What do Richard Branson, Jennifer Aniston and Barack Obama have in common? In addition to being super successful in their chosen careers, they swear by a mindful morning routine. Starting the day in a more mindful fashion truly has the ability to transform your life because it sets the tone for the rest of the day. A mindful morning routine can help you to focus, be productive, experience less stress and stay positive even when the going gets tough. Best of all, it’s not hard to do! Here’s how you can create a more mindful morning routine to set yourself up for success each and every day.

1. Don’t Scroll! 

This is so important. As a blogger and content creator, my career is totally dependent on the power of social media but I also know that starting your day by scrolling is not the best way to set yourself up for success.

For one thing, it’s hard to practice mindfulness after reading ten urgent work emails. For another, social media is a total time vortex; you open Instagram for five minutes and a whole hour passes by (or three).

Social media also encourages us to compare ourselves to the images we see and so it’s more difficult to cultivate healthy self-esteem when you start your day by scrolling. Put your phone on airplane or do-not-disturb mode when you go to bed and keep it that way until you’ve completed your mindful morning routine. 

2. Keep a Gratitude Journal 

Practicing gratitude regularly helps to deal with adversity and even build stronger relationships with those around you. Therefore, writing down 3-5 things you’re grateful for is a quick and easy way to ensure that you stay positive throughout the rest of your day. There’s so much power in appreciating what you have and choosing happiness right here, right now.

 

3. Practice Affirmations 

Affirmations are a powerful tool to challenge the negative beliefs you hold that may be holding you back from going after what you really want. Practicing affirmations involves choosing several positive beliefs and repeating them over and over to yourself, and living your life accordingly.

For example, if you struggle with self-esteem issues, this could mean telling yourself “I am good enough” again and again until you start to believe it. It’s basically like a nice version of brainwashing, but it really does work. Our internal thoughts create much of our external reality, so by influencing our thoughts and subconscious in the right direction, the rest of our life will follow. Affirmations themselves don’t make changes in your life, but they allow you to do so. I read in The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel a pretty complete affirmation that goes like this:

“I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious and happy”

This is the one I’ve personally been using.

4. Exercise 

Studies show that exercising in the morning improves mood and cognitive function for the rest of the day, but you may not have the time (or the inclination) to do a super sweaty workout first thing. Personally, I like to get up and on with work fairly quickly in the morning, then exercise at the end of my working day to de-stress. 

However, there is a lot to be said for getting up and active in the mornings and you don’t have to do a full-on workout to get those feel-good hormones flowing. Light stretching, a quick walk or two minutes of jumping jacks is more than enough to make your morning routine more mindful. 

5. Write Down Your Goals 

I find that writing down my long and short term goals each morning helps me remain focused on what I want to achieve, and motivated even when it feels as though progress is slow. I use my old notebooks to look back on just how far I’ve come with my business. Taking the time to do this every morning ensures that your goals underpin everything you do for the rest of the day. 

6. Make Your Bed 

I’m sure by now we’ve all seen the famous speech about why you should make your bed every morning, but it really is true. Doing a small, achievable task each morning is the first step in the right direction for the rest of the day. This powerful mindset hack has stuck around for a reason: it works. 

7. Start Slow

Finally, don’t try to overhaul your morning routine in one fell swoop. Choose one practice you’d like to incorporate into your mindful morning routine and then spend a week or two making it into a habit. Once it becomes ingrained, choose the next step and repeat this process. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to cultivating a more mindful morning routine. 

For more on mindfulness, take a look at the following:

• How to Care for Your Mental Wellbeing During Covid-19
• How to Be More Productive When Working From Home 
• The Top Habits of Super Successful Bloggers