This Two-Minute Morning Practice Will Make Your Day Better https://hbr.org/2021/01/this-two-minute-morning-practice-will-make-your-day-better?utm_source=pocket-newtab Summary. Thanks to the fight-or-flight mechanism in our brains, we’re conditioned to seek out bad news and focus on the negative. This can have deleterious effects on our mental and physical health. It can be tempting to cope with bad news and emotionally challenging life events by overworking, but that only compounds those negative side effects. Instead, take a couple minutes each morning to reflect on and write down three things: what you’ll focus on, what you’re grateful for, and what you’ll let go of. This practice won’t fix everything, but it will prime your brain for positivity and improve the quality of your day.