How to Be a Morning Person

For most people, mornings… well, honestly they suck. Leaving your warm comfy bed to go to work, class, or whatever, feels like the last thing you want to do when you hear that alarm interrupting your beloved slumber.

I have personally lived with that struggle on and off throughout my life, but luckily for you, lovely reader, I am going to share with you how I went from snoozing multiple times and rushing to get ready in 10 minutes to waking up 2.5 hours earlier than I had to be!

When you have a morning routine that is tailored for you, you’re starting your day refreshed, focused, energized, and most importantly, connected to your higher self. When we are connected to our higher selves we perform better and ultimately make better decisions. Therefore, it has an affect on arguably every facet of our lives, from quality of home life to work performance. Follow these steps to optimize your mornings and set yourself up for success.

First, I’m going to start with telling you right off the bat the biggest, most important influence on how I got from point a to b mentioned above, and that was by finding something that I always looked forward to. Find something you can be excited to go to sleep and wake up to do. One good idea to help you out with this is to consider what you look forward to after work. Video games, reading, Netflix, or just that perfect cup of coffee, that yummy snack, smoothie, art, hobby, yoga, dancing and jamming out, journaling, meditation, nature, etc. Now after you find what excites you, limit doing that thing to before class, work, or whatever it is you need to do on any given day.

It’s important to consider that smoking marijuana or drinking a glass of wine may be best saved for after day responsibilities like work, particularly healthcare, babysitting, driving, etc type job that would make you a potential hazard.

Okay so that was a big portion of it, but here is the other 75% of it!

Do not hit snooze! Get up immediately and make your bed, or if you’re like me, go to the toilet first thing and depending on the day shower, then make my bed. Snoozing is you telling yourself that you are not ready for the day. It simply is not a good way to start your day, so why not start with the basics here and skip on the snooze. For some good news, the more consistently you do it, THE EASIER IT GETS! I swear by this.

Now let’s be real, there will always be that ‘ugh I have to leave my warm comfy bed’ thought, but when you ignore and dismiss it as your shadow self working against you, it may help you like it does me to fall into the motion and routine of ripping the covers off, turning off the alarm, going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth, showering depending on the day (some days I prefer at night, like when I workout or go swimming), and carrying on with the activities below!

Chug water! Yes, pour a big glass of water and chug it down. I don’t care if you like water or not, just. do. it. Because this is just a way of rehydrating your body after strictly expiring (a lot of which is water) during sleep. After, you should prepare a big container (I use a 32 oz water bottle) and fill it with water to take with you and drink throughout the day.

Life Hack: Now, if you don’t like water, try making “lemonade” by squeezing some lemon wedges into the water, as well as adding some honey, stevia, monk fruit, or whatever your sweetener of choice is in order to both, chug it and drink it throughout the day.

The idea is that if I have water on hand, I am much more likely to actually keep myself hydrated, so make it easy, especially if keeping yourself well hydrated is something you struggle with. For example, I always made sure my water bottle had a sucking apparatus on it, like a straw, as opposed to have to pour it because I was just more likely to drink from a “fun” sipping mechanism and I have carried this with me into adulthood as a 24 year old woman haha. If it works, it works!!

Now, while chugging...

Write your To Do list! I write mine the night before as part of my wind down routine to clear my head for sleep, but there are so many positives to writing it out early in the morning. I recommend writing it out in the past tense, as a way of affirming them as things you have accomplished, because soon, you will :)

(Morning affirmations are a wonderful splendid thing I recommend. They serve to warm up your brain for a strong healthy morning mindset to carry with you throughout the day. This optimizes my performance professionally, socially and mentally. I am saving the very many details on that matter for a separate post, so stay tuned)

Writing your to-do list is important for visualizing your most urgent goals, and providing structure for the day, both of which increase the likelihood that you will accomplish each of your tasks, one by one, but it's important to realize that rarely will it be possible to complete your whole to-do list in one day so don't be hard on yourself about it.

Fuel your brain and body! Both really need healthy fats and calories, so after a period of fasting, it is really important to be adequately fueled for starting your day. A good habit to introduce into your life when making decisions about what you consume (including what you metaphorically consume for entertainment ie. social media, movie/show content, etc) is to ask yourself what you would allow a small child to consume. Naturally we want to take care of the children in our lives so they can be as healthy and as strong as can be physically and emotionally. We should want this for ourselves as well!

Now, what would you feed a small child for breakfast? Eat that.

Move that body! Exercise, or just be mindful of your movement as you go about these steps. That is to warm up your brain for a strong healthy morning mindset to carry with you throughout the day. This optimizes my performance professionally, socially and mentally.

Since I’m always looking for new ways to better manage my time, I chose activities that stimulate both my mind and my body. For me that is making my bed, meditating—really just focusing on nothing but my breath—while stretching either my neck, hip flexors, or shoulders as I wait for my coffee to brew. Better yet, step outside to also get some fresh air when you do this, perhaps while you drink your coffee. This is a key combination of activities that no doubt gives me a bit of that high on life feel.

Look good feel good! We perform our best when we feel good. So present yourself in a way you feel good! For me, that is (usually) putting my hair in a simple presentable manner, doing a simple makeup look, putting on my favorite necklace and/or pair of earrings, and, when I’m not wearing scrubs, wearing something tasteful yet comfortable for whatever I’ll be doing that day. If I feel like going all in on a makeup or outfit look I will because sometimes waking up this way inspires me to do so.

DO YOUR THING. Save that thing you look forward to, or seem to feel better after and/or while doing for last! Before you dive into your day’s responsibilities, whether it be your to-do list, going to work, going to classes, studying for GRE or MCATS, working on your business, athletic training, whatever, do that thing that will make you feel refreshed after having done to boost you into a good mindset to carry with you into the rest of the day.