Social media is full of people’s morning routines, from workout habits to breakfast prep ideas. I’ve got to hand it to morning people: they seem like they know what they’re doing with the whole waking-up-to-greet-the-sun thing. But for people like me, who are absolutely not morning people (and, quite frankly, not night owls either) and prefer to laze about through the morning, sometimes finding the motivation to get going is a struggle. Enter podcaster Mel Robbins and her “Million Dollar Morning Routine.”
Robbins’ Million Dollar Morning Routine is relatively straightforward, with five steps. First, don’t hit snooze. Get out of bed as soon as your alarm goes off, waiting a maximum of five seconds. Second, make your bed. Accomplish this one small task before anything else in the morning. Next, the High-5 Habit. Give yourself a high-five in the mirror. Fourth, move your mind and/or body with a brief meditation or exercise practice. Finally, make some progress on a task, big or small. Check something off the checklist.
Robbins asserts that this routine is designed to get you up and get you moving towards a more productive day. As she puts it, “not only [does this routine help] me feel like a million bucks most days, but it also gives me the structure, confidence, and foundation to make millions of dollars every year.” And with a full slate of college classes on my plate — several of which had assessments coming up — it seemed as good an opportunity as any to try it out!
DAY 1
I started following this routine after Daylight Saving Time, which probably helped me get through the first step without too much difficulty. I actually felt rested when my alarm went off, so no snooze! I rolled out of bed, made that bed, and went to the bathroom for the High-5 Habit. That last part honestly felt a bit goofy. To move my mind, I practiced a bit of mindful breathing while I got myself showered, dressed, and ate breakfast. And then — the part that actually made a difference to me — I sat down at my desk and started on some of my many assignments for the week.
DAY 2
I have to confess — I hit “snooze,” mostly out of habit. But, trying to stay mindful, I did get out of bed before the alarm returned. Maybe the 5-Second Rule can be adapted to the 5-Minute Rule? The High-5 Habit still felt silly, but a full yoga routine helped warm up my body and my mind, reminding me why I love it when I’m in a yoga habit. And getting to work again felt like a huge accomplishment.
DAY 3
By this point, the extra hour from DST wasn’t helping as much, and it was a struggle to get myself out of bed before my alarm went off a second time, let alone in the first five seconds. The highlight, as it had been recently, was getting to work right after breakfast to tackle one of my greatest enemies: my email.
DAY 4
Day 4, I opted to move my body by going to my student center for breakfast rather than eating at home. This meant that after dragging myself out of bed, making a face in the mirror as I high-fived my reflection, rearranging my comforter, and getting myself dressed, I walked to breakfast and decided to eat and work at the same time. The change of scenery — and the sunlight exposure — was a nice change of pace.
DAY 5 – 6
As the busiest part of my week passed, my sleep habits made it harder for me to get up immediately. I did manage to snooze my alarm less often, but by this point, I also started to notice something: this morning routine certainly hadn’t helped my mid-day fatigue.
DAY 7
By Day 7, I was pretty confident that I liked only half of this routine: moving body and mind, and getting things done. Setting myself up each morning with a goal before starting class helped pace some of my assignments, and winding down at night knowing that I would have time in the morning to check things off my planner took some stress off of me.
While I’m skeptical about the marketing of this routine — I think it takes a bit more than daily habits to be successful in business — I see some of the benefits. If you’re an early morning person or a college student without early morning classes, daily morning exercise and work is definitely something to try out. If you’ve got early morning commitments, it may be less plausible to block out 20+ minutes of the morning to some aspects of this routine. Regardless, things like getting up with your alarm or practicing a simple self-affirmation like a high-five could certainly go a long way towards starting your day off right.
I definitely won’t be keeping up with all the elements of this routine, but giving myself a simple task for each morning has definitely been helping me get up and going in the morning. We’ll have to wait and see if it also makes me a millionaire.