You probably know that checking your email first thing in the morning can be a rough way to kick things off, but negativity can creep in from other places too. Make your morning routine 100% positive by doing something you absolutely love every morning.


A morning routine is important, but it can be easy to get in the habit of checking all the things that bring us down. Email makes the day loom over you when it hasn’t even begun, social networks filled with people complaining about something, and news that’s reporting more bad than good. Jason Zook at Medium has an alternative. He takes some time to indulge in something he loves:

While my coffee is brewing, I grab one of the twelve (not kidding) Calvin and Hobbes books I own... I smile and conjure up feelings of happiness by reading a handful of comic strips. By the time my coffee is finished brewing, I’ve spent 10–15 minutes doing only things that make me happy. My day has started with positivity — positivity that will be a shield of armor from the rigors of the rest of my day. If I were to start with negative influences first, the rest of the day is an uphill battle to reach positivity.


So if you have something in your life that is always a positive influence, make that the way you start your day. It could be something that stretches your mind, something that makes you feel healthy, or something that just makes you feel like a kid again. Start off positive and the rest of the day can be taken in stride.

My Weird Morning Ritual and Why You Need One Too | Medium via 99U

Photo by Pascal Maramis .