Be Better At Mornings

Prepare Ahead of Time

Being successful in the morning really starts the day before. Setting yourself up for the morning so it is super easy to get up and get started makes a huge difference. Some things can actually be prepared for the whole week. Such as prepare your healthy lunch and even breakfasts the day before the work week starts. Lay our your outfits for the week. Plan what you want to wear, shoes, jewelry. Have it all ready so you can basically grab and go.

If you are a morning workout person, prepare for your workout, know what you are going to do for your workout. Have your work clothes ready, whether that is a gym bag you need to take with you or just laying them out so that you can put them on first thing.

Before Bed

Put down the phone at night. Try to go 30-60 minutes without screen time at night. You can use some of this time to get you ready for the next day. I personally like to do a tidy of the house, make sure all dishes are done. Then, set up for what I need the next day. I like to get ready for bed, then spend a few minutes writing my to do list and doing a brain dump to get things off my mind. Then I spend the remaining time reading, with a paper book, not on a screen. Having all of this done helps me relax, then I am not thinking about the things I didn’t get done. Or the mess I am going to wake up to in the morning. This also makes mornings more pleasant because I am waking up to an empty sink and clutter put away.

Put your phone on a Do Not Disturb schedule. From 11pm to 7am every day my phone is on Do Not Disturb. I do have it set up to notify me of phone calls just in case there is an emergency. But no facebook, texts, or emails.

 

Bed Schedule

Have a routine schedule and keep this schedule for the whole week. Even when you do not need to work that day. Make sure you are getting the sleep you need, this can be different for everyone but 7-8 hours a night is recommended. I know it’s tempting to sleep in on the weekends, but try to avoid doing this too much.

Do Not Hit Snooze

Seriously, I usually actually feel worse after I hit snooze a few times then I did when my phone went off. This is often because you are allowing your body to go back into a sleep cycle and when that alarm goes off again you were probably just getting to the good part of sleeping. Meaning you may be a little groggy now. It’s better to wake up when you need to wake up. If you don’t need to get up for that extra 20 minutes of snooze then just sleep for that time and it will be a better quality sleep.

Get Up A Little Earlier

Get up a little earlier, if you find you are completely rushing each morning. I know its hard to think about getting up earlier. Especially, if you already to get up really early. However, even though I still struggle with this. I have found that when I am able to get up even just 30 minutes earlier. I get so much more done. In that extra 30 minutes, I can get dishes done, laundry in, house tidied, and there is no distractions.

Eat a Good Breakfast

A good healthy breakfast will really help you get your day started strong. Breakfast will help fuel and give your body energy. Plus it’s easier to focus on a fully belly.

Get in a Workout

Honestly, I go back and forth on this. I like morning workouts because I feel amazing the rest of the day. I do really tend to be more productive after a work out and make smarter choices throughout the day. But I really struggle to get this in and I feel like if I work out in the afternoon I work out a little harder. So this is really up to the person. If you tend to lose focus and energy quickly throughout the day a good work out can assist with this. If you tend to be too tired when you come home from work or end up not having time because the day gets busy, just get it done first thing and get it out of your way. You will feel much better!

 

Do Your Most Important Tasks First

I usually divide this up by home, work, blog tasks. I have a task list and a time bucket for each part of my day. So I have my top tasks for each of these buckets. Do these tasks first, get them done and out of the way first thing. Generally a person is most productive first thing when they get started. As the day goes on the will power to get something done starts fading, and you tend to keep pushing it off. Especially if it is something you don’t really want to do.

For work items think of it this way. If it’s the end of the day, what is the biggest task you would want accomplished? What tasks would end up keeping you in the office late? Get those done early when your productivity is at its highest.

Similar to home tasks, it is super easy to get caught up in dishes, family time, TV time, and really lose your motivation to do the things you were hoping to get done. So get the top 1-3 things done in the AM and get it out of the way.

Share any tips, in the comments, that you found work for you!