I love the morning time; it’s when the sun is up, the world is awake, and my mind is awake, ready to have a good day.

But despite being a morning person, for some reason my mornings would always be a mess.

When I used to wake up I didn’t know what to do after I had had my breakfast.

If I woke up extra early, I’d either give myself too much to do so that it made me exhausted for the rest of the day.

Or if I woke up late when I wanted to wake up early, I would get frustrated over why I had woken up so late and as a result, my mood would ruin the rest of the day.

That meant that I wouldn’t do the errands I wanted to do on that day, I couldn’t do that morning exercise, I didn’t want to go out with my friends anymore and last and worst of all, everything would get piled up for the next day.

Mornings are key; and I understood that, but because of my being a perfectionist there had been a lot of days I’ve wasted not doing the things I wanted to do just because I started off with the wrong mood.

So now, after several trial and errors I’ve figured out eight realistic ways of starting the day off happier and better organised and I want to share them with you.

I’ve read tonnes of blogs and watched gazillions of vlogs about morning routines and rituals but after failing so many of them, I’ve found these easy morning habits that you can start building over time and that will help you  so much in your day-to-day moods.

1. Once you have woken up, spend maximum 15 minutes in bed – and that includes with the phone

The first thing you’re most likely going to want to do when you wake up is look at your phone. Accept it. That’s just what you would do if you live in this day and age, and it’s fine.

What I will say though is that make sure you keep these fifteen minutes, fifteen minutes.

If you spend more time than this it’s fine; it’s your mindset that affects what you do at the end of the day. But going over fifteen minutes may just makes you slightly more sluggish when you wake up.

Also, once you get yourself into this 15 minute habit, start trying to decrease the amount of time you spend on your phone in bed to the point that you don’t need to use your phone in bed.

Getting into the habit of not using your phone in bed will increase your productivity and will make you feel more awake.

2. Brush your teeth and your hair, wash your face and do your face routine properly.

This is another crucial step to start off your morning with a positive attitude.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re male or female; keeping your skin in good condition will make you feel more organised, happier and in the long run will help your sagging sixty-year old self!

3. Make your bed straight away

I cannot stress how much of an impact this thirty-second chore does for the rest of your day.

By tidying your bed, you’re less likely to jump back in.

I’m always in my bedroom and I’ve noticed that if I’ve made my bed and all my pillows are where they should be, when I come into the room to do work, work doesn’t become working for 5 minutes and then scrolling on social media for 2 hours.

But if that 5 minutes of ‘working’ is you telling yourself to work, you should check out this productivity hack (the 5 minute rule) where in 5 minutes you will be ready for your work day.

With simple steps that not only get rid of your procrastination but also change your mindset towards approaching work, you’ll be using those 5 minutes to actually get into the zone of working.

4. Have a good breakfast and give yourself some ‘me’ time

In loads of the morning routines/ rituals I’ve read about, I’ve noticed that there isn’t much ‘me’ time.

The person usually makes themselves a beautiful breakfast (which, face it, none of us have the time nor patience to make in real life) and then starts getting ready for the day by reading, getting dressed, doing the errands etc.

Now while that is absolutely fab, in real life we don’t really do that, do we? Sure, you may have made that delectable acai bowl, but do you do this every morning?

Do you get changed every morning because you always have somewhere to go? Or are you sitting in your pyjamas watching friends in the morning like everyone else does?

When I say have a good breakfast I mean have a breakfast that you love, that you’re craving, that will make you happy.

If waking up and having a fruit bowl helps you feel refreshed that’s great, but if waking up and having those two chocolate croissants makes you happy, go for it!

If you’re going to wake up every morning and force yourself to have a green tea, a fruit bowl, hit the gym and then go do some work, obviously you’re not going to look forward to getting out bed in the first place.

DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IN THIS TIME.

5. Do something that makes your brain concentrate

This can easily be a part of your ‘me’ time, but I tend to keep it after that time – for me, ‘me’ time is literally ‘use your brain as less as possible’ time.

Use this time to read, write, paint, journal, learn a language, meditate, pray.

Instead of learning in the way where you have to do it (i.e. in school, college, university,   work) for the sake of something, learn something interesting you want to achieve.

There are tonnes of online courses, both free and paid ones that you can learn from.

And of course, you don’t have to do this every day. Even doing this for twenty minutes every couple of days or doing this once every two weeks will help you learn something you are interested in.

For more ideas of things you can do in your mornings, check out the Mind Glow-up series, in which I not only give great activities for you to better your self-love, but also ways to develop yourself and become an upgraded version of yourself.

6. Get changed

On those days when you feel especially lazy, but you really don’t want to be feeling like that, get changed.

On a chill day at home, I don’t tend to get changed even if I have got things to do, but when I noticed that I’ve refreshed my instagram page for the 8th time, I know it’s time to get up.

By getting dressed, you set yourself up for the day; you will feel more active and will be less likely to lie on your bed, sofa, or ground scrolling through your phone.

7. Tidy Room/s (Optional)

I love the way I just put this step as optional, because for the past couple of weeks my bedroom has been in a tip.

But anyway! You can do this! If you want! (lol)

The reason why I say this is optional is because it depends on how messy your room is, how busy you are, how bothered you are…

And yes, if you’re thinking that the reason I put tidy room as optional is because I can’t be bothered myself, you’re right.

I did say this is a REAL morning routine.

By tidying your bedroom, even if it means you wipe the surfaces down and clean the mirror for five minutes altogether every day it will help you feel tidy and in the long run will prevent you from having to devote one entire Sunday going through your things and tidying up.

8. Go outside and feel that sweet air

Even if you haven’t got anything to do outside, I would say go outside. This of course, is optional for people who work and haven’t had time to just sit at home.

See a friend, buy a peach green tea, go to tesco. You don’t need to do something fancy but just going outside to see the sun, and feel the breeze will uplift your spirits and set you up for the day.

I hope this post helps you today and gives you some ideas of what you can do next to improve your morning.

Even if you can’t do all of these every morning, just implement one that you feel most comfortable with and work your way from there.

You need to remind yourself that each day should be spent doing the things YOU want to do, and not what other people tell you to do in routines/ rituals.

Do what works for you, do what makes you happy. Because at the end you are living your life, no one else is.