10 Things To Do In The Morning That Aren't Boring

This post on 10 things to do in the morning won’t focus on making your bed, drinking water, and following the celebrities’ routines.

No! This morning routine is a realistic, self-nourishing, and non-boring way to get inspired and start your day actually achieving something.

Some of the things I will list below are activities I do for years, others I’ve adopted lately. These are fresh morning routine ideas that will surprise you with their simplicity and help you enjoy your mornings better.

This post is for you if…

You are trying to get your life together and are actively looking for ways to have better mornings.
You truly are tired of all posts that preach the same style of morning routines over and over and over again. Yes, they are great, but they are all the same.
You have tried to implement a productive morning routine in the past but always felt something’s missing.
You aren’t in a mood for exercise sessions and running 10 miles in under half an hour (yeah, who does that?!). Hence, you are searching for achievable and realistic things to do in the morning.
You are ready to forgive my sarcastic sense of humor and be open-minded to the routine ideas I will discuss.

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How To Get Going In The Morning?

How to wake up feeling fresh and ready to achieve your goals?

Fall asleep… early!

Wake up… early!

Waking up early doesn’t mean you should change your alarm for 5 a.m. tomorrow, then snooze it 12 times and decide to give it another go on the next day.

It means you disable the option of having a snooze button when your alarm goes off (yes, that’s an option your phone has).

You also want to start waking up only 10 minutes earlier than you did until now. Do that for a week, and then wake up another 10 minutes earlier. Keep doing this until you start waking up at a time that suits you best. It will take you a while, but you will adjust your body to the new routine easier.

I wake up at 5 a.m. on weekdays and around 6 a.m. on weekends. No, I don’t miss sleep, and I get 8 hours of sleep regularly. But I am very, very strict with my bedtime. You should be too.

There are three things you want to do every evening before going to sleep to make sure you are on the schedule:

Get in bed at least half an hour before you want to fall asleep. That gives your body a chance to relax and “get into the sleepy mode”.
Avoid your phone and any screens for an hour before sleep time – I am doing my best with this, but I have evenings when I want to browse Youtube for an hour, and that’s okay.
Write in your gratitude journal – it will help you record all the good things from the day.

What to do at 5 in the morning?

If you are stubborn enough to actually get up at 5 a.m., then right after you make your first highly appreciated cup of coffee, you might end up half-asleep on your chair with one question in your mind: What to do at 5 in the morning? Reset your life?

Why did you get up and now that you are up, what should you do so early?

Here are 10 things to do in the morning before you start your day.

10 Things To Do In The Morning

1. Eye Exercises

Nope, I am not joking.

I read a book many years ago by a Russian author Mirzakarim Norbekov, and it had the coolest name ever: The experience of a fool: who had an epiphany about how to get rid of his glasses.

Here’s the thing.

You might be very strict with your yoga, running, gym sessions, and all types of physical activities. You might move your body’s muscles all morning, but I bet you forget to look after your eyes.

Yet, most likely, you work behind a computer, and if you aren’t, you still use social media and scroll on the web for hours every day (or how else would you land on this page).

Our eyes are muscles, and just like any other muscle, they need exercises to stay strong.

I do very simple eye exercises like rolling my eyes, looking up and down and sidewise, and so on. You could find helpful videos on Youtube as well. Keep in mind that if you feel pain while doing them, you might want to take a break for a minute or two and then keep going. The faster you feel pain, the more you are obligated to stick to this exercise.

Inside Of My Happiness Journal

Inside Of My Happiness | Journal for Living an Intentional Life

Scared of journaling?

Journaling has so many benefits, and you've always wanted to stick to it but never did. It looks and sounds complicated. You think that there are some rules you know nothing of and can't see the magic everyone talks of.

Inside of My Happiness is your go-to journal for the morning and the evening. Get inspired in the mornings, reflect on yourself in the evening. As simple as that.

2. Light Stretches

You moved your eyes, now is time to move your body.

Now, I am not a fan of the early morning sweating and running for an hour. If you are – I am so proud of you. I’ve tried to be like you for many years; it didn’t work; I found my way around it.

Morning stretches are a great way to wake up your body’s muscles and feel you actually are awake.

I either find a 5-minute video on Youtube with morning stretches, or I do for a few minutes “common sense” stretches – moving my arms, shoulders, warming up the legs.

This is my favorite 5 minute morning warm up on Youtube.

3. Smile

Here’s the silliest thing I do every morning. Just after I wash my face and put some face cream on, I smile at my reflection in the mirror. I talked a lot about this in my post on how to wake up happy every day here.

Smiling at myself in the morning truly makes me feel silly on most mornings. And that’s what keeps that smile on my face for a few more seconds. We want everyone to smile at us, but we feel uncomfortable smiling at ourselves? Why?

You are beautiful, you love yourself, you deserve many smiles. Why not even yours? It boosts your mood, and it’s a great way to set intentions for the day ahead.

4. Breakfast

You woke up your body; you rolled your eyes a few times; you even smiled at yourself.

Such a beautiful day, isn’t it? Why not enjoy a light breakfast?

Having breakfast in the mornings is the one thing I never, ever skip. I can modify the things I do in the mornings in many ways, and I will most likely change even this routine in a few months or a year. But the one thing I stay consistent with is having breakfast. Every. Morning.

It wakes up your digestive system, pushes the start button of your metabolism, gives you energy for the first part of the day, and your guts will be grateful you didn’t just pour coffee as a first meal.

5. Learning a Language

Every morning I sit and spend 5-10 minutes learning a new language. I rarely skip a day. You might want to do the same. Here’s why!

Learning a new language stimulates your creative thinking, wakes up your brain, and gives you opportunities to think and speak someone else’s native language. It’s simply cool to add another language to your portfolio, and even if you’re stuck on a beginner level for a while, as long as you keep showing up every day, you will see a significant improvement in a month or so.

I have Duolingo on my phone, and while drinking my tea and enjoying my breakfast, I go through a few lessons. Have you tried it yourself?

6. Play Sudoku

As you’ve probably noticed, most of my tips on the list of 10 things to do in the morning are connected to waking up your body and your mind.

This isn’t an exception. Most people see Sudoku as a game, but it is way more than that.

Sudoku is a problem-solving game. It increases your ability to concentrate, prevents you from developing Alzheimer’s disease, improves your memory, and adds that fun note to your morning. (source)

I play at least one Sudoku game every morning for over two years, and it has become part of my morning routine I wouldn’t give up on. Please, keep in mind that playing a game or two is totally fine, but you wouldn’t want to fall for the trap of spending an hour in the morning doing just that. Be mindful of how much of your time you are giving to every game you play.

7. Stay in Silence

Obviously, nobody is crazy enough to wake up with you, so you kind of stay in silence anyway.

Well, keeping your mouth shut doesn’t mean you stay in silence.

I’m encouraging you to take a few deep breathes and focus on silencing your mind. Enjoy the quietness of the morning, feel its magic. This is not meditation. This is simply listening to the nothingness, practicing full relaxation of your mind. Okay, it is a bit meditating, but it’s a short one. You don’t mind, do you?

8. Journaling

Journaling is on this list of 10 things to do in the morning and on basically every other morning routine posts on the web for a reason.

Writing down a few sentences in the morning is so liberating. Your mind is probably cluttered with ideas from the previous day, challenges that need your attention, feelings you must share.

Putting pen to paper is simply the best way to take that burden off and help your mind keep less clutter.

The journal I use right now is a guided Happiness Journal, and it’s exactly what it sounds like – recording happiness. It’s perfect for the mornings as it takes just a few minutes to fill and gives me focus for the day. Click here to take a peek inside of it.

9. Read Something Inspiring

I must confess something. I wish I were more consistent with this in the mornings.

If you are a creative person, like me, you will need that extra source of inspiration, motivation, and food for thought that a page of a book gives you.

This is simply one of the most pleasurable things to do in the morning as it requires you to open a book and read a page or a short chapter. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes, and you want to finish the chapter or the story in those five minutes.

Not every book fits the requirements, so you could either find inspiring book paragraphs like these here or pick any of the books in the list below.

10. Cuddle With Someone

I cuddle with my dog every morning. Her facial expression is so funny when I turn the lights on at 5 a.m. that I can’t resist but hug her for a few seconds and then cuddle her for a few minutes. She is the laziest dog you’ve ever met and believes I should be banned from turning lights on when outside is still dark.

Nobody listens to her though.

Cuddle someone in the mornings. Give and receive love. Start your day with love. This is the best way to set your positive mood for the day and feel content with the world around you.

If you live alone, you could always text someone good morning and let them know they are obligated to enjoy their day. They smile – you smile.

Get a pet. It’s fun and allows you to show extra care for someone else.

Conclusion on 10 Things To Do In The Morning

To summarise my morning routine, here is the list of 10 things to do in the morning:

Eye Exercises so you wake up your eyes and get them ready for the social media you’ll procrastinate on all day.
Light stretches or a quick warm-up.
Smile at your reflection in the mirror. Yes, it’s silly, but only the first 100 times. Then it’s fine.
Breakfast – it improves your metabolism and reduces digestive problems.
Learn a language – it’s beneficial for your brain development.
Play Sudoku – a problem-solving game that actually will help your analytical thinking.
Stay in silence
Journal for Happiness
Read a few inspirational pages of a book or paragraphs.
Cuddle with someone you love.