Aside from the occasional day where I just can’t even with life, I think it’s safe to say that I am a morning person. I love getting up and starting my day and I feel like my time in the mornings really sets the tone for how the rest of my day will shake out so for that reason I always love to start out my day on a positive note.

Right now I wake up at 7:30am and am often up before my alarm because my body has gotten so used to it. I used to get up at this time when I was working full-time even though work didn’t start until 10am because it gave me time to wake up, make some breakfast (and coffee!!!) and sometimes get blog work done before I headed off to work. If you want to become a morning person, I hope that these tips will help you get on your way to waking up with a smile on your face.

Set your alarm five minutes earlier

If getting up early is not your jam, I totally understand. Don’t feel like you have to be the person who magically wakes up at 5am each day overnight. If you usually wake up at 8am, set your alarm at 7:55am for a week. The next week make it 7:50am, and so on until you get to the desired time. These small, incremental changes won’t shock your body, but before you know it you’ll have an extra hour in the morning for yourself before rushing off into a hectic day.

Wake up your skin

This is a big one for me because as you know I love my skincare routine and my day can’t really start until I complete the morning steps of it. Right now I love to wash my face with either Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser or L’Occitane’s Water Gel Cleanser and I apply Glossier’s priming moisutrizer on after I cleanse. Even if you splash some water on your face in the morning, you’re giving your skin a little refresher that will help wake the rest of your body up too.

Establish a little morning routine

Even if it’s as simple as grabbing a cold brew from your favorite local coffee shop, create a little routine for yourself to take some of the thinking out of your morning. There’s nothing worse than trying to figure out what you need to do to get from point A to point B when you’ve just woken up.

Be active

For many of my New York readers you’ll accomplish this task simply by walking to the subway. But if you drive a lot or work from home, make a point to squeeze in a bit of activity in the morning. It makes such a difference for me to leave the apartment for 10 minutes in the morning and just get some fresh air before I start my day (a tip learned from Erika Fox!) and I definitely want to do that more on the days where I work from home.

Drink water

I’m a water-obsessed human being. If I don’t consume water every hour I would probably just combust and I honestly think it has a lot to do with my energy levels, particularly in the morning. Drink a glass right when you wake up and have one with breakfast too. Your body will thank you!

Plan something each day to look forward to

This is such a simple thing you can do to wake up your brain and your body. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing—maybe today you’re going for a chai latte instead of your usual black coffee—or maybe you have plans with a friend to see a movie after work, but find something about the day that you can look forward to. Not only will this help get you through the morning, but it’ll make the rest of the day better too!