5 Simple Habits for Making Your Morning More Productive

So you want to learn some ways to make your morning more productive, huh?

We’ve all been there, where your alarm goes off, you hit snooze six times only to realize on the 7th time, that you have just 5 minutes to get dressed and dash out the door.

You want to make more time for yourself and not feel like falling back to sleep on your way to work, but it’s just so hard.

Bad habits can be a challenge to break, but in this post, I’ll share with you 5 simple habits to make your morning more productive and less chaotic.

Let’s get to it!

1. The 5-second rule

Mel Robbins taught me this one. 

When you’re faced with the decision to hit snooze or to just get the heck up, count down from five. 

This rule actually works (take it from someone who’s used it in the morning!). 

The reason this 5-second rule is effective is because your brain is wired to expect something to happen once you hit “1.” 

It’s like a rocket ship taking off.

“5…4…3…2…1… BLAST OFF!”

Your brain is going to expect some sort of action to happen.

Make that action something positive. Like getting out of bed, having that important conversation, or speaking up at a meeting.

When you’re counting, you’re not letting the negative voices in your head get through.

The counting drowns them out.

So practice counting down from five and you may just be surprised at how much you can accomplish.

2. Set your alarm for an earlier time

Let’s be honest, if you’re going to be more productive in the morning, you have to give yourself more time.

Time is priceless. 

As they say, you can make more money, but you can’t make more time.

If you really want to exercise in the morning, 

If you really want to build that side hustle, 

If you really want to get yourself in a good headspace before work,

Set that alarm for 5, 10, or 15 minutes earlier than when you typically wake up. 

Start small and tack on more minutes as you build your habit of waking up earlier.

Your future self will surely thank you.

3. Plan out your morning the night before

If you plan out your morning (or whole day) the evening before, you are mentally preparing yourself to be more productive. 

You already know what you’re going to do, therefore you’re less likely to waste time mindlessly scrolling through Tik Tok (we’ve all been there.)

Here’s how to plan your day:

1. Write out time slots by the hour and fill those slots with different activities. Be sure to leave some slots blank, because girl, rest is a priority too. 

2. Then write your to-do list. This list includes miscellaneous things you might have to take care of that are not in a time slot.

Here’s what a day might look like for me: 

To-Do List examples:

• Pay my electric bill
• Pick up a prescription
• Reply to that email

If you have a goal you’re working toward, include it here. Nothing keeps you on track better than reminding yourself of your goal every day.

TIP! If you’re someone who is easily forgetful (lowkey raising my hand here), then set a reminder on your phone to help you remember.

4. Meal prep the night before

The last thing you want to do after a long day of work is to make yourself lunch for the next day. 

Heck, you don’t even have the energy to make dinner!

That’s where meal prepping comes into play.

This will take some discipline at first but if you keep it up you’ll form a habit and it’ll just be a part of your weekly routine.

1. Plan out your meals for the week before you go to the store (and don’t go there hungry!).

Let’s say you go to the store every Sunday. Plan out 2-5 meals for the week. If you’re not sure what meals to make, Pinterest has some delectable inspiration! 

2. Once you have some recipes, make a grocery list of ingredients. 

TIP! I like to make meals that use similar ingredients I already have on hand. 

3. Cook at least 2 meals on Sunday to eat throughout the week and make big batches so you have leftovers.

This may take some practice to get into a routine, but it will save you your health and your money in the long run.

Need more help with meal prepping? Check out this article on meal prepping for beginners that will give you tips for making your meal prep easy and less time-consuming.

5. Track your progress

The only way to make real change and achieve your goals is to track your progress.

It can be as simple as printing a habit tracker chart and checking off the boxes as you go, or you can get techy with it and download a tailored habit tracking app on your phone.

Tracking your habits helps you in a few different ways:

• It holds you accountable.
• It allows you to track your advancement and see where you need to make improvements.
• It gives you a feeling of accomplishment each day, which only motivates you to keep going.

Track your progress daily and I guarantee you your odds of forming a new, healthy habit will skyrocket. 

This is the exact method I use, and I have found tremendous success with it.

With all that being said, it’s important to be kind to yourself at the end of the day.

Give yourself some grace

Trying to change bad habits and implement healthy ones isn’t easy.

I’m not going to lie to you.

You may still hit snooze some days or forget to meal prep the night before. 

We’re only human and we need to cut ourselves some slack.

All you can do is your best and your best is always enough.

Do you struggle to form good habits? Check out my post Why You Struggle To Form Healthy Habits so you can finally start making the change you want to see.