Six ways to start your day productively
It’s a fact that the first thing that you do when you wake up is the most important thing for your day when it comes to your mindset for work. It’s a choice we all make every morning - often unconsciously - yet it can often be the difference between a good working day and a bad one.
Here are six things you can do to start your day off, as you mean to go on:
Don’t Check Your Phone Immediately: You knew this would be at the top of the list! A Computers in Human Behaviour study found that smartphone use first thing in the morning was associated with increased feelings of stress and decreased productivity throughout the day. People who delay checking email for at least 30 minutes after waking reported feeling more relaxed and better able to cope with the tasks ahead of them. Don’t go down the rabbit hole too early in the day!
Expose Yourself to Natural Light: Research in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that exposure to morning sunlight helps regulate your circadian rhythm. Just 15-30 minutes of morning light exposure can improve alertness, mood, and cognitive performance.
Physical Activity: A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that morning exercise improves cognitive performance, attention, and decision-making throughout the day. Even a quick 10-minute walk around the block showed measurable benefits for executive function.
Mindfulness or Meditation: No, it’s not just some new age fad. Research in the Journal of Cognitive Enhancement demonstrates that just 10 minutes of mindfulness meditation in the morning can improve focus, emotional control and attention.
Have a healthy breakfast: A review in the journal Nutrients concluded that breakfast consumption improves cognitive function, particularly memory and attention and helps to sustain energy.
Prioritise your tasks: Research from Harvard Business Review shows that planning your day first thing in the morning (your 1-3 most important tasks) increases productivity by up to 25%. The gains are even greater if you do it the day before, as it improves your sleep too.
Our level of engagement at work is not just dictated by what the organisation provides by way of purpose, vision and values. It’s also dictated by how we ‘show up’.
As a team, you could even work together to create accountability around one or more of these and help each other to be the best that you can be.
Developing a consistent morning routine not only improves daytime alertness and productivity but it also leads to greater confidence and happiness in everything that we do.
What’s one thing you can do differently to help improve your morning routine?
