My mornings used to look productive on paper. I woke at 4:15, laced up, moved my body, and then… nothing. I’d stall. My head told me to execute at work. My heart wanted to sprint into Bad Day Excellence. My family deserved first place. That tug-of-war left me stuck in the middle, scrolling, rationalizing, and calling it “research.” Spoiler: it wasn’t.
The fix started when I got curious about my triggers. I noticed the instant reach for TikTok before I even stretched. I noticed the urge to escape into creator rabbit holes when work felt boring. And I noticed the quiet guilt of being physically present with my kids while mentally somewhere else.
So I tried something painfully simple. A 5-word question I could ask anywhere, especially when the scroll monster called my name: What’s my one win today?
Five words. That’s it. But that tiny prompt flipped the switch from fuzzy intention to specific action. My brain wants dopamine. A small, clear win delivers it without burning the day down.
Here’s how it works in practice. When I catch a trigger, I stop and ask the question out loud. Whatever pops up that meets the “small, finishable, matters” criteria becomes the win. Then I do it immediately. Not a perfect system, but momentum doesn’t care about perfect. It cares about motion.
I stacked wins like that all morning. Text my wife the plan for pickup. Pre-pack lunches. Draft the first three bullets for the presentation. Ten quiet minutes with my kid before the bus. Nothing heroic, just obvious moves I kept skipping. The difference showed up fast. Less friction. More presence. Fewer fake productivity laps.
Couple guardrails so this doesn’t go sideways. Pick a win, not a project. “Ship the slide” beats “redesign the strategy.” Pick one. Five wins before breakfast turns this into a new avoidance strategy. And don’t hide the win in your inbox. Email is a vending machine for other people’s priorities.
What about the classic curveball: your boss hijacks your day at 9:07. First, not every fire is yours to put out. Second, create clarity and let them make the trade. Try: “If A needs to be done today, that pushes B to next week. Is that ok with you?” Respectful. Clear. Builds trust. Protects your energy.
If noon hits and you still haven’t landed the win, do a gut check. Count what you already did. There are almost always tiny wins worth a 30-second celebration. Then shrink the original win to something finishable in five minutes or block the calendar and go get it. I keep a small candy reward at my desk. Call it childish. It works.
One more piece a lot of folks skip: a quick “done” visualization. Close your eyes for half a minute and picture the finished win. Brain gets the preview, body follows orders. It sounds silly until you notice you’re actually doing the thing.
You can run this question everywhere. Work: What’s my one needle-mover today? Parenting: What’s our one connection moment? Health: What’s one habit that restores me? Money: What’s one smart money move? Personal growth: What’s one courageous micro-step? Same engine, different roads.
The bigger message here is control. We don’t control the economy, the news cycle, or other people’s moods. We do control our actions, our attention, and the next five minutes. Five words help you choose wisely.
Put a sticky note where your morning starts: What’s my one win today? Glance at it. Answer it. Do it. Then let that tiny win pull the next one in its wake.