5 Ways to Improve Your Morning Routine

How you start your morning sets the tone for everything that follows. Here are five changes that take minutes but pay off all day.

Start by putting your phone across the room. When the alarm forces you up, you break the habit of scrolling in bed. Next, drink a full glass of water before your coffee — you wake up dehydrated, and it helps more than you'd expect.

Then move, even a little. A five-minute stretch or a short walk wakes the body far better than another cup of coffee. Write down the one thing that would make the day a success, and do it first, before email pulls you elsewhere.

None of this requires waking up at 5am. It just requires being deliberate about the hour you already have.