I am not a morning person, and I think I never will be. I have to admit, however, that there are periods when I do get an early start. And when I do, the day turns out to be more productive.
Additionally, I’ve noticed that when I wake up earlier than usual, I tend to have more time to do things unrelated to work. When I do these things before turning my laptop on, the day gets even better.
Let me share these habits that may also help you start you day right.
Move.
If you’re sluggish in the morning, you are not alone! Haven’t we all heard the countless stories of horrific mornings when you just don’t feel like getting out of bed? The temptation to ease into your day slowly may seem too strong to resist, but the truth is that once you get out of bed, if you physically move faster, then blood will start pumping, and you’ll be much better off.
You don’t have to break out into a run. You don’t even have to hit the gym. Do a little sweeping or mopping. Wipe the counters. Water the plants. Do some stretching. Light activities such as these will wake you up without souring your mood.
Drink water.
I know – coffee or tea is the usual drink, but try water as well. It cleanses your body and helps wake you up. Some even advocate warm water with some lemon juice as this kickstarts your digestive processes.
Meditate.
It doesn’t have to be a “formal” meditation session. The idea behind this is to just have some quiet time to yourself before you dive into your day.
Find a quiet spot in your house – your bedroom is okay as long as you don’t go back to bed. Just sit there and focus on being awake, alive. Slowly ease your thoughts into your activities for the day – what you want to achieve, things you are looking forward to, and so on. End your meditation period with a resolution that your day will be a good one, no matter what stumbling blocks come along.
Trust me, it does work!
Outline your tasks for the day, and make sure you do the difficult ones first.
We all have this tendency to avoid tasks we dread. That’s human nature. Whether the tasks are actually difficult or we just don’t want to do them, the end result is the same: we keep them at the end of our list.
Why not shake things up?
Before you start working, outline your tasks for the day. You may opt to make a real list, or you can keep it in your head. The key is to identify tasks that you don’t feel like doing, then move these tasks to the top of your list.
It may be hard at first, but you’ll see that once you get the difficult things out of the way first thing in the morning, you’ll have a much easier day ahead of you.
Conclusion
We all know, at least in theory, how critical a good start is. If you are finding yourself sluggish throughout your work day, maybe it’s time to form these habits. What do you say? Are you up to the challenge?
Originally posted on January 16, 2014 @ 1:17 pm
