Lewis HowesYour Personal 24/7 Greatness Coach

The #1 Mistake People Make In The Morning

5 Apr 2025 · 1 min

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In this video, Lewis Howes explains that the most common mistake in morning routines is allowing dopamine‑driven habits to dominate right after waking. He argues the solution starts the night before by charging your phone away from the bed, forcing you to get up to turn off the alarm. He recommends using a dedicated alarm clock rather than a phone. Upon waking, you should act within 15‑30 minutes: walk straight to the bathroom, keep a book there to read instead of scrolling, splash cold water on your face, brush your teeth thoroughly, then return to the bedroom to make the bed. Each step is presented as a low‑effort, high‑impact habit that reduces instant dopamine spikes and sets a disciplined tone for the day.

Chapters

What is the greatest morning routine to get our dopamine in check? The most important aspect is it starts with the night before, with where you charge your phone. You can't charge your phone by your head. It's the most fundamental change society has to make with the dopamine. And if it has to be in the room for an alarm, it charges the other side of the room and you get out of bed to turn it off. Ideally, you get yourself an alarm clock, you get off like £2 on Amazon, or you get yourself a nice one for Christmas, whatever it might be. But we need an alarm clock. We need to wake up and not go into quick dopamine. So. So the first thing is 15 minutes, minimum 30 minutes. Ideally, you want to wake up and you want to immediately take action. You wake up, you immediately walk to the bathroom and you go to the bathroom. After you get to the bathroom, if you're sitting there and you're going to the toilet, you've got to have a book in there to entertain you. If you're going to potentially go on your phone, then you're engaging in effortful reading and that's much, much better. Books are way better for our dopamine because they're challenging, not easy. Then you splash cold water on your face, you brush your teeth and you brush your teeth properly, and then you walk back to your bedroom and you make your bed.