Good morning! This week I’m doing a two part post about how to be more productive with our mornings and evenings. The most productive days usually begin with a good, productive morning and preparing the night before. Mornings, especially, set the tone for the whole day. So, today, I’m giving tips for more productive mornings and next time, I’ll be giving tips for productive evenings. With these routines set in place, everything in between should go more smoothly and it all adds up to a great day.
- Wake up early. A great day starts with a great beginning: waking up early. I personally like to get up early enough to get things done before going somewhere or starting on my to-do list for the day. When I don’t, I just feel frazzled, unorganized, and stressed. So, get up early enough to get through your basic morning routine before starting your day, whether it’s at home or going to work. Also, try to wake up at the same time every day. Bonus tip: Make your bed. You’ll feel better about yourself, your house, and your life with your bed made first thing in the morning. I really don’t know why, but it works. See my printables for organizing a to-do list and planning your weekly schedule: Lifetime to-do list and weekly schedule.
- Spend 30 minutes to get yourself awake and organized. What I do in my 30 minutes is get coffee, have daily devotions, and plan my day. The coffee wakes you up, the devotions give you purpose, and the daily schedule gives you direction for your day. You should feel more awake and motivated after your first 30 minutes.
- Have a healthy breakfast and exercise. Make time for good health habits. Have a good breakfast and, if possible, make time for exercise. If you’re truly short on time, at least do a short exercise session, even if it’s only 10 minutes. Something is better than nothing, and if you at least do a little every day, it will become a habit and you won’t want to skip it.
- Get dressed. Have a fairly easy, streamlined routine for getting dressed in the morning, especially if you don’t have much time. Prepare your outfit the night before. (I’ll have more tips on evening prep in the next post.) Keep an eye on the clock, set yourself a time limit, and get it done.
- Basic home maintenance. After waking up, planning your day, breakfast, exercise, and getting dressed, I still like to spend about 30 minutes on basic straightening, dishes, feed pets, and plan dinner. If you’re going to work or running errands, you might want to get all your things together that you need to take and set them by the door.
Set a time limit for your morning routine and try to stick to it. Keep an eye on the clock. Be done with your basic morning routine by a certain time and be ready to start the rest of your day by a certain time, whether you actually are going to work, working at home, or going somewhere. These are my best tips for productive mornings, but if you have other ideas, I would love to hear them. Please leave comments below.
A great day starts with a great morning. A great day also ends with a great evening. Please come back next time as I give by best tips for a great productive evening. See you then!