How to (really) get the most from your mornings

This is what I'd like to be doing every morning..

The French really know how to nail breakfast! Unfortunately, my days mostly begin with a brew & a prayer. I'd love to be one of those super duper productive people that seem to spring out of bed ready to attack the day, I never quite seem to manage it though.

I recently read this article from the Fast Company that talks about how supposedly 'successful' people get the most from their mornings before us normal people have even got the sleep out our eyes. I was pretty on board with it until I got to the part about 'reading some scripture to teach yourself about the Human nature'. Ok stop. Religious affiliations aside - find me someone who has time for this in the morning?! I found it hard to understand how someone like myself would benefit from incorporating this sort of activity into my morning routine. (For the record, the suggestions continue to get more elaborate from there, we're talking train for a marathon, do your kids' art project or take an online class etc etc). 

In light of that article, I want to talk about how the rest of us can get the most out of our mornings. From a personal perspective, obviously. Please feel free to partake in some scripture or art projects at your leisure. 

1// List List List. 

Boring but essential. At the end of every day I make a list for the next morning. Mainly because I know that things will evaporate from my brain in between going to bed and waking up. It's just safer for me to list to avoid confusion later.

But seriously, write a list, and prioritise. This way, your mornings aren't spent trying to get your head together, and are instead spent getting stuck into what you need to do. (List items can in fact include, wake up and brush teeth...they're legitimate priorities).

If you're a list fiend like me, I would highly recommend using Wunderlist. Lists, sub-lists, deadlines...heaven!

2// Organise ahead

Remember when you were a kid and your packed lunch was made and your clothes laid out the night before? Yeah, do that. Make your lunch and just figure out what you're going to wear the next day already. Bundles of time saved that would have otherwise have been spent throwing out everything from the wardrobe, then everything from the fridge. Simple but effective.

3// Set the alarm 10 minutes earlier than absolutely necessaryy

I can't tell you how much difference it makes to have those minutes to lie in bed and gather a game plan for the day ahead. I might be losing 10 minutes sleep, but I'm gaining 10 minutes of valuable planning time (the fact that I have my eyes closed while I'm doing this isn't important). By the time I need to get up, I'm psyched for the day and ready to make the leap.

4// Catch up on the go

This one might be slightly specific, but if you read a lot of blogs then I can't recommend Bloglovin' highly enough. It's essentially a hub where all your blog feeds live (a lot like that reader that recently went under...but we won't talk about that). They all sit within the Bloglovin' frame work and you can organise your blogs into categories and lists - do you see a list based pattern emerging here?

I use my commute to catch up on my Social Media and my blogs. It's important for me to have this time, I like to see something inspiring before I get into work. Be that a new blog or a cute Instagram photo - it's nice to arrive into work with your head full of new content. Everything is potential reference for later on.

5// Dedicate some time to answering your emails early in the day.

Prioritise them into urgent, ones that can wait, and just plain junk. Then set yourself a time limit to get them actioned. Urgent ones should be sorted out within the first hour or so of your day before you get distracted. The less urgent ones can stretch to the end of the day or possibly to the next morning if necessary. If you carry them over, make a note of them and get them in the urgent category for the next day. Is it junk? Get it the heck out of there straight away. A clear inbox is a happy inbox.

6// Lastly, if you must exercise before work, pre-prepare some breakfast.

I'm talking a shake or some granola. Don't exercise then take yourself off to work on an empty stomach. The result will not be pleasant for anyone involved - I speak from experience. Prepare something the night before that you can grab after you work out and eat on the way to work if you have to. But please, eat something.

I hope these have been helpful, We'll be back over the weekend sharing a peek at some of our work!

Svea xo

psst...you can still enter our giveaway to win a Raspberry Pi, just hit the link in the Right Nav to take you to the post with details on how to enter!