BRUSSELS (Brussels Morning) – Are you sometimes shocked by how much you get done in the morning compared to the afternoon? Early risers sometimes seem to get a day’s work done before 12 noon. How do you maximise your mornings?
1. Up early
This may sound obvious, but it is important. What exactly is ‘early’ is different for everyone. For one person, that’s 5 in the morning, another finds 8 a.m. early, and for people who have worked nights, 1 p.m. might be early. And that’s okay. Find your own rhythm and plan for yourself how much time you need to get everything done. Studies show that people who get up early are more productive. If you feel that you have more energy in the morning, take full advantage of it by starting your morning earlier.
Are you someone who systematically goes to sleep late? Sleep is still important. If you want to get up earlier, try to go to bed earlier. If you feel like you have a morning mood, look for a nice morning routine that will help you get out of bed with that right foot.
2. Write out a morning routine
Write down your morning routine on a piece of paper and stick with it. Whether it’s on your calendar, a post-it on the mirror, a framed A4 on your bedside table, or a list on your fridge, it will be easier to repeat your routine if you visualise it and hang it in a convenient place where you can easily check if you have forgotten anything.
Write down things that make you look forward to the morning and get out of bed. Exercises you want to do, smoothies you want to make, and the order in which you want to do those things. Make sure there are enough nice things on the table. Make the tasks as easy as possible. It feels good to get things done right away.
3. Turn off your phone
Your phone makes you less productive in the morning. It’s not a healthy reflex to get up in the morning and immediately check your social media. But since most people use their mobiles as alarm clocks and clocks, it’s often tempting to hit ‘snooze’ while checking Facebook or Instagram to see what the world has been up to overnight. Try to avoid this. If necessary, buy an extra alarm clock and don’t look at your mobile phone for the first hour after you wake up.
4. Write down your daily goal
Write down your goals. Once you’re done with your self-care or morning routine, you can start right away. This can be done in various ways. You can list them on your daily calendar, write them in your agenda, download a to-do app, and put a notebook on your bedside table. Find what works for you.
5. Set time limits
Now that your goals are penned down, it’s time to tick them off. You can attach time limits to this. You can bring out your smartphone for this. You can then use your timer and alarm settings to organise your time.
Determine a start time and an end time. Then estimate how long each task should take and write that next to your goal. Set your alarm and move on to the next task on your list when your time is up. In the beginning you will notice that sometimes you have miscalculated, but you will learn from that until the next time.
A productive morning is often quite an adjustment at first, but once you’ve got your routine in place, it makes a world of difference.
