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Getting up at the crack of dawn has its own share of perks.
Being the ‘Early Bird’ helps people get more time to spend with themselves and their family, and set goals to accomplish in the day. It also gives them additional time to complete several activities beforehand and save big on the time. This is what helps them boost their productivity for the rest of the day. If you too want to stay productive throughout the day, then follow these morning rituals, that’ll do the trick!
- Don’t Hit Snooze!
- Get Those Muscles Moving
- Load Up on Nutrients
- Make Way for Relaxation
- Let A Cold Shower Do Wonders
- It boosts metabolism by activating brown fat, which helps burn calories.
- It improves blood circulation and speeds up recovery from exercise/Injury.
- It relieves stress and depression, leaving you in a good mood.
- It builds up your immunity and therefore, decreases down time.
- It makes you feel more energetic and increases your alertness/awareness.
- Finish Off Trivial Tasks
- Chalk Out Your Day
What do Richard Branson, Tim Cook, Jack Dorsey, Bob Iger and Michelle Obama have in common? The answer is simple: they are early risers. Early risers are more proactive, according to Christoph Randler, a biologist from Harvard. Also, they are also incredibly productive as their body gets restored after a good night’s rest. It also gives them increased focus to make better decisions at work and this contributes to their tremendous success! However, a lot of people love to hit snooze without realizing the fact that it’s actually, bad for you.
Rings a bell?
If you can’t manage to wake up easily in the morning, then use alarm apps like I Can’t Wake Up!, Step Out of Bed! and Sleep Cycle, which ask you to perform some tasks (by the time you get the tasks done, you’ll be wide awake!) or wake you up gently. With the help of these apps and practice, you’ll be able to wake up every morning with ease.
Waking up early leaves you with no excuses to skip exercise! Go for a jog, take your dog out for a walk, do some pushups, stretching, yoga or anything which gives your muscles some movement and also, fills your lungs with fresh air. In case you have to rush to work and don’t have the time to work out early in the day, reschedule it for a later time during the day at work, or just before you hit the sack. Apart from keeping you fit, exercising daily in the mornings will also help you feel more motivated, happy and improve your focus. This, in turn, will enhance your productivity.
It’s a no-brainer that you need to eat a healthy breakfast every single day. Not skipping breakfast helps you prevent putting on weight later along with many other advantages, which add to your health and wellbeing. Eat wholesome breakfast rich in nutrients to jumpstart your day. Include whole grains, healthy fats, seasonal fruits and vegetables, lean protein and dairy products in your breakfast list. At the same time, strictly stay away from sugary, high-fat content and processed food.
Pro tip: Have no time to think of what to make for breakfast? Prepare your next day’s breakfast the night before to avoid decision fatigue!
Morning brings with itself a sense of calm. With no noise around you at dawn, you can indulge in some quiet time and relax by practicing deep breathing, meditating or just listening to your favorite music. Even jotting down your thoughts in a journal at the beginning of each day (Morning Pages) can prove to be immensely soothing and calm all your senses. In fact, it offers the same benefits as meditation! Alternatively, you can take up your hobbies such as photography, gardening, playing your favorite musical instrument or reading in the calm and quiet atmosphere. This guarantees a smooth sailing for the entire day.
The Finnish do it. The Spartans did it. And you can do it too – take cold showers. While you don’t necessarily need to dunk yourself into a tub of ice, you can take a quick shower or swim in cold water every morning. Here are some of the benefits to take a cold water bath or a shower on a daily basis:
Morning is also the time of the day, when you can finish off most of your tasks, especially the trivial ones. This includes checking your mail and replying them, quickly going through your social media feeds, brushing up on the important news of the day etc. You can also use the time to schedule your social media posts on different channels. You can use apps such as Haystack, Pocket, Feedly and Flipboard to read important tidbits (and also organize them) along with social media management tool like Buffer and Hootsuite to manage your social media accounts. This will help save time, which can be put to use for more important tasks.
Pro tip: If there are emails to be sent out the next day, keep them drafted the night before and in the morning, press send.
Waking up early with a clear mind will leave you with more time than you can imagine.
Put this excess time to good use by planning your day in advance, starting with the most important one to the least. As Stephen Covey puts it, “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” You can also automate most of the tasks so that by the time you reach your workplace, you are all prepared to take up any challenge coming your way. Even if you’re running a business from your home or telecommuting, you still need to plan out your entire day to be successful in your endeavor.
These are some of the best morning rituals which will help you seize the day and stay productive throughout. Put them into practice and you’ll clearly feel the difference in no time!
Have any typical morning habit that helps you kickstart the day and boost productivity? Let me know in the comments!
Source: ponbee
