How to Have a Productive Morning

Hey beautiful! Now that we have been busy making to-do lists we also noticed that we have been trying to get more things done during the day, especially during the morning. And for some reason, we are struggling to get out of the house on time. We are hollering at the kids and everyone is irritable. Mainly because our morning ritual is not in place. Things are not flowing for us in the morning time. We want our morning to set the tone for the rest of our day making us more productive and hopefully more even-tempered. If you were to develop a morning ritual or revise the routine you have, you should be able to have a smooth morning. To be successful, I suggest you start at NIGHT!

You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret to your success is found in what you do, or do not do, daily. Your daily routine. ..John C. Maxwell.

To begin changing your routine or habits, I suggest that you start with your right before bed routine. In my ritual, I start preparing for bed by putting on my pajamas, brushing my teeth, cleansing my face, moisturizing my skin, then spritzing my face with my favorite rose water. Sometimes I add laying out my clothes, even my jewelry. You can start by doing the same if you don't have anything in place now. Then I suggest you go over your goals from the day and if there are any things that you still need to accomplish you can add them to tomorrow's list, or schedule a day/time for them to be completed. This is also a great time to come up with the things that you want to accomplish for tomorrow and a schedule for the morning. The more you get the hang of it, or if you already have the hang of this part of your evening routine, you can start incorporating other things into your ritual. Ask yourself, what items do you, hubby, and the kids need to have to, perhaps, take to work in the morning or take to school. Check your calendar or planner. Is there something different scheduled for tomorrow that may require an adjustment to your regular ritual or schedule? Dentist, doctor's appointment, someone's practice, etc.?

I have a friend who picks out her clothes for the week on Sunday nights! Although I suggest you just pick out your clothes tonight for tomorrow, lol, do what is easiest for you. You may even incorporate ironing your clothes at night. Washing a load of laundry or dishes may need to fit in this time slot as well. When you figure out what you need to take with you in the morning, decide which door you're going to leave out of. Have a designated spot for everything that must go in the morning; your work bag, book bag, lunches, etc. You can leave these things by the door. The FlyLady calls it a launchpad. When you have your things prepared at the launchpad it will help to catapult your morning into a well productive day. Don't forget to ask yourself what'll be for breakfast or dinner? Hopefully, you're meal planning so you just need to check. Do you need to take something out of the freezer? Prep food for the crockpot? Think about it in advance, plan for it, so you don't have to scurry about in the morning or at dinner time.

Soon you will realize that a lot of your power will be drawn from your after-dinner routine, way before bedtime. If your children are old enough you should have them helping with clearing the table, loading the dishwashing machine, that laundry you were thinking about earlier, or anything else age-appropriate. Since our family room is where my family hangs out the most, right before we head upstairs for a great night's rest, I set a timer for 5 minutes for us to pick up or put away as many things as possible. Although, my boys (ages 9 and 7) seem to be more productive when I can quantify my expectations. For example, I usually tell them to pick up or put away 10 things out of the family room. That seems to be more productive than setting the time for them. Since homework is done in my house before dinner, as soon as homework is completed, my boys put everything in their backpacks and hang them in the mudroom by the back door, which is the door we leave out of in the morning. That's our launchpad. In a perfect world, or in my mind movies (yep, that's a Tropic Thunder reference lol), dinner is over at 8 p.m.giving us some free time until 9 p.m. when my boys have their 20 minutes of reading. This is when we start to wind down.

How do you wind down? Do you drink a cup of tea, a glass of wine, or read a book, or even watch your favorite show? However you choose to wind down, just make sure that you try not to be busy getting all the things done up until its time for you to go to bed. If could make your mind difficult to rest. Have your lights dimmed, it'll start to prepare your mind and body for calming down. It is suggested that you start your wind-down 2 hours before bed. It actually takes about 2 hours for your brain to relax! Also, be proactive about your comfort during the night while you sleep. Is your room dark enough? Is your bed comfortable for you? Is the temperature comfortable in your room? These are things that you need to adjust, if need be. I personally like my room pitch black, warm and silent. Although it is suggested to have a cool room for better sleep. Not everyone can sleep within the same parameters, you should decide what is best for you. Also, it has been proven that blue light emitted from devices and traditional light bulbs, can disturb our sleep or rest. Changing your bulbs can help or setting your devices to filter out the blue light is an easy fix. You may want to monitor your sleep as well to find out how productive your sleep actually is. Many smartwatches come with this feature already enabled. You may want to try doing a series of stretches or yoga to help relax your body as well. Have you made sure that your "do not disturb" button is set on your devices? Set a time span that you do not want to be bombarded with emails, text messages, social media alerts, etc. You can even set up your devices or phone to allow certain people to reach you in case something is urgent or important.

Here's a great formula to try out. Craig from the Early To Rise Radio recommends a 10 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 0 formula for better sleep. It sounds like a lot but it's actually pretty simple...

10 hours before bed, stop consuming caffeine.

3 hours before bed, stop consuming alcohol.

2 hours before bed, stop working.

1 hour before bed, turn off all screens.

0 is the number of times you hit the snooze button.

However you choose to conduct your evening ritual, be consistent! It will actually train your brain and body that it is time for bed. Depending on how much time you have before you go to bed, still ensuring that you have approximately eight hours of sleep, go ahead and get the things done in the evening. When you do this and go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning your body will know in advance when it's time to wind down and you will begin to have better, more peaceful, more reparative sleep. With this, in turn, you will wake up more revived, rested and less irritable. This will encourage an awesome start to an awesome day. When you are making your lists, list the things that you want to have accomplished in the evening and in the morning. Guesstimate about how long it'll take you to accomplish these things. Actually plan out when it would fit best in your evening schedule. It's not to say that this is how the things will actually occur but it will help you make sense of all the things that you are trying to get accomplished.

Getting things done at night and preparing for tomorrow, the morning in particular, will make your morning routine easier on you..and hopefully your day. Getting your perfect evening routine will take lots of practice and tweaking. I am constantly revamping my routine. You should do the same. Don't feel like what you have planned is a contract. Just a suggestion. As Married Moms and Moguls, we have a lot of things to accomplish in a day. You might not get it all done but you can ensure you are more productive, more happy, more relaxed, and more balanced. I just want to help you help yourself make things a little easier.

From another Married Mom and Mogul, we can manage all the things, together!

With love,

Ms. Niki