5 Morning Habits That Will Make Your Entire Day Better
Do you find yourself overwhelmed before you even get out of bed?
Your mornings feel rushed, pressured, and stressful, leading to chaotic days and evenings spent popping ibuprofen to quiet the stress headache that’s been building all day.
By the end of the day, you feel drained, discouraged, and frustrated that you never quite got ahead.
I know that feeling well.
How we begin our mornings often shapes the direction of our entire day.
Years ago, I noticed that when my mornings were rushed and reactive, the rest of my day usually felt the same.
I decided I didn’t want life yanking me along behind it.
I wanted to stop reacting to life and start leading my day with intention.
That’s when I began building these five morning habits that slowly shifted my days from pressure to peace and from stress to strength.
Our mornings often determine whether we move through the day with peace or pressure.
When we begin the day intentionally, we are far more likely to think clearly, manage stress well, and respond calmly to the responsibilities in front of us.
The 5 Morning Habits:
- Get Up Early
- Plan Your Day (and Evening)
- Start Your Day Active
- Stay Off Your Phone
- Reject Negativity
1. Get Up Early to Start Your Day With Peace
Few things make a morning feel more stressful than waking up already behind.
So, the power of this first habit cannot be overstated. In fact, without this habit in place, the likelihood of following through with the remaining four habits is quite low.
While you may not be a morning person, you can train your body to naturally wake earlier than you think.
Getting up early creates margin.
Instead of beginning the day rushed and reactive, you begin with intention and peace.
It’s not always easy, but I try to be up no less than one hour before the rest of my family.
This allows me to have an unhurried time with the Lord while enjoying my morning coffee. This has been my routine for years, even on the weekends.
My peaceful morning routine has helped set a peaceful tone not only for me, but for my whole family.
You don’t need a perfect 5 a.m. routine to get started.
Just begin by setting your wake-up time 30 minutes earlier to plan for a more peaceful morning.
A peaceful morning begins the night before.
Tips to get started:
- Go to bed earlier (more on that below)
- Avoid late-night scrolling. This prevents the natural release of melatonin and keeps your wake-center active
- Prepare for the next day the night before
2. Plan your day (and evening) for the best success
You know the saying, “If you don’t plan to succeed, you plan to fail”. Every successful day begins with a well-structured plan.
After I’ve had my morning quiet time and coffee, I sit down to fine-tune my daily plan.
In my post “How to Plan Your Week in Just 3 Short Minutes“, I share with you how to plan out your week and give you a free digital tool you can use to plan your own as well.
Each morning, I take that weekly plan, and I add in any appointments or additional obligations I have for that day, and then put everything in order so that they need to be done.
If this feels overwhelming to you, visit this post here where I talk about how to break down an overwhelming schedule into small steps.
But don’t forget to plan your evening as well.f
Very often, we spend all of our time planning our obligations, but we forget to plan for rest.
- Make a plan for recovery from a busy day
- Plan when you will go to bed
- Plan out a nighttime routine that will help you fall asleep quickly
- Plan for 8-9 hours of sleep
It may take time to find which system works best for you, but don’t let that stop you.
Keep showing up, keep trying new ways to plan your morning… and evening, and soon you will discover your personal plan for success!
3. Start Your Day Active, and Stay Active for Greater Energy
One of the best things we can do for our health and metabolism is to begin our day with light activity, and then plan active moments throughout our day.
Many Christian women get up out of bed and then sit down at the table for their devotions.
And then wonder why they feel so lethargic all day long.
They don’t realize that they’ve missed an opportunity to boost their metabolism with light morning activity.
Even better if you can get out in the early morning sunlight.
Morning sunlight at the start of your day
- Helps with your circadian rhythm
- Helps you sleep better
- Decreases seasonal depression
- Helps you think better
- Gives you more energy – and more!
(source)
How I get light morning activity in my day:
I pace around my kitchen and living room while I pray. I have found that this helps me to pray with greater mental clarity and fervor.
When the weather is nice, I will sometimes go for a walk outside while I pray.
Don’t forget to plan for active moments throughout your day.
If your job is sedentary, like mine is, try to plan to get up and walk around every 60-90 minutes.
You don’t have to do 10-15-minute walks. Perhaps your job won’t even allow for that. But try to walk for at least 5 minutes every 60-90 minutes of sitting.
This helps to keep your body moving, your blood flowing, and your mind clear and sharp.
Tips to get started with a light morning activity:
- Start small
- Wear a fitness tracker to track your steps
- Make a plan and lay out your clothes the night before, so you are not tempted to skip it
4. Stay off your phone
The biggest saboteur of your morning is scrolling on your phone.
Many Christian women begin scrolling on their phones before they get out of bed. I know I have been guilty of this many times.
70-80% of people check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up to ease into their day. (source)
What we fail to recognize is:
- This doesn’t ease us into our day
- It hijacks our parasympathetic system
- It sets us up for increased stress and anxiety all day long.
What feels comforting in the moment may actually be increasing our stress.
The dangers of morning scrolling:
- Increased anxiety
- Greater stress response
- Mental fog
- Decreased productivity throughout the day
The more we continue the habit of checking our phones throughout the day
- Our work is interrupted
- Our productivity decreases
- Mental fog increases.
Do you see the negative impact phones have on our ability to succeed?
If we were to just break our morning scrolling habit, we could continue the habit of disciplined phone usage throughout the day and increase our productivity and success multiple times over!
Tips for breaking morning scrolling habits:
- Stop using your phone as an alarm
- Turn off your phone before you go to bed
- Do not take your phone into your room at night
- Turn on your phone after you’ve had your morning devotions
- Set certain times of the day to check your phone, and leave your phone in your purse or bag when you’re not using it
5. Reject Negativity and Build Positivity
Did you know that thankfulness is God’s will for you?
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
So often, we pray for God to show us His will for our lives, but He’s already told us what it is: give thanks in everything.
There is tremendous power in gratefulness and positivity.
The Bible talks about this in several places, mentioning the power of our tongue to speak life or death.
Small daily choices to build thankfulness shape the tone of our lives.
This isn’t toxic positivity. The Bible doesn’t say that we should be naive and not admit when things are wrong.
But it does have a lot to say about trusting our lives to God, believing that He works all things for our good, and speaking life-giving words over ourselves and others.
If thankfulness and positivity are a struggle for you, start out each day by writing down 5 things that you are thankful for.
Pro tip: Each day, find 5 new things you are thankful for. Do not repeat.
More ways to build thankfulness and positivity:
- Keep a “Names of God” journal – thank Him for being your comforter, defender, healer, and friend.
- Keep a “Promises of the Bible” journal – write down one promise a day
- Keep a “Do not Fear” journal – write down one Bible verse a day about fear, worry, and anxiety
- Keep a faith journal – write down one Bible verse a day about faith and trust in God
You don’t have to make all of these changes today.
It took me years to develop these habits, and I’m still not perfect at them. (I really do need to get out in the sun more. I’m pretty bad at that one.)
Start small.
Make one change at a time. Once that change becomes a habit, move on to the next one.
Little by little, you’ll begin creating rhythms that make your days feel more peaceful, productive, and intentional.
Because small daily habits really do shape the direction of our lives.
Which of these morning habits would make the biggest difference in your life right now?
