The Anti-Morning Routine
How to do less in the morning and win the day.
If one more influencer touts the benefits of waking up at 4:00 AM to drink my urine or sunbathe my privates, I’m going to lose it. Are you tired yet? ‘Cus I sure am. I'm here to tell you that you can win the morning and the day without writing full novels before dawn or drinking liters of swamp water green juice. The first step to anything is admitting you have a problem. Let’s admit that these unrealistic AM routines are a problem. Okay, now let’s move on to sane solutions that work.
It’s a Trap
Those picture-perfect morning routines you see online are often unrealistic for most human beings, created primarily to sell you products (hello, sponsored content!), not even followed consistently by the influencers promoting them, and serve as a clever way to make you feel inadequate when you inevitably can't maintain them. The truth? You'd need to "bilocate" or clone yourself to accomplish the 25-step morning regimen being pushed on social media. These aspirational routines aren't setting you up for success, they're setting you up for disappointment and self-hatred because they have you believing that you just can’t stick to anything, and therefore will never be “good enough” to accomplish your goals.
The Anti-Morning Routine: What Works
Here's a simpler, science-backed approach that doesn't require superhuman discipline or expensive products:
1. Know Yourself First
You knew I was going to say that self-awareness is the first key. Before adopting any routine, understand your natural tendencies:
Are you naturally a morning person?
Are you more of a person who has Herculean challenges waking up in the morning because you tend to stay up later at night?
When is your brain the most active?
What time do you realistically need to wake up?
What would genuinely make your mornings better?
Look, I know that we as humans evolved to wake up when the sun rises and fall asleep when the sun sets, but in our modern world, this has become unrealistic. People, we are officially in the upside-down. Studies have shown that going to sleep after midnight, even if you have been doing it for years, causes disturbances in our endocrine system, which regulates a host of hormones, and our blood glucose. Blood glucose is especially important because having deregulated blood glucose can negatively impact insulin, which causes a whole host of conditions that no one wants to have. Diabetes is the primary concern here. So if you tend to go to sleep after midnight, and you are not a shift worker, I ask you to reconsider your bedtime. I know for those doing shift work, it’s impossible to avoid.
For those who are under the spell that 4:30 AM is the best time to wake up per your favorite influencer, I ask that you not to do is set an alarm for 4:30 AM when you typically wake up at 7:00 AM. Start with small, manageable adjustments (maybe 6:45 AM) that align with your actual life. Learn what your natural body rhythms are, and to do that, you need to live a life as a human with as little blue light exposure at night as possible and the use of stimulants(coffee, my old friend). Again, many of us are unaware of our body’s natural daily cycles, but knowing if you are a morning person or not is a good start.
Start to learn your natural body rhythms and go from there in building your routine.
2. The Night Before Sets You Up for Success
Your morning begins the night before. If you do not plan your morning the night before, you are setting yourself up for a cycle where you are late and running behind. Here are a few basic things to minimize decision fatigue in the morning and keep you organized, which we will discuss in further detail.
Lay out the clothes you are going to wear the night before.
Make a simple to-do list for tomorrow. List the top 3 things you need to accomplish.
Set a reasonable bedtime to ensure adequate rest. This will be different for everyone.
Put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode and out of your bedroom.
Wake up and go to sleep at the same time each day
3. The Minimal Morning Framework
When you wake up:
Get up when your alarm goes off - This is non-negotiable. When your alarm sounds, do not hit snooze seventeen times or set multiple "aspirational" alarms. Try Mel Robbins' famous 5-4-3-2-1 method: count down from five, and when you reach one, physically move your body out of bed. This simple technique interrupts the hesitation pattern your brain creates and activates your prefrontal cortex, bypassing the resistance that keeps you under the covers. The moment you start negotiating with yourself about getting up is the moment you've lost the battle.
Phone curfew - No phone for the first hour of the day. I said what I said. I’ll explain more about this later. Keep reading. You are doing a great job.
Get natural sunlight - Within minutes of waking, expose yourself to natural light. This isn't just feel-good advice; it's neuroscience. Morning sunlight exposure regulates your circadian rhythm, boosts mood-enhancing serotonin, and helps your body produce vitamin D (something most of us are deficient in). Even on cloudy days, outdoor light is significantly brighter than indoor lighting and provides these benefits. If you can manage a quick five-minute walk outside, even better, but simply standing by a window works too. For shift workers or during winter months when it's dark during wake-up time, consider a light therapy lamp that mimics natural sunshine.
Take five minutes of silence - You can meditate if you wish, but if you are not into meditating, take five minutes to be mindful. Before diving into the chaos of the day, take five minutes for yourself without any input. No talking, no scrolling, no checking notifications or emails, just you and your breath. This isn't about elaborate meditation techniques (though you can certainly use them if they work for you). It's about creating space before your mind gets hijacked by others' priorities. Use this time to breathe deeply, express gratitude, or simply be present. Even a simple mantra like repeating "thank you" or "I'm grateful" can transform your mindset. This pause creates an intentional boundary between sleep and the active part of your day.
Hydrate mindfully - After hours without water, your body needs hydration. Instead of immediately reaching for coffee, drink a full glass of room temperature water to jumpstart your metabolism, flush toxins, and rehydrate your system. If you want to elevate this practice, add fresh lemon for digestive benefits. The key is making hydration a conscious ritual rather than an afterthought. Bonus points if you speak positive words of affirmation to the water. This, too, is backed by science through the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto.
Simplify your hygiene routine - Forget the 25-step skincare regimens promoted by influencers with product deals. Most dermatologists recommend a simple cleanse-moisturize-protect approach that takes minutes, not an hour plus. Find what's necessary for you to feel clean and confident, and streamline the rest. If you enjoy elaborate self-care routines and have the time, save them for evenings or weekends. Your morning routine should remove friction, not create it.
Then, if it works for you:
Nourish your body thoughtfully - Whether you choose to eat breakfast or practice intermittent fasting should depend on your body's needs, not trends. If you enjoy breakfast, make it simple and nourishing. If intermittent fasting works for your body and schedule, honor that choice. And contrary to what many influencers push, you don't need complicated green juices or specialty mushroom coffees to start your day right; these often contain less nutrition than whole foods and come with a hefty price tag.
My love letter to coffee - I am addicted to coffee, and I make no secret of that. My mother drank a pot of filtered coffee and a few Greek coffees while she was pregnant with me, daily. I am hardwired to be addicted to coffee, but even I follow doctor Andrew Huberman’s advice of waiting 90 minutes after waking to consume caffeine. I have seen the difference in my energy levels, and I stand by his advice.
Intention for the day - I am a writer, and love to journal. It’s a daily practice, which has changed my life in so many positive ways. I like to write my intention for my day in my journal. Sometimes it’s one sentence, other times I expand it into a full page with lots of details. I use this intention as my north star. When I feel off or anxious, I go back to this intention and it helps to ground me in the present. If you feel called to do this, please add this to your morning routine.
Move your body mindfully - Exercise shouldn't feel like punishment. The most sustainable movement is one you'll do consistently. A simple 15-minute walk outdoors accomplishes multiple goals: light exercise, vitamin D exposure, mental clarity, and connection with your surroundings. Walking is also scientifically proven to boost creativity and problem-solving abilities, making it the perfect morning activity before tackling complex work. If you're building a gym habit, be realistic about what works for your schedule and energy levels. Starting with an achievable 15-minute walk and gradually building up to more intensive exercise is far more effective than committing to 5 AM spin classes you'll eventually abandon.
Dress with intention, not obsession - Decision fatigue is real, and choosing your outfit can drain mental energy better used elsewhere. Laying out your clothes the night before eliminates morning stress and wasted time. Consider creating a simple capsule wardrobe of items that mix and match easily, or develop a personal "uniform" that works for your lifestyle and body type. The goal is to reduce friction in your morning so you can focus on what truly matters. Many successful people, from Steve Jobs to Barack Obama, minimized wardrobe decisions precisely because they recognized the value of their mental bandwidth.
Miscellaneous - Do you like doing a round of sun salutations? Do you like to sing in the morning? Take your dog for a walk? Feed the cats? Whatever you like to do that doesn’t involve a phone, add it to your routine.
This entire anti-morning routine should take 30-45 minutes, depending on whether you include breakfast or exercise. There's no need for expensive products, complicated rituals, or impossible standards—just science-backed basics that improve your mental clarity, physical energy, and emotional well-being. Remember that consistency with simple practices outperforms perfection with elaborate ones every time. The true measure of a successful morning routine isn't how impressive it sounds on social media, but how effectively it launches you into a productive, focused day without depleting your willpower before you've even begun.
Breaking Free from Digital Distraction
The most critical element of the anti-morning routine, the game-changer that will transform your productivity and well-being, is simple yet profoundly challenging for most of us: Stay off your phone for the first hour of your day.
This isn't just casual advice. Your smartphone is arguably the most sophisticated manipulation device ever created. It's meticulously engineered by teams of psychologists, neuroscientists, and behavioral economists with one primary goal: capturing and monetizing your attention. Every notification, alert, and app is designed using the same principles that make slot machines addictive: variable rewards that trigger dopamine hits and keep you coming back for more.
When you reach for your phone first thing in the morning, you're surrendering the most mentally clear and potentially productive hour of your day to external forces. Those emails, texts, news alerts, and social media updates? They're not neutral information, they're other people's agendas infiltrating your consciousness before you've even had a chance to set your own intentions. Your boss's urgent request, a friend's crisis, the latest political outrage, or celebrity drama, all of these hijack your mental bandwidth and emotional state before you've centered yourself. Don’t take the bait. It’s all brainwashing.
When you are on your phone the first hour of your day:
Cortisol spikes - Research shows that checking your phone first thing triggers stress hormones, placing your body in a fight-or-flight state that can persist for hours.
Reactive mindset - Beginning your day responding to others' needs trains your brain to operate in reactive mode rather than proactive, strategic thinking.
Attention fragmentation - The rapid task-switching of checking multiple apps fractures your focus, making it harder to concentrate deeply for the remainder of the day.
Diminished creativity - Morning is when many people experience their highest creative potential. Filling this time with information consumption rather than creation or reflection wastes this valuable mental state.
Altered priorities - What you encounter first thing can unconsciously shape what seems important for the rest of the day, often misaligning your actions with your true goals and values.
This simple boundary, no phone for the first hour, creates a protective container for your morning consciousness. It allows you to establish your mindset, set intentions, and connect with yourself before connecting with the digital world. It ensures that you begin the day as the author of your experience rather than a consumer of whatever algorithms decide to serve you.
Practically speaking, this means:
Keep your phone in another room while you sleep (use a regular alarm clock if needed)
If you must use your phone as an alarm, immediately put it on Do Not Disturb after silencing it. You can “favorite” close family members to interrupt the Do Not Disturb on your phone if they call you with an emergency.
Do not sleep with your phone in your bed.
Consider using apps that limit your access to certain features during designated hours
Tell close friends and family members about your boundaries so they understand why you're not immediately responsive
For many people, this single habit of protecting the first hour of the day from digital intrusion proves more transformative than all those elaborate morning rituals combined. You will become more present to your life if the distraction of your phone in the morning has been eliminated. It's free, requires no special equipment, and takes zero extra time. Yet it may be the most challenging part of the anti-morning routine because it requires breaking a deeply ingrained addiction that most of us don't even recognize.
If a full hour seems impossible, start with 15 minutes and gradually extend the phone-free period. The point isn't perfection but progress toward reclaiming your attention and intention at the start of each day.
Reclaiming Your Mornings, Reclaiming Your Life
Remember, the most successful morning routine isn't the one that photographs beautifully for Instagram or generates thousands of likes on TikTok—it's the one you can maintain consistently without depleting your mental and emotional resources. True success comes from sustainable habits that honor your unique biology, circumstances, and aspirations rather than someone else's highlight reel or marketing strategy.
The anti-morning routine isn't about lowering your standards, it's about raising them by demanding authenticity, effectiveness, and respect for your limited time and energy. By stripping away the unnecessary and focusing on what genuinely supports your well-being, you're not settling for less; you're choosing what works over what merely impresses.
Consider what might become possible in your life if you reclaimed the mental bandwidth currently consumed by guilt over an incomplete 25-step morning ritual. What creative projects might you finally complete? What relationships could you nurture? What business ideas might you develop? What personal growth could you experience if you stopped measuring yourself against impossible standards designed to make you feel inadequate and buy more products?
The most valuable currency we have isn't money, it's attention and energy. If I’m being really honest, our spirit is what is most important here - our hearts. By protecting these resources, you're making a profound investment in everything that truly matters to you. You're choosing presence over performance, substance over style, and authentic growth over the illusion of perfection.
Start small. Be consistent. Trust the process. And watch what happens when you stop exhausting yourself trying to live someone else's definition of a successful morning and instead create one that genuinely serves your best life.
Your mornings belong to you, not to influencers, not to corporations, not to social media algorithms. It's time to take them back.