Hello!! If you’ve read any of my productivity articles, you’ll know that I believe it’s all about the morning! This year my New Year’s resolution was actually to become a morning person, and ever since, I’ve loved mornings. One day, I told myself I was going to wake up early (around 6:30) and go to the gym, and I’ve been waking up around 7 AM since.
Now, since I am not physically going to the gym, I use my mornings to set up my day. I like to drink tea, play some relaxing but also peppy music, and get ready for the day! If you’re wanting to increase your daily productivity, I highly recommend trying some, or all, of these tips. I do most of these every single morning to put myself in a positive headspace and set myself up for an ultra-productive day!
TIP #1 – Make your bed!
Everyone always says this, but I highly believe that making your bed makes a huge difference between a productive and happy day, or a lazy disappointing day.
Part of the reason why I love making my bed, and am so motivated to make it in the morning, is because I LOVE the way it looks. I like to keep my room spotless at all times, and that comes with making my bed.
I like making my bed because it looks pretty and my mind is clear when my room is clean… however, there are a bunch of studies explaining why making your bed is a great thing to do in the mornings.
People say it gives you a small sense of pride for accomplishing something so early into your day. It is supposed to help trigger your productivity senses (whatever those are), and set your day up to be successful. It can also help lower stress and anxiety, leading to a more relaxed morning.
TIP #2 – Make a schedule or to do list.
I like to make to do lists every single morning to organize my day and make sure I know everything that I have to do. I think it is SO satisfying to cross things off of your to do list, so I like writing these out because they serve as motivation. If I have a goal for the day, and I write it down on the to do list, I will make sure it gets done if time allows.
I make my lists and schedules in my bullet journal, just to have everything in one central location. However, before I started the bullet journal, I wrote all of my lists down on pretty stationary, post it notes, in spiral notebooks, or even typed it out outline. All of these work, as long as you end up with a list of everything you want to/have to accomplish in the day.
TIP #3 – Light a Candle
Candles are wonderful things, aren’t they? They smell nice, they look nice when they sit on your desk, and they OOZE coziness. I like to feel cozy while I’m doing my work… to a certain degree. My way of making my desk area a cozy little area is to light a candle.
I love the Bath & Body Works 3 Wick candles, and I’ve gone through almost 4 since last December. Whenever I’m working, I have a candle lit. I obviously don’t keep it burning the whole day, but when I wake up I know the first thing I’m going to do is start doing work, that’s why, as soon as I wake up, I light a candle.
Right now, I have the Watermelon Lemonade 3 Wick, however, I have some other favorites: Champagne Toast and Stress Relief.
I bought the Champagne Toast candle for the first time because I was in love with the light pink color and I wanted something to match my room. When I first lit it, I ended up LOVING the smell of it! It’s not too floral, or strong, and overall I really love it. I also like the Stress Relief candle from the aromatherapy line. There are a couple different types of stress relief candles and scents at BBW, but the one I get is eucalyptus and spearmint. I’ve had the candles, hand sanitizers, body scrubs, hand lotion, and soaps. It’s so relaxing.
Right now I LOVE this one, but if you are interested in any of the candles I love, you can find them here:
CLICK HERE for Watermelon Lemonade (mine is different packaging, but the same product)
CLICK HERE for Stress Relief
CLICK HERE for Champagne Toast
TIP #4 – Play some music
Now, I don’t pretend to know anything about music. My music taste consists of musical theatre, and whatever is on the radio really. Overall, I play a LOT of random Spotify playlists.
In the mornings, I like to play some old timey Disney Parks music, or some calming acoustic Jack Johnson type deal.
I’m not going to put a playlist here, because everyone has different taste in music! And I don’t have a playlist that I listen to every morning consistantly. Just listen to whatever puts you in the right mood.
TIP #5 – Put on REAL clothes!
In quarantine, it is SO easy to walk around in pajamas all day. And that’s a fine thing to do over the weekends! However, during the week it is important to work productively. And wearing pajamas signals to your brain that it’s time to sleep or rest.
The kind of clothes that make me feel most comfortable are athletic clothes! This morning I put on leggings, a workout tank top, and threw a Lululemon jacket over it. It’s comfortable, motivating, and useful considering the fact that I had a Zoom personal training session at 12:30.