Adulting 101: How To Be Productive Without Sacrificing Self-Care
5 tips to improve morning productivity
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As of lately, I have heavily been craving change — change of scenery, change of pace, change in my space, and most importantly, change of routine (or establishing the lack thereof). For the past couple of weeks, I have taken a slightly different approach to establishing a productive weekend morning routine. On a typical weekend morning, I would wake up around 9am and lie in bed scrolling through social media for about 30 minutes to an hour before actually masking up the will power to get out of bed. But, for the past two or so weekends, I have really pushed myself to wake up earlier, dedicate time to morning movement (and stick to it), fuel my body with healthy(er) foods, and ensure prayer and devotion to the Word is a focal point of my waking moments.
With this recent change, my level of productivity and motivation has increased ten fold. Leading into this work week, I am really pushing myself to establish the same sort of productive, refreshing morning routine, especially before starting a day of work.
Ahead are 5 ways I was able to create a more productive morning routine. Hopefully these tips can help you if you too are craving change.
#1: Limit Your Morning Screen Time
As easy as it is to roll over and immediately scroll through social media or read emails first thing in the morning, it is a slippery slope and an unhealthy habit (hence, my 30 minute to an hour scrolling habit pre-this new and improved morning routine). So, instead of going directly to Instagram upon my first waking moments, I instead go to my Bible app. I dedicate a few minutes of my morning to read one chapter and pray for the opportunity to see another day. While it’s much easier said than done to completely avoid scrolling through social media in the morning, post prayer I do my best to limit my scrolling to 10 minutes at max.
#2: Get Out Of Your Pajamas
Today is the first time that I decided to wake up early to get ready for work as if I was heading into the office. I took a nice steamy shower, washed my hair, put a smidge of makeup on, changed into real clothes and prepared breakfast and a cup of coffee. On every other work from home day in the past few years, I woke up a few minutes before it was time to sign on for work, put my hair up in a messy bun, wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt and made breakfast during one of my 10 minute break periods. This small change was so impactful to my productivity level and overall motivation and mood.
#3: Journal, Podcast, Read
✍️ Journal: There has been a huge surplus of TikTokers lately sharing their morning and evening routines which often include dedicated time to hand written journal entries mostly consisting of affirmations and self-reflection. If journaling is an activity you enjoy, I would encourage you to dedicate time in the morning to this.
🎧 Podcast: I am a huge fan of listening to and/or watching podcasts. Lately, I have been listening to almost every episode of Steven Bartlett’s Diary of A CEO, where Bartlett openly discusses the childhood and life-altering events of multiple infamous CEO’s. Another favorite podcast of mine is Podcrushed by Penn Badgley which focuses on how experiences from middle school shape the person you grow into.
📚 Read: This is one activity I would love to someday incorporate into my morning routine but simply haven’t had the time for. However, it is a great activity to adopt into your morning routine if time permits!
#4: Give Yourself Enough Time
I hate feeling rushed. I hate it when other people rush me and especially when I rush myself because I didn’t give myself ample time to prepare for the day. I am also someone who sets multiple alarm clocks all at 5 minute intervals because it takes me awhile to actually get out of bed. So, I try to set my last alarm 30 minutes before I actually need to get up knowing I tend to take awhile to actually get up.
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