Eight Excellent Ways For You To Start Your Day Off Great

Set only one alarm the night before: When there are multiple alarms, you most often tend to sleep through each one until the last alarm sounds (which is most likely later than you wanted to wake up). Setting multiple alarms is proven to make your brain less responsive to the sound of the alarm, causing you to be less likely to hear it.
When you hear the alarm sound, shut it off immediately and get out of bed: It is not an easy thing to do it all — I know we all love our sleep and may not get much of it — but it’s a great tip and habit to start practicing. By waking up immediately, not only do you start the day’s responsibilities earlier than usual, but you also have an excellent mindset. Practicing waking up as soon as you have to can also cause you to be in a much better mood; however if you get up late after the third alarm sounds, not only is it more likely to leave you grumpy, but it also forces you to get up. By getting up after hearing the first alarm, you’re choosing to get up, which shows productivity and prioritization skills.
Do NOT check email or social media as soon as you get up: Email and social media are two things that you do not want to do waking up because they’re both monotonous and not important. We check email and social media because the task of doing so is urgent. We feel like we have to; however, while the task is urgent, it is not important. Use the task of checking email and social media as a reward for achieving the finishing of an important responsibility
Be productive first: The first thing that you do as soon as you get up should be productive and yes, for those who shower as soon as they get up, that is productive. It does not have to be the frog of your responsibilities since you’re not at work yet (it’s a different story if you work from home) but instead just something that helps your mindset to remain productive all day.
EAT BREAKFAST: I feel like I’m singing the same old song and dance with this one. This is the habit that everyone thinks they know is important but does not really acknowledge that it is because many people don’t eat breakfast. With other important things to do or a small time frame, breakfast may not seem that significant. Since I have started eating breakfast daily, I can say it makes a HUGE difference. I eat scrambled eggs, Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, and drink large glasses of milk and water before I start my day. By constantly repeating this habit I am provided with sufficient energy which makes my day’s tasks much more doable. By taking twenty minutes out of my day, I cut off an hour or two of time that I would spend procrastinating in some way. Even if you have to leave right away, go through the drive thru of a fast food restaurant and get something quick. Having sufficient energy is something that I can’t stress enough times.
Take twenty minutes to organize your responsibilities: Some people don’t organize their responsibilities; instead, they just begin randomly. Others spend too much time organizing that they end up wasting time. Spend twenty minutes to organize your responsibilities into what should be done today and what should be put off for later in the week or the month. By taking a small amount of time to organize your priorities, you’re saving a lot of time that would perhaps be spent repeatedly checking email and doing monotonous activities.
Look at your responsibilities, and eat the frog: I’m sure most know the expression “eat the frog,” made famous in Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time. If not, the idea is that when you have your regular responsibilities and a large task to achieve, you’ll often begin by doing your regular responsibilities. Tracy claims that this is the wrong strategy, and I agree. When given a group of small tasks and a large one to do, begin your day by tackling the large one first. By doing so, more energy is spent in the task that is presumably most important. Also, the less time or energy-consuming activities will seem like a piece of cake in comparison.
Do something later in the night for your mind and soul. Two habits that enrich your mind and soul are writing in a journal (self-reflecting) and reading. While I do these activities at night (because somehow my creativity and brain power is more rapid at night than in the morning), your ideal time may be in the morning. Many feel that the morning is when they have the most energy, and some believe that the best time to do this task is as soon as you wake up. Whenever you do it is not as important as that you do it. Start practicing this habit daily for a few weeks and I guarantee you will notice a change in your productivity and your mood.

These are just eight ways that can help you start your day off great! There are plenty of other ways that can do the same for you. Some strategies will work well for you while some won’t; everybody is different. Please feel free to share the methods that you use to start your day the right way. I would love to learn them!