We’ve all heard it before: a morning routine is essential to a successful life. Scientists and CEOs alike have extolled the benefits of having a morning routine for decades – there are those who get up at 4:30 a.m. every day and work out before the sun even rises, and others who enjoy the quiet of the morning with a cup of coffee and a newspaper or book.

But morning is hard. It can be all too tempting to hit snooze on your phone’s alarm clock when thoughts of everything you have to do during the day are flooding your mind, or when it’s cold outside and you just want to stay under the covers.

There are science-proven benefits to having a morning routine: Studies have shown that a consistent morning routine can reduce stress, increase energy levels, and improve productivity at work.

If you want to cultivate a morning routine before work and you don’t know where to start, here are three methods recommended by psychologists:

“Your to-do list may be doing more harm than good,” warns psychologist Jessica Jackson on CNBC Make It. Checking your email, calendar or to-do list shortly after waking up makes the start of the day “stressful” and also “tells your brain to go into panic mode.”

Instead, Jackson recommends starting the day with meditation: take a few minutes, sit quietly, take a few deep breaths and choose a single word or phrase to guide you for the day.

“You can say to yourself, ‘My plan for today is to feel successful’ or ‘I want to be relaxed today’ and think about what you can realistically accomplish in the next 24 hours to feel that way,” Jackson explains. “It can also be a single and powerful word like ‘gratitude’ that will guide the way you react.”

Jackson also said that “setting an intention every morning before work can help better synchronize your actions with your values, stay focused on your priorities, and most importantly, get excited about the day before.”

“Disconnecting from technology in the mornings is the best reboot you can give your brain,” says Debbie Sorensen, a psychologist in Denver, Colorado. “Looking at your phone or computer immediately after waking up makes the mind distracted and can cause stress if you read something negative. Instead, find an offline activity that will recharge you, such as reading a book, writing in a journal, going for a walk or exercising. The benefits of doing a relaxing activity and offline in the morning will continue throughout the day,” emphasized Sorensen. “It gives energy to help you get through the day and deal with stress.”

Sorensen likes to spend the morning reading on the couch or drinking a cup of coffee before the rest of her family wakes up. “It’s a really sweet and quiet moment of quality time that I look forward to, and it makes me feel younger before I dive into work,” she says.

“Fun is a critical but underappreciated part of the health equation,” says Laura Pendergrass, an industrial psychologist who consults with Fortune 500 companies.

Find one small thing to make you laugh or smile as part of your morning routine to boost endorphins and set a positive tone for your day, whether it’s a three-minute dance party while you get ready for work or a phone call to one of your funniest friends.

“Self-care through something fun is just as important as anything else we do to take care of ourselves,” she says, adding that she often spends a few minutes before work watching nature films, which miraculously improve her mood. “We need to create our own enrichment opportunities, do something fun or creative and add color to what could be a gray day.”