8 Creative Morning Habits to Start Your Day Well

I’m not a morning person. Maybe I should have said that in my obituary. I’d rather take a 10 p.m. yoga class and have a midnight meeting than do anything in the morning, which is what I’ve always insisted on. But as it turns out, jobs don’t matter, and neither does the earth and the economy, so let’s get started. We need to improve our morning habits and make mornings work for us.

Instead of moaning and complaining about the morning, it’s time to inject some positive energy into your morning. If I, a notoriously moody person, can start the new year with positive morning habits, so can you.

Here are some of my favorite morning habits to start each day well.

8 Easy Morning Habits for a Better Day

1. Dry brush your body.

Although it may seem like a strange trend, dry brushing has been a part of Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. Every morning I scrub my dry skin to get rid of sleepiness. Nothing energizes me after a painful alarm at an inopportune hour like dry brushing. Although there is no medical evidence, dry brushing is believed to help stimulate the lymphatic system, increase circulation and energy. And maybe, just maybe, it will help get rid of cellulite. I hope it works.

2. Write in the journal of appearances.

Our love of gratitude journals is well documented, but after the year we’ve all had, how about manifesting some magic into the coming year? There’s something about manifesting journaling that works. First, there’s muscle memory. Writing “I’m going to buy a house by fall” thirty-five times really cements that idea into your subconscious mind that you’re going to buy a house by fall.

Then there’s the Law of Attraction, the belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into your life. If you can put your wants and needs into words, and then repeat those words over a page, those thoughts are more likely to stick in every corner of your brain. It’s worth a shot, right?

3. Get rid of the alarm on your phone.

…or any annoying or disruptive alarm. No one wants to wake up in a panic. Instead, relax in the morning with the soothing light of the sunrise and a gentle alarm, a more natural way to wake up if we don’t have work to do and kids to take care of.

The New York Times named the Philips Wake-Up Alarm Clock its favorite, and several others have also praised the Hatch. If you’re not willing to spend more than $100 on an alarm clock when there’s a good but slightly annoying alarm clock on your phone, consider the iHome Zenergy, which isn’t as sophisticated as the others, but is (get it?) $50.

4. Airplane mode is your friend.

A surefire way to turn a good morning into a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day is to roll over, open your hardened eyes, and scroll, scroll, scroll.

Nobody loves the New York Times app more than I do, but even I know there’s no point in opening it before 8 a.m. The same goes for email and Instagram. Do you really need to know what the Australian model posted while you were sleeping? If possible, keep your phone locked or on airplane mode until you’ve brushed your teeth and had enough caffeine to deal with that pesky request from your boss.

5. Drink a glass of water with lemon and sea salt.

Hydration queen Dani Broflodt of Thyme is Honey insists on drinking a glass of warm lemon and sea salt water first thing in the morning. Here are some of the benefits of lemon and sea salt water: It can help stimulate digestion, it can kill harmful bacteria in your mouth and throat, it can help reduce inflammation, and it can provide an easy boost to your immune system.

At the very least, drink a glass of water before you have coffee, so you can hydrate your body before you dehydrate it again.

6. Pay attention to the little things.

There’s nothing revolutionary about making your bed every morning. But your mom was right: Make your bed and make your bed every day. Little things like making your bed, opening the curtains, and putting dirty clothes in the laundry basket will help you feel more organized when everything else seems out of control.

7. Read a short story.

Instead of going over what you know again, keep a book of short stories handy. While you’re sipping your morning tea or coffee (or lemon and sea salt water!), take five or ten minutes to read it. It could be a single story, a single page, or a single poem. Whatever you choose, reading will help you feel good in the morning and prepare your mind for a day of creative thinking.

8. Send your friend one compliment every morning.

Some mornings, I like to remind my friend Jess, who lives 2,000 miles away, how much I miss her. Maybe your best friend needs a reminder that she’s a good mom, or your cousin might benefit from hearing that she’s inspired you to do something, or another friend might hear that she has the best butt in town. Sending a quick text doesn’t take long—what is that? Ten seconds—but it will start your day on a good note and it will start theirs on a good note. Mutual benefit.

Good morning, or at least more hydrated and less stressful mornings.

Are you ready to embed these morning habits into your daily routine? Try habit tracking, a proven way to make habits stick.

Editor’s Note: This article contains affiliate links. Wit & Delight uses affiliate links as a source of revenue to fund business operations and rely less on branded content. Wit & Delight supports all product recommendations. Still have questions about these links or our process? Feel free to email us.