7 Habits for a More Productive Morning Routine

How you wake up and start your day can completely dictate the path for the rest of your day. Having a productive morning routine is essential for setting yourself up for a successful day. 

I am NOT naturally a morning person, trust me. So if you are not either, don’t worry. I feel you.

But luckily, I have come up with some super simple habits for my productive morning routine that has made my mornings run SO much smoother.

With my productive morning routine, I start my day feeling more refreshed, motivated, energized, and (most importantly) HAPPIER!

As someone who has always wished I could start my day at noon, these tips have changed my opinion of the earlier hours!

Even as a long-term morning-hater, I swear by my productive morning routine habits for making me a much happier (and kinder😉) person in the morning!

This post is all about productive morning routine habits.

1. Plan Your Day Ahead of Time

This is something that has made ALL the difference for me… for MULTIPLE reasons too.

When I wake up and my day is already neatly planned out, I feel so much calmer, at ease, and prepared. If I don’t have a set plan, I feel out of control and stressed that I will forget something (because I most likely would- I’d be LOST without my planner).

Having a plan laid out in front of me makes it so I can get up, take a look at what I have on my agenda for the day, and then get to it. It is a major time saver and does wonders for my anxiety and mental health!

Another huge perk of this is that I sleep better. This is something I have noticed just within this last month. I know I’m not the only one that lays down at night and suddenly has 1,000,000,000 random thoughts racing through my head. In the past, I have let this keep me up for HOURS. I have been making an effort to jot down anything important that crosses my mind at night so I can get it out of my head and down on paper. Once I do that, I can let the thought go and let my mind rest. Seriously, this has made getting to sleep SO much easier for me.

Planning ahead is definitely a key part of my productive morning routine; I had to mention it first!

{RELATED POST: 8 Tips for Planning Your Day for Success (+FREE Printable)}

2. Set Your Alarm Across the Room

Who here mindlessly hits snooze one, two, three, or ten times in the morning…?

Guilty.

It’s just so easy to do. When the very last thing you want to do is get out of your cozy bed, naturally you are going to be inclined to hit snooze. We all do it!

However, if you set your alarm across the room from you, you have no choice but to get up and out of bed.

Truth be told, that’s the hardest part of waking up. Just getting up.

Once you’re up, it is way easier to stay up rather than snooze your alarm and crawl back into bed.

TBH, I’ve still done it… but it’s not an everyday thing like it is when I have my alarm right next to my bed.

If you’re like me and you struggle to actually get up when your alarm goes off, test this out for a week or two and see if it helps you out! I know it helped me!

3. Make Coffee the Night Before

I am a huge advocate for making your mornings as EASY as possible. If you already dislike mornings, why make anything harder than it needs to be, right?

I have a Cuisinart automatic coffee maker… one of those grind and brew ones. It’s the best!

But you know what’s even better?

Only having to push a button in the morning to get my coffee brewin’!

I am not even exaggerating when I say sometimes the thought of that first sip of coffee is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

Making it the night before just makes it that much nicer. Do it. Trust me.

{RELATED POST: 8 Productive Night Habits to Prepare for an Easy Morning}

4. You First, Work Later

As part of a productive morning routine, you might be surprised that I am telling you to push work to the back burner but, trust me… there’s a reason.

I got into a really bad habit of checking my phone/email FIRST THING when I would wake up. TBH, there were days that I would check it when I got up at 3 am to go pee… It’s a bad habit. Don’t be like me.

When I check in with the outside world before taking time to check in with myself, I am just setting myself up for failure. Stress. Overwhelm. Anxiety. Dread. All of it. Ugh- no thank you!

I am challenging myself now to resist the urge to check my email/any work messages before I have fully woken up and started my day… Or at least until I hit the coffee button. 😉

Now, I’m not saying to push work off for hours and hours. After all, I AM trying to cultivate a productive morning routine.

Honestly, I do some of my best work in the mornings. BUT only after I’ve given myself some time…

I find that I am much more productive if I let myself get up, get moving, get my brain workin’, and get in the zone before sitting down to do some work.

5. Get Your Blood Pumping

Throwing it back to some high school physics here…

A body at rest will stay at rest and a body in motion will stay in motion.

At least I think it’s something to that effect… IDK, I’ve never liked science. 😉

But jokes aside, this is what I remind myself in the mornings.

Lately, I’ve gotten into a routine of waking up, drinking some water, having some coffee, doing some work, eating some breakfast, and then MOVING. I LOVE to go for a walk, do some yoga, or a quick at-home workout right after breakfast. Not only does it feel great to move in general, but I also find that it gets me in the right mindset to KEEP moving.

And I don’t mean “keep moving” here in a physical sense.

I mean it gets my engine running for the day and keeps me being productive and hustling.

The mindset shift that occurs after even just a 20-minute walk is incredible. My mind is clearer, my mood is better, my body is happy, and I am ready to go!

Not to mention I love to be outside in nature in the mornings. It truly is such a serene and beautiful start to the day!

 

6. Fill Up Your Tank

And by this I mean:

EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST!!

Oh my gosh, I can’t stress the importance of this enough.

You guys know that I have struggled with disordered eating and restriction in the past so I can speak firsthand on the effects of not fueling yourself in the morning.

The brain fog, low energy, crankiness, tiredness, etc… IT’S NOT WORTH IT!

Not eating a good breakfast (or any breakfast) is such an unhealthy way to start your day (and no, coffee does not count as breakfast!!!).

Some of my favorite morning brain and body fuel is eggs, smoothies, toast, and yogurt!

On any given day, I am most likely eating some combination of those four things. I tend to get into food routines and stay in them for months.

Hey, this girl just knows what she likes, okay? 😉

7. Wake Up at a Set Time Every Day

I’m saving this for last because this is something that I overlooked for SO LONG! Making this change to my productive morning routine has made such a huge difference.

Just a few months ago, I got into a bad schedule of just waking up whenever I naturally wanted to most days and then EARLY for school on 2 days of the week. Since I work from home and get to build my own schedule pretty much (living the dream, I know), this worked for me. Technically…

But it didn’t REALLY work well for me. My sleep schedule was AWFUL! On the two mornings that I would wake up early for class, I would be EXHAUSTED, cranky, and half-asleep for my whole class. Then on the other mornings where I would let myself sleep, I wouldn’t be starting my day until about noon. YIKES!

I now have one consistent alarm that goes off every single weekday (and sometimes Saturday depending on how much work I have to do that week).

This has been beneficial in so many ways.

• I no longer waste my whole morning sleep when I could be being productive.
• I’m WAY less exhausted when I HAVE to be up early.
• I can go to sleep at a decent hour because I’ve been up for a normal amount of time.
• I’m more motivated and enthusiastic about starting my day.
• I finally have a set schedule and routine that keeps me accountable and productive.

These are just a FEW of the benefits of setting up a solid wake-up time.

Not to mention, it feel THAT much better when you get to sleep in on Sunday. Ahhh, that feeling alone is worth it!

Those are my 7 top habits for building a productive morning routine!

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How you start your day is SO important. It truly lays the foundation for the rest of your day in every aspect: mood, productivity level, intentions, goals, thought patterns, motivation level, etc.

It is easy to overlook prioritizing a solid, productive morning routine, especially when you are not a natural-born morning person.

However, morning-person or not, YOU are more than capable of building a productive morning routine that both keeps you successful and makes you happy!

I hope these tips help you out and set you up for the BEST MORNING EVER!

XOXO,

Del