Morning routines have been on the rise in the last few years. Just look at Google Trends:

Productivity hacker and author Tim Ferriss makes it a key point to talk about morning routines in all of his podcast interviews with world-class performers.

And they all have one.

Here are some benefits around morning routines:

• Get an amazing start to the day - not many people wake up in the morning because it’s difficult to get out of the comfort of your bed. By waking early, you’re already getting a head start on the day and doing something most people wouldn’t do. 
• Start productive with minimal distractions - since most people aren’t awake, you’re free to move about doing the things that you think are important without anyone asking for your attention.
• Beat the commute - not many people are out driving early in the morning. If you’re up early, you can bypass the traffic.
• Peace and quiet - there’s something to be said about taking in the air and enjoying the quietness as the sun comes up.

Just take a look at Benjamin Franklin’s lauded to-do list:

Interested in some statistics around successful morning routines? My Morning Routine has some fascinating numbers here:

Now that you’ve checked out some interesting facts around morning routines, here are 4 steps I personally use in my morning routine to get the day off on the right foot.

5 Minute Journal

• What 
• Why
• How
• Where

The 5 Minute Journal is what I write in to start the day. It’s my way of starting the day feeling grateful and puts focus into what I want to accomplish.

Here’s what it looks like:

The structure of the journal gives me something simple to follow on a daily basis. 

In the morning, I fill out:

• What I’m grateful for
• What I’m going to do today
• Daily affirmations, I am:

In the evening, I fill out:

• Great things that happened
• One thing I could improve upon

Meditation
Clearing my mind through meditation has been immensely helpful in terms of preparing me for the day and keeping me level headed.

Here’s a quick introduction:

Here are some facts regarding meditation:

• "Women with severe PMS have a 57% reduction in physical and psychological symptoms.” Meditation 24-7
• It can lower stress.
• It changes the brain in a protective way against mental illness.
• It lowers depression risk among pregnant women.
• and much more.

Personally, being able to set some time to pause everything in my life puts me in a much calmer mood. It allows me to sit back and flow with my surroundings. 

Train

One of the most beneficial things to do is to get up and train in the morning. Instead of calling it ‘work out’, rephrasing it to ‘training’ has a slight psychological benefit to me personally.

Strength trainer Pavel Tsatouline is the man that instilled that philosophy into me. I highly recommend listening to his podcast interview with Tim Ferriss here.

Here’s a reminder on the health benefits per WebMD:

• It strengthens your heart
• It increases energy levels
• It lowers blood pressure
• It improves muscle tone and strength
• It strengthens and builds bones.
• It reduces body fat
• It makes you look fit and healthy
• It reduces stress and wards off anxiety

And for statistics lovers:

• Exercise thresholds established from longitudinal and cross-sectional training studies indicate that 15–20 miles per week of jogging or brisk walking, which is equivalent to 1,200–2,200 kilocalories of energy expenditure, may decrease blood triglycerides by 5–38 milligrams per deciliter.
• Statistics show that those who are moderately active have a 20% lower risk of stroke while those who are highly active have a 27% lower risk of stroke.
•  Physically active men and women have a 30%–40% reduction in relative risk for colon cancer compared with their inactive counterparts.
• Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, performed 3 times a week (sessions lasting over 20 minutes) for up to 12 weeks, has the most influence on stress management.

And if you currently don’t train in the morning? Not a problem! 

You can start by developing tiny habits that build over time.

Green Tea

Personally, drinking green tea in the morning gives me a feeling of calmness. Naturally, I was curious to learn about the health benefits of drinking green tea:

• It can improve your brain function and make you smarter
• Increases fat burning and improves physical performance
• Has antioxidants that might lower your risk of cancer
• Combats allergies
• Aids with your skin
• Provides a tranquilizing effect 

Here’s an interesting quote from WebMD: 
"All things being equal, if you sub 1-2 cups of green tea for one can of soda, over the next year you'd save over 50,000 calories," Ochner says. That's more than 15 pounds. Just don’t swamp it with honey or sugar!
After I make my tea, sometimes I might just go sit at my dining table or go out on the porch and take in the air. 

Bonus:

If you’re looking for more tips to form a better morning routine, Buffer has a great list right here.

Conclusion

There are certainly many more steps you can add to a successful morning routine. These are just 4 that I use. The key is to get started.

For some people, it’s harder to develop a morning routine because they just aren’t used to waking up that early. I was certainly one of them.

But try it a few times to get a sense of how you feel after you do it. If you feel the benefits, maybe it’s worth pursuing more.

If not, no problem!