Start Your Day Right: 4 Simple Morning Habits to Get Ahead of 99%
Practical Morning Habits to Set the Tone for a Successful Day
Why We Wake Up to Social Media
Did you know that 99% of people these days wake up and immediately grab their phones to go on social media?
Most do it unconsciously, as it has truly become a habit.
It’s like an automatic physical movement, something that no longer requires a conscious decision.
You wake up, and the next thing you know, your fingers are already on the screen, scrolling through Instagram and TikTok.
The Hidden Trap of Morning Scrolling
As a result, your brain is forced to consume the content you see on social media before anything else, which sets the tone for your entire day.
This habit often leads to other unproductive behaviors that prevent you from following your dreams and achieving your goals.
Imagine it’s a Sunday morning. You wake up and immediately grab your phone while still in bed.
By doing so, you’re not just wasting precious morning time but also filling your brain with content that doesn’t benefit you.
Research has shown that excessive social media use, especially first thing in the morning, can increase stress levels and negatively impact mental health.
According to a study by the American Psychological Association, constant exposure to social media can lead to increased anxiety and decreased productivity throughout the day.
Habit 1: Protect Your Morning Mental Bandwidth
Another crucial aspect you’re losing is what I call the RAM in your brain. Going on Instagram means you’re filling your head with other people’s stories, lives, and content.
Essentially, you’re taking those things and making them yours.
Instead of focusing on your own life, you’re choosing to watch others’, using up your mental capacity (RAM).
The thing is, this RAM is limited. Your brain can only process so much information before it needs recharging.
Instead of using your brain’s RAM to process other people’s content, use it for something beneficial to your life.
At least, use the fresh RAM you have in the morning for yourself first.
Pursue your own goals, read a book, exercise, or work on your business.
Do something productive first, and then, if you still want to go on social media, that’s fine because you’ve already done something good for yourself.
To help with this, the PAPERAGE-Lined Journal can be an excellent tool.
Instead of reaching for your phone, grab your notebook and jot down your morning thoughts, goals, or to-do list.
This simple shift can make a huge difference in how you start your day.
Habit 2: The Wake-Up Decision
Every morning, as soon as the alarm goes off, each of us faces a decision: wake up or hit snooze and go back to sleep for a few more minutes.
Most people choose the latter. Even I used to be addicted to snoozing. But even if you choose to hit snooze, in just a few minutes, the alarm will go off again.
Why delay the inevitable? When you hit snooze, you don’t fall back into quality sleep.
Your brain has already been woken up by the first alarm, so trying to go back to sleep doesn’t help you get more rest.
It only allows you to be lazy a little longer and makes you feel worse once you finally get up. We’ve all been there.
We all know how waking up after hitting snooze multiple times feels. So, which option will you choose the next morning?
The answer should be to get up right away. Unless you have no responsibilities, eventually, you have to get up and do something with your life.
There’s no reason to hit snooze even once. Once you decide to get up, it will be the best start to your day.
You will wake up with the mindset that you can overcome the voice inside your head and choose actions that benefit you in the long run.
Habit 3: Sleep Well
A simple hack to help you wake up easier is to get a good night’s sleep. Sleep is too important to ignore because it directly affects your productivity and daily life.
Without enough sleep, your brain and body aren’t fully charged, and you won’t perform at your best the next day.
If you keep depriving yourself of sleep, you’ll notice how foggy your brain becomes.
Compare that to someone who always gets enough rest. You can’t match their productivity, work quality, or daily activities.
To wake up early, you need to go to bed early. For example, to wake up at 6:00 a.m., you need to be asleep by 10:00 p.m. or at the latest by 11:00 p.m. This allows your body to rest for 7 to 8 hours.
If you don’t fall asleep right away, go to bed even earlier.
The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light Therapy Lamp can help create a more natural waking experience.
Its gradual light increase mimics a sunrise, making it easier to wake up feeling refreshed.
This can be a game-changer for those who struggle with waking up early.
How the Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light Works:
- Gradual Light Increase: The light gradually brightens over 30 minutes before your set wake-up time, simulating a natural sunrise. This gentle light transition helps your body wake up naturally.
- Sound Alarm: Choose from natural sounds or a standard alarm beep. The sound starts softly and gradually increases in volume, ensuring a pleasant wake-up experience.
- Personalized Settings: Customize the light intensity and sound settings to suit your preferences for a comfortable wake-up process.
- Bedside Lamp: Use it as an adjustable bedside lamp for reading or relaxing before bed.
Benefits:
- Improves Mood and Energy: Reduces the abruptness of waking up in the dark, leading to a more pleasant morning routine.
- Supports Healthy Sleep: Helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle, making it easier to wake up and fall asleep at regular times.
- Reduces Grogginess: The natural light simulation helps reduce morning grogginess and improves alertness upon waking.
The Philips SmartSleep Wake-Up Light helps you wake up more naturally and feel more refreshed, enhancing your mood and productivity throughout the day.
Habit 4: Avoid Screens Before Bed
The time you spend in bed and the time you spend asleep are two different things. You might go to bed at 10:00 p.m. but not fall asleep until midnight.
If you wake up at 6:00 a.m., that means you only slept for 6 hours, not 8.
The light from your phone screen makes your brain think it’s still time to work, preventing it from recognizing that it’s time to sleep.
So, 1 hour before bedtime, stop using your phone. It might be hard at first, but once you do it every night, you’ll fall asleep faster and easier, wake up refreshed, and live your day more efficiently and productively.
Implement Good Habits
Now that we’ve talked about going to sleep, waking up immediately, and eliminating morning social media, it’s time to work on your goals.
Knowing what’s important and what you should do is only half the battle; the next step is implementing these habits into your life.
Take Action
The difficult part is taking action. This simple step is so important that I end almost all my advice by reminding you to take action.
No matter what you learn, if you can’t act on it, you’ll just know it for the sake of knowing.
You won’t be able to get out of bed when the alarm goes off, stop yourself from picking up your phone in the morning, or go to bed on time and put your phone down when it’s time to sleep.
But all of these can be solved if you just take action. Whatever you want to do in life, whether it’s the things I’ve talked about or anything else, to succeed and reap the benefits, you just have to take action.
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Singing off
Hamza Sameen
