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By forcing myself to get up early, I give myself enough time to get all of (or most of) my responsibilities for the day completed. When you add a couple of hours to your day, you wouldn’t believe how much more you can get done. The morning grogginess is gone before you know it.  Hopefully, you’ll notice a difference in your motivation and productivity too!

How To Make The Most Out Of Your Mornings:

  1. You get one snooze–that’s it. I know…this is crazy–unheard of, even. But I promise it works. We all know how easy it is to get sucked into a non-stop snoozing cycle, so cut it out. If you can start forcing yourself to get up when your alarm goes off, your body will eventually catch up and it will start to feel more natural.
  2. Don’t stay up till 2 AM. If you’re like me, it’s always tempting to push through that wave of sleepiness to watch just a fewww more episodes of your favorite show. But you have to remember, the later you stay up means the later you can wake up without still feeling tired.
  3. Have a morning routine or a mini version of your normal routine. At this point in time, I’m still not back to my full morning routine. That’s okay. I’ve taken a few things from my normal routine that best prepare me for the day. So for example:
    • Alarm for 7:30 AM
    • Out of bed by 8-8:15 AM
    • Make coffee
    • Check phone till coffee’s done (somewhere around 9 AM)
    • Make bed
    • Brush teeth
    • Set up work for the day
  4. Have a plan. This doesn’t need to be a set-in-stone kind of plan, but more so a to-do list for the day. I’ve found that while we’re trapped in our houses, the best kind of plan is one that allows some flexibility. So as an example, my to-do list for the day continues on right from my mini morning routine.
    • After making bed & brushing teeth, set up my desk for the day. I typically move my laptop, move all my chargers, open my agenda, and move any notebooks/folders/papers over to the desk.
    • Workout by 9:30 AM
    • Shower
    • Start work by noon
  5. Create “environments” within your circumstances. I don’t have real “workspace” at home, so I use my desk (used to be vanity). But because I didn’t have a true space to do work, I could never get any done. So once I moved school and work stuff to a designated area, I was able to get in the right mindset. Same thing with working out. I’m not great at working out outside or in the living room, so the basement has become my “gym setting”.

Written by GUADS staff member Toni