Personal Productivity
7 Simple Morning Practices to Set Up Your Mind for Daily Productivity
AUTHOR: Scott Mathews
Deep down, we’re all wishing for better lives, more productive days, and true fulfillment. After all, we’re all aware of our limited time and experiences here. We all eventually die. The thing that sets us apart from the rest of the people is the way we choose to use our time, energy, and focus.
The morning is the most important part of the day. It’s the beginning of your journey, each and every day. The quality of your mornings is reflecting the outcomes for the entire day. If productivity is what you’re seeking, a thorough morning routine that includes healthy habits and effective planning will take you far.
In today’s post, I’m sharing 7 essential morning practices to set up your mind for daily productivity. Pay attention to these tips, and don’t forget to implement them starting immediately!
1. Wake Up Early
The first requirement of daily productivity is an early wake-up, followed by empowering habits. Now – to wake up earlier, you obviously have to get into bed at decent hours. If you fall asleep at 10, waking up at 5 a.m. will be easier than you imagine.
Between 10 PM and 12 AM, the quality of our sleep is increased, and it provides significant benefits like increased levels of energy, improved cognitive functions, and better memory. For more info about this, you should consult someone who understands the human sleep cycles.
It would be advised to develop an evening routine. It’ll help you stick to your schedule, so you’ll build a habit of heading out to bed in reasonable time. Avoid screens at least one hour before you get into bed. This small habit too can improve the quality of your sleep and your overall health.
2. Create a Morning Routine That Sets Yourself Up for Success
Eliminating decision making during the earliest hours is the best way to ensure that you’re staying productive and effective during your mornings.
Instead of waking up each day chaotically, start following your unique morning routine. Of course, you must first develop it, so here are a few suggestions of actions you can take right after you wake up:
- Start the day with a positive affirmation. People use “mantras” to induce certain feelings and states of minds. “I am exceptional”, “Every day in every way, I’m getting better and better” are two examples, but you should choose one that resonates the most with you.
- Practice deep breathing. Use these exercises to start your day!
- Stretch, make the bed, do a few pushups or squats (not many), and exit the bedroom.
- Ignore technology and focus on the present moment.
- Drink a warm glass of lemon water, as it provides great benefits.
- Take a shower. While you do it, imagine how the water flushes your negative emotions.
- Eat a healthy breakfast. This is crucial – the healthier the better.
3. Take Care of Your Mind
Setting your mind up for success is critical for the productivity you’ll manifest throughout the day. A healthy and agile mind is not born that way but rather developed to be so.
If you make a habit of treating your mind right during the mornings, you’ll start thinking better, your emotions will positively change, and the amount of stress you’ll experience throughout the day will be reduced.
Here are the habits that most successful people commit to during early mornings:
- Reading. Even if you read one page, you’re still helping your mind get into a better shape each day.
- Writing. Daily journaling is a powerful habit that can set yourself up for success each day. Write down your dreams, thoughts, feelings, and problems, and tackle them one by one. “Transferring your ideas, goals, and tasks for the day is a great way to clear your mind and help it work faster.” – Mike Watson, Australian writer.
- Introspection. Make sure you keep your life under control by constantly performing introspections during your mornings. The goal of an introspection is to measure and optimize your life’s progress.
- Meditation. How often do you take a moment just for yourself, to sit and silence your mind completely? Meditation is a proven way of enhancing the well-being and productivity of those who practice it.
4. Exercise is a Must
If you check another 10 blog posts about morning habits, you’ll probably find this advice everywhere. Exercising is an extremely positive way of managing your energy. By managing energy I’m referring to eliminating the surpluses and creating room for positive energy.
Stress is energy too, but a negative one. If you exercise each morning, your days won’t get so stressful because your mind is ready to tackle the issues that arise.
To be able to fall asleep earlier, to wake up earlier, and to feel enhanced energy throughout the day, exercise is absolutely a must!
5. Practice Gratitude
Are you constantly grateful for waking up? Practicing a moment of gratitude each and every morning is a sure way to boost your positive emotions throughout the day.
A moment of gratitude can destroy any negative feeling and mood. If you fully focus on what you’re grateful for, on what’s good in your life, you’ll be empowered and ready to tackle all your incoming problems. Again, gratitude is another very commonly mention advice among “morning routine articles”.
6. Plan Your Day
When you’re planning to drive your car, you first got to establish a destination. Otherwise, you’re traveling with no purpose and reaching no destination.
Planning your day in the early morning helps you establish the priorities in your life, allows you to prevent distractions, and keeps you productive.
I’d highly advise you prioritize your tasks effectively, meaning that you shouldn’t aim to complete more than three demanding tasks each day. Many people choose only one, but they always get it right. You can implement this habit into your daily morning routines, right before you get to work.
7. Tackle the Most Important Task of the Day
Lastly yet very importantly, tackling the most important task of the day helps you gain momentum and strength to glow throughout the entire day. There’s a great satisfaction when you successfully overcome primary challenges.
Brian Tracy has written a book that focuses explicitly on this habit. The book is called “Eat That Frog”, and it’s one of the self-development bestsellers at the current time.
One of the reasons why “fighting” with your most difficult objective for the day is that once you’re done with it, you’ll gain a surplus of self-confidence, self-esteem, and motivation to finish the rest of your daily duties.
Takeaways
Taking full control over your morning is probably the most important thing you can do to empower your everyday life. To be productive, energic, and focused on your biggest goals, treat your mornings with much care and responsibility.
You reap what you sow – so what you do in the morning counts for the rest of the day. Stop allowing chaos in your mornings – become the supreme ruler and create the life you want!
One comment
This is all sound and science-based advice. I have a plan to implement all of them - gradually, of course.
This is all sound and science-based advice. I have a plan to implement all of them - gradually, of course.