The way you start the day sets the tone for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, most of us have awful morning habits and once again, smartphones and addictive apps are often to blame.

Here are my 5 rules for optimizing your morning routine and getting off to a great start.

The 5 Rules - Summary

Here's a summary of the 5 rules:

Rule 1: Put Your Phone in Airplane Mode the Evening Before

Make sure that you don't have your phone right next to your bed, where you can see it and reach it. Instead, put it in airplane mode and place it as far away from your bed as it can go, with the alarm still waking you in the morning (assuming you use the phone alarm).

Related to this rule: never hit the snooze button! Placing the phone far away also ensures that you get up without snoozing.

Rule 2: What Not to Do, First Thing in the Morning

There are a few things that will almost guarantee you derail your day before it even starts. Don't do any of these things, early in the morning:

Don't interact with any social media or apps that are designed for "engagement" and put you into zombie mode.
Don't check your emails, Slack, or any other messages.
Don't read the news or scan headlines. News is generally miserable and optimized by algorithms to get you hooked.

Rule 3: Keep Your Phone in Airplane Mode Until Your Morning Routine is Done

We put the phone in airplane mode the evening before and we finish our entire morning routine before deactivating airplane mode.

This way, we can use the phone and phone apps like Nomie, exercise apps, meditation timers etc. to aid our morning routine, without falling into a notifications-and-social-media trap.

Rule 4: Do a New Habit 5 Days in a Row Before Adding Another One

Routines are more stable and more sticky when you build them gradually, step by step. Instead of trying to start an entire morning routine with a dozen habits right away, start with just one thing. Do that for 5 days, then add a second item. This slower approach builds a solid routine, whereas trying to do too much at once is a ticket to failure.

Here's a story that I always remember when I'm tempted to do too much at once:

Rule 5: If You Can't Do 20 Minutes...

There's a saying: "If you don't have time to meditate for 20 minutes in the morning, you should meditate for 1 hour."

I find that this holds true. It's those days when we feel too rushed, too stressed, too busy for a morning ritual when we most need that morning ritual. Remember to slow down. Time is well spent on good, positive morning habits.

5 Rules for Better Morning Rituals