyes have even adjusted to the morning light. It stresses me out! That’s not how I want to start my day.

Remember that your morning routine should be tailored to you, to your current circumstances, needs and wants.

Whilst I’ve found that waking up at 7 am is radical for me, since I stay up late reading or writing, meaning I occasionally deprive myself of sleep, consistently waking up early has allowed me to structure my days as I want. This has given me greater freedom to pursue the things that I love: seeing friends, walking the dogs, reading, and so on, as well as working towards my degree and having enough time for distractions that will inevitably occur throughout the day.

Here are the benefits I’ve found of my morning routine:

1. Less anxiety. Waking up at the same/similar time each day reduced my feelings of anxiety. I don’t wake up reacting to events or having to expend energy choosing what I want to do — I already know what I want to do. My morning routine makes me feel great about myself: I’ve done one thing right today.
2. Greater motivation. Starting the day with a small win (making my bed and doing my morning routine) acts as a springboard to achieving even more. Each part of the morning routine naturally leads to the next, providing certainty and consistency, whilst giving me confidence at each step. I gain momentum. I am then ready for whatever I have planned for the day: the morning routine is as essential as eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
3. More gratitude. Whilst we should expose ourselves to new scenarios, we should have foundations at our feet, like a morning routine. It allows me to flow through the early morning, performing my habits, whilst daydreaming, thinking about problems I want to solve, or things that I am excited and grateful about. How can I make today the best?
4. Greater productivity. In setting me up for the day, my morning routine allows me to get a lot more done. Less anxiety provides me with greater clarity whilst greater motivation and momentum pushes me to the next step. Having more gratitude and knowing I started the day right reinforces my chosen identity and means I feel content and happy, even if I achieve less than I want to. This, paradoxically, gives me the freedom to achieve even more.

In conclusion, having a morning routine has changed my life, turning the odd good day into strings of good days. With each completion of my morning routine, I realise what I could do better or experiment; I do not set it in stone or make it inflexible. It provides certainty and security at the most important part of the day. It sets me up for the commitments of the day and the challenges the world will give me.