Since we are starting the new year, let’s try to revamp our morning schedule. Do you want to create a productive morning routine and start your day off right?
It’s so easy to feel like your entire day is gone if you wake up at 11 or 1 pm in the afternoon. And yes, my break schedule is all over the place, but when school starts-it’s all early mornings and productive days.
If you want to feel like you got your life together or enjoy the pleasant morning time or be more productive, then this post is for you.
Here are all the tips and suggestions for implementing a productive morning routine.
This post is all about creating a productive morning routine that you can stick to.
Why does it feel easier to stay up late than wake up early?
If you find yourself staying up later and later at night, your body is becoming accustomed to that sleep cycle.
Try to get off your phone so you won’t be tempted to keep staring at it for longer and longer. The blue light emitted from the screen keeps you awake, so try to set your phone away before going to bed.
I understand this is easier said than done (because I love scrolling through my phone before bed too).
However, we need to try to distance ourselves from electronics at night for a restful sleep.
Sometimes it feels difficult to wake up early because you are reactivating your body to get up. Instead, when we stay up, we are already awake and just prolonging the time we have been up.
Is it possible to get up early naturally?
Yes, it is totally possible to wake up early and have little to no resistance from your body.
You will also be able to get up naturally eventually without the help of any alarms or tools. The idea is to change your circadian rhythm.
Your circadian rhythm is like your internal clock that tracks the time you are awake or asleep. Several factors change how alert you feel to how drowsy you will be.
And, you can change these factors to assist in easier wake-up times.
Some factors include lighting, sounds, and food. And here I will introduce some tips to wake up earlier.
1. Open Them Blinds
When you go to bed, remember to pull open your blinds. This way when you wake up, the sun will be shining inside your room.
The exposure to sunlight will wake you up a bit. Then in the morning, you can also crack open your window to take in a large breath of fresh air.
Exposing yourself to light and nature will wake you up more and get you more alert for the day.
2. Drink More Water the Day Before
Try to drink more water one to two hours before going to bed. If you get easily bloated, try to aim for two to three hours before.
This will push you to wake up earlier because you will feel the urge to go to the bathroom in the morning.
Plus you will stay moisturized throughout the night.
3. Set a Song as an Alarm
Instead of creating an annoying alarm, opt for choosing a song that you find motivational or fun. Then, record part of it or go to alarm → sound → pick a song on your alarm app.
Try to change that song every once in a while (each month) so you can listen to something different each time.
What should I do in my morning routine?
First, set an ideal time that you want to get up and then list all the things that you want to accomplish by that time.
I have a 5 am morning routine that I rarely use but it gets SO much stuff done.
Here is an example of my rare but productive 5 am routine:
5-5:30 am Stretch/Brush Teeth/Wash Face
5:30-6 am Do some yoga and light workouts
6-7 am Make breakfast and Eat
7-8 am Change Outfit/Check emails/Plan the day
8-10 am Work on homework or upcoming lectures
10-11 am Do some writing
This changes often and I adjust it based on my class schedules. I recommend incorporating all your necessary morning to-do’s that you need to finish and adding in tasks along the way.
Also, I highly recommend doing stretches and light workouts in the morning because it keeps your heart pumping and alert.
Once you set the pace and finish tasks in the morning, you will feel so much more productive throughout the day.
Tips for a Smoother Morning
To save more time in the morning and get through it with the least amount of cognitive load, you should try some of these tips.
1. Prepare Your Breakfast Ahead
This can be anything like prepping your ingredients beforehand or gathering them in the same place.
For instance, if you were planning to make scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon for breakfast you can save time by putting the bacon and butter close by in the fridge.
Then, you can place the salt and pepper next to your eggs and bread near your toaster. Once you get up, you will be able to quickly navigate everything and quickly prepare your food.
If you want to save even more time, you can make meals like overnight oats or bake muffins the day before.
Interested in more breakfast recipe ideas? Check out 19+ Breakfast Ideas for College Under 10 Minutes.
2. Change Out of Your Pajamas
If you want to have a smoother and more productive morning routine, then you should change out of your sleepwear.
You can pick your outfit the day before so you can save some time in the morning. Even if you are not going outdoors, it is a good idea to change.
This is because it makes your brain think oh we are going to be doing something today. I recommend doing your makeup if you do that in your daily routine and anything else you do in your regular morning.
Not only does it program your brain to prepare for the day, but also alerts you to get stuff done.
3. Create a Task List
You should either do this the day before or block off ten minutes in the morning to make a task list.
This is where you list out at least 10-20 small tasks that take five to ten minutes to complete. Some examples include:
- Making an appointment
- Replying an email
- Picking up something from the mail
- Throwing away three pieces of trash in your room
- Doing your laundry
- Turning in an assignment
- Starting an outline for a homework assignment
- Setting up a meeting
- Finishing a chore
These can be anything that requires a short amount of time to do and you should label them from most urgent to least important.
Then throughout your morning, you can finish one or a few of these tasks in between or as a break from your work.
4. Delay Cognitive Tasks Later in the Routine
Start with easier tasks to complete when you wake up like brushing your teeth, washing your face, taking a shower, etc.
Try to limit the amount of heavily cognitive overload tasks until the middle or towards the end of your morning routine.
Doing easy tasks that require little to no thinking early in the morning allows you to practice and prep for the day ahead.
You don’t want to stop all that momentum by starting with a complicated task right in the beginning.
So, don’t be trying to solve a difficult coding or math problem the first thing you wake up. Instead, try to do a few practice problems before easing into more complex problems or workloads.
5. Get Your Muscles Moving
As I previously said before, getting in stretches or light workouts in the morning helps wake your body up.
You can do anything from taking a brisk walk around and doing some yoga stretches to a workout in the morning.
Try to get your blood flowing and heart pumping faster to get more alert and prepared for the day ahead.
You can pick anything from ten to half an hour to wake your body up.
6. Set Up Your Work Area
Similar to setting up your breakfast items close to each other, you also want to create a work area with all the materials that you need.
Make sure your laptop is charged, you have all the pens and pencils on your desk, and any papers or notebooks nearby.
This way you won’t have to get up every couple of minutes to grab something which can break your flow off.
How can I feel more productive in the morning?
Now you have some tips to prepare for your morning, but how can you feel more productive to do those tasks?
Here are some ideas and hacks for a more productive morning routine.
1. Create a Music Playlist
You can either do this on Youtube or any music app and pick around 30-50 songs that you like.
I like to just save songs on YouTube in the watch later section and shuffle them to play.
Pick a few motivational songs, some without lyrics, and ones you like to listen to. Make sure you aren’t distracted from your tasks with the songs you pick.
I find it easier to do chores or organize when I have music in the background, but if you like a quiet environment you can skip this step.
2. Start Small, Then Big
Do at least one to three small tasks before tackling a large task.
You want to build momentum as you are moving on in your morning routine. Work through batches of small tasks or use them as break time fillers.
Remember to take short breaks in between so you are not stuck on one task for a long time.
Interested in more posts like creating a productive morning routine? Check out 9 Essential College Student Skills to Learn Right Now.
3. Take a Quick Shower
If you really need to wake yourself up, opt for taking a quick shower. It’s perfect to take one after a workout. Maybe wait ten to fifteen minutes before you step in so your heart isn’t as erratic.
You can also save time by doing most of your wake-up routine in the shower like brushing your teeth, washing your face, shaving, etc.
To get even more alert, you can take a cooler shower as opposed to a warm or hot shower.
4. Get in Your Work Mode
For me, that means tying up my hair and sitting at my desk to start working.
I don’t know, there’s just something about tying up my hair that boosts my productivity levels 10x.
If you have anything that gets you into the zone, try to implement it. Here are some suggestions to try:
- Tying up your hair
- Sitting at your workspace
- Standing at your workspace (alternate between sitting and standing)
- Opening the windows
- Having a plant nearby
- Play some music
- Sip on a smoothie, coffee, or tea
5. Make Yourself an Energy Drink
My go-to is a matcha latte with matcha powder and milk. You can make your own coffee or tea to get yourself in the mood for working.
If you don’t like coffee or tea, you can also whip up a smoothie to start your day.
Make sure to keep yourself hydrated so place a water bottle close by along with your other drinks.
6. Make Your Bed
If you just kick off your blankets and start your day, rewind.
Go make your bed and fix your covers and blankets. Making your bed will give you a sense of accomplishment since you were able to complete a task.
It is a light task that offers a high accomplishment boost to wake you up.
This is a great start to your day, so don’t forget to always make your bed in the morning.
Ways to Persist/Continue a Productive Morning Routine
It might be easy to continue a morning routine once or twice, but it can be difficult to persist through it every day.
Here are some hacks to continue your productive morning routine so you can get more stuff done:
1. Set a Goal
There must be a reason why you want to get up earlier each day. It can be anything from getting your life together or wanting to enjoy more of your morning time.
Whatever your reason is, jot it down on a piece of paper or a whiteboard. Make sure you put it where it is easy to see.
Whenever you write something down, you are way more likely to carry out that task as compared to doing nothing at all.
2. Set Alarms
As I mentioned before, you can set music alarms to start your day off. You don’t need anything blasting or ringing to annoy you to get up.
Opt for some songs that you like and set them as your wake-up song so you are less opposed to waking up.
Set this alarm for the entire week and you will be able to get up with the song you like.
Interested in more posts like making a productive morning routine? Check out 25 Best High School Sophomore Hacks.
3. Sleep Earlier
This is one of the most obvious but easiest ways to wake up earlier. You can try and readjust your sleep schedule so you will be able to get up on time.
Once you get used to waking up at a certain time, you wouldn’t even need to set an alarm to alert you.
To wake up at the time you want, try to find out how many hours of sleep you need.
Say I need 8 hours of sleep to function normally and my ideal wake-up time is 7 am, then I just need to count the hours I need. For a 7 am wake-up time, I need to be asleep by 11 pm.
It might be easier to start pushing your sleep time earlier by 15-30 minute increments each night instead of changing it completely on the first night.
If I go to sleep at 3 am now and I want to readjust my sleep schedule to 11 pm, then my schedule would be:
- Day 1: aim to sleep at 2:30 am
- Day 2: aim to sleep at 2 am
- Day 3: aim to sleep at 1:30 am
- Day 4: aim to sleep at 1 am
- Day 5: aim to sleep at 12:30 am
- Day 6: aim to sleep at 12 am
- Day 7: aim to sleep at 11:30 pm
- Day 8: sleep at 11 pm
This way you will be able to let your body readily adjust to an earlier sleep time and it will be easier once you continue that time.
4. Reward Yourself
You can keep a calendar and cross off each day you were able to wake up earlier. Then at the end of each month, you can reward yourself with a special treat.
This can be anything from buying yourself a gift, going to a special event, or getting food. You can set the time range like each week or each month.
If you have a goal of waking up earlier for 20 days in a month and you accomplish that, then you can give yourself a prize.
Set the days you want to wake up earlier and maybe do bonus points for streaks. If you wake up early for three months straight, maybe you get a bigger prize than just hitting the daily goal.
Keep an incentive so you will be more likely to keep up with your morning routine.
Things to Do in Your Morning Routine
If you have reached that point where you have mastered your morning routine and now you have extra time on your hands, then here are some suggestions on what to do.
1. Learn a New Language
It’s such a great time to learn in the morning and if you have ever wanted to try a new language, start today!
You can create a plan like learning some background about the language you will learn first. Then dive into easy greetings, vocab, and conversation.
A plan might be:
- Learn the culture or background
- Practice greetings
- Learn simple vocab or counting from one to ten
- Practice writing out simple words or phrases
- Create flashcards and practice the words
You can watch YouTube videos, browse online practice questions, or download language apps to learn.
2. Do Your Chores
If you have a ton of time in the morning, you can use it to tidy up your space. Go wash your clothes, vacuum or sweep the floor, fold your clothes, wipe down dusty areas, and clean up your space.
You can do a weekly cleanse with a DIY cleaning spray of water, lemon, and vinegar. Spray it on the sink, countertops, bathroom, etc., and wipe it over.
If you want to declutter your space, you can pick out clothes you don’t wear, books that you don’t read anymore, and items you don’t need into separate piles.
Then you can either donate them or sell them online. You can repeat this decluttering process each morning to get more of your space back.
3. Sell Things Online
If you want to earn some money, you can opt for posting items online each morning. You can use Craigslist, Facebook marketplace, Offerup, Poshmark, or any platform that you like.
It’s a good idea to post on multiple platforms to reach a wider audience and sell your items faster.
Some things you can do each morning to sell online can be:
- Gathering the items that you want to sell
- Setting up a place to take pictures
- Take pictures of the items from different angles
- Post them online
- Reply and answer questions from interested buyers
4. Learn a New Recipe
You can use each morning to start your adventure with a new recipe. Learn how to bake desserts, make meals, or whip up drinks.
Then surprise your friends and family with your cooking skills.
In no time you can become an expert chef with the time each morning to explore a new recipe.
5. Read a Book
Spend some time each morning to start on a book. It can be anywhere from half an hour to a few hours each morning.
Not only will you be able to read more books, but you will be able to accumulate more knowledge each day!
Aim for a different genre each time so you can explore a wider variety of books.
These were all the ideas and suggestions to create a more productive morning routine. Try implementing these tips today to get more done and get your life together.
This post was all about creating a productive morning routine to get more stuff done.
