1. Fuel your body with an amazing breakfast
Have you ever noticed how some mornings you feel great and ready to tackle the world, and other days you have a mid-day slump? Having a healthy breakfast can help keep you feeling energized. Avoiding excessive sugar in the morning can help prevent a mid-day crash. If your mornings are usually pretty rushed, do everything you can in advance. Fueling your body with a healthy breakfast can help set you up for success all day long.
2. Kickstart your day with a plan
After your healthy breakfast, launch into your day with a plan. I believe it’s very important to plan out your day. It doesn’t have to be a totally rigid schedule, but a tentative schedule with time blocks to accomplish certain tasks seems to work great. It works best for me to take a few minutes at the end of every day to write out my plan for the next day. When I have a plan for my day, it helps me get started on my goals and priorities immediately the next morning, rather than lounging around and saying “I don’t feel like it today.”
3. Eat the frog
One of my favorite productivity quotes is by Mark Twain, who said, “Eat a live frog first thing every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” If you’re like me, there are certain tasks you tend to procrastinate because they are scary or overwhelming. The task you dread on your schedule is your frog. When you complete your dreaded task (aka eat the frog) right away in the morning, you’ll start your day feeling accomplished and have the momentum and confidence you need to get other tasks done. Plus, they’ll all be much more enjoyable to you than the frog you just ate.
4. Try the Pomodoro technique
The what? Pomodoro means ‘tomato’ in Italian. The man who invented this technique used a kitchen timer shaped like a tomato to do the technique. It’s a simple concept but incredibly helpful and I love using this technique in my morning routine. To do it, choose a task you want to accomplish, then set your kitchen timer for 25 minutes. Then, focus intently on the task until the timer beeps. To learn more, check out this article about the Pomodoro technique.
5. Use Parkinson’s Law
One of my favorite productivity hacks that I use all the time is Parkinson’s Law. Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion. In other words, you greatly increase your effort to complete a task when you have less time to get it done. Chances are, you’ve used Parkinson’s Law in your life without even realizing it. Think about how hard you work to finish a paper when it’s due in a few hours, or how you can make your house spotless very quickly when an unexpected visitor says they’re coming over soon. To be more productve in your daily life, use Parkinsons’ Law. Set deadlines for yourself to get things done efficiently. Realizing you have limited time delegated to each specific task will help improve your focus on the task and skyrocket your productivity as you work on that task.
6. Turn off distractions
Do you roll out of bed and immediately start scrolling through your Facebook newsfeed, listen to your voicemails, or check your email? I used to do that, but this year have made some big changes in my morning routine and now I turn off distractions and start my day focused on my goals. When you immediately check your social media accounts when you wake up, you’re starting your day off reactively. You are then focused on reacting and responding, rather than being proactive and focused on taking action steps toward your goals. Personally, I’ve found I am much more productive in the mornings when I turn off distractions, focus on my goals, and then have a specific time set aside to check and respond to emails and social media messages.
7. Choose an accountability partner
Choose someone to help keep you accountable to have a more productive morning routine. It doesn’t have to be someone with the same goals as you. Even if your accountability partner has different interests and aspirations, you can both help encourage each other to stay on task, and set up times to check in with each other to report that you’ve accomplished your daily or weekly goals.
8. Spend time each day working on a big goal
Set aside time each morning to work toward a big long-term goal you have. Even if it’s just a few minutes to start, it will gradually add up to major progress over time. Also, when you take little steps every day toward your long-term goal, your confidence will grow with each small accomplishment you experience. Now I’d love to hear from you. What are your favorite productivity hacks for your morning routine?
