Have you ever gone a whole day with nothing to show for it?
You wish to do more but time has never been on your side. If this sounds like you then you’re not alone.
One way to increase productivity is by getting rid of bad morning routines with the potential to ruin your day and make you less productive.
What are these habits?
In this article, you’ll discover the early morning routines you need to stay away from for a more productive day.
There is one big secret to a productive day – Your morning routines.
Hitting The Snooze Button When Your Alarm Goes Off
Admit it. The biggest lie you’ve ever told yourself is, ‘I will get up in the next ten minutes right before you hit the snooze button.’ It’s no wonder it’s the first on this list of bad morning routines.
I mean, let’s face it, did you actually get up in the next ten minutes? 30 minutes, maybe, or an hour? Lol.
According to an author and motivational speaker, Mel Robbins, ‘you kill 4 hours of productivity when you hit that snooze button‘ Like, for real!!
The sleep cycle of humans is about 90 minutes. The moment you hit the snooze for 5 minutes of sleep, your brain goes into a new cycle (90 minutes).
Unfortunately, your alarm disrupts your sleep after 5 minutes and you wake up feeling extremely tired because you couldn’t complete the 90 minutes usual cycle.
As a result, you experience a groggy feeling which may last between minutes to 4 hours. This is because your body craves more sleep even though you’ve just had 8 hours of sleep. So you end up not being agile throughout the day.
And what does that mean? Less productivity.
So if you want to do better with your day, this is one of those morning routines to steer clear of.
The truth is, there is a reason you set that alarm in the first place. If it wasn’t so important, you wouldn’t have set it.
Before you hit snooze with those drowsy eyes next time, think about the consequences of your actions. Think of how much you will not accomplish by sleeping just ‘one more minute’.
Scrolling Through Your Phone
I should know this is a day killer because I’ve been there and done that. This is especially true if your alarm clock is on your phone.
The moment you turn it off, you can’t resist the urge to check through your Instagram page and know how many likes you’ve had between last night and the morning.
One question, how does that improve anything in your life?
Except of course, you’re a social media manager who wants to know how the page you’re handling is performing. Even at that, don’t check the phone because you will be bombarded with other messages and emails.
When this happens you’re stressing your brain and not allowing it to wake up at its own pace.
Plus, not only do you waste hours of your precious time, but feed from the internet can change your mood for good or bad. When the former is the case, you end up turning a potentially awesome-looking day into one you go through feeling sad and de-energized.
Research shows that four out of 5 smartphone users check their phones within fifteen minutes of waking up This means everyone practically does this.
Can you decide to be that 1 out of the 5 right now?
Remember this means you will also be the only one having a much better day out of the 5.
What do you have to lose anyway? Absolutely nothing. But guess what, you’ve got so much to gain.
Attending To The Unimportant Tasks First
While it’s tempting to ignore the hard projects and do the easy ones first, what do you think will happen to those hard projects? They will remain undone.
In his book, Eat That Frog, Brian Tracy says, if you have several frogs to eat, start by eating the ugliest ones first.
Frogs here depict the tasks you need to do. In other words, attend to the most difficult important tasks first, and do the minor ones later.
This also leads me to the Pareto principle which says (as applicable here) that, 80 percent of your productivity comes from doing 20 percent of your tasks,
Your job is to find those 20 percent and stick to doing them first thing in the morning as failure to do this would result in less productivity.
By adopting this method, you can achieve more in a single week, which takes others months to achieve.
Discover the principles to achieving your goals faster in 2023
Last but not least,
Skipping Time With God Is A Bad Morning Routine
What better way to start a day than by consulting with the One who’s made it, God?
The most important morning routine for a productive day is a quiet time with the Word of God along with prayer and/or worship.
It’s calming, assuring, and confidence-boosting. You can begin the day or leave your house knowing fully well that the One who made the day has something good in it for you.
Personally, without this morning routine before starting the day, it’s certain that I’ve practiced the number two bad habit mentioned above (checking my phone).
There is only one secret to a productive day – Your daily morning routines.
There you have them! The 3 (oh, 4) bad early morning routines that lead to unproductivity. Avoid these habits as much as possible and replace them with productive habits.
Finally, don’t just read this article and forget about it. Take action, and take action tomorrow morning!
Read more: The Secrets To A Successful Planning
6 Things I Wish I Knew In My Early 20s.
Top 7 High-Income Online Skills You Need To Learn In 2023
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If there are other bad morning habits that weren’t mentioned above that you’d like to add, feel free to drop them in the comment section below. It’s always a pleasure hearing from you.
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