Louisa Lopez
Have you ever met someone who just seemed to be able to tackle everything that came their way? Did you wonder how they managed it?
As it turns out, mentally strong people have a few morning habits that help them to be the best they can be each day.
Read on, and you too can find out about 7 of these morning habits. And you too could become more mentally strong.
1) Wake up early
Instead of lazing around in bed playing on their phones, or waking up, seeing the time, and going back to sleep for a bit longer, the mentally strong get up and start their day early.
When I was in India, I was told that dedicated Yogis get up before sunrise every day to ensure they get everything they need to get done before they go off to work. 4 am is the best time, however, they say any time before sunrise works if you canโt make it that early.
Waking up early means you have the time to get everything you need done without rushing. And I donโt know about you, but Iโm not as productive if Iโm running around like a headless chicken in the morning. In fact, being in a rush often ruins my entire day.
2) Limit distractions
Have you ever opened your phone in the morning to read a message and suddenly found that youโve scrolled social media for half an hour? Yeah, me too.
Mentally strong people donโt do this.
Once theyโve got out of bed well before the rest of us, these people donโt reach for their phones like I do, they do a few other things.
Without distractions in the morning, we can focus on more important tasks that will enable us to have a more successful day.
According to this article on success, using our phones first thing in the morning can lead to us getting more distracted throughout the rest of the day. This is because when we start the day with a high level of dopamine (what we get when we scroll on our phones), our brains will keep wanting more as the day goes on.
As well as increased distraction, using our phones first thing in the morning can also bring on increased anxiety, which mentally strong people donโt want as it impedes their success.
3) Exercise
Have you ever tried to get some work done but your brain just wasnโt doing what it was meant to? Mine was doing this while trying to think about what to write.
So, I took my own advice, went and did a workout, and then returned to it.
Itโs amazing what positive effects half an hour of exercise can have on our brains, our bodies, and our mood.
This article explains that as well as all these benefits, working out in the morning boosts your energy throughout the day, encourages you to eat healthier, and improves focus and cognition!
Itโs no wonder mentally strong people add exercise to their morning routine.
4) Positive affirmations
You may have heard that lots of people are doing this. You may think it sounds silly or wonder why saying positive affirmations to yourself has become so popular.
Well, the reason is that positive affirmations work. They get you into a positive, confident frame of mind. A great way to start the day, donโt you think?
When I start the day in a bad mood, usually the rest of my day is also bad. However, after even just a minute of speaking positively about myself and how Iโd like my day to go, it changed my mindset entirely.
Research says that positive affirmations rewire your brain and change the way you think about things. How amazing is that?
When youโre saying affirmations, some things to remember are;
- Say your affirmations out loud
- Ensure you use the present tense, eg; I am, I have, etc
- Use positive language. Reframe negative things to positive
- Choose meaningful affirmations, things you want to believe but donโt quite yet
And then off you go feeling like you can take on the world.
5) Practice gratitude
Think about something youโre grateful for right now. How did that make you feel?
Unfortunately, gratitude doesnโt always come naturally. But, once we discover it, amazing things start happening.
As positive affirmations do, research shows that a regular gratitude practice also rewires our brains. It also makes people happier and less depressed. Gratitude is an excellent tool for everyone.
My gratitude practice began many years ago when a therapist asked me to write down 3 things I was grateful for each day. At first, I didnโt think anything of it, but over time I realized that it had become a natural way to think.
When I was doing Yoga training I found it extremely difficult. The long intense days took a toll on me and I thought I was grumpy and not my best self.
However, at the end of the course, a couple of people came to me to say โThank you for being so positive and upliftingโ. I couldnโt believe it. But it just goes to show, that once something becomes a habit, it infiltrates every aspect of your life.
And the best thing about gratitude is that it is contagious. So, no wonder we want to be around these mentally strong people.
6) Eat a nutritious breakfast
You might be rolling your eyes at this one. Maybe youโre not hungry that early in the morning. Or you donโt feel like you have time before work.
Iโm also guilty of making a coffee, popping it in a travel mug, and running out the door. However, thereโs more to eating a nutritious breakfast than meets the eye.
As it turns out, itโs not just about eating something nutritious (although that is a much better way to start the day than my cup of anxiety!) According to these experts, breakfast has many benefits that can give you the best start to your day.
Some of these benefits include;
- Increases energy
- Boosts brainpower
- Breakfast enables you to make better food choices
- It helps you maintain a healthy weight
Breakfast doesnโt have to be anything big or heavy, but combine it with the absence of distraction and then youโre also including mindfulness in your morning routine.
So, give breakfast a go and you may just realize why mentally strong people sit down to eat it at the start of each day.
7) Visualise success
Have you ever thought about what success looks like to you? Do you visualize the things you want?
It might sound crazy, but this is what many successful people do at the start of each day, and they swear it gets them to where they want to be.
This article explains that whatever we visualize we often get. If we focus on what we donโt want, thatโs exactly what we are likely to get, but if we focus on what we want, there is a good chance we will get that.
Many top athletes and successful business people (all mentally strong individuals) use visualization to get to where they want to be.
So how do they do it?
- First, think about what you want
- Choose a quiet place
- Write down a sentence with the desired outcome (frame it positively)
- Find a picture that fits with your sentence
Now all you need to do is return to this sentence and picture each day. With this in your head, know that you can have it, believe that itโs yours.
Mentally strong people know what they want and they arenโt afraid to give it everything to get it. Including visualizing success in their morning routine is important and enables them to go about their day confidently.
