As Tim Ferriss said, “If you win the morning, you win the day.”

Sadly, most people sabotage their mornings instantly. Hitting snooze, sleeping in, and scrolling through social media in bed can destroy your mornings.

If you want to take your life or business to the next level, you need to maximize your 24 hours each day. That starts by waking up with an empowering morning routine.

If you can avoid these seven habits, you can win the mornings and find more success than you ever thought possible.

7 Ways You Sabotage Your Day Each Morning

1. You Don’t Plan The Night Before

“No one made a plan to be lazy, fat and stupid. That’s what happens when you don’t have a plan.” — Larry Winget

A great morning starts the night before. Each night, spend 10–15 minutes the night before setting your morning up for success.  

Start by doing these simple, easy tasks each night before going to bed:

• Recap the day in a journal(3–5 minutes). Write down all the things you learned from the day and list out at least three big wins for the day. This forces you to create the habit of acknowledging your accomplishments.
• Review your goals (3–5 minutes) . Ideally you have a list of goals that you are actively trying to accomplish in all areas of your life. Spend a few minutes thinking about each one and imagine as if they are already accomplished.
• Plan tomorrow (3–5 minutes). You want to be able to roll out of bed and know exactly what your plan is for the day. Not only will this help you not hit the snooze, it will give you an overview of your day. You can think ahead to any roadblocks, tough conversations or anything else that might occur.
• Make a request to your subconscious. As Thomas Edison said, “Never go to bed without a request from your subconscious mind.” While you sleep your brain is working just like it has all day. Don’t go to bed without giving it something to work on. Ask yourself out loud or write in a journal a question about something you haven’t been able to solve.

2. You Always Hit The Snooze

I wish the snooze button never existed. Every day it makes people sleep through their goals and dreams.  When you hit the snooze button you are setting yourself for failure.

Not only are you more likely to be rushed and flustered but you are sending the wrong signals to your subconscious mind. When you hit snooze you are signaling to your mind that your priorities aren’t really that important.

If you’re struggling with the snooze button, here are three ways to fix it starting tomorrow.

• Get some accountability
• Turn off the snooze feature on your iPhone app
• Set your alarm clock far away and not next to your bedside table. This will require you to get out of bed to turn it off. Once you’re up make the bed so you start the day winning.

3. You Forget Water

Studies have shown that our brains are made up of 73% water. Despite weighing a small amount of our overall body weight, the brain requires a massive amount of our water intake.

Instead of going straight to coffee, start the day off hydrated with at least 16 oz of water. I make it easy by leaving a glass of water right next to my sink. This way I wake up, drink 16oz of water, and brush my teeth all within five minutes of waking up.

4. You Start The Day Reactive

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and everyone else is doing a phenomenal job getting people hooked to their phones. They’re literally hiring people from the casino gaming industry to make sure you get addicted to your phone.

But if you wake up and start looking at your phone, you’re starting the day off reactive.

Ask yourself … what good is actually going to come out of checking emails or social media right when you wake up?

Checking your email first thing in the morning can set you up for failure. Reacting to what’s on your device can make you upset, mad or worried within six minutes of waking up. This can make it hard to get your morning back on schedule and productive.

Instead, take a digital detox each morning for at least 30-60 minutes. Use this time to meditate, exercise, stretch, journal or listen to a motivational video.

5. You Procrastinate The Hard Things

It’s human nature to procrastinate the hard stuff. Whether it’s a difficult conversation, email you don’t want to send or project you’ve been avoiding.

But how many times have you done this only to end up pushing it until tomorrow or next week?

Rip the band aid off and do the hard stuff first!

If you’re an entrepreneur do the one thing you have wanted to do. Make progress towards your biggest goal. Do the thing you don’t want to do.

Remember, your brain is most creative in the morning.  Use the mornings as time to do the hardest stuff first when your brain is firing on all cylinders.

6. You Think Motivation Will Happen Automatically

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” – Jim Rohn

If you expect to wake up motivated everyday, you’re setting yourself up to fail. Motivation really does come and go, even for the most successful people in the world. You need to create a routine that enables you to feel motivated and inspired.

Try some of these ways to cultivate the motivation each morning:

• Get outside and go on a walk with your dog
• Change your physiology with breathing exercises
• Hit the gym. Or do pushups, body weight lunges, yoga or stretching at your house.

7. You Have Bad Eating Habits

What you eat determines how you feel. If you start the day off with sugary snacks (albeit, sometimes delicious) you’re jumping a roller coaster for your metabolism the rest of the day.

Instead, stick to high protein options and breakfast foods that won’t spike your blood sugar and have you searching for donuts by 10am.

If you avoid these seven behaviors you can do more by 10am than most people will accomplish all day. Remember, if you can control your mornings and evenings, the middle part of the day will be much more productive and else stressful.

Control what you can in life so you can start the day empowered and on your terms.