This simple morning routine will help you have an awesome day

Today I want to share with you an incredibly simple yet powerful practice that I've been making part of my morning routine:

3 gratitudes before first email.

Before you open your email for the first time in the morning -- and before you let the world that rushes in through your email just suck you away and completely consume you -- take a moment to write down 3 things you are grateful for. 

The more specific you are with your gratitudes, the better. Less "I'm grateful that I am alive" and more "I am grateful that I had a few minutes this morning to enjoy my coffee in my favorite mug." When you are specific, your brain registers your gratitude more clearly and you experience more joy and connection to the moment you're grateful about. (When you practice gratitude, your brain actually releases serotonin and dopamine, two neurostransmitters that help you to feel good.)

And you've got to capture your gratitudes in some way -- write them down, capture them in the Happier gratitude sharing app, or take a photo of what you're grateful for. You can say what you're grateful for out loud to yourself, or share it with another person, including by text or email. 

What I love about this practice is how simple it is and that it's connected to something we all do -- check our email. Research shows that it's easier to form a new habit when you connect it to something you already do regularly (some call this habit stacking.) What an awesome way to infuse gratitude into your morning by connecting it to a habit that tends to suck up so much of our time and energy!

Think of your 3 gratitudes before first email practice as a way to ground and claim a bit of your own positive energy first, before you let the world interfere.