4 Simple Ways to Have a Great Day

Some days are difficult no matter how good your attitude is.

But not every day has to be surrendered before breakfast.

You may not control the weather, traffic, other people’s moods, or the email waiting for you. You do have some influence over the tone you bring into the day and the choices you make once it starts.

These four practices are simple enough for an ordinary day—and useful enough to return to when the day starts going sideways.

1. Set the Direction Before You Get Out of Bed

Before reaching for your phone or mentally opening the day’s list of problems, give yourself a moment to decide what kind of energy you want to bring into the day.

Think of three to five things you are grateful for.

Then choose an intention:

Today I want to be patient.
Today I want to stay present.
Today I want to handle what comes without immediately assuming the worst.

If you can give yourself five quiet minutes without cutting into needed sleep, enjoy them. Luxuriate in the warmth and softness of the bed for a moment. Smile if it comes naturally. You do not have to leap up and conquer the world before breakfast.

If your mornings tend to begin with worry or negativity, 6 Ways to Become a More Positive Thinker can help you practice directing your attention more deliberately.

2. Turn Routine Tasks Into Opportunities

You do not have to pretend every chore is exciting.

But a routine task can contain something besides drudgery.

Cleaning can include loud music, movement, and maybe a little dancing while you work. Cooking can become conversation. If you have children, inviting them to help prepare a meal can turn a chore into time together while they learn something useful.

An errand can become an opportunity to slow down and actually notice the people around you. Thank the checkout clerk. Say hello. If you are picking up your children from school, ask about their day—and listen to the answer.

A drive can even become a few quiet minutes without another screen demanding your attention.

The task may not change.

Your experience of the task can.

3. Use a Mental STOP Sign Before You React

Anytime you notice yourself getting irritated, anxious, or ready to snap at someone, picture a big STOP sign in your mind.

Red. Purple. Neon pink if that gets your attention.

Stop.

Take a breath.

Then ask yourself:

What response will I respect five minutes from now?

You may still need to say something difficult. You may still need to set a boundary. The pause is not about becoming passive. It gives you a chance to respond deliberately instead of letting the first emotional impulse make the decision for you.

For more ideas when irritation is taking over, see 5 Ways to Calm Frustration During Hard Times.

4. Be Nice—On Purpose

This sounds almost too simple to include in an article.

Be nice.

Say hello. Thank the person helping you. Smile when it comes naturally. Ask someone how they are and actually listen to the answer.

Kindness does not require becoming a people-pleaser or tolerating disrespect. It means deciding that somebody else does not have to earn basic decency from you before you offer it.

How you treat people becomes part of the day you are creating.

If you want to make kindness a more deliberate practice, 9 Ways to Consciously Choose Kindness goes deeper into that choice.

A Great Day Does Not Have to Be a Perfect Day

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”
Author unknown

A great day does not mean nothing went wrong.

Sometimes a good day is the day you handled something difficult better than you used to.

Maybe you stopped yourself before saying something you would regret. Maybe you found something to appreciate while everything else felt irritating. Maybe you were kind when it would have been easier not to be.

You do not have to win the entire day before breakfast.

Set your direction. And when you drift, choose it again.

Give Tomorrow a Better Start

If you want a little more structure for setting the direction of your day before everything starts demanding your attention, A Good Morning is a free JoesMind resource created for exactly that purpose.

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