How much time do you spend in the morning getting ready for your day?

I’m going to explain a simple concept that will help you get more stuff done in your daily life. Some various tips and tricks to tackle your tasks and motivate yourself in doing so.

The trick I’m going to learn you will help you tackle your most energy- and motivation-draining tasks as soon as possible. And by doing so, go on with your day being more motivated and energized.

What you should do to be more productive is to set up a healthy morning ritual: A set of tasks that you always do in the morning in the correct order so that you can get some consistency in your life.

By setting up a morning routine you will also be able to remember all the things you need to do before starting your day, and it will allow you to optimize those tasks (If you always do the things in the same order you will be able to do them faster)

Plan your next day the night before

Before you go to sleep you should set up a plan for the next day, with the most important task first. Also do packing and similar things in the night before so you don’t have to run around in the morning looking for all your stuff.

A typical morning routine could be:

• Get up
• Have a shower
• Brush your teeth
• Get dressed
• Brew coffee
• Eat breakfast
• Plan your day
• Get going.

My usual morning routine for success

My morning routine looks as follows, note that I don’t eat breakfast as part of doing intermittent fasting (I’ll write a post on this soon). Also I always aim to hit the gym first thing in the morning before work to get energized.

• Get up
• Get dressed for the gym
• Brew a cup of coffee and put it in my reusable takeaway-cup
• Hit the gym
• Shower at gym and change to work clothes
• Go to work

To be able to do this routine as hassle-free as possible I always put my gym clothes beside the bed the night before, and pack my work clothes and everything I need in my duffle-bag. When I get up in the morning the only thing I’ll have to do is to brew the coffee and get dressed to get started on my first thing (going to the gym).

The reason to exercise in the morning is to get rid of sluggishness and you will be more energized to go on with your tasks. Read also: 6 reasons to exercise regularly

Spend 10 minutes planning your day.

After the gym, when I get to the office, I usually spend about 10 minutes going through the tasks I have for the day and sort them by their importance.

Always put your biggest task, or your “frog”, first on the list.

The concept of the frog comes from the book Eat that frog. Which explains that it’s from a quote by Mark Twain:

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

The reason for putting your hardest task (Frog) first is that when you have finished it, it will feel like a big win and you will be motivated taking on the next task.

Another reason to put the biggest/hardest part first, is that the glucose levels in your brain are full and you will have more willpower and focus to get it done.

What is your morning routine?