A successful and productive day starts from the very moment you open your eyes in the morning. The most successful people in life admit to using a morning routine to give them a better start for the day ahead.
If you are looking to improve yourself and how you manage your day, the following morning routines are guaranteed to show you how to be more productive.
Morning Routines Successful People Use
Tip 1 – Make a to-do list
One of the first things you should do in the morning is to make a to-do list. Successful people use this practice to guarantee the most productive day possible. When you don’t know what you are doing for the day it’s easy to wander around aimlessly and before you know it, the day is gone. A to-do list gives you a plan.
An idiot with a plan can beat a genius without a plan
Warren Buffett
However, you need to make sure that you include actionable steps in your plan. For example, do not just plan to work on your side hustle. Instead, make a plan to come up with the name of your next article by 7 am i.e. “How to be More Productive”. Also plan to finish writing your introduction paragraph by 8 pm (not by the end of the day).
2 – Find ways to get more Energy
Unfortunately, it is common to feel super tired in the morning. However, the last thing you want to happen is for this to affect your entire day. You need to find ways to get more energy in the morning. These morning energy tactics must be specific to you since everyone’s body is different. What works for one person, may not work for another. So you will have to test which methods and products are a better fit for you.
Here are a few common routines that you can test to get more energy and be more productive. Adding these to your morning routine can significantly boost your energy in the morning.
- Morning Workout Routine – working out in the morning is healthy for both the body and mind. Many successful people start their day with a workout to get their blood flowing. Movement during workouts leads to the creation of energy within your body.
- Cold Shower – not everyone can handle this, but cold water has a way of really waking up your body. The shock of the cold water increases blood flow. This movement creates energy and even some health benefits such as improving circulation. Many successful people take a cold shower as part of their morning routines. World renown life coach Tony Robbins swears by them.
- Coffee or Caffeinated Drink – For years people have used coffee to give them a morning boost. Even though your body gets used to it, many people include it as part of their morning routines. Starbucks makes over $26 billion annually selling coffee and other products to consumers. Some people don’t like the taste of coffee or don’t believe it is a healthy option. Some healthy alternatives are green tea or energy supplements. Less healthy options like soda or energy drinks are also used as ways to get more energy.
- Sleep Better – The most effective way to get more energy is to get better sleep at night. If you go to sleep earlier and get 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, you will wake up feeling refreshed. Use tools to measure how much sleep you get each night like this sleep tracker. Listen to the podcast below on the TOP 10 WAYS TO SLEEP SMARTER and gain a deeper understanding of how to use sleep to get more energy so you can have more productive days.
3 – Schedule your day
Scheduling your day goes hand in hand with making a to-do list and this is what most successful people do. As part of their morning routine, they schedule every task for the day into a certain time slot. This makes you much less likely to procrastinate and therefore much more productive.
One way of doing this is to create a routine that you do every single day at the exact same time. For instance, wake up at 5 am, drink a glass of water right away, do 30 crunches as soon as I get out of bed, take a 15-minute shower at 5:15 am, read or listen to a book for 30 minutes on the science behind habits at 5:30 am, spend 30 minutes writing on my blog at 6 am, then review my task list for the day and wake up the kids at 6:30 am.
4 – Wake up early
The majority of people are more productive in the morning. Even if you don’t feel like you are a morning person, you can definitely train yourself to become one. Think about how much more a person that wakes up at 5 am can get done in a day over someone who wakes up at 6 am. That’s an entire scheduled and productive hour to knock tasks off your list.
Keep in mind, that you don’t want to be losing out on sleep as this is really important for the brain and your energy levels. Keeping this in mind, be disciplined about going to bed at a reasonable time. There are many benefits to waking up early that make it worth it. So get accustomed to it and it will be one of the best things you ever did.
5 – Morning Affirmations and Visualization
The power of the mind is pretty amazing. Make the most of your fantastic mind by doing morning affirmations and visualization. Affirmations are a way of telling yourself things that motivate you and push you towards your goal. You can do these in your head, out loud, or even in a journal of some sort. These could be things like “I am going to be successful”, “I am going to make extra $3000 per month by the end of the year.”
Affirmations fill your brain with positive thoughts and you can take this a step further by visualizing where you want to be. Actually envision where you want to be and think like you are there right now. Visualize yourself in the new home that the extra $3000 per month helped you to afford. Can you see the open floorplan? Look at the breakfast nook in the kitchen as you sit on your grey sofa. Don’t forget to rub your toes through the white sheepskin rug.
Including this into your morning routine will put your dreams out into the universe. And doing so makes it much more likely that it will happen. When you start to visualize the things you want, you will force yourself to be more disciplined. That disciple leads to being more productive thus making your goals attainable.
6 – Be Grateful
When you wake up the morning, think of all the things in life that you are grateful for. You can write these down or just think of them. You could be grateful that you have a roof over your head. For a nice coffee to drink in the morning or even that you are healthy and alive. Being grateful is an amazing thing because it makes you more positive throughout the day. Which leads to less stress and the ability to focus on the tasks that matter.
7 – Bond with someone first thing
If you are lucky enough to have someone special in your life, show them how much they mean to you in the morning. This could be your spouse or romantic partner. You should show affection, either with cuddling or something else entirely. If you don’t have a romantic interest then make sure to bond with your kids or even pets. Give them hugs and let them know how much you care.
Doing it every morning strengthens your relationship and will make you feel happier. Being happy and making the people closest to us happy is what makes life great. This feeling will aid in the mindset you need to take over the world, or at least be more productive.
8 – Keep your workspace Clear
An organized space equals an organized mind. So clean up your desk and your general surroundings from the day before as part of your morning routine. Cleaning is much easier in the morning than it is later at night. With a clear mind, remove the clutter and set up your space to get things done and start being more productive.
9 – Stay Silent
For the first hour after you wake up, it is very beneficial to live in silence, particularly if you are an introvert. This gives you time to charge yourself up and generally get mentally prepared for the day ahead. This goes together nicely with waking up early. The house and general environment are more likely to be quiet if you wake up early.
10 – Avoid negative and irrelevant topics
Perhaps you need to stay aware of current events, particularly if it is regarding your job or business. If so, try to do it the night before versus filling your mind with information first thing in the morning. Seeing relevant good things that are going on in the world can make your day more productive. But try and stay away from negative topics as much as possible.
You also don’t want to be absorbing stuff that is irrelevant or is not important to you or your goals whatsoever. Successful people’s morning routines keep them on track to get the results they want. Avoiding distracting, including who won the lottery, will give you a better start to your day.
Conclusion
Use these tips in your morning routines to build amazing habits. You have all the knowledge need on how to be more productive. Start using these habits in your everyday routine right away. You are going to notice huge improvements in your productivity and will be so happy that you did it.
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