
Did you know that you will wake up for an average of about 25,000 mornings as an adult? Of course, this depends on different countries’ general life expectancies, but you should know you will spend a significant part of your life waking up in the morning. What this means is profound: every morning, for 25,000 mornings, you spend your life opening your eyes, facing the day, and deciding whatever it is you plan to accomplish. If the sounds of your morning alarm irritate you every day, and you feel frustrated and tired at the sight of sun rays beaming through your bedroom window, then you need to read on.
Even if you are not technically a morning person, you can still learn to make the most out of your day – through the creation of a morning routine. That is definitely what you deserve, at least to guarantee you a good start to your day. Here are some of those strategies you can use.
Instead of managing your time, manage your energy
When you think about it, you will realize you are better at handling specific tasks at specific times. Regardless of whether you are a morning person or not, you definitely have those periods of the day when your brain seems to be fully awake and firing on all cylinders, ad other times when you feel tired and sluggish.
If you want to maximize your daily output, it is important to know all these times. For instance, if your creative energy is at its best in the morning, you can set all creative-based activities for this time and put other less demanding tasks for later in the day. What kind of energy do you have in the morning, and what tasks can you accomplish during that time?
Set preparations during the previous night before you sleep
The essence of getting much accomplished in a whole day is setting out all your important tasks and the time you will do them – and that should ideally happen before you sleep. Make sure to organize your to-do list the previous night, and this will prevent time wastage the next day due to not being sure what to do. For instance, if you are into writing – you can develop an outline for your article the night before and then create a shortlist of all the things you want to do. It just takes a short time but saves you a lot of effort the following day.
Avoid opening emails until your work is done.
One of the first things many people do once they get to the office is sitting at their desk and opening an email. They then answer emails for a whole hour or so and then discover what they were supposed to do has not been accomplished yet.
This tip may sound nonchalant, but not many do it. However, when you think about it, you will realize everything can wait for a few hours – even those emails. No one will send an email to you concerning a real emergency like a relative getting into an accident or a close friend passing on, so relax and leave your email alone for the first few hours of the day. Use that time to accomplish something important instead, rather than responding to so-called ‘urgent’ emails.
Please turn off your phone or leave it far off from you.
One of the major obstacles to productivity is the mobile phone. As much as it gives you social media and internet access and the ability to chat with friends or family through text messages and calls, it can quickly become a distraction when you are trying to accomplish your tasks for the day.
Leave your phone somewhere else, like your colleague’s desk or anywhere else that is out of your sight. That alone will eliminate the urge to check the phone through messages or social media accounts continuously. It will also eliminate the infamous problem of ‘half working’ where you are wasting your time on meaningless tasks, all to catch up with everything happening as you work.
Working in cool places
Trying to work in a hot room is like trying to work when you are half asleep. You constantly feel sluggish and groggy. Increase your productivity by moving to a cooler place or turning the room’s temperature down, which helps you focus your body and mind easier.
Stand up or sit up
You may not think much about it, but the brain requires oxygen to function optimally, while the lungs require to contract and expand to increase the body’s oxygen levels. While that may sound easy enough to understand, there is a problem – many people usually work while being in a hunched position as they sit and type on a computer screen.
When you are hunched over, the chest is in a collapsed posture, while the diaphragm is pressed against the lungs. This will negatively affect your ability to breathe properly and deeply, which means your body will have low oxygen levels – therefore, less energy. When you feel tired, stand up or sit up on your chair, and you will find it easier to breathe fully, which helps you concentrate better.
Consider using eating as a reward.
Instead of eating just because the time has come to eat, consider using eating as a reward system. This is similar to bonuses and promotions that casinos will give to their customers as a reward, at least according to the best casino reviews. Among the most famous methods of this is intermittent fasting, where you do not eat for the first few hours after waking up and then only eat within certain periods of the day. The best part about it is its benefits to your health and helping you get more out of your day.
Final thoughts
Setting an advantageous morning routine can seem like a chore, but these habits will seek to create discipline even when you spend your days.