Transcript of What the World’s Most Successful Do Every Morning—and How You Can Too.. | Mel Robbins

So let me help you figure out what a million dollar morning looks like, okay? Here we go. Simple rules for a simple million dollar morning. Number one, when the alarm rings, get your ass out of bed. Look, it's your friend Mel. I know. There's a million reasons not to get out of bed. But Mel, it's 30 degrees. It's dark, it's raining, it's cold, it's depressing. I got a lot going on. I stayed up late. I'm exhausted. I'm hung over. I'm tired. My stress is through the… None of that matters. The only thing that matters is, do you keep the promises that You make to yourself. And I know I'm getting philosophical here. We were just talking about the alarm ringing. You know what the alarm is? That alarm, when it goes off, that is a promise that you made. You set that alarm, didn't you? You set that alarm the night before. And when that alarm goes off, now it's time to keep the promise. And how do you do that? I'll tell you how do you do that. You're going to use my five-second rule. The alarm is going to ring, and you are going to count backwards 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and then you're just going to roll out of bed.

That's it. It's not sexy. It's not fun. I have been getting out of bed this way for 14 years, and I still have to count backwards every single morning, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, because I don't like getting out of bed. I do not have the discipline to get out of bed. If I have the choice any day of the week to lay in a warm, cozy, amazing bed with bamboo silky sheets and my husband sleeping next to me, or roll out of bed into the cold bedroom and start my day, I will choose the warm bed every day of the week. But that's not the conversation you and I are having, are we? We're We're not talking about comfort. We're talking about simple discipline. We're talking about the promises that you need to start to make. We're talking about doing things that are hard and uncomfortable. Why? Because you deserve to have the life that you want. Sometimes feeling like a million bucks for the whole day means you got to feel like shit for about five seconds, and that's what it's going to take. This is also about keeping promises. If you can't rely rely on yourself, to get up when the alarm rings.

How the hell are you going to rely on yourself to do the really hard stuff, to have the hard conversation, to blow off the party and work on your resume, to get serious about your songwriting career or the second act that you want to create, or finally meeting somebody who's not got so much childhood trauma that you're their therapist and not your lover. If you can't roll out of bed simply because you said you would, when the go and If it's really rough, you're going to bail on yourself, which is why getting up when the alarm ring matters. Now, there's a second reason why. The first reason is you're building a level of integrity. You're keeping that promise. The second reason why I don't want you to sit there and lay in bed and I want you to get your ass out of bed when the alarm rings is because let's just between friends talk about what we're doing as we're laying there in bed. We're looking at social media. We're indulging our anxiety. We're experiencing trauma triggers. We are riding the wave of cortisol and stress hormones that are flooding through our brain and body.

We're bemoaning the hangover we feel. We're spinning negative thoughts about the day ahead or the stuff we didn't do or all the regrets we have because we can't remember what happened last night. That's what you're doing in bed. Let's be honest with each other. Is that what the new you wants to do? Of course not. That's the other reason why when the alarm rings, rule number one to the million dollar morning, get your ass out of bed. Why? Because you're a winner and you got no time to lay in bed like a loser like Mel Robbins used to be and listen to that bullshit and feel those awful feelings. Get your fucking ass out of bed and get on with your day and show your body who's boss, and don't indulge that bullshit in your mind because the longer you listen to it, the louder it's going to get. And look, I get it. Some days it's really hard. I don't give a shit. All that negative stuff is lying to you. Five, four, three, two, one. Shut it down and get your ass up. Because the fact is, if you want a new life, you're going to have to fight for it.

If you want a million dollars in the bank and financial freedom, you're going to have to work for it. This stuff isn't easy, but it's simple. But you have to do it. So number one, alarm rings, ass out of bed. And here's the final thing I want to talk about when it comes to this. Why are you doing this? You're doing it for you. You see, I think for years and years and years, you were getting out of bed for other people. Think about it. When you were little, when would you get up? You would get up because mom was yelling at you two, or dad was yelling at you two. You were getting up because you had to get to school or make the bus, or get to work, or you get out of bed because you got to get the kids up, or you got to get your aging parents up. That ends today. Today, when that alarm rings, it is a fucking wake-up call. Ding, ding, ding. Your life is here, and it's time for you to get up for you. So tomorrow morning, we're not waking up for somebody else. We're not laying in bed and listening to that bullshit because you get to make a choice.

You can choose to do what you've always done, which means you're going to have what you've always had, or you can make a choice to show up as the new you. You can make a promise that you're going to not only wake up, you're going to get up for yourself, that you, my friend, are going to become the driver of your life. And that bullshit story, I'm not a morning person. Fuck morning people. Who cares? This is not about whether or not you feel like it. This is about you building the discipline because you deserve to, because that's the person that you are. And let's also tell one more truth. If I needed you, you would get your ass out of bed for me. If somebody that you loved needed you to set that alarm an hour earlier because they needed a ride to the airport or they needed somebody to go to a doctor's appointment, or heck, they just needed you to be there for them, you would do it. And so today, starting today, I want you to do it for yourself. And if you can't do that, then let me tell you the science.

Okay? You want to know the scientific reason why you should never hit the snooze button? Let me hit you with some neuroscience here. Two words: sleep inertia. That's right, sleep inertia. When you hit the snooze button instead of getting your ass out of bed, you mistakenly create a condition in your brain called sleep inertia. Sleep inertia is a state that your brain gets trapped in for four hours after you hit the snooze button. Because here's what happens when you hit the snooze button. When you hit the snooze button, you're awake. And as the alarm turns off, your brain then drifts back into sleep. And here's That's the thing that researchers have figured out. When you drift back to sleep after you've woken up, your brain starts a sleep cycle. And sleep cycles take 75 to 90 minutes. To complete. So when that alarm goes off again in nine minutes, and you're like, Oh my God. Have you ever noticed you're in deep sleep when you drift back to sleep? That's because you're nine minutes in to a 75 minutes sleep cycle. That groggy, exhausted, heavy, feeling that you have when you hit the snooze button several times and you can't quite get awake and you complain that you didn't get a good night's sleep, that's not a function of how well you slept.

That's you and me being an idiot for hitting the snooze button and putting our brain in a state of sleep inertia. Because when you hit the snooze button, your brain is now freaking trapped in a sleep cycle. It takes your brain, based on research, about four hours to get through that groggy-ass feeling. So the most productive period of the day, which is the first 2 hours after you wake up. It's when your brain has the highest speed of processing. It's when you're the most alert. You just flushed the best 2 hours of brain power down the freaking toilet because you hit the snooze button. Why am I so passionate about this? Because I wasted years of my life doing this. I was a chronic snooze button alarm hitter. I was also a chronic all-nighter puller in college. I was chronically late with deadlines. This was prolific in my life. I would always complain about not getting enough sleep. The truth is, I lived in a state of sleep inertia. So take your power back. Whether you're inspired by the science, because it's just stupid to do this to yourself once you realize that this is what happens, or you're inspired by this idea that wouldn't it be fucking awesome if instead of waking up feeling obligated to the rest of the world, I took my life back and I started waking up for myself.

I started seizing the day. I started seeing that alarm as more than alarm, it is a wake-up call for the rest of my life. So rule number one for a million dollar morning. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Get your ass out of bed because you, my friend, have a lot of cool stuff to do. And that brings me to rule number two. Rule number two of the Million Dollar Morning. You ready? Because you deserve to feel like a million bucks. You're going to make your bed. That's right. Make your bed. Why, Mel? Why are you making your bed? I'll tell you why. You're making your bed because your morning routine is a series of dominoes that fall. Okay? And so by seeing the alarm as a wake-up call to claim the day, to keep the promise, to be the future you, the first domino that falls is integrity and discipline. How cool is that? The second domino that falls is making the bed, which is about completing things. See, normally, the old Mel would roll out of bed after hitting the snooze button, and the bed would look like a tsunami hit it. Then for the rest of the day, whenever I walked into the bedroom, you know what I saw?

Something that was incomplete. I saw a mess that needed to be made that I had left for myself to clean up. One of the reasons why I love this simple habit as part of your morning routine. Always make your bed. I mean always. If I am traveling for work and I'm staying in a hotel, I make my bed, even though you know somebody's going to come through and make it even nicer later. I don't care. Why? Because your morning routine is a way for you to be you no matter where you are. If I'm visiting my parents down in Florida or up in Michigan, I make my bed. Why? Because I'm myself no matter where I am. That's the power of your morning routine. This is about the promises you keep. It's about the rhythm in which you start your day. This is a habit about completing something. Isn't it awesome to think that you start your day by checking a box? That you make your bed because you know it's a way to finish something? There There are mornings, not very often, but there are mornings where Chris might still be sleeping. Maybe I got up a little earlier and he's sleeping in for whatever reason.

I just make my side of the bed. I might even tuck in the sheet around him, tuck him in a little bit as a little act of love. But there's another reason why to do this, and I love this framing of it, too. Because making your bed is a way to give the future you a gift. Later on, you are going to walk into this bedroom, and you're going to lay down and you're going to dream. Isn't it awesome to walk back into this bedroom tonight? And there is a beautiful bed made for you, a beautiful place for you to lay down tonight and dream. A little gift from the morning you to the evening you to say you deserve this. It's also a gift because if you walk back into your bedroom, you've already taken care of it. There's nothing to do. There's no mess that's been left for you to clean up. You have left this gift of getting it complete. And that helps to build consistency. And I also love it because it doesn't matter where you are. You can do it wherever you are. Just amazing. And that brings me to rule number three.

We're going to hit the pause button. We're going to hit a word from our sponsors. I love our sponsors because they help me bring this show to you at zero cost. And then I'm going to come back and we're going to talk about rule number three of your Million Dollar Morning. Hey, it's Mel, and we're talking about A million dollar morning routine. And you deserve that, my friend. Rule Number One, alarm rings. It is a wake up call. Your life is waiting. Get your ass out of bed. You got stuff to do. Rule Number Two, we're going to make our bed because this is about a series of promises that create a positive domino ripple effect to start your day. And rule number three, high five habit, baby. You got to get in that bathroom after you brush your teeth and high five yourself in the mirror. Now, I did a whole episode about this, but I'm going to explain it for those of you that are brand new. Here's how we're going to do this. Right after you brush your teeth, and we're going to do it after you brush your teeth because this habit should be paired with something that you already do and you don't even think about.

That's called habit stacking. It's going to help you encode this habit, which is a habit of encouragement, a habit of optimism, a habit of momentum and motivation, a habit of self-love, of self-confidence, evidence. This is an incredible science-backed one-two punch that all comes down to simply high-fiving yourself in the mirror. So you brush your teeth. You better brush your teeth. I don't even have to say That is part of your morning routine because please do not go out into the world with dragonbath or yellow carpet on your teeth. We're not doing that here in the Mel Robin show. All right? I'm assuming that your million dollar morning includes scraping the crap off your teeth. So when you're done, Flossing, brushing, rinsing, spitting. Put the toothbrush down. Take a moment. Look the human being in the eyes. You know who I want you to see? I want you to see the future you. I want you to see the million-dollar you. I want you to see all your hopes and dreams in the hands of the person in that mirror. I'll tell you something, that person deserves your support. That person needs your support. And that person needs you to keep a simple promise every single day.

You are going to start your day in your million dollar morning with a little huddle with yourself. You are going to set an intention with yourself as you stand there after brushing your teeth. This is so grounded in research. You You got to get your mind right. You're going to stand there and decide, who am I going to be today? Is today a day about peace, about freedom? Is it a day about momentum, courage? How am I going to show up today for myself? Who am I going to be? And then when you're ready, just like a winning team does, you are going to raise that hand and you are going to high five the future you in the mirror. You are going to send yourself into the game of life knowing that no matter what happens today, You're a winner. You can do this. You can still win. You are going to do your best. You're going to try. You're going to shake off the bullshit that comes your way, and you're going to get out there, and you're going to make it a great day. And the thing that I love about this, and again, I have covered the science in this in the episode that we release called The Most Important Habit You Can Have This Year.

The first episode we released in January of 2023. It is a game changer. My husband is on that episode, and it's crazy emotional because he describes what happened to him when he added the high five habit to his million dollar morning routine, the breakthrough that he experienced. Because you deserve to feel like a million bucks, and you don't feel like a million bucks when you're beating the hell out of yourself, and you don't feel like a million bucks when your dragon shame and regret and failure with you. The high five habit is the science-backed, fast-tracked research-backed way to plow an entirely new neuropathway and relationship with yourself into your brain, body, mind, and spirit. I'm so passionate about this, but we spent a whole episode on it. So just trust me when I tell you, Million Dollar Morning includes the high five habit. You are going to add a high five in the mirror to your future self and set an intention as part of your morning routine. All righty. Rule number 4: Move your body and move your mind. Now, I need to say something because I haven't said it yet. I forget to say this because I just think it's like something you need to do.

It's so obvious. And that is, have you noticed what I haven't done yet? I haven't looked at my phone. I want to be very clear about this. You are to get your ass out of bed without looking at your your phone. You are to get your ass out of bed before you look at your phone. You are supposed to make your bed without looking at your phone. You are supposed to walk into the bathroom and wash your face and brush your teeth and do all that stuff and then do the high five habit and send the future you into the day after this awesome huddle and not look at your phone. I now want you to move your mind and your body without checking your text and email. Why? Because the second you pick up that phone and you look at a text or an email, you have now put the entire world in front of you. I want you to stop and think about how many people follow you online, even if it's just a couple of hundred people on Facebook. Would you want them to walk into your bedroom every single morning? No, of course not.

Would you want them to walk into the bathroom as you're standing there without underpants on, brushing your teeth? No. Then why on earth are you letting them do that by looking at your phone? Because that's what you're doing. And more importantly, the second that you look at your phone, you are giving your most Which is this much important resource as part of your Million Dollar Morning, which is your attention and your intention and your energy to other people. We got to fucking conserve that shit for yourself. Like your dreams, your energy, your focus, your intention, your attention. You got to fight to keep that yours. And so, yes, you may listen to something as you move your body, or you may listen to a guided meditation as you move your mind. But do not, under any circumstances, look at your freaking text or your email, or you screw the whole thing up. It goes from the Million Dollar Morning to Bankruptcy 101, because you just let everybody bankrupt your attention and disrupt your energy and stress you the hell out before you gave yourself the time you're not going to find the rest of the day.

And this is so important because I know a lot of you are like, But I like to do it at the end of the day. You can't count on that. The only thing that you can count on is that first thing in the morning, if you get up early enough, you can put yourself first. You can move your body and you can have a mindfulness practice before the rest of the world steps in and steals your time and energy. And so get serious about this. Yes, you can have a longer workout routine at night. Nobody's saying you can't do it twice. I'm just advocating for something based on the research and common sense. And so rule number 4 of the Million Dollar Morning, move your body and move your mind. I'm talking 10 minutes. There's a brand new study that's been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that has found that just 10 minutes of power walking every day can add years to your life. The best part is that walking Walking is fast, it is free, and it is a way for you to achieve better health, a better mood, and even better sleep.

Now, what is a power walk? Walk like you're late. That's all you need to do. Based on the research for 10 lousy minutes. Get outside with your dog, your kids, your spouse, get out on the porch, whatever you can do for 10 lousy minutes. This is so important, not only because 10 minutes of walking Like you're late, just briskly walking. It not only adds years to your life, it improves your mood. Mood impacts focus all day. Also, if you can get outside first thing in the morning and bang these 10 minutes out by walking your dog or walking with your kids or walking around the yard or whatever it may be, it resets your circadian rhythm when you see bright light or the outside first thing in the morning. Based on research, that's one of the best ways for you to develop healthier sleep habits. So 10 minutes, physical exercise, 10 minutes of a mindset practice, whether you're journaling, meditating, praying, listening to some calming app, writing out prompts related to mindset that you're trying to develop. Just move your mind, move your body. All you got to commit with the mind is literally a minute.

That's it. You're done. And bada bing, bada boom. You have put your mind and your body and your spirit first. And don't look at the phone yet. Don't turn it on the TV yet. Don't check email yet. Because rule number five, and this is what will make you a million dollars. This is what will help you pay off a million dollars in debt. It's called the progress principle. The secret to getting big things done is making little progress every Every day. You want to know how I have accomplished everything that I've accomplished? I make little progress on things every day. Before you look at your phone, before you look at email, before you let the Let's get the rest of the world in, take five minutes and move the ball down the field on something that's important to you. This comes from research out of Harvard Business School. They call it the Progress Principle. It is so simple. People feel like they've made progress on something that's important to them, feel more fulfilled, period. It's not about getting things done. It's about making progress on things that actually matter. So whether that thing that matters is getting the photo album assembled for mom and dad's anniversary, or it's getting the paperwork in for financial aid for the degree that you want to go get, or making progress is clearing out the back bedroom now that your kids have moved on so that you have a place for the future you to really work on that new book you've been writing, or maybe it's progress on something like I've been working on, like launching a podcast.

Slowly chipping away at learning about it, studying it, moving it down the field. 5, 10, 15 minutes a day is all it takes because those little moves add up to major change. And And that, my friend, is the Million Dollar Morning. It's really that simple. It's based in profound research. It checks all the boxes. You can add anything you want to it. But what I love about it is no matter where I am, Whether I'm home in Southern Vermont, or I'm visiting my parents, or I'm visiting a friend, or I'm sleeping on my daughter's couch in Southerny, or I am staying in a hotel. This simple series of five promises, it makes me feel like me. It makes me know that no matter where I am and what's going on, I know I can rely on me. Because every single day when that alarm rings, I keep that promise to myself. I wake up, I roll out of bed. I get started. I get my ass out of bed. I do not look at my phone. I do not look at my emails. I do not check my text. I do not look at social media.

I wouldn't dare do it because it's not part of my million dollar morning. I then go and make the bed. Why? Because it makes me feel like a million bucks. I'm just that person, you know? And then I set the intention with the future Mel. That's right, bitch. We're going to go get it today. High five to that. Get out there. Let's go. And that high five, it washes away the worry. It jacks me up. It makes me feel a little bit more like I'm up to something. Let's do this thing at 54. I feel cool. Not going to lie. Got to make time to move my body and my mind. Ten minutes. You got 10 lousy minutes. I still haven't looked at my messages or my emails. Not going to let it bankrupt me. I am on a million dollar roll, and then I got to move the ball down the field. That's it. That's it. That is it. And I'm serious about this. I want you to try this million dollar morning, and I want to help you get started. So if you want some help, let me kick Well, I'll actually just encourage you.

Join my free five-day challenge. I created this to help you put this into practice. I say this all the time. We're not just here for listening. This is a doing podcast. We created the no-cost Wake Up Challenge for you. Go to melrobbins. Com/wakeup. Start tomorrow. Tens of thousands of people have already completed it. In the challenge, you learn more hacks, tips, science, research, all kinds of things that will not only motivate you, it's going to help you become the future you. That's what this is about. You know why we're doing this? Simple. Because I love you, and I believe in you, and I believe that you can do this. You can create a morning routine that makes you feel like a million dollars. You can keep a set of simple promises that helps you create the foundation to to achieve your goals. And trust me when I tell you, it will be worth it. Every single morning. And it's very sneaky, by the way. Very, very sneaky how this false confidence is showing up in derailing your mornings. And when I put a spotlight on these three sneaky moments every morning. You're going to get it immediately.

And once you see it, this is the cool part, it empowers you to make a different decision starting Moving tomorrow morning. Make a decision that is based in science and research and evidence and common sense, decisions that will make you feel incredible. And every single morning that you wake up, these same three decisions, it's going to be there. And you know what else is going to be there? False confidence. You have to make these decisions every single morning, because what you decide to do every morning in these three, very simple, very sneaky moments. The decisions that you make, either create an upward spiral or a downward one. And after our conversation today, you get to decide, because you're going to know the consequences of each one of these decisions. We're going to go deep into the research after we unpack all three decisions. But let me just highlight what's available to you and why these three simple decisions make you feel incredible. Because based on the research, these three simple decisions improve your mood. They make you feel more in control. They give you more energy and focus. Helps your gut health. It'll lower your stress and anxiety and depression.

It supports you in getting a better night's sleep at the end of the day, and it helps you wake up and feel more energized and present and boost your mood. How freaking cool is that? And so here's what we're going to do. I'm going to set up each one of these three decisions the same way that I set up the scenario earlier, where your friends are wanting you to stay out later, where I want to put you right at the scene, because But I want you to really stop and consider these moments and the decision that you have to do something or not. These are not life and death decisions. You're an adult. You get to choose, just like you get to choose whether you stay out or So you make a decision to go up and take care of yourself. And on your face, may seem obvious, but do me a favor, and don't dismiss the power of what you're about to learn simply because these decisions are super simple, and these three moments every morning just pass you by right now. I want you to really understand the depth and the implications of each one of these three decisions, whether it's a positive implication or the negative implication.

Because I think it's a mistake to not make these decisions. All right? Because when you really allow yourself to consider and discern what I'm saying, I know it's going to motivate and inspire you to try this in your life. I don't want you to just listen to this. I want you to do something because that's how you change your life. And one thing that I need to do right now is take a quick break so we can hear a word from our sponsors. I love our sponsors because they allow me to bring this to you at zero cost. So take a listen and make the decision to stay, because I'm going to be waiting for you after this short break, and we're going to jump right into these three simple decisions when we return. Welcome back. It's your friend Mel Robbins. Thank you for deciding to stay and listen Listen, through the commercial break, I really love you for that. You and I are talking about the three simple decisions that you need to make that are going to help you feel amazing. The first decision that you need to make in order to feel incredible is what you decide to do when the alarm rings every morning.

Let me put you at the scene. Imagine someone who is lying in bed, okay? You can just picture them in their bed. The alarm rings. And it rings an hour before they need to get up and get out of bed. Because this person, person A, loves, loves to hit the snooze button. Their routine, when the alarm rings, is hit the snooze, drift back to sleep. Let the alarm ring again, hit the snooze, drift back to sleep. Hit the alarm again, drift back to sleep. And they do this literally until they have no choice but to drag themselves out of bed. They are rotting away in bed for an hour every morning. That is person A. Then, I want you to imagine person B. When the alarm rings, you see them go, They don't want to get out of bed. But they throw off the sheets, they roll out of bed, they stand up, they walk toward They go to the bathroom, and they start their day. Now, I want you to just stop and think for a minute and think about this moment. Which one is the better decision? If you think about decision A, to hit the snooze alarm over and over and over again.

Versus person B, the person who just makes a decision, even though if you like to just roll out of bed and start the day, which person would you hire? Which Which person would you want to date? Which person do you wish you were? If you had $1,000 and you could place a bet on which person was going to have a better day, who would you put your money on? I mean, from a common sense standpoint, at a logic standpoint, you know that making the decision to get out of bed is the harder decision in the morning. But it makes your life easier and better in the long run. And this is the thing about a decision. You can see it objectively. But false confidence skews your decision making, because lets you and I climb into bed right Okay, let's climb into bed and let's really experience how false confidence makes person A do what they're doing. I used to do this. I literally used to be like, Okay, well, if I have to get out of bed by seven o'clock, then I'm going to set the alarm at six. That way I've got about four four or five snooze's in me so that I can slowly coax myself awake, because I'm not a morning person, and I don't really like to get out of bed.

And so if I just coax myself out of bed, then by the time I've hit the snooze button four or five times, and then I really have to get out of bed seven, like I got no choice, then I'll be ready to get out of bed. When you're that person, when you set the alarm an hour earlier than you need to wake up because you know you are so bad at waking up that you've got to hit the snooze button that many times, are you making your life easier? No. Think about what it feels like to be in that bed with me right now. Because every time that alarm rings, and then you hit the snooze button, and then you drift off to sleep again, and then the alarm goes off, you have to go through that whole process of, Oh my God, awake. And then the resistance, and then the hitting the snooze, and then the falling back asleep, and only falling back asleep for nine minutes, and then the alarm goes off again, and then, Oh, my God, here we are in this, And yet, and yet, we're in that bed, right? And the alarm goes off.

And here's the false confidence. That false confidence is in the bed with you, and it's basically luring you into making a stupid decision. Because somehow, as you're laying in bed and you know that hitting the snooze button four times and rotting away in that bed for an hour, that it is not magically setting you up for success. Of course, you know it's impacting your mood and your productivity and your sense of control, and it makes you feel terrible. But false confidence kicks in, and you literally believe that this is the best way for you to get up, that this is the great idea. Oh, starting the day with a decision to procrastinate, getting out of bed. That's a good idea. I wouldn't recommend it to a friend or to my sibling. I wouldn't want to hire somebody or date somebody who starts their day like this. But for me, my false confidence is telling me that this does not impact me. And I say this because this used to be me. I used to be person A. Not only did I not feel motivated to get out of bed, I deluded myself into thinking that this wasn't a big deal.

It's a huge deal. The decision that you make when the alarm rings every morning is a huge deal. Let me explain shocking research to you. Laying in bed increases anxiety and depression five five fold, compared to pushing yourself out of bed when the alarm rings. This is research-based. So if anxiety and depression is what's keeping you in bed longer in the morning, like it used to keep me in bed longer in the morning, you You better pay attention to this. This will change your life. Laying in bed, rotting in bed, hitting the snooze alarm, it is making your anxiety and depression worse. This comes from research at the University of South Carolina. They conducted this study that was published in the Journal of Sleep, Medicine, and Disorders. Here's what I love about this study. They used all kinds of tools to measure what was happening. This isn't just a study where they limited the research to asking people how they felt. Yeah, they asked them how they felt, but they actually had all this tech to determine what was going on in people's bodies, from sleep trackers to physical monitors to questionnaires to heart and rate blood pressure tracking to blood work, all of which was tracking what was happening.

In this study, here's what They did. They forced one group of people to lay in bed longer than they usually did, and then another group of people to get right out of bed when the alarm rang. Here's what they found. For the people who laid in bed longer, depression and anxiety went up five-fold compared to the group that got out of bed when the alarm rang. Inflammation, which was measured by bloodwork, went up two-fold for the people who laid in bed. So that false confidence that's saying, Oh, well, laying here, it actually makes me feel good. I really need to lay here. This is what my false confidence lied and told me. It's affecting your mental health and your well-being, period. Making the decision to get out of bed when the alarm rings improves your mental health. It improves your well-being. It has such a positive impact. It actually lowers inflammation. Let me hit you with another piece of research. If you're somebody that's a chronic snoozer, research shows that you waste four work weeks a year by snoozing. . This comes from a study that was done by researchers at the University of Notre Dame.

It was published in the prestigious Sleep Journal from Oxford University Press. This study It is the jackpot of snoozing information. It is the biggest study ever done on snoozing. They had people in the study wear wearable technology for over a year. And there's so much to impact from this study that I'm going to do an entirely separate episode on the topic of rotting in bed and snoozing, because this is a thing, and I really want to dig deep into the research. But for the purposes of the decision I want you to make starting tomorrow, the decision to wake up when the alarm rings and get out of bed, I want to share one key finding. The average time that people spend snoozing before they get themselves out of bed is 26.93 minutes. That's 27 minutes. That totals 164 hours a year. That's more than four work weeks of time. This is proving my point that an easy decision in the moment, which is to stay in bed or hit the snooze button, makes your life hard. But a hard decision to get out of bed when the alarm rings makes your life easier. What would you do if you got the equivalent of a month off of work?

What would you do with that time? Because that time is available to you if you change your decision tomorrow morning. By simply getting out of bed when the alarm rings, you get four weeks of time back over the course of the year. So do not let your false confidence win. When that alarm rings tomorrow morning, make the hard decision. Why? Because you know the impact that it has. It will give you so much time back. It reduces stress and anxiety and depression. It reduces inflammation in your body. It makes you feel more focused. It makes you feel more productive and in control. And look, this is simple, but it's not easy, which is why I am hammering this first decision. And I want to underscore something. False confidence. It's not only a real thing, it is so damn sneaky. It even sneaks up on me, and I'm the one teaching you about this. Let me tell you what happened to me this morning. I woke up, and it is our daughter Sawyer's 25th birthday today. And I knew we were going to be recording this episode. And so I got up really early today because I wanted to be awake before she got up, and I wanted to surprise her with having a big birthday playlist playing when she came down the stairs because we stayed up late last night and we assembled this huge balloon arch, and we had all these decoration downstairs that she was going to walk down to.

And so my alarm goes off. I immediately get out of bed. I walk into the bathroom. I turn off my alarm because my phone is never near the bed. And so I immediately went to my phone and I looked on the Find a Person app, and I was like, Oh, my God. She's out in the woods about two miles away with my husband Chris. I could see that they had gone for a big hike in the morning. And you want to know what? Boom. False confidence. Slides right in. Oh, Mel, you've got time. You don't have to be up this early. You could go back to sleep. It was like a siren hauling me to the sea. And I found myself hypnotized by this false confidence as I'm like, Oh, yeah, she's already seen the decoration. I have time. I could climb into that bed, and I could open up my Spotify app, and I could start to put together a birthday song playlist because I have time, and I would rather be in my bed right now. And so I put a hand on the top of the bed, and I pull back the sheets, and I go climb into the bed, and I start to put my feet in.

And then all of a sudden, I'm like, What are you doing? What are you doing, Mel? You are not person A. You are not going to sit here and rot in this bed. You are person B. You made a decision to get up, get out of here, false confidence. Shut up, go away. And let me tell you something. I hopped out of that bed, and thank God I did. Because after I hopped out of the I walked into the kitchen, and all of a sudden my phone updated, and I saw the tracker, and oh my God, she was halfway up the driveway. Thank God I didn't get back in bed, because I would have missed the moment. I had just enough time to queue up Katie Perry's birthday song and have it blasting so that when she walked into the room after the walk, I was like, Ready, game on. Let's go. And I'm telling you this why. You're not a robot, and neither am I. False confidence is a cognitive bias. It is hardwired in your brain, and it is so sneaky. Oh my God. It is always going to be there, around the alarm.

It will always be there. I want you to expect it because This is the power of a decision. You override false confidence with the decision that you make to get up when the alarm rings. I want you to be person B, because I You want your life to be easier. And hard decisions in the moment make your life easier in the long run. And hard decisions in the morning when the alarm rings makes you feel incredible for the rest of the day. And boy, oh, boy, do I wish I knew this decades ago, because I rotted my life away in a dorm room, and during law school, and in my 20s, and my 30s, and part of my 40s, because I did not know this information. So please, please, please take time to share share this with the people that you love. All right, stay where you are, okay? Because coming up next, decision number two. It's all about what you look at first thing in the morning. I cannot wait to tell you what it is. But first, I want to give our advertisers some love because they support this show, and I'll be waiting for you after a short break.

So stay with me. Welcome back. It's your friend Mel. I'm so glad you are still with me. We have covered decision number one of the three simple decisions that you need to make to feel incredible. And that decision, get up when the alarm do not rot in bed, do not hit the snooze, grab those four extra weeks of time, feel good, feel in control. I know you're like, I'm on it. I'm trying it. Let's go to number two. All right, let's talk about the second decision that you need to make in order to feel incredible. Natural light before artificial light. I'm going to say it again. Natural light before artificial light. What does that mean? I'm glad you asked. That means as soon as you get out of bed, when the alarm rings, do not stare at your phone. Instead, get outside as soon as possible and get exposure to natural light before you saturate yourself with the artificial light and the crap on social media that's on your phone. And let's start with the common sense reason why this matters, and then we're going to jump into the deeper science. So let's go back to person A and person B.

Remember person A? That's our snooze That's our bedrotter. That's our person that is wasting four hours a week just hitting the snooze button. That's the person that's making this major mistake. And person B, the person who doesn't feel like it, but 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, gets out of bed when the alarm rings. In this scenario, I want you to get natural light before artificial light. Okay? Let's talk about person A and person B. Person A, based on the research, is 89% of the human beings on this planet. Within 10 minutes of waking up, you are staring at your phone. I want you to just visualize this. I want you to imagine somebody who has finally got They're getting out of bed. This is person A. As you watch them, what do they have in their hand? They have their phone. What are they doing with their phone? They are just staring at their phone. Their neck is cranked down. They might even be laying in bed looking at their phone. They're drinking their coffee, looking at their phone. They're They're walking around and brushing their teeth, looking at their phone. They're staring at their phone.

They're watching the lives of influencers and celebrities. They're replying to emails to their boss while they're in their underwear. They're brushing their teeth as they're checking on the headlines in the news. That's person A. Now, person B, notice what they're doing. They've gotten up when the alarm rings. They've turned off the alarm on their phone, and they've either set their phone down and walked out of the room, or they've put it in their pocket and they've done something interesting. They walked Side to Side. And you see person B sitting on the porch. They're listening to the birds, or maybe you see them taking a short walk around the block. They're getting natural light exposure. Not saturation from their phone. They're just present in the moment. And let's go back to logic and common sense. Who's making the better decision? Person A, who's mainlining artificial light and social media? Or person B, who's taking a moment to get natural light exposure and to be outside for a minute? Which person would you hire? Which person would you want to date? Which person do you wish you were? If you had to place a $1,000 bet on who is going to have a better day, who's going to feel better?

Where would you put your money? Obviously, it's person B. You're a smart cookie. Common sense tells both of us that the person who gets exposure to natural light is way better off than the person who just saturated their brain with artificial light and all of the garbage that is on their phone. See, person B is making a decision That is empowering. Person B is making a decision that puts them in control. And person B is also making a decision that has extraordinary benefits for your mental health, for your physical health, for brain functioning. It helps you sleep better at night. And look, I know I'm being harsh around person A. You want to know why? Because I have been person A. For most of my life, I've been person A. And the thing about that's crazy about this habit, and this decision that you make in the morning to look at your phone first thing, it is literally the first thing that you're looking at is that you know it's not good for you. And if you are one of the many small business owners or entrepreneurs who listen to this podcast, I know you're person A, because your business is your phone.

Or if you're a high schooler, or a college student, or a graduate student, I also know that you're person A because you have grown up literally in a world where the phone has been in your hand, and it is your relationships. I get it. It used to be me, too. But I want to come back to the power of your decisions. This is a moment that has a huge impact on how you feel, and on your life, and on your brain every single morning, and you're in control of this decision. And so I'm not just going to appeal to logic and common sense here with you, because this decision to not look at my phone, and instead, to make it a priority every single morning to get outside and get exposure to natural light for just a minute or two. That's all that it takes. Instead of saturating myself with artificial light and artificial information and artificial emergencies and priorities, This has been a game changer. It has made me more successful, more productive, happier. It makes me feel like I am in control, which is why it makes me feel incredible. And it's going to make you feel incredible, too.

And there are two reasons why. The first one is your attention. When you make the decision every morning to get natural light exposure, instead of saturating your brain with all of this artificial information that is on your phone, you maintain control of your attention. Just stop and think about this. If you look at your phone, what's on your phone? It's things that influencers want you to buy. It's the lifestyles of celebrity. It's headlines that news organizations want you to pay attention to and to get upset about. It is emails and emergencies from work that are not important at this very moment. The second that you look at your phone, all of that artificial information goes to the front of the line in your brain. You just gave away without even thinking about it, the most important commodity that you have, which is your attention. I want you to make a decision to own your attention. And the way that you do that is you You prioritize natural light, and you do not have your phone on you. Because when you step outside and you awaken your five senses, even if you're just standing on the porch, even if you just walk around the block, even if you just stick your head out of a window for crying out loud, your senses come alive.

You have a chance to take a breath. You warm into the day. It boosts your mood. It allows you to think for a second and get present about what matters to you. You're putting yourself first by making the decision to not saturate yourself with artificial light and artificial information that doesn't matter. If you are so tired of never having time for yourself, or always coming last, or feeling like you wake up into an emergency, or that you're always putting out fires, this one decision will change your life. Because it is a major mistake to begin your day by saturating yourself with artificial life and artificial information, because you have just lost the battle for attention with that singular mistake. That's reason number one, that this changed my life, and it makes me feel incredible. Reason number two has to do with the science around circadian rhythms. We've had multiple experts on the Mel Robbins podcast talk about how getting natural light exposure first thing in the morning signals to your internal clock your circadian rhythm, that it is time to wake up, which also signals when you go to sleep. No kidding. Getting natural light exposure first thing in the morning helps you sleep better at night because it is part of you stimulating the circadian rhythm in your brain.

That is why this is such a powerful, powerful decision that will make you feel incredible. And sure enough, I told you that our daughter was out taking a walk with Chris this morning. My husband, Chris, and I take a walk almost every single morning. I was not with them this morning because I was planning a little surprise. But when I saw them, I said, So how do you feel after taking the walk? And sure enough, she reported exactly what the research says. When you get outside and you expose yourself to natural light, and you start your day without the artificial light and the artificial information, you allow yourself to get present. What do you feel? You're going to be in a better mood. You're going to be more present. You're going to feel more in control. You're going to be more energized. You're going to be calm. You're going to be clearer about your priorities. You're going to feel like you've put yourself first. And that's exactly what the research says you will feel, which is why when you make the decision, each and every morning, you step into the natural light, you will feel incredible.

And that brings me to the third decision. I want you to pour yourself a glass of water before you pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea. Let me explain this. What's the very first thing you drink in the morning? It's most likely a big cup of coffee or some tea. And the first thing that you drink in the morning, this is a very important decision. Just consider the word we use for the first meal of the day. It's breakfast. You're breaking the fast. Break fast. In other words, the food that you're eating breaks the fast from overnight when you were sleeping. I want you to extend that same same thinking to the first thing that you drink every morning, because you're probably making the same mistake that I did. Instead of drinking something that helps you, that makes you feel incredible, that helps you focus, you're probably making the mistake that I used to make. And that is the very first thing that I used to drink every single morning was a giant cup of coffee, usually with artificial sweeteners and a creamer. I mean, the more it tasted like candy, the faster I drank that puppy.

And then I had the audacity to stand there after I would have a big cup of coffee on an empty stomach and break out into a sweat. My anxiety would spike, and then I'd start to get the shakes. And if I were going to an exercise class and I'd feel like throwing up, then I'd always be running to the bathroom. And I had the audacity of being like, Oh, I wonder what's wrong with me. Oh, do you think it could have been that gigantic cup of Java lava that you Just shoved into your stomach and spiked your anxiety, Mel? I mean, give me a break. And this is where false confidence comes in. You know that army crawling your way to the coffee maker and slamming down a big cup of coffee because you're tired, it's not good for you. But somehow you convince yourself that you need it, that you're tired, that you can't wake up without your coffee. How many times have you said, Oh, I'm really sorry. I haven't had my coffee yet. That's why I'm not thinking straight. I used to say that for years. In fact, I wore it like a badge of honor.

I lived for my first cup of coffee, and then my second, and then around two or three, I needed my third. And this is where the decision comes in. And the research that supports it that will change your life. I want you to pour a glass of water and drink it before you pour a cup of coffee or tea. And there's a bazillion reasons why. Number one, caffeine on an empty stomach spikes your cortisol levels, and that will make your anxiety and your stress worse. And I am sure that it is not helping your gut health. But the second reason, and this is really the game-changer, the second reason is you think that caffeine helps you wake up. Believe it or not, caffeine First thing in the morning makes you feel more tired, not awake. And I want to share some ground-breaking research that has changed my decision. I pour water and I drink water before I pour coffee. It makes me feel incredible. I cannot believe the impact of this. Dr. Amy Shaw first explained this on the Mel Robbins podcast. Yes, I still drink coffee, but I have made the decision to pour water and drink it first, and I make the decision to not have coffee until about 90 minutes after I wake up.

And here's the crazy thing. Not only am I more awake and alert, and my mood is better, and I don't have anxiety now that I do this, I never I've experienced the afternoon slump. And I used to be so predictable. 2:00 PM, need some coffee. I don't feel that anymore. This is research that you need to understand that will change your decision, and will have you pour water and drink water before you have a cup of coffee. And it is research around something called adenosine. Adenosine is basically a chemical in your body that signals to your brain that you're really sleepy. So when you have a lot of adenosine, you feel sleepy. And during the day, adenosine starts to build up in your body, and it reaches the highest levels right before you go to bed. Okay? And there's a reason why Adenosine is building up all day. And the reason why is because the adenosine signals that it's time to go to bed and you're feeling really sleepy, you know? And as you're sleeping, that Adenosine level, it starts to reduce in your body. Why? Because you're sleeping. You don't need the adenosine anymore because you're actually falling asleep.

But here's the thing. When you wake up in the morning, you still have a little bit of adenosine in your system, according to the research. That's why when you wake up, it's one of the reasons That's why you still feel groggy. It's like the adenosine. Based on the research, it takes about an hour or two after you wake up for the adenosine to truly leave your brain and to drop down to zero, okay? Here's where the caffeine comes in. And this is really important because it's based on research. Again, Dr. Amy Shaw, who appeared on the podcast, shared this with you and me. The moment you have caffeine, caffeine binds to the ends of the neuroreceptors in your brain, and it prevents the adenosine from truly flushing out of your system. Basically, caffeine, first thing in the morning, traps adenosine in your brain. And so When you have caffeine and you trapped this sleepy chemical in your brain, and so you're okay for about an hour or two, and then what happens? The caffeine wears off. What happens to the adenosine that's in your brain? It now is in your system, which is why you feel a little of a slump, and you need another cup of coffee.

So the caffeine isn't making you feel awake. The caffeine is blocking the adenosine from leaving your brain, and now the adenosine is back in your system, which is why you're constantly chasing more caffeine. It's freaking unbelievable. And so here is the advice, based on neuroscience and medical research. It's so incredible. Delay caffeine for an hour or two every morning. When you delay caffeine for an hour hour or two after you wake up, you give your body a chance to flush the adenosine from your system so that when you have the caffeine an hour or two after waking up, it's gone. It can bind to the neuroreceptors in your brain? No problem. And here's what happened for me. This is so cool. When I started pouring a cup of water and drinking it, number one, I was worried about doing this because when I tell you I was addicted related to coffee, it was part of my identity. It was part of my morning routine. I was like, I am not giving up caffeine. I don't know what the health expert said, but I'm not doing that. I didn't think I could do this. I had a cup of water, and the glass of water fills you up a little bit.

It's way better for your gut. It helps you wake up a little bit. It's way better for when you're exercising, if you exercise first thing in the morning like I do. And then I started to notice, literally within three days, I went from a person who drank three or four lattes a day or cups of coffee and always battled an afternoon slump every single day, to being a person who has a cup of coffee around 10:00 in the morning. Half the time, I don't even finish it. And I never crave another one. And I never have an afternoon slump. It's like magic, only it's not because it's science. And here's That's the problem. As you're nodding along, guess who is going to be there tomorrow morning? When you wake up, and you go outside, and you get your natural light exposure, and then you go straight to the coffee maker, your false confidence is going to be going, Oh, come on now. You did the other two things. You do not need to do this one. You are not a morning person woman. You have got to have your cup of coffee. You cannot jump on that Zoom meeting at work or drive those kids to school or say hello to your partner.

You cannot do this without the caffeine. That adenosine sleepy stuff, that does not apply to you. Your brain is not like anybody else's brain. Your brain does not work like that. Your brain needs caffeine. I don't know about that adenosine thing, that sleepy stuff thing that Mel Robbins is talking about, but that does not apply to you. You are going to tank if you just... I'm not kidding. Tell that false confidence to take their caffeine addiction somewhere else. You, my friend, are going to use the science. You are going to make a different decision. You're going to try this for three mornings. Pour a a cup of water before you core a cup of coffee or tea. Drink your water and delay the caffeine intake for at least an hour and see what happens. Because if you make the easy decision and You do what you always do, and you let your false confidence convince you that you're the only human being on the planet that this doesn't apply to. You're actually creating that afternoon slump. Do not do that to yourself. Make the harder decision decision. Pour the water before the coffee, and you make your life easier.

Because you're using science to make your brain work better, to boost your focus, to take care of your gut, to lower your anxiety, and to take control. And that will make you feel incredible. That's the three simple decisions. Get up when the alarm rings. Get natural light exposure before you saturate yourself with artificial light and artificial information. And drink water first thing in the morning before you pour your coffee. These three decisions will make you feel incredible. And you know what else will make you feel incredible? Sharing this with everyone you know. Empowering other people. I wish I had known this in my 20s. Heck, I wish I knew this in my 30s and my early 40s. Sharing this research with our kids, it's made a huge difference in their lives. Sharing this A lot of research with my team has made a huge difference in their lives. And one more thing, in case no one else tells you today, I wanted to be sure to tell you that I love you, and I believe in you, and I believe in your ability to create a better life, and to make better decisions. In fact, these three decisions will make you feel incredible, and you deserve that.

Today's topic is something that on its face, it seems really obvious, but I didn't really get serious this topic until, my God, a few years ago, really. The topic that I'm talking about is your morning routine. I love this topic because it is an example of how you can apply what we've already been talking about in the first 30-some episodes of the Mel Robbins podcast, whether you've listened to the Mindset Reset or the conversations we've had with experts about anxiety or healing, or Maybe you've dug into the very popular episodes that we've done about habits and motivation. Even when I talk about topics like manifesting, you're starting to get that Mel is one of these people that is very, very intentional about what she does, about what she says. The reason why I'm that way is because you're not going to change your life by accident. You're not going to become happier by accident. You're not going to become healthier by accident. You're not going to make the money that you deserve by accident. When you make a decision that you deserve more, that you're going to do the work to create a better life, that singular decision will change your life.

And what we're going to do today, and I'm so freaking excited about this, is we're going to basically put everything that we've been talking about for several months here on the Mel Robbins podcast into action. And we're going to do that by talking about why a morning routine is so important for your success. I'm going to start this conversation today by talking about the single biggest hack that has helped me create a rock solid morning routine. In fact, I call my morning routine the Million Dollar Morning because it makes me feel like a million bucks when I follow my morning routine. The structure of a great morning routine is what helps me make millions of dollars. And so what is the hack that has helped me create such a powerful morning routine? Particularly when your friend Mel Robbins is not exactly a morning person. Well, that single biggest hack about my powerful morning routine is putting myself to bed. Yep. I have an evening routine where I wind down the day and I do a couple simple things to set myself up for success tomorrow. And then, yes, You heard it right here, Mel Robbins tucks herself into bed.

And here is the hack. Your morning routine begins the night before. I'm going to say that again. If you want to master Monster. A rock solid morning routine, and trust me, you do. Your morning routine begins the night before. And this is one of those topics that it's so obvious when you unpack it. Because right now, think about how many mornings you wake up and you bemoan the choices you made last night. How many times have you woken up, you're like, Oh, I shouldn't had so much to drink. Or a friend texts you, and there you are at the yoga class you were supposed to meet. They're like, I'm really sorry, I stayed up really late. We've all been there. Or what about when you wake up and you literally had fast food at one o'clock in the morning on the way home from some event, and now you've got a burrito bomb in your stomach, and you're like, I can't do that to myself again. And then what do you do? You do it to yourself again. What if, instead of bemoaning the choices that you made last night, what if you Are you not serious about making sure that the future you, the one that's waking up tomorrow morning, is actually waking up feeling really good?

Yeah, you're right. It sucks to wake up and be anxious every morning because you drink almost every night. The number one symptom of a hangover is freaking anxiety because the chemicals in your body are getting processed. When the chemicals get processed and you have a dump of cortisol and the dopamine drops and you got the poison of alcohol. Of course, you have anxiety. Don't sit there and feel anxious. Do something about it. Get serious about the choices you are making the night before and how that impacts you in the morning. And yeah, that includes what you eat, what you drink, but it also includes some other things. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about five simple things. These are game changers. These are not rocket science. You don't need a PhD to understand this. But let me tell you something. When you put this into practice, you will experience a level of holy shit transformation that is hard to put into words. Because the decisions that you make at night determine who you are when you wake up in the morning. And you have a choice every evening to either set the future you up for success, for ease, for structure, for confidence, for winning.

Or you can make decisions in the evening that set you up to feel like shit, to be behind, to have a ton of stuff to do that you could have done last night. Your decisions determine everything. And so I really want to rattle the cage today and get you to I think differently about the night. I know that your days are stressful. Mine are, too. That's why so many of us engage in what's called revenge procrastination at night, which is basically this concept where you feel resentful of the fact that work took up your entire day, and now you're going to get revenge by mindlessly scrolling at night or plowing through a bottle of wine or doing nothing to set yourself up because you're tired or you're mad and you deserve to relax. I agree, you do deserve to relax. But if you were to just do these five things that I'm going to recommend, you would have time to relax, but you would also set the you that's going to wake up tomorrow morning, up for a clean slate day where you wake up, you feel great, you're set up for success. And that is going to be a positive domino that literally triggers a ton of positive stuff to happen every day.

That's what we're talking about. Because the choices you make at night determine whether or not the next day is going to be easy and empowering, or whether or not you are going to wake up to a morning like the old Mel Robbins used to wake up to. And whether you're aware of it or not, I just want you to stop and consider something. Right now in your life, you already have an evening routine in place. You already have a morning routine. And today, because the big hack is understanding that a great morning routine starts the night before, you and I are going to focus on your current evening routine. And I, as your friend, am going to challenge you to change it. So let's do a quick experiment. I want you just to stop, think about the night in front of you, and be honest. What is the average evening in your current life look like. I'll go first. Because back when I was really struggling, the old Mel, I now realize how much my evening routine was contributing to the fact that I was struggling so much. So here's what the old Mel's evening routine looked like many years ago.

I would either come home from work or I would roll downstairs from working on my laptop all day, and I'd crack open a bottle of wine. I I'd cook dinner by trying to throw something together that was in the fridge because I hadn't really planned anything. I'd throw a load of laundry in here and there, and then you know what I'd do? I'd basically slump down on the couch, and I'd start scrolling through social media. After dinner and helping the kids with the homework, you might find the old Mel Robbins just laying there on the couch with the bottle half-drained, glass of wine in hand. I got a movie or some series on the television. I got my phone in hand. I'm zoning out. I'm scrolling along. During the commercials, the old Mel Robbins, I'd probably turn to Chris, complain about my day. Then I'd look over at the kitchen and I'd see that the counters were full of crap from the dinner that we had cooked or from the backpacks that we had emptied or the laptops that we had put there. The kids' homework was typically sprawled out among the island. I would say to myself this, this was the routine of the old Mel Robbins.

I should probably clean that up over the next commercial I'd say that over and over again. I should probably pack their lunches. I should probably turn off the TV and read a book. I should probably move the laundry from the washer to the dryer so it doesn't sit there for five days and then get that disgusting I have old towel smell to it, and then I have to rewash it again. I know you do that, too. All of a sudden, it would be almost 11:00 before I knew it. I would have polished off that bottle of wine. I'd get up and I'd clear the counters and put most of the dishes into the sink, a few of them into the dishwasher. I'd do my favorite cleaning trick, which is instead of scrubbing and cleaning the pans that I had cooked dinner in, I'd just fill them up with warm soapy water and let them soak. Because I'd tell myself, it's going to be easier to clean them in the morning if they soak all night. Now, by this point, I'm exhausted. I'm buzzed on the wine. I'm tired from a long day. I resent the fact that I have more to do, and it's now 11:15, and I'd start to tell myself, Well, I'll just pack the kids' lunches tomorrow.

And then I would turn off the lights. I'd let the dog out one more time, I'd lock the doors, and I would collapse into bed with my phone. Now, it would take the old Mel Robbins a little time to fall asleep. Why? Because while I was laying there with Chris sound asleep next to me, I would scroll through my phone, I would check out social media, I'd read the news, and eventually I would zone out. As I was lying there, I'd feel annoyed that Chris had gone to bed earlier, he had already drifted off to sleep, and at some point I'd realize, Oh my God, it's almost one o'clock in the morning. How did it get so late? For all my fellow procrastinators out there, those of us who pulled all-nighters in college who thought, Tomorrow, tomorrow Tomorrow is a great day to pack the bags, to start my workout routine, to clean up the kitchen, to set myself up for success. Tomorrow is the day when the new me will emerge from my beauty sleep tonight. I will shake off that hangover from the bottle of wine that I've had. I'll pop a couple Advil, and I will make a fresh start.

Tomorrow is the fresh start. That was the old Mel Robbins. I used to have all kinds of stories about myself for why it is that I just couldn't get my act together. It's just so hard for me to wind down after a long work day. I have trouble falling asleep. I need a glass of wine or two or three or four in order to relax and to fall asleep. I'm just not a morning person. That's why I can't get up earlier. I don't know why I wake up and I feel anxious and slightly hungover, but I'm just not the person that ever just springs out of bed. I got so much work that I just want to relax at night. What's the big deal? The problem with this is that my nights did not set me up to have a relaxing morning. Let me tell you what the old Mel Robin's life was like. Thank God Chris is not on this episode because he would really describe it in a way that makes me feel like a loser. I would set several alarms on my phone. The first one to go off at 5:45, but that's not actually when I'm getting up.

That's just alarm number one. Then I'd set another alarm for about six o'clock. Then I'd set another one for 6:15. Then another one for 6:30. Then another one for 6:45, which was the time that I felt like I needed to get out of bed because that's only 45 minutes to get three kids out the door and lunch is packed and everything cleaned up. But I'd usually, honestly roll out of bed at the last alarm, which was like the emergency alarm, which was 7:15. Sound familiar? Don't tell me you don't do this. You do this. I want you to just consider, what is that act of setting multiple alarms say to your subconscious? Think about what those actions communicate to you. I'll tell you what they communicated about the old Mel Robbins. Waking up is hard. Getting up is hard. Mornings are hard. Life is an obligation. Being in bed is better than being awake. I don't want to get out of it. I don't want to start my day. There is nothing I'm looking forward to today. I have nothing to get out of for that actually makes me happy, which is why this is going to be a slow death march for me of alarms that are summoning me to roll out of this warm bed and actually start this day.

I wasn't a morning person because the old Mel Robbins chose not to be one. The old Mel Robbins literally did absolutely nothing the night before to set herself up for success. If you think about all the choices that I was making because deciding to just zone out in front of TV, that's a choice. Leaving the dishes for tomorrow morning, that's a choice. Not packing lunches to set yourself up for success, that's a choice. That is part of your routine. If you don't watch it, you're going to become like the old Mel Robbins. You're going to be making your life harder for yourself without even realizing it. One of the main reasons why I kept doing it is because I I kept telling myself, I'm so tired. I don't want to have to do anything. I've worked all day. And by doing that, I was just making it harder. Now, thankfully, I finally had this turning point when I realized, I don't want my mornings to be a five-alarm fire drill because there is nothing fun about waking up late and feeling frustrated and then being stressed at your kids and then yelling at them to move faster because you yourself didn't get up on time and then scrambling to pack the lunches and the drama that comes with that and then trying to get them to eat when you haven't even prepared anything.

And then finding that permission slip that they needed, that you signed last night, but you didn't put it in a place that you could find it simply because you were not thinking about the fact that you deserve to wake up in a powerful way. You deserve to complete your day in a way that supports you. I didn't have to race out the door. I didn't have to start my day mad at my husband, frustrated by the frenzy, going from literally sleeping to a panic attack every single morning, and then hopping in the car to commute to work to see that, oh my God, I have zero gas in the tank because I was too tired when I drove home last night to stop and I just wanted to get home. So I didn't fill up the tank. And now I'm running late and now I'm on the highway and I'm pulling on at the exact time that traffic literally doubles. Why do I keep Keep doing this to myself. And here's something interesting. Doesn't it make sense that if I start my day like that, I'm probably making myself more stressed and tired all day long?

That that crazy morning is like a domino that falls, and it triggers more stress and more being behind and more draining energy so that you're constantly feeling like you're always reacting because you are, because you set it up that way. I know this because I lived it for years, and I just kept saying all the disempowering thing. Why can't I be like it? Why don't I have discipline? Why don't I do this? I didn't understand how to break this down in a way that not only makes sense, but it's supported by the research. I think I was rolling in home completely spent, not because work was long, not because the day was stressful, but because my entire experience of waking up and starting the day had started that way. That I was looking forward to that bottle of wine the second the kids got on the bus because I had spent the 45 minutes I was awake running around like the Tasmanian devil. I'm here to tell you there is an easier way. That brings It brings me back to this hack. You can make this easier. You can be a different person. Your morning routine is everything when it comes to success and happiness and putting yourself first and finding the time that you deserve to focus on what matters to you.

And that incredible morning routine has to begin the night before. That's the hack. And that's what changed everything for me. I am not the old Mel Robbins. In In fact, just describing what my life used to be like is giving me a stomach ache when I think about how much unnecessary stress and drama I created for myself, for my kids, for my husband. It wasn't fun for anybody. I'm not like that anymore. I am a completely different person because I decided I wanted to be a completely different person. You don't have to be a Navy SEAL. You don't have to be a competitive athlete. You You don't have to run a billion-dollar company to understand that setting yourself up the night before is the secret to waking up and having a great morning. When you have a great morning, It's easier to have a great day. That's how this builds. That's what we're going to talk about. How do you end the day? How do you wind things down and put yourself to bed? I want you to stop and think about something. You already have a routine about how you shut down your house or your apartment.

Think about it. Do you ever go to bed and not lock the door? No. Do you go to bed and turn the lights off? Of course, you turn the lights off. Do you make sure your pets are where they need to be? Of course, you do. Do you shut the refrigerator? Yes, you do. Do you turn off the TV? Of course, you do. All of these things that you do to turn off and shut down the house at night. You have a routine about what you physically do in your space or your home. You lock the front door, you turn off the lights, maybe you put your dog in a crate, you brush your teeth, you kiss the kids good night, you read them a book, you turn off the television, you put on your PJs. There is this shutting down that you do that is routine. You don't even think about it. And I think about it, it's almost like we're putting the house to bed. It's easy to think about the list of things that you without even being conscious of it when it comes to your physical environment. What I want to talk to you about today is what are the things that you and I can do to help you do that emotionally and psychologically.

I want to give you one more example for why a routine is so empowering when you get very intentional about it. Have you ever gone to bed, maybe you're feeling sick or you've been up too late or or whatever, or your kids come in later and you wake up in the morning and all the lights are on downstairs? It's so disoriented because you're like, Wait a minute. Why are the lights on? I always turn the lights off. It's so weird when that happens. It feels like something's What's wrong? What if I told you you can get to the point where your evening routine and the series of the five things that I want you to do become so automatic, so easy, that when you don't do these things, it's disorienting. That's how important this is. So in just a minute, I'm going to walk you through the five things that the new, the current Mel Robbins does every single night. This is my evening routine, and the philosophy behind it is all about making my mornings easier. It's all about setting myself up for success and creating a rhythm and a routine and a structure to my evenings that gives me a sense of confidence, that helps me set the Mel Robbins that's waking up tomorrow morning up for success and ease, and that also makes me an amazing sleeper because this routine and the structure of it signals to my subconscious brain that we're winding down here.

Just like we lock the front door and it's time to go to bed, we're turning out the lights, it's time to go to bed, you are going to do a series of things that signal to your brain and to your mind that it is time to turn it off and to tuck yourself in. I think a lot about how when I was growing up, I had a very strict bedtime routine. My parents were not dummies. They did not want me up late. There was no negotiation. After dinner, we had to go right upstairs and we got into a hot bath. Why? Well, because we were dirty, but also because it makes you drowsy, right? It's like you just do it every night. It's signaling to you, the kid, that, Okay, we're in our evening routine now. We're getting into the bedtime routine. Then I'd pull on my little footed PJs, and I'd zip them up, and we get a little bit of time downstairs to either play or watch one TV show. And then what would we do? We'd be right back upstairs. We'd be getting a bedtime story read to us. And then our parents would tuck us in, kiss us on the forehead or the cheek, and we were going to That bedtime routine became this rhythm that created safety and structure and ease, something you can depend upon.

And so I want you to join me in getting serious about your evening routine starting tonight. I want you to embrace the fact that your mornings will be a hundred times better if you set yourself up for success starting tonight. Hey, it's Mel. Thank you so much for being here. If you enjoyed that video, by God, please subscribe because I don't want you to miss a thing. Thank you so much for being here. We've got so much amazing stuff coming. Thank you so much for sending this stuff to your friends and your family. I love you. We create these videos for you, so make sure you subscribe.