The shrill song of an alarm clock is second only to a baby’s cry in its ability to bring tears to the eyes of a barely alert adult.
Americans are chronically tired and stressed, making waking up and having a decent morning routine challenging. Although our competitive work environments aren’t helping us any, there are many ways you can upgrade your morning routine on workdays for better success all week long.
Getting More Out of Mornings
Whether you stumble out of bed and fall into the shower or you tend to slow down once you get to work, there’s probably a better solution for your morning routine. There’s no routine that works for every person, but there are many tricks that help more people have productive mornings.
Take a look at some of our favorites:
- Get a jump on your morning by starting the night before. If you’re not a morning person, it can be downright difficult to find the coffee and plan breakfast in the time you have to get ready. Dump the blind morning grope and instead invest some time the night before organizing your morning.Prep the coffee maker, lay out your work clothing, decide what you’ll have for breakfast (even if that’s just an protein bar) and get lunches ready while you’re awake. That way, you merely have to move from one station to the next in the morning, without having to pause to make decisions.
- At work, do the trickiest thing first. Science says that you have the most motivation and ability to focus in the morning, so this is the time to tackle those difficult problems. That could mean calling a challenging client or making a hard decision. Whatever it is, do it first.Do this thing before you even bother to check your email. After all, anything too important to wait would have meant a telephone call or email from your boss, coworker or virtual receptionist.
- Spread out the caffeine. There’s no question that mornings were made for caffeine. It can help you be more alert, increases your capacity for learning and can even make you more creative. Whether you take yours black, with sugar or with lots of milk style, consider spreading it out across the morning.Sure, downing a lot of Joe all at once will give you a rocket boost, but having a more level amount of caffeine in your system will help you sustain your productivity until well after lunch. Just keep in mind that a little caffeine can go a long way, accidental overdose will interfere with your functionality in a big way.
Mornings are one of the toughest challenges of the day, but if you develop a better morning routine, you can get more out of mornings. Making a list of the most important tasks to accomplish the following morning at the end of your work day will also help get you focused and on track for success.
For the particularly ambitious, adding in some exercise to get your blood pumping or spending some time in meditation or contemplation can become a great way to get a little me time before heading to work.
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