Empowering Morning Routines

9 min readFeb 23, 2021

The power of enjoying the first hour of the day ☀️ ☀️ ☀️

You might be a morning person or a night owl. Maybe you are something in between… that’s fine. In any case, science is clear about this: The way you start your day will influence the way you experience the rest of it.

You ran into this many times. You start the day excited, or with good news, and you feel good and positive throughout the day. However, you start your day doing something you dislike, thinking about your problems, or listening to bad news, and negative feelings will follow all day long.

Acknowledging this is tremendously powerful to improve our life quality. Do you want to improve the way you feel, your productivity, your health, and your relationships? I will show you how you may enjoy the first hour of the day in a way that empowers you and leads to a day well-lived.

Why should you consider having a morning routine? 🤔

A morning routine is a set of habits that you do before starting your daily main activity. This helps you start strong, in an enjoyable and relaxed way, that can empower you to have a day of accomplishments and a life of growth.

So, what can a morning routine offers you?. How can it improve your life?

These are four science-backed reasons that highlight the impact morning routines can have on you:

1 ) Set the mood for your day

Probably the most important reason to have a morning routine. Once again, the way you start your day will influence the way you experience the rest of it.

This is an invaluable fact to acknowledge! Starting your day doing something that you want and enjoy is going to make you feel good. And, isn’t feeling good your ultimate goal? All the things you want, they might be health, good looks, a good income, good friends, feel fulfilled, own things, travel, etc… You want all these things for one single reason, to feel good.

So, a morning routine of your choice, that you enjoy, and helps you start the day right, will increase the chances to have a good day, a day well-lived 🤩.

2) Focus and clarity

A morning routine can be a perfect opportunity to improve your focus and have clarity on what is important to you.

Some healthy habits that we will see further down may help you improve your concentration power, get a sense of clarity on what matters most, and be able to focus on it.

You may eliminate unhealthy habits that disrupt your ability to concentrate, that fill your head with all types of information that will mess up your focus and clarity, and ruin many of your mornings.

3) Feeling in control

Morning routines are incredibly powerful. They can allow you to be in total control of your life during the first hour/s of your day.

You can either jump out of bed and rush to the daily commitments, which will likely put you in reactive mode and you will let your day control you. Or you can use that time for yourself. Tranquility is an XXI century luxury and having control of the first hour/s of the day is priceless.

4) Productivity

A morning routine can help you start the day right. You do your morning habits one by one and without noticing you also build momentum. Every little task you accomplish isn’t just giving you its value per se. Additionally, it’s helping you build the habit of productivity.

You will notice that feeling productive makes you want to accomplish more. The reason behind this is that with every accomplished task, your body releases Dopamine (the chemical for progress and growth that makes you feel good as you make progress). Feeling productive in the morning will boost your motivation.

These are the reasons why a morning routine can have such a positive impact on your life quality. They empower you for the rest of the day. In the short term is a quick win, in the long term it builds-up into something much greater that helps you achieve your goals and dreams.

How can you create your morning routine? 🤷‍♀

A morning routine is very personal. No morning routine or habit suits everybody and you would need a routine that works best for you. It might require you to try out until you find habits that are right for you. Also, when experimenting, I suggest integrating one habit at a time in your morning routine.

Remember the reasons to have a morning routine: (1) to set a positive mood, (2) to have focus and clarity, (3) to feel control, and (4) productive.

With this in mind, I suggest you create a morning routine with healthy habits that meet some or all of the following characteristics:

It makes you happy or/and excited — You really feel like doing this, and it makes you feel good.
It gives you tranquility and peace — You are in control and nothing will distort your focus and clarity.
It makes you feel accomplished — It can be from a simple task to the most challenging task of the day. But after doing it you feel motivated, energized and helps you build momentum.
It’s healthy — It’s good for your brain and your body.

Common healthy habits for a morning routine 😍 😍 😍

Making your bed — can be an easy task to start building momentum and gives you a clean environment.
Drink plenty of water — We lose a lot of water as we sleep. Your brain and body need to be hydrated.
See the sunrise or walk in nature — To feel renewed, relaxed, energized, and experience the nature-high.
Reading — To learn something and get inspired or just for fun.
Journaling — To plan out your day. If you want to have a successful day, visualize it first.
Gratitude board — Write down the things you are grateful for. It improves the immune system, your mental health, your relationships, and your optimism.
Yoga —Great for mental and physical health. It helps you relieve stress and anxiety, and increases your strength and flexibility. Outdoors… is another level.
Meditation — To feel more present, get clarity, and train your concentration power.
Cold showers — To be present. You won’t be thinking as you take the cold shower, but being… unconditionally being.
Time with others — Breakfast with family or chat with your partner.
Exercise — Run, swim, HIIT exercises, gym, surfing, boxing. It’s good for your body and your brain and mostly… it’s fun!
Prepare the next day during the night before — Especially good for night owls. Plan your day, clothes, and meals to save you time in the morning.

Common unhealthy habits for a morning routine 😈 😈 😈

Sleeping less than 7 hours — It’s the minimum amount of time you need to be healthy.
Hit the snooze button —You won’t feel more rested by sleeping 5 extra minutes. You are breaking the sleep cycle every time you hit “snooze”. Indeed, you will feel sleepier.
Check your social networks — Decreases your ability to focus. You start your day focusing on other’s people problems and goals rather than yours.
Start your day in reactive mode — Checking your work or personal emails, messages or calls, first thing in the morning will take away control and your focus.
Watching negative news — Science says it’s 30% more likely that this will make you have a bad day. You are likely to carry negative thoughts for the rest of the day.
Having an unhealthy Breakfast — A high sugar/carbs breakfast won’t give energy enough and you will feel sleepy and hungry before lunch.
Drinking coffee first thing in the morning — Interferes with your cortisol levels which will impact the quality of your sleep and stress.

Sharing my own routine 💁‍♂

Now, I want to share my morning routine. I slightly change it many times, looking for improvements or just to experiment. But here, I show you my four favorite habits and the benefits I get from them.

1) Sleep at least 7 hours

Characteristic: It’s healthy.

It’s well known that a morning routine starts the night before. I like to wake up early, between 6 and 7 A.M. to enjoy a couple of hours of total peace. So, I need to go to bed before 23.00.

Ideally, I wake up around 6:30, I feel full of energy and ready to start a morning routine of my choice, so I feel like stepping out of bed.

I make my bed so that I start the day with a simple task and I start building up momentum. I drink plenty of water, have breakfast, make a caffeine-free drink, and then, I start the next big routine of my morning:

2) Journaling — 3 professional things and 3 personal things

Characteristic: Makes me excited, gives me tranquility, peace and I feel accomplished.

I have this habit for more than 4 years and it’s my favorite. I strongly believe in life balance and this routine allows me to accomplish it and experience what I call a “day well-lived”.

So every morning I write down in my journal 3 professional and 3 personal things I want to achieve today. I accomplish all of them in most of my days, helping me achieve my short and long-term goals and ensuring the life balance I want.

3) Meditation

Characteristic: Healthy, makes me happy, gives me tranquility, peace and I feel accomplished.

So after visualizing my day. I meditate for 10 minutes. So I sit down, close my eyes, and either do my own meditation or follow a guided one.

Meditation helps me be present, get some clarity, and train my concentration power.

4) Reading

Characteristic: Makes me happy, excited, gives me tranquility, peace and I feel accomplished.

Right after meditation, I read a book for 30 — 40 minutes. I like to learn new things that inspire me.

Reading helps me to continuously be learning and growing. It makes me feel excited and also accomplished. The momentum is built and I’m charged for what is next.

Now, I’m ready to start my daily main activity. I have enjoyed my morning, I have clarity on my goals and I’m excited to focus on them. I feel empowered and in control. I decided how to begin my day and how I want to live the rest of it.

What benefits may you expect out of your morning routine? 🤗

Besides the four main reasons for having a morning routine. You can obtain many other benefits:

Health-related: better sleep, reduce stress and anxiety, combat forgetfulness, boosts energy levels, and improves self-esteem.
Improve relationships: your positive mood, reduced stress, and anxiety, feeling of control will have a positive impact on your relationships since it reduces the chances that you snap at your family and friends and will allow you to be more understanding and patient.
Productivity-related: feeling confident and organized, life balance, achieving your daily goals which lead to achieving long-term goals and dreams.

Enjoy the first hour of the day! ☀️

The main purpose of having a morning routine is to help you have a great day. Science is certain of the positive impact that a morning routine can have on your day and the quality of your life. They will make you feel fantastic, feel in control, and will create that focus and clarity to help you be productive, achieve your goals, and grow. Morning routines are sacred for many people… they are magical! 🧞‍♂️🧚‍♀️

Finding a morning routine that is right for you is fun. I showed you some of the most common healthy morning routines that can give you some ideas. You might want to find a routine that makes you feel happy or excited, gives you tranquility, and a sense of accomplishment to build up momentum, and get empowered for the rest of your day 💪.

Do you want to improve your health, relationships, control your life, build that momentum that will make you accomplish your goals and dreams?

Then, enjoy the first hour of the day in a way that empowers you, and leads to a day well-lived and many other great things 😌.