6 MINUTE JUMP START MORNING ROUTINE

I strongly recommend a daily morning routine for mental health.  The foundation of this practice is written in many books from “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Riches” to “The Morning Miracle”.  The Morning Miracle is a much more updated version of the same practice and a faster read.  All of these morning routine books make wildly optimistic claim that there is a basic formula to a better life and getting whatever you want.  Within reason, I agree with them.  Starting every day clearing your mind, looking at your goals, writing down solutions to your worries can help you simply notice when you have opportunities to get what you want when they are right in front of you, and they often are.  Wrap up with exercise and learning, and you can take small steps forward every day.  Need a book to inspire you to start your day right?  I love “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson.  It’s a great audio, and you’ll be ready to take on the world when you are done.  

Spend either one minute or 10 minutes on each item, making this a 6 minute or 60 minute process.  I modify mine to be about 15 minutes total.  

Table of Contents

  • Steps
    • Step 1
    • Step 2
    • Step 3
    • Step 4
    • Step 5
  • Recommended Books

Step 1

Breathing exercises. Pick your favorite, or start by breathing in for 4, holding for 4, breathing out for 4, and holding for 4.  Then repeat. 

Step 2

Write down your goals in the current tense.  Remember to leave extra pages at the front of your journal, you will be surprised how often you have to start over because you have met your goals.  They should be simple, specific, and easy to measure.  They should also cover health, work, friends, money, exercise, stress, family, travel, creativity, and anything else you value.  Try to come up with about 20.  Some examples might look like this:

I do 5 sun salutations every day.  I walk my dog for 20 minutes per day. I earn 10% more by the end of the year.  I contribute 15% of my paycheck to savings each month. I call my brother three times per week.  I have planned a month-long trip to South America for May of 2025.  I have 1 book published next year.   I spend one on one time with my kids for 5 minutes every night.  I donate 5 things to my charity box every day when I clean up my house.  I add superfoods to my water every morning.  I try a breathing exercise for 2 minutes before I turn to self medicating habits.  I retire on an island in 20 years.  I take a break from conversations if I am not being patient.  I have turned my basement into an exercise room by June.  

Step 3

Spend either one minute or 10 minutes journaling.  I like to do a problem / solution journal every day.  Think of the first thing that pops into your head in the morning.  Start with something easy and unemotional to practice.  For example, “I need a new car but I don’t want to spend the money”.  Next, do a full brainstorm of every idea that pops into your mind.  You might find that most of them are totally irrational, but they are still in there, so write them down.  For example:  “Rob a bank.  Sell a kidney.  Use a credit card.  Steal a car.  Sell my current car and use the money as a down payment to lower the cost.  Get a second job on the weekends for 3 months until I have saved up the difference.  Take money out of savings.  Wait a year and put X amount aside each month.  Cancel streaming services for a month.  Stop going out to eat for 3 months.  Look at the bank and see if you even need to worry about the expense.”  You may find in this example that combining 2 or 3 of these ideas will actually make it easy.  Maybe you make a decision to pause unneeded services and meals for 3 months allows you to save enough to reduce your monthly payment.  If this is the case, write it down and do it the moment you’re done.  I like to email my tasks to myself so that I see them when I sit down at my desk.  If someone else can help, I email to delegate the task to that person.  

Step 4

Exercise.  My choice of exercise is to do 5 sun salutation A’s.  A slightly harder version would be to add 3 Sun salutation B’s.  Then, I do 2 minutes of plank pose 

followed by 2 minutes of bridge pose.  Last, I practice 30 seconds to a minute of crow pose.  Finally, 1-5 minutes in savasana pose for meditation.

Step 5

Learn something.  Read, listen to a podcast, practice a new language on duolingo, or look up some information about some of your goals and use that information to add a new task to your calendar.  

Recommended Books

Here are a few books I recommend in my office:

Podcast Ideas

  • Jay Shetty’s podcast for mindset and perspective 
  • Huberman Labs podcast for neuroscience and biohacking 
  • This Naked Mind for advice on reducing or eliminating social drinking 
  • The Healing Point

If you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site, I may make a small commission from it. All images are property of naturalishdoctor.com unless otherwise noted. All opinions are my own 🙂

Related Posts