9 things successful people never do in the morning

Everyone likes to talk about the things we must do to achieve success.

But while often overlooked, the things we DON’T do can sometimes be even more important.

Successful people know this and for that reason they all have some kind of “NOT TO DO IN THE MORNING” list.

If you want to be more successful in life, never do these 9 things successful people avoid doing in the morning.

1) Keep hitting snooze until they oversleep

For all the hard hustling that successful people do, they pay close attention to their sleep.

They make sure they get at least eight hours of sleep every single night. That’s because they know that sleeping way too little can easily throw them into a horrible brain-fog that will only hurt their productivity.

At the same time, they’re aware that too much of a good thing is bad.

Sleeping too much can not only disrupt their schedule, it can also leave them too tired to function.

This is why they train themselves to wake up the first time their alarm goes off, and not tempt themselves with “five more minutes”—and yes, even on weekends. They know that consistency is key so they’d rather wake up at the same time every day than confuse their body clocks.

And this kind of discipline has made things much easier for them. Most of them don’t need alarm clocks because they’ve trained themselves so well they’ll get up on time and get moving.

2) Scroll social media for more than an hour

Even the most successful ones among us can’t help but scroll through our socials and e-mail in the morning (and hey, nothing is wrong with that!).

I mean, it’s not like it’s an entirely useless time-waster. Sometimes we get notifications for important things overnight!

But what sets successful people apart from everyone else is that they don’t waste too much time on the internet before breakfast.

They’d check their feed, DMs, and e-mail for about ten minutes or so at the most and then move on to more important things (and yes, that could even mean yoga and other things they do for their wellbeing).

The last thing they want is to be caught up in the flow of information and end up being too distracted to get anything done for the rest of the day.

3) Plot revenge

Successful people are successful because they don’t waste their time on things that won’t matter in five years.

They will set aside any petty arguments they might have had the previous day with colleagues and strangers on the internet.

They don’t want to waste their time and energy dwelling on grudges when they could spend it on more productive things instead.

They just try to set things aside and get about their business, forgiving what they can and ignoring what they can’t. Revenge is a waste of time, and it’s beneath them.

But just because they think this way doesn’t mean they’re pushovers. They can easily file an HR report or outright refuse to work with an abusive coworker.

4) Eat junk for breakfast

What we eat has a huge impact on our mental state. For example, too much sugars give us too much energy at once and then leave us crashing when we’ve spent all that energy.

This is why successful people eat proper food for breakfast. They eat balanced meals, rather than nutritionally empty junk that makes them feel full but doesn’t actually give them the nutrients their body needs.

This is also why they get up early. Because well…when you have very little time to spare, it can be quite tempting to just grab a granola bar for breakfast rather than sit down for a full meal.

5) Rush self-care

Successful people don’t wake up 10 minutes before they need to get to work. As I mentioned before, doing this makes it hard (in fact, impossible) to live healthy.

Being forced to rush means that it’s hard to enjoy our meals, stretch, take a shower, and do meditation.

But if they wake up at least an hour early, they give themselves the opportunity to breathe…and to take things slow.

They can cook and savor their meals, get their blood moving with exercise, and even bond with their family and pets.

This means that when they go to work, they’re more relaxed, better fed, and that their bodies are in better overall condition.

You might think “Meh, self-care is overrated. The hustle is all that matters. I’ll just catch up.”

But this might be the reason you’re not going ahead in life than you should. You don’t care for yourself enough.

So if you want to be more successful, don’t look down on self-care as if it’s for wimps. We all need it—especially if you are mighty ambitious.

6) Get on a heated argument on Twitter

We all have only so much energy to spare, and many of us unfortunately waste it arguing with people online.

And this is such a waste of precious time.

It fills our heads with clutter and noise that will stick with us all day, and it leaves us with little energy to spare for our colleagues at work.

This is why successful people will simply scroll past whatever internet drama they might have stumbled into in the morning.

And if something truly is too juicy for them to ignore, they’ll just bookmark it so that they’ll get back to it after work. Even then, they’ll still avoid getting invested in it.

Ultimately nothing they say to strangers online will mean anything, after all. So they’d rather use their time on things that truly matter.

7) Rush important decisions

Mornings are when our brains are still winding up after hours of lying idle. Many of us remain half-asleep hours after we’ve gotten off the bed.

Successful people know this, and for that reason they hold off on making big decisions until they have at least eaten, taken a walk, and consulted with reliable colleagues and friends.

They do think about things the moment they wake up, but they’d give themselves more time to ruminate on their decisions before actually committing. This way, they are sure that they’ll make better decisions.

8) Leave without cleaning their room 

Successful people know how much their surroundings affect their confidence and peace of mind, and hence their ability to make sound decisions.

So even when they’re short on time, they’ll try to tidy up their room before they go, even if that just means folding their blanket after getting up.

The alternative is to simply let clutter be and have it pile up day after day until it’s unmanageable. And they don’t want that!

Everything starts small, and by cleaning their room up regularly like this they avoid stressing themselves out with the idea of coming back home only to spend their free time deep cleaning.

This little chore also gives them an early morning boost—like they’re doing something productive even if it’s just something that takes 1 minute.

9) Start the day without a clear plan

Success starts with good planning and time management.

That’s why successful people regularly sit down with pen and paper and then try to plan how they’re going to spend their next 8-12 hours.

Who will they be e-mailing today? What are their goals? What work should they deliver?

And they’ll make sure to add little steps to achieve their big dreams. They may be working 9-5 on a day job, and they’d always insert an hour or two to write 300 words for the novel they’re working on, if they want to be a novelist.

They’ll list everything down.

And contrary to popular belief, this includes leisure. Even an hour of leisure a day keeps them from getting too stressed and worn down.

If they don’t plan their day ahead, they can easily waste their day doing nothing but work, eat, and then sleep.

By taking the time to plan their days out, either in the morning or at the evening prior, they get to give themselves a clear picture of what their day will look like. It also gives them the opportunity to balance work and pleasure.

Last words

Ultimately, all these things that make successful people who they are point towards maturity and discipline.

It takes discipline to resist the urge to hit “snooze”, to restrict their time on social media, and to be patient with self-care. It takes maturity to avoid getting into arguments on Twitter and plotting petty revenge. You need both to plan your days ahead of time.

And that’s the big secret.

If you want to be successful like they are, you need to teach yourself discipline by doing all of these little habits that help you move forward. And of course, by NOT doing what you shouldn’t be doing.