The 5 Minute Morning Success Ritual

Do you want to wake up motivated, energized and productive each morning?

The morning is the most critical part of ones day, especially in terms of being as productive as possible.

Most people wake up each morning tired, lethargic, stressed, and even uninspired.

As you can probably imagine, this isn’t laying the best foundation for a productive and successful day.

There’s a good saying, which is “how you start the day, is how you end the day”, which is why you want to take the time each morning to set yourself up to win.

A morning ritual doesn’t have to be a long-winded, complicated process.  Just committing 5 minutes a day is enough to really make an impact on your levels of energy and productivity throughout the day.  Below, I will share a simple morning ritual that you can do immediately upon waking that should take no more than 5 minutes.

1) Smile

Immediately upon waking, smile.  I know, it might sound strange, but as simple as smiling is, it has a profound affect on our nervous system and how we feel.  By smiling first thing upon waking, you’re implying to yourself that you’re happy and grateful for this day.  It also sends signals to your brain to start feeling good!  I can’t think of a better way to begin each day, and the best part is, it takes only seconds!

2) Be Grateful

Smiling leads nicely into the second step, which is being grateful.  The quality of our life is the quality of the emotional states that we consistently live in.  By taking time each morning to think about what you’re grateful for, you will put yourself in a positive state which will help you be more productive, energized and happy.  I encourage you to spend at least a minute thinking about what you’re grateful for each morning.

3) Hydrate Yourself

Taking care of your body each morning and hydrating yourself is one of the most important things you can do for your health.  While you’ve been sleeping, you’ve become massively dehydrated and your body needs water to operate in full efficiency.  After all, your body is made up of 70% water, so this is common sense.  The problem is, most people wake up and immediately drink coffee or a caffeinated beverage, which actually dehydrates the body and only provides a temporary stimulation.  I recommend staying away from caffeine until after you’ve drank at least a full glass of water, to help your body hydrate itself again.  This will help your body naturally be more energized, thus increasing productivity.

4) Get Moving

Moving your body and doing something physical each morning is a powerful way to change your state.  During sleep, we’ve been inactive for several hours and we need to physically get our bodies going again to “wake ourselves up”.  I recommend spending a few quick minutes upon waking to get your body moving, such as going for a walk, stretching, or doing a quick exercise.  I often begin jumping up and down on a mini-trampoline that I have next to my bed, which helps stimulate my lymphatic system and begins to cleanse the toxins out of my body.  It doesn’t matter what you do, but move around for a few minutes in the morning before you go back to sitting down again.  This will do wonders to help turn on your metabolism in the morning, as well as give you the much-needed energy for a productive day.

5) Affirmations

Finally, spend a minute or two to set the intentions for the day.  I like to use affirmations, which is essentially stating out loud positive phrases.  By saying out loud, “Today is going to be an amazing day!” or “Every day in every way I’m feeling happier and happier!”, you begin conditioning your brain to believe it.  You will not only start to feel better by doing this, but it will set you up for a successful day.  You can do this while you’re walking or stretching if you’d like, but I encourage you to speak out loud what you want for your life.

Completing these 5 simple steps shouldn’t take you more than 5 minutes each morning.  Of course, you could spend as much time as you’d like each morning doing these steps, and I encourage you to do so, but it isn’t necessary.  The biggest excuse people have is “I don’t have the time to do this…” and so by only making it 5 minutes, it’s easily achievable for anyone.  Yes, you might have to give up watching the news or checking your e-mail immediately upon waking, but if you can hold off for just 5 minutes, you’d be surprised by how much of an impact this can make in your life.

Photo Credit: Amanda Tipton