Three Things That Will Help You Have a Good Start to Your Morning

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“Same Shit, Different Day” How many times have we heard that before? How many times have we ourselves said that before? I used to say it every day as my feet hit the ground and you know what? That’s exactly how my day went! I called SSDD in the morning and it became my reality all day long and it piled up and became deeper as the day wore on.

Pixabay / KristopherK

Yes, it still happens to me – that SSDD feeling that won’t go away, the one that can make me short tempered and bitchy – grouchy.

Pretty demoralizing feeling, isn’t it? Wake up to a screaming alarm, slam a cup of coffee and head out the door half asleep to start another day at whatever soul-sucking 9 to 5 hell pit you work at or in. Awesome way to live a life (I’m extremely fluent in sarcasm, dontcha know?). Just awesome. But it can be really easy to get back on track.

I’ve discovered a few simple tricks to add to the beginning of your day that, at the very least, will bring some order and maybe a little peace to the start of your day.

Stop “Alarming” Yourself
Choose Your First Thoughts of the Day Wisely
Plan Your Day and Build in some Solitude

Easy peasy, right? Here’s how!

Stop Alarming Yourself

There is a lucky subsection of the population who have exquisitely timed internal clocks and are able to bounce out of bed cheerful and awake with no outside intervention whatsoever. (Yeah…really annoying, are they not?) Then there are those of us who hear our alarm, hit snooze and go back to sleep just long enough to be fuzzy and cranky all day. The last type has alarms that would wake the dead and who start their days with jangling nerves and an eye twitch. This advice covers the non-morning people (you know who you are).

Here’s the advice. Get rid of the loud, screaming alarm clock and grab your favorite tech toy. Instead of setting up an alarm, set music or a softer ringtone, something a little more soothing or meaningful to wake you up easily rather than scaring the living daylights out of yourself. For those of you without a tech toy, most alarm clocks today have radios built or CD players. Again, find something other than the loudest alarm possible. A great, non-alarm alarm is the iHome Zenergy Sleep Therapy Machine.

Oh, and one more thing, for Pete’s sake, go to bed at a reasonable time! Getting a solid 6 to 8 hours is the best thing for your mental and physical health. Schedule it if you have to (see part 3). The world is sleep-deprived enough as it is, stop adding to it!

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Choose Your First Thoughts of the Day Wisely

After your peepers have opened, give yourself another 5 or 10 minutes before you get out of bed (Do Not Go Back To Sleep!). Use this time to build some expectations for your day. Each day is a reboot, it’s a chance to have a do-over and start with a clean slate. Every new day is full of opportunities to tap in and turn on to what your day is going to look like. Let yesterday go. That was yesterday, live in the now…today. The guy that nearly sideswiped you on the highway isn’t thinking about you, so don’t think about him. Start the new day by giving it positive energy.

Appreciate all the good things that you have in your life. Even during the darkest times, we have things that are wonderful. Find them and dwell on them. Look for the positives and consider them for a moment and send some gratitude out to the universe. Starting the day with appreciation and gratitude will make the entire day flow a little more easily. If we give appreciation for what we have, we attract more of it into our lives.

Plan Your Day and Build in some Solitude

Solitude? Absolutely! The need for solitude is definitely an introvert thing. We need peace and quiet to recharge our batteries. But even extroverts can benefit from a little ‘me’ alone time. Solitude and sleep can be part of your daily plan.

So grab your first cup of coffee or tea in the morning and grab your favorite planner BEFORE you touch your email, BEFORE you make that first call BEFORE you go talk to coworkers or any of the other etceteras that we live within today’s world.

Planning our day first thing in the morning makes us less interrupt driven. Most of us work on the first thing that catches our attention and then hop over to the next and the next and the next without fully completing the preceding task(s). At the end of the day, there’s a pile of unfinished things that we have to try to work on the next day and remember where we left off. We waste more time catching up on tasks that could have been finished in one swoop.

Having a visual reference, a visual plan helps immensely. Working through a list helps keep our time structured and more productive.

Get the biggest, baddest thing on your list done first. The day starts looking pretty easy after you slay the monster in your inbox and then it won’t bother your conscious the rest of the day. This is solid advice I’ve found over and over again in any planning class or book I’ve read. I am the Queen of Procrastination and this has really worked for me.

Make Every Day a Great Day

Or at least a better day than it could have been. This is a simple recipe to add to your morning routine. Tone down the alarm clock or boot that sucker right out of your life. Think good things in the morning before your feet hit the floor. Find a journal, planner or notebook that inspires you. This all adds up to finding a little more peace and order in your day.

Take steps to make your day start off great and your whole day will be great!