PRODUCTIVE MORNING ROUTINE GUIDE: HOW TO CREATE THE BEST PRODUCTIVE MORNING ROUTINE

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What would you do if you had a productive morning routine? Maybe you would get more done in less time. Or, you would achieve your weight loss goals. The things you can achieve out of being more productive are endless.

Becoming productive in the morning not only impacts your day but your whole life. I noticed that whenever I start my day by following my morning routine, I achieve more throughout my day. However, when I wake up and start my day by checking my social media instead of following up on my morning routine, I get nothing done.

In this post, I will explain to you what a productive morning routine is and how it looks like. We will also look at why you need a productive morning routine. I will teach you step-by-step proven techniques that I use to create my productive morning routine. As a bonus, I will be giving you a cheat sheet with 21 hacks that you can use to wake up early in the morning if you struggle with it. Download it here.

Here are a few related articles you might want to read:

• 12 Reasons you Wake up Feeling Tired Everyday and How to not Feel Tired After Waking Up.
• 8 Things You Should Never do in the Morning After Waking Up.
• 7 Healthy Habits to do in the Morning Before Work.
• How to Wake Up Early and not Feel Tired
• Morning Routine Ideas That will Make you Want to Wake Up Early.
• How to Start an Effective Morning Workout Routine.
• How to Wake up Early in the Morning Without an Alarm.

Let’s dive right in!

What is a productive morning routine?

A morning routine is a set of activities you do everyday in the morning after waking up. The things that you always do after waking up make up for your morning routine. Whether you are conscious of it or not, you have a morning routine.For instance, after I wake up, I always make my bed, go to pee, wash my face,drink water and then sit on my desk and start my day. Of course, I have a longer morning routine but I just want to give you an illustration of what a morning routine can look like.

A productive morning routine  is a set of things that you do in the morning that bring positive results in your life. These activities positively impact you and make your life better or easier. For instance, my productive morning routine entails doing my devotion after sitting on my desk followed by learning something new about blogging ,working on my blog and exercising. These activities have had a positive impact on my physical and mental health,spiritual life and my long term financial goals.

Why do you need a morning routine?

I know that you are wondering why you need a productive morning routine in the first place. You have an option of sleeping in and waking up whatever time you feel like and do anything. What if I told you that having a productive morning routine is what you need to be successful? Do you have financial or health goals? What if optimizing your morning routine could be the answer to acing them? We live in times where we have opportunities and anything is possible. Here’s what a productive morning routine can do for you:

• Improve your mental health. I have seen the power of having a  productive morning routine in my own life. It not only healed my depression but made me happier and fulfilled. I have something to wake up to everyday. Creating time to connect with myself and heal from my invisible wounds by journaling, meditating and practicing gratitude has had a positive impact on my life. If you are going through mental illness, having a productive morning routine could be what you need to heal.
• Help you achieve your goals. Does this sound too good to be true? Not at all. Consciously creating time everyday to work on your goals brings you a step closer to it. For instance, if you have a goal to lose twenty pounds in six months, waking up early to workout,drink water and eat a healthy breakfast brings you closer to your goal.
• Start your day on a positive note. Let’s be honest, life isn’t that easy and it needs the right mindset to navigate. When you start your day on a positive note by achieving your morning routine goals or working out, no matter the difficulties you face during your day, you are equipped to face them.
• Learn and become better. having a productive morning routine is an opportunity for you to improve on any skill. You can read a book, listen to audio-books or podcasts, take a course or have a coaching session. I personally have allocated my morning routine time to learn more about blogging.

What does a productive morning routine look like?

A productive morning routine should have the following components:

• Less time is spent on wasteful activities that have no or low positive impact on your life. This means that you create more time for the things that meaningful.
• It is planned in advance. A productive morning routine is not just something you wake up and start doing. However, it is well planned and detailed leaving no stone untouched.
  
• Includes your key result areas. The activities that bring you results either in your health, relationships or finances are included.
  
• Your priorities are given more time and the first attention.  This means that you start your morning routine with the most difficult and important task and complete it first before moving to less valuable tasks.
  
• Has goals and deadlines. A productive morning routine has realistic goals that has deadlines to create urgency.
  
• Continuous advancement,improvement and assessment for your morning routine is done. This helps you know what part of the morning routine needs improvement and what needs to be done continuously.
  

How can you create a productive morning routine?

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1. Decide what you want to be doing in the morning.

In order for your morning routine to be productive, you first have to do decide what activities you want to be doing. They should resonate well with your long and short term goals.

You have to be realistic about the activities you want to be doing according to your situation. For instance, If you decide to be going to the gym every morning, look around for a gym that is near you. If there is none, you have to choose another activity that can supplement it. For instance, you might decide to do indoor cardio workouts instead.

2. Choose a suitable time to wake up and allocate time for each activity.

I am a big believer in waking up at the time that feels right for you. It all comes down to how many hours of sleep you need. If sleeping for seven hours feels right for you  but you choose to wake up at 4am yet you go to bed at 11pm, you might be doing more harm than good to yourself. Choose the time that feels right for you and that you can keep even during weekends. I personally wake up at 5am and I love it.

The next thing you need to decide is the time you want to allocate for each activity that you do. It also depends on the number of activities and how busy your day will be. For instance, if you plan to do three things in your morning routine but you have to be at work by 8am, you might allocate 1 hour( 20 minutes per activity) for your morning routine so that you can have enough time to prepare for your day.

3. Make a list of all the activities you want to do in your morning routine.

Think on paper. When you start writing, your ideas start to flow naturally and you find that you have a bunch of things you can do for your morning routine. When you write down your plans for your morning routine, you give it a tangible form that you can touch and see.

It gives you energy to put your plan into action.

4. Categorize your list into priorities and non-priorities

Knowing your priorities and non-priorities gives you a chance to know what to focus more of your energy and time on and what not to. For instance,  Let’s say your priority is to lose weight and your non-priority is to get abs. You will then know that you have to spend more time doing activities that help you lose wight and spend less time getting abs. Some points to help you categorize your list are:

• Consider the outcome of the activities you choose to do during your morning routine. Ask yourself if the activity you intend to do during your morning routine will bring you any positive outcome in your life. If yes, is it worth it? Will it bring you closer to your goals?
• Focus on the areas that bring results in your life. When choosing priority and non-priority tasks, look at the result each activity brings and categorize it depending on its magnitude.

5.Make a list of everything that you will have to do to for each activity to achieve your goals

Break down your big tasks into small tasks that are doable everyday to help you achieve your big goal. I love how my favorite author Brian Tracy puts it in his book Eat That Frog,” How do you eat an elephant?” The answer…is ,”One at a time!” How do you eat your biggest ,ugliest frog? The same way; you break it down into specific step-by-step activities and then start on the first one.”

In this case, “Your frog is your biggest ,most important task,the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you do not do something about it now.”Breaking your task into small tasks makes it easier for you to accomplish it. It takes away the mental block that tells you that a task is too hard or big to accomplish.

6. Set deadlines for your tasks and goals

A goal without a deadline has no urgency. For instance, If you were to give a building company a project to build your home without giving them a deadline or the time you desire to move into your new home, they will have no urgency to get the job done. Your likely to wait for more than two years before moving into your new house.

The same scenario plays in having goals and deadlines. If it doesn’t have a deadline then what’s the motivation of working on it in the first place?

DO YOU STRUGGLE TO WAKE UP EARLY IN THE MORNING?

These 21 hacks will help you wake up earlier in the morning in no time. Download the free cheat sheet with the hacks down below.

Let me know where to send you the free cheat sheet down below.

7. Plan your productive morning routine in advance

Now that you have your list of what you want to be doing during your morning routine,the next step is making a plan for it. Planning not only saves you time to execute your work, but also makes it  go faster and smoother. In the book Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy, he states that,” One of the most important tasks of personal effectiveness is the 10/90 rule. This rule states that the first 10 percent of time that you spend planning and organizing your work,before you begin will save you as much as 90 percent of the time in getting the job done once you get started. You only have to try this rule once to prove it to yourself.”

Having a morning routine planner is essential in creating a productive morning routine. It not only makes you more productive but also saves you time and helps you avoid procrastination. I like planning for my morning routine starting with a monthly planner. That way, it makes it easier for me to transfer my morning routine plan to my weekly and daily planner.

I know how difficult it can be to create a morning routine planner. Because I want to help you be more productive, I created  a morning routine planner  just for you. All you have to do is transfer your morning routine activities into it and you are on your way to becoming more productive. It also comes with bonuses like a goal planner, tracker and goal setting worksheet, meal and workout planner,self improvement planner and other bonuses. Click here to get my morning routine planner.

8.Prepare everything you need for your morning routine the night before.

In order for your morning routine to be productive, you need everything for your morning routine at your disposal. You do not want to find yourself in a situation whereby you are looking for your pen or journal for thirty minutes yet you could have prepared them the night before.

It not only saves you time, but also avoids the little evil voice behind you that tells you to procrastinate. When you have everything ready the night before, you are like a loaded gun that needs a trigger to be fired. You just need a little mental push to get started on your work. This small hack escalates your productivity like crazy!

9.Get rid of any possible distractions.

Concentration is key if you want to have a productive morning routine.Little distractions might seem to not have a big impact on you but they nevertheless make you lose focus. I cannot count the number of times I have checked a message on my phone and ended up wasting thirty minutes scrolling through social media. Do not forget that I initially picked my phone to check a message that later progressed to checking my social media unnecessarily.

If you know that your phone or any other distraction like kids can make you lose focus on your work , do something about it if possible. You will realize that you will get more done in less time.

10. Invest in learning how to be more productive

Its no mystery that no one was born being productive. In fact, you will be shocked to know that some of the most productive people started out with being chronic procrastinators. The good news is anything is learnable. If someone else can learn to be more productive, you can too.

You can learn about productivity in different ways. You can either read books, listen to podcasts, have a personal development coach, listen to audio-books or take courses. The best productivity book I have read so far is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. It has 21 great ways to help you stop procrastination and get more done in less time. Since I began reading it, I have doubled my morning routine productivity and gotten more done in less time. Brian Tracy also teaches the phenomena truth that you will never have enough time to do everything but there is always enough time to do the most important thing. Its a book worth investing in especially if you are struggling with procrastination and you want to get more done in less time. The best part is its only 113 pages which you can read in less than a week.

Click here to get the book.

11. Start and never stop.

When you embark on the productive morning routine journey, start and never look back. Its so easy to put off starting just because we are waiting for the perfect alarm to wake you up or the best workout outfit. You can never have it all from the start. Sometimes, you need to have enough faith that you will get better equipment or situations as times go by.

When I started working out, I didn’t have the best workout outfits and shoes. But the universe was on my side.One month into my workout routine, my mum surprised me with new outfits and shoes. Also, be cautious of naysayers who may want to put you down and discourage you from waking up early to work on your goals.I once told a friend that I wake up early to workout and he asked why I did it yet I do not have body weight issues. He ended up telling me that its best to sleep because I was not going to achieve anything from working out.

That was hurtful but I instead used it as fuel for my desire to be physically fit and healthy.Its sad that maybe your loved ones might be at the front bench discouraging you. Don’t worry. Always let your goals be greater than anyone’s opinion. You got this girl! Be your own cheerleader.

12. Reward yourself after having a productive morning routine.

You have done so much than the average person by waking up early and working on your dreams. You deserve to reward yourself for being a badass and refusing to be average. It not only makes you happy, but also encourages you to keep waking up and working on your goals.

Rewards are very powerful. When you are rewarded for doing something or being someone important, you reinforce the behavior. You are more likely to repeat the action rather than when you are punished. Take advantage of this psychology and reward yourself to greatness.

13. Never forget your why

There are days you might not want to wake up early or do anything during your morning routine. There are days, you might opt to give up on your goals and take the easy road. When you constantly remind yourself why you started your productive morning routine in the first place,you will be encouraged to keep going even when the going gets tough. Do not forget that the going doesn’t get easier, you only get stronger.

Parting shot

Creating a productive morning routine doesn’t have to be rocket science. In fact its easier than you think. However, it needs your commitment and discipline. It is doable but with effort from your side. If I created a productive morning routine, you can too.

In case you struggle to wake up early in the morning, you might want to download the below  FREE cheat sheet with 21 hacks that you can use to start waking up earlier. They are easy and painless to do and you will see results in no time. Download the hacks down below.