10 Incredible Morning Habits For A Productive Day

For most people, mornings are one of the busiest periods in their day, and often one of the most crucial too.

When it comes to the hustle and bustle of everyday life, how you start it does matter. If you’re trying to get the best out of your day, a good place to start is by making sure your mornings are in good order.

Without a doubt, starting your day off the right way, will help you to be ready and better equipped, to handle the forthcoming tasks, both mentally and physically.

And as it turns out, certain small daily habits or “morning rituals” as you may call them, can actually help us start off right, and get the best out of whatever it is that we need to do.

In this article, you’ll discover 10 incredible morning habits you can add to your daily routine, for a good and productive day.

Let’s dive in.

Morning Habits For A Productive Day

There’s a popular saying about our habits. It says that successful people, are simply people who have successful habits. And this saying holds to be true almost everywhere today.

Our habits can make or break us, no matter how small they may be. When it comes down to it, it’s the little things we do every day that tend to go a long way in determining what we achieve.

So by adding these 10 simple morning habits to your daily routine, you can get the most out of your days, and ultimately get several steps closer, towards achieving the goals you’ve set for yourself.

And don’t worry if you can’t do all 10 right now. Start small and work your way up from there. Good habits are built gradually, not overnight.

So here are the 10 morning habits to add to your routine.

1) Wake Up Early

When it comes to having a super productive day, a lot of people swear by waking up earlier. And the reasons are pretty obvious.

For starters, waking up earlier gives you a head start, and some time to compose yourself mentally, before starting the day’s tasks. As opposed to waking up late and rushing through everything, which we can all agree isn’t quite the best feeling in the world.

Waking up earlier gives you a better sense of calm and control when going about your daily activities, and it can help you avoid the panic that comes with rushing through everything.

Now a lot of people don’t like the idea of waking up earlier. Maybe it’s the comfort of their bed, or the fear of not being able to get enough sleep, or maybe because they don’t just like their job or whatever it is they have to do.

If you’re worried about not getting enough sleep when waking up early, try going to bed earlier. Trust me it’ll be worth it.

And whether or not you like your job or whatever it is you have to do, sleeping in will only make facing the reality worse. Waking up earlier is actually a good strategy to combat that, since you’ll better prepared to face the inevitable.

2) Exercise

If I had a nickel for every time someone recommended exercise as a good way to start the day, I’d probably be living in a mansion in the Bahamas right now.

But hey, hear me out first. Exercise really is that good, and it’s really one of the best free things you can do for your body and mind.

Not only is it a good way to get moving and get the blood flowing, it can also help you become more mentally alert and focused throughout the day.

Now when I say exercise, I’m not necessarily saying you have to find a way to hit the gym for like 5 hours before you get on with your day. You’d have to be superman or something to pull that off.

A short and quick morning workout will suffice, and can range from a brisk walk around the block, to a 20 or 30 minute run, or even some simple at-home exercises like jumping jacks, crunches and squats.

The aim is to choose something you’re comfortable with, and can stick with on the long run. Your body and mind will thank you afterwards.

3) Remember to drink water

Water is a very simple yet crucial part of a healthy life. It may not sound like much, but getting enough water is very essential, and I’ll explain how.

First we have the hydration issue. And you must have probably heard a million times, that the human body is about 70% water. And it is that high for a reason.

The vast majority, if not all, of your body’s processes are made possible, due to water, in one form or the other.

From aiding proper digestion, to easing constipation, to even the simple things like transporting nutrients all around the body, water is something we really can’t do without as humans.

And that is why getting sufficient water every day is important, as it helps your body carry out the required processes as efficiently as possible.

While water needs may vary from individual to individual, based on your environmental conditions, gender, activity levels or medical conditions, finding out your water needs and satisfying them is important.

If you’re wondering how much water you should be drinking daily, check out this free online hydration calculatorto get you started.

4) Meditate

Meditation isn’t some shaman thing. It’s actually a simple and quite effective way, to take control of your mind and its mechanisms. I’ll even dare say mediation is a form of therapy.

Considering how busy we are these days, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, which usually leads us to throwing in the mental towel, or not doing as good as we’re supposed to do.

This then leads to more stress, and less productivity, which makes us feel even more overwhelmed, and the cycle just keeps repeating.

Early morning meditation is a good way to calm that mental storm, as it helps you put your mind in order, and get in a state where you can best handle the things on your plate, while minimizing stress.

Even something as little as 5 or 10 minutes a day, can work wonders on your mind, and help you deliver your best throughout the day.

5) Plan Ahead

If I could give you a simple recipe for absolute disaster, it would be to face your daily activities without any form of planning or preparation.

It’s really one of the worst things you can do for your productivity.

Proper and effective planning is very essential, if you’re trying to get the best out of each day. It gives you a chance to run the day, rather than the other way round.

I have this really weird saying that goes “if you’re planning your day on the day of the day, you’re doing it wrong”.

What that gibberish basically means, is that if make your plans as the day unfolds, rather than ahead of time, then you’re setting yourself up for disaster.

Of course, I do understand that life isn’t all too predictable and things can happen, that may require you to make certain “compromises” along the way. I completely agree with that.

However, it is still important to have an initial or base plan, which will guide your actions or whatever compromises you may need to make.

A good rule of thumb is to generally make your plans the night before, and in the event of any “unexpected surprises”, you can modify such plans as needed.

6) Prioritize Tasks

Realistically, you could add hundreds, if not thousands of things to your to-do list.

With a multitude of things to do, a good way to ensure maximum productivity, is to group your tasks by priority, and focus on the ones that are most important at the moment.

A lot of people call this “eating the frog”, and it is a good morning habit to develop for a well productive day.

By identifying and dealing with the most crucial tasks first, not only do you get more work done overall, but your mind becomes more at ease to handle the lesser things, knowing that the main load has been properly taken care of.

For example, you could make a list of things you have to do, and then group them by priority, from group A to D and then start off from A and work your way down to D.

You’ll thank yourself afterwards.

7) Lay Off The Phone A Bit

Apparently, this is becoming more and more of an issue these days.

A lot of us, including yours truly, has a habit of checking their phones a lot, and sometimes a little too much.

I’m not saying we are primarily to blame here. After all, we live in an age where majority of the things that concern us can easily be accessed via our mobile devices. From our emails, to social media accounts to news, and much more.

While it’s good to be in the know, reaching for your phone the first thing in the morning might not be the best idea. Apart from the distractions, it can also lead to information overload, unnecessary stress and even a drop in motivation.

And while I admit the whole laying off the phone thing is a lot easier said than done, it is still what saying nonetheless.

You could try timing yourself for like an hour after you wake up before touching your phone, or disabling data usage on your most distracting apps until later in the day. I usually do the latter.

8) Have A Good Breakfast

It’s completely fine if you’re not on the breakfast bandwagon though.

But personally, I believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And if you’re going to do it, then you might as well do it right.

It’s no news that the kind of food we eat can affect your emotions, mind and energy levels.

For that reason, it is important to get a good, healthy and nutritious breakfast that will properly fuel our body and mind, through the day’s activities.

Even if you’re low on time, you can choose to prep your breakfasts ahead of time and simply grab and enjoy the next day, or make some quick and healthy breakfasts in under 30 minutes.

9) Practice Gratitude

Want to make the average day even worse? Be grumpy about it.

While the things that happen to us and the events surrounding our lives may not be 100% within our control, our reaction to them is.

Showing gratitude helps you have a positive outlook on things, and puts you in a better mood to perform the tasks required of you.

Let’s be real here for a second. Stuff happens, and it’s ok to feel sad or angry or frustrated every once in a while.

I’m not telling you to be someone who smiles from cheek to cheek 24/7. That would actually be pretty scary.

What I’m saying is, expressing gratitude for the little things in life, can help you develop a better state of mind, rather than a gloomy and negative one.

10) Don’t Multitask

With the long list of things we have to do each day, it might seem like a good idea to multitask, but it rarely proves to be worth the effort at all.

Sure, there may be some cases where you might have to take on a couple of things at the same time, and where multitasking might actually save you.

But in most cases, especially when dealing with crucial and important work, it’s always best to devote your full attention to the task at hand.

By dividing you attention and trying to joggle multiple things at the same time, you not only become less effective at doing all those things, but you might actually mess something up, which will in turn give you more work and stress.

It’s always best to handle things one bite at a time, for maximum efficiency and productivity.