How to Start Your Day
“When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: The people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own—not of the same blood or birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me.” -Marcus Aurelius
Perhaps this is a bit of an aggressive way to start off a post about how to start your day, however, we believe that it speaks to a number of truths about setting your intentions for the day. It is wise to admit to the self that there will likely be an encounter with another throughout the day that is tainted by humanity, whether theirs or yours.
That being said, we are firm believers in setting yourself up for success, and that establishing routines and keeping to them are often the key to ensuring that you will be in a proper state of mind to confront the day’s challenges, whatever they may be.
Although there are many posts out there with “16 Morning Rituals You Need to Start RIGHT AWAY” , “10 Secrets to a Better Morning”, or even “6 MUST-DO tips to achieve optimal morning health,” all I have found is that the more ‘tips’ there are to check off, the less likely it is that I’m going to be successful. This also means there’s a greater likelihood that reading an article like that will just trigger the shame spiral for me of ineffectiveness and self-doubt, and I certainly know where that leads. This is not to say that they do not offer some valuable information, however I know that it is important for me to start off my day with a win, not with an impossible to-do list.
Tim Ferris, author, podcast host, and generally successful person, named one of the “Most Innovative Business People,” sat down with a hundred other successful people and asked them about their morning routines. In addition to basic hygienic acts, and ensuring that you’re getting at least 7 hours of regular and consistent sleep, he recommends the following five morning rituals to start your day and stay on top. What is even better is that he is open about the fact that not every morning does he manage to complete all five, and that if he can manage to accomplish three tasks, he is off to a great start.
Make your bed. Starting off small and simple, not only has the virtue of this task been preached to college students in a powerful commencement address, the practice of making your bed helps you to learn discipline and structure. This is in addition to allowing you to begin each day with an accomplishment, however small, and hacking into your brain’s distaste of cognitive dissonance as a physical reminder to yourself of your importance (i.e. If I am taking the time to make my bed, I must be worthy/ deserving of self-care)
Meditate. While we have already tackled the importance of mindfulness and meditation in another blog,, it is important to note that it is known to reduce stress, and decrease emotional reactivity, while improving focus and attention. Ferris recommends 10-20 minutes, although for those just starting out, it is not the length of time that is important, but just the practice of learning to pay attention. Even a 3-Minute Breathe & Body meditation can change the direction of your day. You can even do this while doing menial morning tasks like putting dishes in the sink, washing your hands, walking to your car, etc.
Do 5-10 Reps of ANY basic exercise. Rather than forcing yourself to exercise first thing in the morning, there are benefits to starting your day with a simple body-positive activity like crunches, yoga, or even just stretching. Simple movements in the morning and throughout the day is sometimes the difference between feeling content vs stress in the first half of the day. A couple different ideas are in play here, namely that any sort of light physical activity in the morning will help to unlock productivity, but also that at some point throughout your day, you should get in a full workout, or come back to a more cardio-driven exercise.
Drink Tea. Ferris recommends a particular blend of black and green tea with ginger and tumeric shavings, however, as reasonable as we’re trying to remain with this list, try the Ayurvedic technique of drinking a glass of lukewarm water with half a lemon’s worth of juice. Or stick with just water. Anything but loading your body up with any sort of sugary drink or substance first thing.
Journal. Prepare for the day ahead by setting your intentions, whether it’s listing three things you are grateful for, three things to accomplish, three affirmations to carry you through the day or all of the above. No matter what sort of journal practice works for you, remember that by choosing to focus on the positive at the outset of your day, through our human wiring for confirmation bias, the likelihood that we will experience more positive throughout the day is greatly increased (just as the inverse is also true).
”While meditating we are simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along.” – Allan Lokos
While we believe these to be some of the most beneficial ways to start your day right, we want to hear from some equally successful people (i.e. you) about what works best. Comment below or follow us on instagram to join the conversation!
