How often can you honestly say you wake up on the right side of the bed? For some people, waking up early almost feels like a punishment, and the only way to perk up is to drown their sorrows in coffee — lots, and lots of coffee. Personally, I’ve never been one of those people, and maybe that’s partially due to my body’s intolerance to caffeine forcing me to embrace the dawn. But even despite my inability to down an iced Americano sans a stomachache, I also believe that focusing on positive things to think about when you wake up can turn that fresh-off-the-pillow frown upside down because, quite frankly, negativity isn't going to get you anywhere in this world, let alone out of bed in the morning.
Maybe you don’t exactly buy into this idea that if you change your thoughts, you can change your world, but have you actually tried putting the mantra into practice? There really is something to say about starting small, and I’m a firm believer in the notion that waking up with the intention of having a good day and sustaining a positive outlook — rather than moping about how you never get to sleep in past 6 a.m. — can make a world of difference. I’m not saying the power of positive thinking is a quick fix by any means; it takes a lot of conscious effort to master this type of philosophy. What I can tell you, though, is it’ll be worth it.
So how can you tell if you're a morning person or not? It's pretty obvious, really. According to Nectar Sleep’s lifestyle and wellness expert, Erin Berman, the linear definition of a morning person is someone who generally wakes up easily, and has virtually "no problem getting out of bed and out the door." If this sounds like a foreign concept to you, then you're most likely not your best self in the a.m.
"People who aren't a morning person simply have a hard time getting out of bed," Berman tells Elite Daily, "even if they slept a recommended eight hours. If you feel like you are getting a full eight hours and still having a hard time getting out of bed, rest assured you aren't alone — you simply aren't a morning person."
This is totally fine, BTW. Not everyone can be Suzie Sunshine at the crack of dawn, but wouldn't life be so much easier if you could just make peace with the early hours? The good news is, you're just one happy thought away from waking up in a stellar mood and taking the day by storm, so in order to help you out, Elite Daily had a chat with a few experts to figure out the best mindset to have in order to start your day off right, every single time.
01Focus On How Much Time You Have To Actually Get Things Done
Not to brag, but I totally pride myself on being one of those people who thrives in the morning. The earlier I wake up, the more I'm able to accomplish before logging onto my computer to start the work day, and that alone tends to put me in a good mood. So, rather than focusing on how many fewer hours you have to sleep, turn a negative into a positive and think about how much more time you have to check tasks off your to-do list before work starts.
In an exclusive interview with Elite Daily, certified sleep science coach and founder of SleepZoo, Chris Brantner, points out that one of the many benefits of waking up early is not feeling rushed, meaning you have more time to shower, get dressed, grab breakfast, and head out the door. An extra hour, or even just a few minutes to yourself, really can make a difference.
"One reason people hate mornings is because they feel rushed, as if the day already has a one-up on them and they're starting from behind," Brantner tells Elite Daily. "But when you're up early, you're ahead of the game."
02Look Forward To An Afternoon Nap
Obviously the intention here is to bring you to the bright side and embrace the sunrise, instead of feeling annoyed by it. However, as I mentioned earlier, if you're not a morning person by nature, this is a process, and not necessarily a painless one, either. So, if you absolutely cannot shake the loathing, find comfort in the fact that cat naps are a very real thing, and if you wake up early, you can always supplement a few precious moments of shut-eye with a power snooze later on in the day.
"Never underestimate the power of the power nap," Brantner tells Elite Daily. "If all else fails, and you're dragging, tell yourself you have the afternoon power nap to look forward to."
03Remember, Small Progress Is Still Progress
Just because I consider myself an early bird doesn't mean I haven't had my fair share of mornings where the sun bleeding through my blinds pissed me off to no end, and the irritability was all too real. If you've always been more of a night owl, rest assured that no one expects you to pop up like a summer daisy in the beginning, or every morning for the rest of your life, for that matter. Everyone wakes up on the wrong side of the bed once in a while, but the trick is to not let one crummy morning erase all the progress you've made.
"For night owls, the morning might bring bad feelings," Brantner tells Elite Daily. "So focusing on the idea of progress, telling yourself that each morning you pull yourself out of bed gives you an opportunity to make it better than the last can help with looking forward to the day."
04Tell Yourself It's Going To Be A Good Day
When actress Gina Rodriguez won Best Actress in a Comedy Series at the Golden Globes in 2015 for her role as Jane in Jane The Virgin, her acceptance speech blew me away. Aside from thanking her producers and loved ones, she also talked a little bit about dreams and self-motivation. She mentioned that, when she was a little girl, her father used to tell her to repeat the mantra, "Today is going to be a great day. I can, I will," to herself every morning. Following her lead, I tried doing the same for a few weeks, and I can honestly say this trick really works. That's when I realized just how powerful positive self-talk can be.
Jennifer Trebisovsky, author of Make It A Good Day, tells Elite Daily that waking up with a powerful mantra — her personal favorite being, simply, "Today is going to be a good day" — really can work in your favor. It can be anything that inspires you to turn your day around from the start, or anything that helps you "get going a little faster and with more intention," she explains.
05Prove Yourself Wrong By Looking Back On Previous Experiences
I know myself, and I can be the queen of overthinking a situation before I have all the facts, and I think a lot of people who label themselves as anything but a morning person probably do this, too. Trust me, I'm an early riser, but I can also be quite the night owl from time to time. However, just because you wake up groggy, that doesn't mean that after you shower and eat a well-balanced breakfast, you'll still feel like a Negative Nancy.
According to Dr. Danielle Forshee, LLC, a doctor of psychology and licensed clinical social worker, challenging your negative thoughts is a good strategy to transform a negative into a positive. For example, she tells Elite Daily, "remember a morning where you were having negative thoughts, and arbitrarily predicted that your day would turn out not so great, but that’s not how the day actually went."
By realizing the images in your head are actually nothing like the real picture, Forshee says, you're likely to accept that negative thoughts come and go, but ultimately, you're completely in control of how you feel today, tomorrow, and every morning thereafter.
