8 Simple Morning Routine to Boost Your Productivity For The Entire Day
Various researchers have discovered that our habits in the morning actually have a profound effect on how productive we are for the rest of the day. Bad habits have a way of dissipating our energy and self-control in the morning so that for the rest of the day we feel too tired to work at our best.
But the good news is that we can develop good habits that can instead maximize our self-control and energy so that we can work at our best for the rest of the day. All you need to do is to heed the following tips for your morning routine, and you can discover how it can have an amazing impact on your productivity afterward.
Drink Lemon Water Right Away
Lemon water has been found to provide consistent energy for the rest of the day because it boosts your body’s ability to absorb nutrients. To drink lemon water properly, you need to drink it first thing in the morning. Then you wait about 15 to 30 minutes before you have your breakfast.
Lemons have vitamin C, potassium, and antioxidants that can help boost your energy levels. The juice of half a lemon will do if you weigh less than 150 pounds, while a whole lemon is better if you’re above 150 pounds.
Begin Your Day by Exercising
After you’ve had your lemon water and you’re waiting for your breakfast, maybe you can exercise a bit in the meantime.
It’s not a coincidence that millions of people start their day by jogging or cycling early in the morning. People who exercise tend to have more energy, and they also generally have a more positive outlook in life. Both factors lead to greater productivity.
You don’t have to spend too much time exercising in the morning either. Even just 10 minutes will do. That’s enough time to release the GABA neurotransmitter that soothes your mind and boosts your ability to rein in your impulses. So exercise even just a little in the morning, and your energy and self-control will improve for the rest of the day.
Avoid Electronics When You First Wake Up
You’re better off exercising or even just watching the morning birds or meditating. The problem with diving right into your emails and Facebook messages is that it’s a stressful way to start your day. You forget about your own energy and instead focus on the needs of other people, and the stress can dissipate your energy.
Deal with a Complex Task First, before You Deal with Email
Often, our minds are at their peak in the first half of the morning. So don’t waste that energy on something as tedious as email. Instead, focus on a complex task first. Your energy levels will then come in handy for the complex task. When you’re done and your mental energy is lower, you’ll still be able to deal with something as routine as email.
However, when you’re mentally at your peak and you waste that reading and responding to email, that mental energy will dissipate. You won’t have any left to deal with the more complex task.
Have a Nutritious Breakfast
Some people think that avoiding breakfast is one way to diet and lose weight. After all, they’re not consuming calories, right?
But this isn’t really entirely accurate. Instead, studies have shown that those who have breakfast are actually less likely to be obese. Their blood sugar levels are more stable, and they’re less hungry (and therefore less likely to overeat) for the rest of the day.
When you consume a nutritious breakfast, the benefits are even better. You truly become more productive during the rest of the day. Your energy level rises and your short term memory is enhanced. You’re able to concentrate more intensely on a given task, and you can do so for a longer period of time.
Have Concrete Goals
Ambiguous goals aren’t as helpful in boosting your feelings of control and confidence as having concrete goals instead. A concrete goal is a specific result that you can achieve with a set of steps you can take.
For example, telling yourself that you want to “look over and take care of your car” is vague and unsatisfying. You won’t be entirely certain if you succeed on this goal for the day or not.
Instead, you can have a more concrete goal, such as “I will rotate the tires and wash the car”. Then you can implement the proper steps on rotating the tires and washing the car, and afterward, you’ll know for sure if you’re able to finish the job properly.
Make Sure Your Workplace Is Neat and Clean
A study conducted by researchers at Princeton University found that in general, people who worked in a neat workspace were more productive than their counterparts with more cluttered workspaces.
This is because the clutter can be a distraction and can lure your attention away from the task at hand. So invest in a few minutes clearing up your desk first, so that you’re more able to concentrate on your tasks for the rest of the day.
Avoid Multitasking
The multitasking fad became popular because of the perception that people can do more things in a given amount of time. That means that productivity should then improve. But numerous studies such as the ones conducted by Stanford University researchers have discovered that in fact, multitasking is actually less productive than just doing a single task exclusively.
The truth is that the human brain is really designed to focus on just one thing at a time. When you try to do 2 things at the same time, you’ll end up losing focus instead. You can try to do 2 things at once, but in general, you’ll just end up unable to perform both tasks successfully.
Founder, Editor-In-Chief // A native Angeleno. John studied engineering at UCLA; founded Schmoozd, an offline social tech networking event in LA with 30,000 subs; ran a startup accelerator (StartEngine). Worked for several major brands like Toyota, DIRECTV, Hitachi, ICANN, and Raytheon. A mentor at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) Entrepreneur School, Dr. David Choi. And advises a dozen local LA startups building amazing tech in various industries; and invested in some. // Let's Connect: john@lastartups.com
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