DESIRE TO BE MORE PRODUCTIVE EACH MORNING?

Be sure to do these 2 things every evening.

Not everyone is a morning person. As long as we can remember, people have battled over whether mornings are or are not productive. I am certainly not going to persuade you to accomplish more between 6:00 am, and 8:00 am than during the rest of the day (but I do, ha!). Still, if you wish to maximize your morning, no matter what time you begin, here are two things you should start doing tonight.

Create A Bedtime Routine

You cannot get up at 6:00 am if you never went to sleep. That is not even a suggestion; it is only common sense. It can also be the largest obstacle most people face. Going to bed and getting enough sleep.

What may be helpful is to create a routine for going to bed. Begin your routine at the same time every night and stick to it. The purpose is to condition yourself so that your body's clock will instinctively get you ready to sleep. For example, my routine begins at 9:00 pm; after I finish cleaning the kitchen, I brush my teeth, plug in my phone, unload my brain (see below), and then read for 30 minutes. Afterward, it usually takes me less than fifteen minutes to start counting sheep. Night in, night out.

Unload Your Brain

Do you not think I can fall asleep in fifteen minutes? It is true. If you have trouble falling asleep no matter what, it is most likely driven by one of two things: You have far too much to complete in one day, or you have too many thoughts running through your brain. Usually, the latter is due to thinking about all the tasks you did not complete or what needs to be done tomorrow.

If you are one of those who lie in bed dwelling on things, it is almost certainly because your brain does not wish to let go and lose track of them. Therefore, it is simple: Keep a pen and notebook on your nightstand so that when all those thoughts fly through your brain and deprive you of rest, you can jot them down.

Incidentally, I did not come up with this. No clue as to who initially identified the value of merely jotting down a note to yourself, but there is science to verify it. After freeing your brain of the stress that you will forget, you are giving yourself a place to begin in the morning. Your to-do list will be prepped and allow you to tackle them first thing.