I always felt behind in life until I started doing these 5 things every morning

Ever scroll through Instagram and feel like everyone else has their life figured and you are moving backwards?

Yeah, that was me for most of my twenties.

While my friends were getting promotions, buying houses, and posting perfectly curated vacation photos, I felt like I was constantly playing catch-up. Like I was running a race where everyone else got a head start and I was still tying my shoelaces.

The worst part? I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was wasting precious time—that somehow, I’d missed the memo on how to be a proper adult.

But here’s the thing: the problem wasn’t that I was actually behind. The problem was actually how I was starting each day.

Once I shifted my morning routine and began doing these five specific things, everything changed. I stopped feeling like I was chasing life and started feeling like I was actually living it.

Let me share what worked for me.

1. Getting up before I ‘needed’ to

This one sounds brutal, I know. But hear me out.

For years, I was that person who hit snooze three times and then rushed through my morning like I was competing in some chaotic Olympics event. Shower, coffee, panic about being late—rinse and repeat.

Everything changed when I started waking up just one hour earlier than necessary.

And I’m not alone in this habit, it seems. In his five-year study of 177 self-made millionaires, author Thomas C. Corley found that nearly 50% of them woke up at least three hours before their workday actually began. 

Anyway, when I started waking up earlier, the biggest benefit wasn’t just “having more time.” It was that I finally had a calm, unrushed space to set the tone for the day. No more frantic energy, no more starting off already behind.

Instead, I could ease into the morning with intention. That one simple shift gave me a sense of control and momentum before the day even began.

What did I actually do with that extra hour so it didn’t just turn into wasted time? That’s what we’ll dive into next.

2. Moving my body first thing

I used to think morning exercise was for those annoyingly cheerful people who post gym selfies at 6 a.m.

Turns out, those people might be onto something.

I’m not talking about crushing a two-hour workout before breakfast. I started with just 15 minutes—sometimes it was pushups in my living room, other times a quick walk around the block while my coffee brewed.

The difference was immediate. My brain felt sharper, my mood lifted, and I had this weird sense of accomplishment before most people even opened their eyes.

I guess it’s no surprise, really. Scientists have found that thirty minutes of moderate morning exercise—and short walking breaks every half hour—improved executive function and working memory throughout the day in adults aged 55–80. I’m not 50, but it definitely feels like it works for me too.

The best part? When you start your day by doing something good for your body, it sets the tone for better decisions all day long.

3. Sitting in silence for ten minutes

This was the game-changer I never saw coming.

I used to fill every quiet moment with podcasts, music, or mindless phone scrolling. The idea of just sitting with my thoughts felt uncomfortable—maybe even a little boring.

But something shifted when I started giving myself ten minutes of complete silence each morning. No meditation app, no guided anything. Just me, sitting there, letting my mind do whatever it wanted to do.

Sometimes I’d think about the day ahead, sometimes random memories would pop up, and sometimes I’d just notice the sounds around me. The point wasn’t to achieve some zen state—it was simply to exist without constant input.

Those ten minutes became my mental reset button. Instead of starting the day reactive and scattered, I felt grounded and intentional. It’s like giving your brain a chance to boot up properly before diving into the chaos.

4. Writing down three things I wanted to accomplish

This sounds stupidly simple, but it changed everything about how I approached my days.

Before, I’d wake up with this vague sense of having “stuff to do” but no real clarity on what actually mattered. I’d bounce between tasks, check emails randomly, and somehow stay busy all day without feeling like I’d accomplished anything meaningful.

So I started writing down three things—just three—that would make me feel good about my day if I completed them. Not a massive to-do list that would overwhelm me before breakfast, just three clear priorities.

Some days it was work stuff: “Finish the Johnson proposal.” Other days it was personal: “Call Mom” or “Go for that run I’ve been putting off.”

The magic wasn’t in the writing itself—it was in the clarity. When you know exactly what matters for the day ahead, you stop wasting mental energy on decision fatigue. You’re not constantly wondering what you should be doing next because you already decided when your head was clear.

Those three simple lines became my North Star for the entire day.

5. Reading something that challenged my thinking

This wasn’t about scrolling through news headlines or diving into work emails—that’s just more noise.

I started dedicating 15-20 minutes each morning to reading something that actually made me think differently. Sometimes it was philosophy, other times psychology or even fiction that pushed me out of my comfort zone.

Over time, this small habit rewired the way I looked at myself and the world. Before long, I wasn’t measuring myself against other people’s timelines—I was too focused on growing in my own lane.

Final words

These five morning habits didn’t magically solve all my problems or fast-track me to some mythical version of success.

What they did was give me something more valuable: a sense of agency over my own life.

When you start your day intentionally—getting up early, moving your body, sitting in silence, clarifying your priorities, and feeding your mind—you stop feeling like life is happening to you. Instead, you become an active participant in creating the kind of days you actually want to live.

The best part? You don’t need to overhaul your entire existence overnight. Pick one of these habits and try it for a week. See how it feels. Then maybe add another.