Happy Monday! If you are like me, Monday morning is not the most pleasant time of my day. I’m not a morning person and have a really hard time waking up early as it is.

Add to that usually going to bed late on Sunday, trying to grasp the fleeting weekend time, and Monday usually turns out particularly challenging for me.

I learned the hard way that if I let this morning negativity affect me – it’ll ruin my entire day and will make me start the whole week on the wrong foot.

There’s a lot of very helpful advice about what you should do to start your morning right. They are all wonderful – like get enough sleep (no less than 8 hours – yeah, thanks!), get up an hour early, exercise, journal etc. And I wish they all worked for me, but I get up at the crack of dawn as it is, and I have to get kids ready for school etc – so unfortunately at this time all these things are just not realistic for a busy professional mom like me. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this.

I came up with these tips on the photo which now make my daily morning routine. This is something we can all stick to and follow easily. As you practice these regularly, you’ll notice a profound change in your mood and your health.

Most important tip of all – stay off your phone in the morning, while getting ready. Do NOT 🛑 📱 check your DMs and social media. Do not read/listen to the news. Just drink your coffee in peace. If you have to read something – read positive news or something fun. Trust me – all the negativity can wait till later.

Random acts of kindness are also very powerful – and it can be anything from picking up trash you see on the street, to letting someone cut in front of you in traffic, smiling at your child when they are being annoying and seeing them smile back at you, giving a random stranger a compliment, etc. The sky is the limit!