Rise and Thrive: 6 Morning Routines That Can Transform Your Day

linnearader
Apr 28
9 min read

The way we get up in the morning helps shape our entire day. We’ve all heard the old saying about getting up on the wrong side of the bed. I’ve yet to find a side of the bed that helps change my morning, but I have found a lot of different techniques work!

Imagine this: It's 5:30 AM. Instead of groggily hitting snooze for the third time, feeling rushed and frazzled, you're awake with purpose. Your mind is clear, your energy is building, and you're actually looking forward to what lies ahead. This isn't a fantasy, it's what an intentional morning routine can create.

Top performers across all fields—from CEOs and athletes to artists and entrepreneurs—share a secret weapon: they don't leave their mornings to chance. Research shows that people who follow consistent morning routines report 20% higher productivity, significantly lower stress levels, and better overall life satisfaction.

The good news? You don't need to wake up at 4 AM or adopt complicated rituals. Simple, science-backed techniques can transform those critical first minutes after waking into a launchpad for your best day possible.

In this post, I'll share six powerful morning routine techniques that have helped hundreds of my clients break the cycle of chaotic mornings and create days filled with purpose, productivity, and yes—even joy. Whether you're a natural early bird or a resolute night owl, these methods can be adapted to work for you.

Ready to revolutionize your mornings? Let's dive in.

Why Your Morning Routine Matters

Before we dive into some morning routine techniques, we first need to discuss why this morning routine is so important. First and foremost, a morning routine creates a structure for you which actually reduces your stress. Really, is this really a thing? YES!

Establishing a predictable and structured morning routine causes your morning to start out calmly, without chaos. Think of when you wake up late and hit the ground running, your day tends to stay in chaos all day, unless you have the skills to stop it, which we will talk about in another post!

Then, think of mornings where you roll around, hit the snooze button a few times, scroll on social media, and generally dread letting your feet hit the floor. Your day…. yes, follows suit. You’re less productive and “lazier” in completing tasks.

Your sleep schedule will also be positively impacted by setting a morning schedule. By waking up consistently with a morning routine, it helps regulate your natural sleep-wake cycle. This makes getting a full night’s rest easier too.

6 Powerful Morning Routines to Transform Your Day

So, if you want to increase your productivity, improve your mood, and generally have a better day (and night) get yourself a good morning routine. While there are tons of different methods, we will touch on these six:

1. 5-Second Rule

2. Three Deep Breaths Technique

3. Mental Rehearsal Approach

4. First Thought Replacement

5. The Just One Limb Technique

6. Future Self Visualization

The 5-Second Rule: Countdown to Action

Mel Robbins’ 5-Second Rule is a technique in which you count backwards from five to one and take immediate action. As a morning routine, you wake up, count backwards and “launch” for the day. By counting down as soon as you wake up (or have an impulse to take any action) you act before your brain can create excuses.

So why does this technique work? Your brain inherently protects you from risk and discomfort. That protection often leads to procrastination because the action you’re considering is “scary,” otherwise makes you nervous or you don’t want to do. Utilizing the 5-Second rule works by getting you to act before your brain has a chance to procrastinate or make up reasons why you shouldn’t.

Mel Robbins’ 5-Second Rule focuses on the concept that while motivation may be helpful, action is what makes the difference. These actions not only help create an effective morning “launch” routine but can also help with a lot of different situations in which procrastination derails progress.

You can buy "The 5 Second Rule," by Mel Robbins by clicking the link below. Full disclosure, if you click the link and purchase the book, I get a small commission.

Buy "The 5 Second Rule" Here

Three Deep Breaths: Start Your Day with Calm

The three deep breaths technique involves taking three slow, deliberate, and deep breaths, focusing on the belly and chest expansion when you wake up in the morning. Taking these three deep breaths helps to calm your mind and relax, thereby setting a positive tone for the day.

While still lying in bed, make sure you’re in a comfortable position, not all scrunched up, so your belly has room to expand when you breathe. Then take a deep breath in slowly through your nose making sure your belly rises first and then your chest. Open your mouth and exhale slowly through it, causing your belly to fall and your chest to relax. Repeat this process three times, being mindful of the action of breathing.

Why does the deep breathing technique work? It works because deep breathing can cause the parasympathetic nervous system to engage causing your body to relax and calm down. The parasympathetic nervous system acts in contrast to the sympathetic nervous system, the “fight or flight” area of your brain.

Calming your brain first thing in the morning will provide additional benefits like helping you feel alert and focused. Starting the day with a calm, relaxed, alert and focused mind will create an overall positive tone for the entire day. Then, on the other end of the day, if you practice the deep breathing techniques, they will also prepare your mind and body for a restful and peaceful night sleep.

Mental Rehearsal: Visualize Your Perfect Morning

A key to visualizing your morning routine is to ensure you focus on the positive feelings and outcomes.

Creating a morning routine utilizing the mental rehearsal approach involves mentally practicing your desired morning activities. With this approach you’ll plan your ideal morning routine and visualize it before bed each night. Then you’ll practice seeing (visualizing) it occurring the next morning.

Then, the next morning, before you get out of bed, you’ll go back through your visualization and rehearse. This can include visualizing your well rested self, waking to a peaceful and happy morning, followed by your next action, be that exercise, stretching, or jumping right into the shower to get ready. By visualizing your morning routine going smoothly and as planned, your body will follow suit and move through the morning following your plan.

A key to visualizing your morning routine is to ensure you focus on the positive feelings and outcomes. There’s a reason you’re rehearsing and want the desired outcomes, when visualizing, make sure you visualize yourself remaining calm, focused, and motivated to ensure the desired effect.

Starting your day with a mental rehearsal sets the stage to utilize the tool all day long. Once your morning routine is mastered, utilize these visualization techniques to set your daily plan, your work project plan, and even your after-work routine with your family. Practicing these visualization techniques will keep you motivated and focused on the goals of the day, all day long!

First Thought Replacement: Begin with Positivity

What are the first thoughts that run through your mind when you wake up? Are they negative or are they positive? If your thoughts when you wake up aren’t uplifting and positive, it’s time to replace them. The First Thought Replacement method involves being highly aware of your thought patterns, challenging anything that is unhelpful and replacing them with realistic and positive thoughts.

The starting point, like with most things, is awareness. Be mindful of your thoughts. Pay attention, don’t judge yourself, just make note of what enters your mind. While being mindful, also be mindful of your breathing and practice deep breathing as outlined before. This practice will allow you to become more understanding of who you are and how you think.

The second step is to identify and challenge those thoughts that are negative or aren’t serving you well. Now that you have practiced being mindful, identifying these thoughts will be far easier. You can start by writing down these thoughts and feelings so you can dive deeper into WHY they exist and HOW they affect you. As you’re writing down these thoughts, QUESTION them. Are your negative thoughts generalizations, assumptions, or just out of the blue thoughts that don’t serve you? Break down where they come from and why they exist.

Once you’ve processed those negative thoughts, replace them with positive ones. It isn’t as hard as you might think AND there are tips and tricks to help you be successful, here’s just a few:

Gratitudes or Affirmations. When you start your day, think of what you’re grateful for and say them aloud. It can be something like being grateful to be alive and able to get up out of bed, being grateful for your family and friends, or being grateful for your job and the ability to support your family. Affirmations also help by promoting your POSITIVE self-beliefs, such as “I am a loving person,” “I am in control of my life and my mindset,” or “I am worthy of love.” If you aren’t sure where to start with affirmations, GOOGLE it! You’ll get tons of ideas that I’m sure will resonate with you.
Setting Intentions for Social Kindness. If you’ve read any of my other blog posts, you’ve seen that I close each post with a statement about finding the opportunities to be kind to others (you’ll see it at the end of this one too!). Why is this important? Many reasons, but ONE of those reasons is if you start your day searching for ways to be kind, you’ll spend your day being kind. Starting that way, you won’t perform one act of kindness and then shut it down for the day and be mean and nasty the rest of the day. By setting out first thing to find opportunities for kindness, you’ll set yourself up for a positive and kind day!

The biggest take away with the First Thought Replacement is to challenge yourself to focus on positivity from the moment you wake up. You can really make your day great by focusing your mind on positivity!

Just One Limb: The Power of Getting Started

Do you ever wake up and feel like you can’t even move? You just want to crawl back under the blankets and stick your head under the pillow. The Just One Limb Technique can come to your rescue as another morning routine practice.

So, what is it? Well…just like it sounds, move one limb. When you wake up in the morning, dangle one leg off the bed or do arm circles with one arm above your body. Once you’ve moved that limb, you’re going to keep moving that limb and all the rest of them too.

This technique works because human nature is to stay moving once you’re moving. It’s the process of getting any part of you moving that is the hard part. Once you get that one limb moving, your entire body will be ready to get moving for the day.

Future Self Visualization: Make Decisions Your Future Self Will Thank You For

What will your future self say to you if you hit the snooze button? Or What will your future self say if you get up and get going for the day? When you wake up each morning, ask yourself these questions. Imagine your future self, even if it’s your future self in 4 hours, and answer what you’ll say to yourself about getting up right away vs. hitting the snooze button.

Your future self will thank you for getting up and getting going. Your future self will appreciate the productivity that followed.

Conversely…

Your future self will be disappointed and may want to kick you if you hit that snooze button. Your future self won’t appreciate running late all day, having to play catch up from the minute your feet touch the ground after hitting that tempting little button.

Utilizing a future self-visualization will help give you the extra kick to get up and get moving right away so you can start out your day on a positive note.

Transform Your Life by Changing Your Morning

At the beginning of this we talked about how helpful a morning routine can be to reduce stress, set up your day for success, eliminate the “getting up on the wrong side of the bed,” and so much more. All of that is true and it doesn’t stop there. Making one of these changes (or more) can impact not just your day, but your life as a whole.

This isn’t about productivity – it’s about taking control of your life, one morning at a time.

Sounds dramatic, doesn’t it?

It is. And it is for good reason.

Think of what one day of being productive will get you. Then, think of what a lifetime will get you. If you make these practices your ROUTINE, meaning daily activities that you do without even thinking, your productivity won’t just be better for the day. Your productivity will increase exponentially.

Then, think of how your morning routine can reduce your stress. Having a normal routine that you do without thinking creates a normalcy resulting in stress reduction. Take this, combined with the increase in productivity, also reducing stress and your mental health is substantially affected by setting up a morning routine.

Your 7-Day Morning Challenge

I invite you to try just ONE of the six techniques we discussed for the next seven days. Select the one that sounds the most interesting to you:

The 5-Second Rule for immediate action
Three Deep Breaths for morning calm
Mental Rehearsal for a visualized routine
First Thought Replacement for positivity
Just One Limb to overcome inertia
Future Self Visualization for motivation

Remember, changing habits takes time and persistence. You might not feel transformed on day one or even day three. But by day seven, I guarantee you'll notice a difference in how your days unfold.

Share Your Morning Journey

Which of these six techniques resonates most with you? What morning habit are you committing to establish this week? Share in the comments below. I’ll respond personally to every comment.

As always, carry social kindness with you everywhere you go. The world needs you and your positive mindset!