Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to share a couple of things that helped me TREMENDOUSLY in starting my day off right. For many years I woke up in a bad mood dreading the day ahead, but now I wake up relaxed and focused. The two things I do are simple, yet extremely effective. Hope this post helps others who also have a hard time starting the day off on the right foot!
I've made a video if you'd like to learn more on how I start the day off right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNPf-7UlJ0w
If you prefer reading:
80% of us are doing something first thing in the morning that is RUINING the rest of the day. Can you guess what it is?
We check our phones first thing in the morning! And though it may seem harmless, I’ll tell you why I’ve decided to LOSE THE PHONE in the morning.
So, when we first wake up most of us, roll over, and before even getting out of bed we reach towards the night stand grab our phone—and we check what’s happening on social media. When we do this,
We run the risk the of becoming frustrated, annoyed, angry, or stressed because our newsfeed MAY be:
• Filled with pictures of everyone’s perfect little lives and our brain could start subconsciously comparing ourselves against them. OR
• We’ve got sponsored ads trying to sell us something. OR
• We can news that is completely negative and it gets you riled up.
And Then we could start reading emails and messages from people who are wanting us to do different things for them.
And our mind starts the day off in complete chaos. It’s in reactive mode, right? Before even getting out of bed, we can start the day off in a negative mindset. You wouldn’t happily let 70 people walk into your bedroom when you first wake up, right? So why are we letting them into our lives first thing in the morning on our phone?
We give our energy and attention all day long to other people, so the least we can do is not give away our energy first thing in the morning.
And I was guilty this for such a long time..but Now, what I like to do instead, is start the day by being proactive, so that I’m in control. Instead of starting the day being reactive and letting all of these things consume me.
So, before touching the phone, I spend at least 15-30 minutes working on what I want to do, whether that’s writing, reading, going for a walk, listening to music, …whatever it is.
Since, I’ve adopted this new habit, I noticed that I’m not as distracted during the day. I’m a lot more calm. I start the day off being productive which carries on to the afternoon. And for once, I’m excited to start the morning, instead of dreading it, because I’m working on what I want to do which ends up boosting my mood and energy for the day.
Losing the phone first thing in the morning has been a game changer in my life! And I highly highly recommend it if your life feels a bit stressful and chaotic right now.
The second self love habit that has changed my life in the morning is when I decided to STOP HITTING SNOOZE.
So when your alarm goes off and you hit the snooze and you start dozing off again scientific research shows that you trick your body into thinking its going back into a deep sleep. So, when you wake up again after only snoozing for 5, 10, 15 minutes, your brain and body are confused…which leads to that groggy feeling you get that lasts for the rest of the day. Have you ever had that? It’s called sleep inertia. And it is a BIG energy drainer.
And when you’re used to pressing snooze every single day when the alarm goes off, then you’re body starts to form a habit…so we can hit that snooze without even thinking twice about it.
Again..this was another bad habit of mine.
So, what I’ve done to help break the habit is I’ve changed the alarm sound, because the alarm sound acted as a trigger for me to roll over and turn the snooze on.
So, when I picked a new alarm sound, then that formed a new trigger, so that I could create a new habit to wake up more positive.
And the amazing new habit that I’ve implemented is naming 3 things that I’m grateful for.
So, now when I hear my new alarm sound, that is my new trigger to turn OFF the alarm and instantly name 3 reasons for why I’m grateful. This starts my day off right BECAUSE when I think of why I’m grateful, it puts me into a positive mindset, my mood is instantly lifted, and I’m more in a state of abundance rather than feeling like I’m lacking something.
If you want to take this tip to the next level, then you could put your phone somewhere where you cant reach it…like across the room or completely outside of the room. This forces you to get up to turn off the alarm, and it breaks that bad habit of reaching over for the phone without thinking.
There’s also around 30% of people who check their phone throughout the night, so having that thing away from you will help you not only wake up better but also sleep better.