3 Habits to Set Yourself Up for Success From the Minute You Wake Up

When you get to work do you already find yourself exhausted?  Are you like many—flustered, unsettled and anxious to start your day?

You are not alone, my friend! I have a quick story and just a few easy tips that have worked for me that just might help you too!

Getting Up on the Wrong Side of the Bed

I remember my alarm blasting at about 9:00 am. (Wow—that used to feel so early to me!)  The alarm would get to a few annoying beeps before I would roll over and hit snooze. 9:08…9:38…10:30…Until finally I would roll out of bed, rub the crusty sleep out of my eyes and stumble to my coffee pot in the kitchen.

The cheap Folgers coffee not quite dripping fast enough would send me panicked through my apartment. Turning off my 4 alarms, I would gather my bags, throw my clothes onto my unmade bed and listen to my favorite somber album, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska. I would get to work beat down and already exhausted.

To many of you reading this, it’s a familiar and daily story. Just change a few circumstances from my story and plug yourself into it. Starting your day is one of the most important cues you can give yourself for the rest of your day. I think about this every day—the start to my day. This has become almost ritualistic for me and is massively important to my daily success and happiness.

Making a Habit of It

All of the truly great self-help writers and speakers that I study discuss habits. We all have habits—good or bad. I find this to be true. I also believe that habits are a choice, and that we can change them. (TWEET THAT SHIT!) What that means is that we can take “bad habits” and make “good habits” to replace them!  Here are 3 great habits you can make good so you can  start your day off with glory!

Habit 1: Commit

At night, decide what time you want to wake up and commit to it. Only set ONE alarm and do not hit snooze. Your first action of the day is a win! You committed to something and followed through with it! When my alarm blasts, I jump out of bed and turn it off. Smiling at my coffee pot, I know I’ve started with a victory.

Habit 2: Make Your Bed!

Make your bed EVERY SINGLE DAY. This habit can help drastically improve your day. Think about it this way: you are ending the day before when you wake up. Waking up and making your bed you are saying “thank you” for the sleep and recognizing that this is a new day, a new start. You are also giving yourself something to walk into when you come home that is clean and lovely. After a long day at work you will appreciate your beautiful, made bed! I don’t think I ever did this until my early 30’s. I used to argue with my mom about making my bed, I never “got it”. Now, it is a MUST! I always look at my clean room before I leave in the morning, and am excited when I walk in to my lovely apartment at night.

Habit 3: Get Happy!

On your commute to work make sure and listen to something that is inspiring, uplifting or happy. This will help set your mind for the day ahead. Wherever you are going—to work or apply or audition or attend a meeting, you want to be emotionally prepared. You want to show up excited and awake. Some people will listen to audiobooks or podcasts, some to music. All of these are great options—just make them uplifting. I have the same 60 songs on a playlist that I listen to over and over and over again. They make me smile, inspire me and prepare me for the day ahead. If a song comes on my shuffle that reminds me of a down time or a sad memory, I immediately skip it. It’s so easy—it almost seems silly or too good to be true. So, prepare the Carly Rae Jepsen, Pharrel, Tony Robbins or whatever makes you smile and get ready to go!

Final Note

Try these 3 things. DO IT! Commit to them for a week, then a month at a time. See how you feel. See if you notice any changes. I started thinking about this article a long time ago and hesitated because I thought it was too basic. But after some time, Stella Kaufman encouraged me to share this. It truly is the simple things, the basic habits that we do EVERY SINGLE DAY that make the biggest differences in our lives. So much of this is inspired by the late, great Zig Ziglar. In one of his books he tells a story about dumping trash all over your living room floor, and asks how that would make you feel. This is his metaphor for the importance of starting your day off beautifully and successfully. I couldn’t agree more, Zig!

What do you do to start your day off right every day? Share your comments and let’s discuss!

READY TO GET STARTED?

Let’s get to know each other and see how we can help you!

Free class

Fill out the form below to get started with a free class!

By providing your phone number, you consent to receive text messages from MFF