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Today I would like to talk a bit on Morning Routines and how it affects your Productivity during the day.

If you are anything like me,  then you are not a morning person. I like sleep. A lot of it. At least 8h every night. And I like lie-ins. I like being cosy in bed, snuggled up to my fluffy duvet hugging my favourite pillow. It also takes me ages to wake up. I will snooze my alarm for 30min before I will finally drag myself out of bed. 

The side effect of my lack of a proper morning routine is that I am not as productive as I would like to be. My day is shorter, I take longer to wake up, and I get less done.

I’ve always been this way, since I was little. 

To be clear, this does not mean I’m a night owl. I don’t stay out late, clubbing, partying, socialising. I don’t think I’ve partied since my 5th birthday party. 

Here’s the annoying thing though, I LOVE early mornings. I love the quiet, the fresh air, the sun rising, and the feeling of promise each new day brings. It makes me feel energized, peaceful, grateful and positive about life.

But, I hate getting up early, waking up early, and getting out of bed at any time.

You see my problem right?

• I like early mornings.
• I want to be one of those “successful ” people who get up early and organise their lives while everyone else is still sleeping. 
• But I struggle to motivate myself while lying in my cosy bed. 

Luckily for both of us, over the years I have learned some tricks to help get myself out of bed earlier, improve your morning routine, and be more productive.

15 Practical Ways to Transform Your Morning Routine and Have a Productive Day

1. Get enough sleep.
   • Tired people struggle to get up no matter what time of the day it is.
2. Go to bed earlier. 
   • It sounds obvious yet I bet you aren’t doing it. I have a “go to bed” alarm to remind me it’s getting late, especially in summer when it gets dark later.
3. Get yourself a Philips Wake-Up Light Alarm Clock.
   • It wakes you up naturally with a light that gradually gets brighter until your eyes recognise the change in light in the room, allowing you to come out of any deep sleep gradually and slowly. I have this one.
4. Stay away from too much booze. 
   • Yes a little bit may help you fall asleep but you won’t stay that way. Nothing worse than being wide awake at 2am. Then having to get up just as you’ve finally fallen asleep again.
5. Go to sleep if you are tired.
   • Yes you can go to sleep at 6pm if you want. If you are tired, then go to bed early. To be honest, this was a revelation to me. I used to stay up watching TV half asleep until it was “late enough” to go to bed. How silly is that. I’m a grown woman, I can go to bed whenever I want! Wear an eye mask if it’s too light outside.
6. Check your diet.
   • When I exercise a lot but aren’t eating carbs (because we’ve all been lied to by the carb police to avoid them), I become incredibly tired. 
   • Also check for vitamin deficiencies. 
7. Identify how much sleep you need.
   • Apparently there’s a gene that determines how much we need to sleep. And everyone is different.
   • I need a solid 8h uninterrupted sleep. While my boyfriend only needs 6h, and then he’ll often be wide awake in the middle of the night, checking emails or sometimes he’ll watch a movie. He doesn’t seem to experience any side effects from this either. Me, I’d be a zombie all day if I did that.
8. Have a nap once in a while.
   • It’s good for your body and your mind.
   • I always feel more calm and relaxed after a nap. It feels luxurious somehow, like I’m spoiling myself in some way. And that makes me feel even better.
9. Turn of the gadgets.
   • If your phone keeps beeping in the middle of the night because of texts or your twitter feed blowing up, then you won’t get a good night’s sleep, will make it harder to wake up.
10. Reduce your caffeine intake. 
    • Too much caffeine will make it harder to fall asleep and you’ll just toss and turn in bed struggling to fall asleep. Then you will struggle to wake up.
11. Reduce stress in your life.
    • Easier said than done I know, but there was a time that work was so awful and I was so stressed that I hated getting up and going to work. I would lie in bed trying to think of 1 plausible excuses that would mean I don’t have to go to work.
    • Plus I was just constantly tired. Stress has an incredible effect on you physically. 
    • Stress makes you drink more just to “cope”. See my point above about what too much alcohol does to you.
12. Clean up your morning routine. 
    • No-one likes getting up if they know they need to do a hundred things just to get out the door. 
    • So wash your hair the night before, iron your shirt ahead of time, make sure your lunch is already packed and ready to go.
    • I like to make sure there is just enough water in my kettle for one cup of coffee, and then I put the cup with the spoonful of coffee next to the kettle the night before, so all I have to do is boil the kettle and pour the water.
13. Take a day off and just “spend” it on yourself.
    • Go for that early morning walk or run, sit on your balcony and just enjoy the moment being by yourself, at peace with your own thoughts.
14. Make your bedroom a sanctuary. 
    • The better you sleep the easier it will be to get up.
    • Make sure it’s dark enough, and quiet enough. 
    • Make sure the air is fresh, open a window once in a while, get a plant. Clean air will help you sleep better I promise you.
15. When you do manage to get up early, remind yourself how much you are enjoying being up and about. 
    • Write down what it is you enjoy about early mornings.
    • It helps you stay motivated enough to do it again.
    • I keep my little notebook handy at all times. And I love looking back in time to see how I have progressed.

I hope you find these tips helpful. My morning routine has certainly improved a great deal since I started the above, I still sleep in sometimes (OK often haha), but I also get up a lot easier these days. I am more awake and aware at work, I have more energy and I get a lot more done.

As always…
All my love and kindness.

Lynette