How Successful People Start Their Day

Intoday’s world, most people wake up and hurry off to work with a rushed mentality. This can add extra stress to your day, and if your day doesn’t start off momentous, it can be hard to get the most out of it.

When I was deployed overseas, my morning routine was crucial to how my days went. When I didn’t get breakfast, I was irritable. When I didn’t give myself thirty minutes before a shift started, I would feel rushed and anxious. If I didn’t have a chance to check my phone for notifications, I felt left in the dark.

It’s crucial to find a morning routine that is customized for you because everyone is not the same. We all have different things that make us click. For example, some people exercise to jump-start their days, while others thrive at night.

I’m going to share some of the best morning routine activities that have worked for me.

Go For a Brisk Morning Walk

Something that has always been beneficial is getting outside in the morning and grabbing some sun. Vitamin D from natural sunlight will jump-start your day and have you feeling happier.

Benefits of a morning walk according to Mayo Clinic include:

1. Maintain a healthy weight
2. Prevent or manage various conditions
3. Including heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes

If all you do when you roll out of bed is to use the bathroom, get changed, jump into your car and arrive at work or school, then you’re missing out on a lot of free sunlight. Walking in the morning kickstarts your metabolism and is great for your physical health.

For a few days, I didn’t start my day by getting outside, I woke up depressed and unmotivated. I dreaded going out into the heat because I thought I needed to start out writing a blog post indoors first. You can have all of the right ingredients for your successful morning routine formula, but if you have them out of order, it’s not going to work.

It’s good to get out in the morning and see other people. On my morning walks, I see a lot of the same people, and it gives me a sense of belongingness, something that’s been hard to find during this Pandemic.

To see people in person other than on screens or the worrisome news channels is nice for a change. Especially since times have changed since the Pandemic, I am noticing that people are more open to interaction now.

As someone who writes daily, going for morning walks has been my ultimate boost for creativity and coming up with new ideas. For some, it can be a morning run that gets the juices flowing, but I like to save my workouts for later in the day, typically after 5 pm.

Your morning walk doesn’t have to be a five-mile hike. It can be something as simple as ten minutes around your neighborhood while listening to your favorite music. Keep track of what distance and time work for you best. Who would have thought something so simple could be so effective?

Eat a Quality Breakfast

At least start the day by eating breakfast. If you’re allotted extra time, make it a quality breakfast. Something that makes you say “mmm.”

According to WebMD, “skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating.”

The military trained me to ensure that I get breakfast in me before I start working for the day. It’s more than just a meal. It sets the tone for your body. People work better on a full stomach and are often less irritable.

Some morning breakfasts I recommend:

1. Eggs, rice, and meat
2. Cereal with a banana
3. Oatmeal and fruits

Nowadays, almost anything is on the internet and this includes cooking recipes. If you have no idea where to start in the kitchen, pull up a YouTube video and they’ll walk you through everything you need to know. It can be a fun step-by-step experience that you may end up falling in love with.

Food should be a celebration for our bodies.

Can McDonald’s for breakfast be time-saving in the mornings when we’re running late? Yeah, sure it will, but it’s not going to treat your body nicely later on and will be tough to burn off the calories.

I’m not much of a coffee person, but if I was, I would purchase a Keurig and brew my own cups of coffee that are about 10 cents each to make rather than going to Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts every morning. There will be more money in your pockets and more time on your hands!

Eating breakfast steers you clear from overeating at other times of the day. For example, if I miss breakfast, I know that I’ll probably have an urge to eat heavily for lunch and then eventually dinner. As long as you make your hit times, your body will fall into a favorable routine.

Talk to Someone You Enjoy

According to Cigna, “Long term feelings of loneliness and social isolation can also reduce cognitive skills, such as the ability to concentrate, make decisions, problem-solve, and even change negative self-beliefs. And it can ultimately lead to depression.”

These are a few signs of loneliness according to Insider:

• You constantly feel tired
• You can’t stop binge-watching shows
• You are more stressed than normal
• You’re spending a lot of time on social media
• You’ve gained weight
• It feels like you always have a cold

Loneliness can be a killer. Reaching out to people who you care about will be beneficial to both of you. A mini-conversation to start the day could be exactly what you need to put you in a good mood.

Having conversations get the mind fired up and thinking. When someone asks what your plans are for the day, it helps hold you accountable. Without having conversations with people, we may end up going through the motions and skipping some important tasks.

Whether it’s a Tinder match from last night or a friend in another state, just make it a habit to reach out in the mornings. If you live with family or friends, ask about their plans for the day or crack a little joke. It makes a difference.

People are more than happy to receive a morning text because it lets them know that they are cared for. Just a little buzz on your cell phone helps you feel more connected, which can help build momentum for your day.

If you feel like you have no one in your corner to talk to, there are mental health professionals on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. They are open 24 hours a day, and their phone number is 1–800–273–8255. In some of my darkest moments, reaching out to this hotline kept me from making a regrettable decision.

Write or Journal Your Thoughts

Sometimes my form of writing to start my day is creating a physical checklist, and other days it’s 1,200-word essays I post online. Ever since I started writing daily, I’ve felt a number of positive effects.

• Less stress and anxiety
• Clarity over what’s on my mind
• Motivated on achieving my goals
• Inspired to make the world a better place

According to Reinvent Yourself, “in your daily life, you experience a lot of things, and they remain on the back of your mind until they disappear. So when you write daily, you grab each and every thought you have and see if something valuable can be extracted from that idea”.

By writing down your thoughts on paper, smartphone, or a computer, you ensure that an important idea won’t slip past your mind. Some of the greatest thoughts start with the simplest of ideas. You don’t want to miss out on something that could transform your life, do you?

Writing is incredibly therapeutic and great for reflection and planning. When you have a hundred thoughts running through your mind first thing in the morning, it can feel overwhelming.

But the second you write out what’s on your mind and the things you’ve got to get done, your stress levels will lower, and you’ll feel like you’re in control.

A Morning Routine Makes You Unstoppable

After a hefty amount of research on the topic of morning routines, I can conclude that they are monumental to your future success. If you don’t have a morning routine yet, it’s never too late to start.

Let’s recap my top-four morning routine activities:

1. Go for a morning walk
2. Eat a good breakfast
3. Talk to someone
4. Write or journal

By following my top-four morning routine activities, you’ll be physically motivated, feel connected with others, avoid getting “hangry”, and have a clear focus for the day — all of which are traits of successful people.

The benefits are endless. You can change the structure of your life by manipulating the structure of your morning. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to create an ultimate morning routine. Anyone can do it.

By doing your morning routine activities every single day, you’ll feel more motivated and inspired to live out your life. As a result, your tasks will feel automated and you’ll feel happier for getting more accomplished.

“If you win the morning, you win the day.” — Tim Ferris