5 Great Morning Habits to Increase Productivity

Typically, we don’t give much thought to our morning habits.  After all, what is there to do in the morning but brush your teeth, get dressed and get out the door?  Well, a lot.  Your morning habits set the stage for the rest of the day.  And the right morning habits can dramatically increase your productivity for the day.

Now many people will say, “Focusing on morning habits is not for me.  I’m not a morning person!”  Of course, you are.  If you are a human being, you are a morning person.  Our bodies were built to be active during the day and to sleep at night.  If you aren’t a “morning person,” it is because you are staying up late at night and doing the exact opposite of what your body is designed to do. 

So, given that we are all “morning people,” take advantage of that fact.  Below are morning habits that will give you a great start to the day.  Adopt them and see how much more focused, productive and successful your days can become!

Adopt the Morning Habit of Getting Up Early

Getting up late is a recipe for frustration in life.  If you get up late, you will be rushing to work and to any appointments you may have in the morning.  And when you rush, that creates unnecessary stress. 

Moreover, by getting up late, you lose a big part of the day.  Have you ever gotten up so late that you thought, “Wow, it’s lunchtime already!”  You’ve effectively missed a meal, and 1/3 of your day has disappeared.  No good comes from getting up late.

Instead, get up early.  Approach the day in a relaxed fashion.  Get to work and your appointments on time.  Or better yet, arrive early! 

Make sure that your morning isn’t simply a race to get out the door.  Instead, you want to have enough time to prepare for the day without rushing.

Eat Breakfast

I know a lot of folks who skip breakfast.  They grab a cup of coffee and run out the door.  Admittedly, your body can get used to that routine.  But that approach doesn’t serve you for a variety of reasons.

First of all, when you wake up in the morning, you effectively have been fasting for the last 12 hours.  If you had dinner at 6 p.m., and you get up at 6 a.m., your body now wants food!  It needs calories for energy to attack the day.  Just a cup of coffee isn’t going to get the job done.

Moreover, there is something civilized about sitting down and having a proper breakfast.  When you take the time to have breakfast, you are operating like an adult.  Young people grab something quick to just survive the morning.  Adults use breakfast time to prepare for the day. 

So, sit down in a relaxed fashion and eat a nutritious breakfast.  When we eat a solid breakfast, we set ourselves up for success because we are well-fed and at ease before we engage with the world. 

Read Something Motivational/Inspirational

There are a lot of things vying for our attention in the morning.  The noisy morning news shows want to consume our time.  And then there are the news websites which want to draw our attention to the Tragedy of the Day.  Moreover, if you work outside the home, work emails and text messages begin to pour in first thing in the morning.

If you want to start your day in the right frame of mind, put all of that off to the side.  Current events can wait.  Trust me.  They will happen with or without you.  You can wait to learn about them until later in the day.  And unless you are a medical professional, there is no such thing as an “emergency” work email.  Responding to work emails likewise can wait.

Instead, start your day off by quietly reading something inspirational.  For example, you might read a page or two from a book on success habits.  Or if you are interested in spiritual reading, you might buy a book of daily devotionals.  It matters little which route you take.  The point is to start the day with positive thoughts and a positive point of view. 

So, choose reading materials that motivate you to be your best self.  Read authors who remind you of what is most important to you, and who remind you of your values.  That will put you in the right mindset when life’s inevitable irritations and distractions arise later in the day.

Make Organizing Your Home A Morning Habit

Throwing your pajamas on the floor, leaving your bathroom in disarray and your breakfast dishes in the sink, then running out the door is no way to start the day.  Instead, start the day by making sure your home is tidy and organized. 

Beginning the day with an organized home is important.  If you work from home, you want your work setting to be tidy, not chaotic.  And if you work outside the home, you want to come home to a place that is clean and peaceful.  No one wants to come home to a mess!

So, every morning, before you start work, make sure that your home is well-organized.  Make your bed!  A bedroom which has a made bed looks completely different from a bedroom with an unmade bed.  The simple 2-minute task of making your bed will transform your bedroom into a lovely space.

Then, be sure to tidy up your bathroom.  Before you leave it, make sure that all your toiletries are put away, and wipe down the sink area.  Put your dirty clothes in the hamper.  In short, make your bathroom look as if company was coming over!

In addition, be sure to tidy up your kitchen after breakfast.  Put all the food away, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and wipe down the countertops.  Not only with your kitchen look and smell better, but you will be less likely to have bugs and other unwanted critters.

None of these tasks is time consuming.  You can make your bed, tidy your bathroom and clean up your kitchen in about 15 minutes.  The key is to get up early enough so that you can do all that before starting your day.  If you do make that small effort to tidy up your home in the morning, your home will be a lovelier place to be in for the rest of the day.

Mentally Outline What You Want to Accomplish Today

One of the best morning habits is to plan out your day in advance.  Now, of course, no day is perfect.  Unexpected things happen, and we can’t always anticipate what may come our way.  Nevertheless, you should have a general plan of the things that you want to accomplish during the day.

For example, in the morning, I create a mental list of the things that I want to accomplish before dinnertime.  I always have a list of two or three things that I want to get done, no matter what, before my day ends. 

The key is to not overload your day.  For example, I have a job which takes up a certain amount of my day, and I have housework too!  But beyond that, I have free time, and that is where I have the ability to pursue my personal goals.

My mental running list has two or three things that I want to do to push those goals along.  I also mentally designate when I am going to attack those goals. 

Without the mental list, you may use your free time to surf the Internet, look at funny YouTube videos, or read the latest news story.  None of that will get you further toward accomplishing your goals.  So, every morning, make your mental list.  If you accomplish the tasks on your list each day, you will be surprised by how much more quickly you accomplish your goals.

Great morning habits are the foundation of a highly focused and productive day.  Don’t take them for granted!  Consider adopting the habits above, and see your life improve immensely. (To read more about great habits, click here.)