Three small skills for hard mornings

Some mornings are mornings. Some mornings are a small mountain. Here are three small things that have helped clients (and me) on the latter.

Name what's heavy

Before you've even moved, take thirty seconds to say to yourself: what's heaviest about today, specifically? Sometimes the answer is a meeting you're dreading. Sometimes it's grief that has nothing to do with today. Sometimes it's nothing you can put your finger on, which is also data. Just naming it dials the volume down a little.

Lower the first task

Whatever you were going to do first — make it smaller. Don't "go for a run," sit on the couch in your running shoes. Don't "start the report," open the document. Tiny first tasks bypass the part of you that's already deciding the day is unmanageable.

Move before you decide

If you have the kind of brain that argues with itself about whether to get up, give the argument less ammunition. Put your feet on the floor before the deliberation starts. Walk to the kitchen. The thinking part of you can catch up later.