Early to bed, Early to rise ...
November 14, 2018 2:05 PM Subscribe
How do I become more productive in the mornings?
I started a new job a couple weeks ago. And it's great, but it did shift my workday by three hours. Previously I would wake up at 4 AM, get to work by 5 AM, and be home by 2 PM. Now I need to get to work by 8 AM and I don't get home until 5 PM.
Since my work and wake times aren't changing, just re-arranging, I figured it'd be easy enough to move some of my afternoon activities to the morning and that'd be that. But I'm finding nothing is getting done before work. And I am, essentially, losing 3 hours out of my day.
My sleep schedule isn't going to change. So I need to figure out how to be more productive before work. It used to take me 30 minutes to get ready for work and 20 minutes to commute. My commute is still 20 minutes. But somehow my getting ready time has stretched out to eat up all the extra time.
It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm worried about this becoming my new normal.
I started a new job a couple weeks ago. And it's great, but it did shift my workday by three hours. Previously I would wake up at 4 AM, get to work by 5 AM, and be home by 2 PM. Now I need to get to work by 8 AM and I don't get home until 5 PM.
Since my work and wake times aren't changing, just re-arranging, I figured it'd be easy enough to move some of my afternoon activities to the morning and that'd be that. But I'm finding nothing is getting done before work. And I am, essentially, losing 3 hours out of my day.
My sleep schedule isn't going to change. So I need to figure out how to be more productive before work. It used to take me 30 minutes to get ready for work and 20 minutes to commute. My commute is still 20 minutes. But somehow my getting ready time has stretched out to eat up all the extra time.
It's only been a couple of weeks, but I'm worried about this becoming my new normal.
Write down what you want to do before work, and do those things for a week. After that, tweak the schedule as needed, but it'll probably feel like habit soon.
I personally find exercise to be great to get done before work, because cleaning up from that doubles as getting ready for work.
posted by metasarah at 5:54 PM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I personally find exercise to be great to get done before work, because cleaning up from that doubles as getting ready for work.
posted by metasarah at 5:54 PM on November 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I’m not sure what kinds of things you’re wanting to do in the mornings or why it’s taking you longer to get ready. For instance, if it’s that you’re spending lots of time surfing the internet (super easy to do!), that gives us a specific problem to work with.
I have a morning routine that consists of a shower, then meditation and brief spiritual reading, followed by starting steel-cut oatmeal and doing half an hour of yoga while it cooks. Then I eat, pack my lunch, get dressed for work, and leave. I used to write for 15 minutes, and that went by the wayside while I started the meditation habit. My next plan is to get up earlier and add the writing back in. This routine has developed slowly over years.
I’d suggest choosing one thing you want to do in the morning and adding that in until it becomes a habit. Then add something else. Keep doing that until you have a routine you’re happy with, though you can keep tweaking it forever. In fact, you should, since your needs and desires will naturally change over time. I find that morning habits work best if there’s a specific time in my schedule that I do them. For instance, my shower is always followed immediately by meditating. If I let myself check my email instead, my whole morning would get thrown off and I’d have to drop something to get to work on time.
Another possibility is if you’re losing time doing something like checking the internet or petting the dog, set a timer for how long you’re allowed to do it. When the time is up, do something else.
I’m reading the book Atomic Habits right now and finding lots of good ideas there too.
posted by FencingGal at 7:17 PM on November 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I have a morning routine that consists of a shower, then meditation and brief spiritual reading, followed by starting steel-cut oatmeal and doing half an hour of yoga while it cooks. Then I eat, pack my lunch, get dressed for work, and leave. I used to write for 15 minutes, and that went by the wayside while I started the meditation habit. My next plan is to get up earlier and add the writing back in. This routine has developed slowly over years.
I’d suggest choosing one thing you want to do in the morning and adding that in until it becomes a habit. Then add something else. Keep doing that until you have a routine you’re happy with, though you can keep tweaking it forever. In fact, you should, since your needs and desires will naturally change over time. I find that morning habits work best if there’s a specific time in my schedule that I do them. For instance, my shower is always followed immediately by meditating. If I let myself check my email instead, my whole morning would get thrown off and I’d have to drop something to get to work on time.
Another possibility is if you’re losing time doing something like checking the internet or petting the dog, set a timer for how long you’re allowed to do it. When the time is up, do something else.
I’m reading the book Atomic Habits right now and finding lots of good ideas there too.
posted by FencingGal at 7:17 PM on November 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
I create a series of alarms in the morning so that I'm aware of how long it's taking me to shower/dress, coffee, and do other things. That might help you manage that time in increments.
posted by answergrape at 9:41 AM on November 15, 2018
posted by answergrape at 9:41 AM on November 15, 2018
For sure it really depends what you were doing in the afternoon and if it can be done in the morning. I get up around 6am. I eat breakfast and workout. Exercise in the morning has been a key to my success and health. But I will also do other things before I start my work day...I clean in the mornings, I go food shopping in the mornings, I check social media in the morning, ect. Fyi I work from home so I can basically create my own schedule. That said I don't usually start work for my job till around 9. But i get chores and stuff done in the am so come 5:30-6pm I'm all finished with my day and I can relax during dinner and watch TV or read a book. Ya just gotta change when you do stuff.
posted by ljs30 at 10:25 AM on November 15, 2018
posted by ljs30 at 10:25 AM on November 15, 2018
I've started getting up earlier myself, and I've begin eating a cooked breakfast at home, doing light cleaning, and prepping dinner for the evening -- loving my slow cooker right now! I also take my dog for a longer walk which makes both of us happier before we head off to my office, where the walking experience is not nearly as nice.
You may or may not be able to pull this off at some point with your job, but I also started working from home in the mornings a couple weeks ago. That way I can have productive personal and professional time before my commute, which is helpfully cut in half by heading in at 10:30 instead 9.
posted by ananci at 12:16 PM on November 15, 2018
You may or may not be able to pull this off at some point with your job, but I also started working from home in the mornings a couple weeks ago. That way I can have productive personal and professional time before my commute, which is helpfully cut in half by heading in at 10:30 instead 9.
posted by ananci at 12:16 PM on November 15, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by lesser weasel at 4:37 PM on November 14, 2018