Mornings.
For a lot of us, this is the most stressful time of the day. You’re shaking off the sleepies and are about to be slammed with responsibilities at work, home, school, and other areas of life. Grumbling your way through it only compounds the stress. Take a moment to really listen to the usual morning chatter, and you might hear some cliches, such as…
“Another long week ahead.”
“I hate Mondays.”
“Back to the grind.”
“Can’t wait until Friday.”
Personally, I love mornings. Instead of looking at them as the start of another stressful day, I look at them as an opportunity to reorganize, refocus, and attack my goals. I have long believed that your life is a product of your mindset. That is, your perception largely shapes your reality. Research in positive psychology is increasingly finding this to be the case:
“We’re finding it’s not necessarily reality that shapes us, but the lens through which your brain views the world that shapes your reality.”
Shawn Achor
Given that, I like to see mornings as an opportunity, not a burden – and I hope you will too after reading and executing on the methods that follow.
I like to incorporate the following simple, stress-relieving methods into my day, as well as the rest of the week, to help me stay motivated, positive, and productive. I am fortunate to have access to some incredible people and resources that all have brilliant de-stressing and productivity strategies, which I use personally and will share with you below. Give these a shot, and maybe you and your mornings will start seeing eye-to-eye.
1. Move in the Morning
This one sounds a little obvious, but you’d be amazed at what a difference it makes. Oftentimes, people will shut off their alarm, lay in bed for a bit longer, and then drag themselves through their morning routine.
Instead of laying around, get up when the alarm goes off and walk around a bit. If you live in a multi-level house, walk up and down the stairs a few times. Take a walk around your apartment complex. Stretch your legs and get things moving – it helps set the tone for your day. If you’re feeling particularly drained, this short routine can be done almost anywhere and takes only a few minutes:
1. Cat/Camel – 10 reps
2. “World’s Greatest Stretch” – 5 to 10 reps
3. Glute Bridges – 15 reps
4. Reverse Lunges (alternate legs) – 5 reps per leg, or 10 total
5. Wall Slides (for shoulder mobility) – 10 reps (slides)
The concept of morning mobility and movement was given to me by my good friend, NYT bestselling author, and fitness coach John Romaniello of Roman Fitness Systems LLC. He calls it the “neural wake up call,” and it’s a great way to get moving and stretch out some kinks. A more in depth discussion of the neural wake up call (as well as other great content) can be found on his blog.
After this, grab a big glass of water, start your tea or coffee, and move to step two.
2. DON’T Check E-Mail Right Away
Or any other social media site, really. Tim Ferriss recently blogged that “E-Mail is the mind killer,” and I agree 100%. I include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media site in this category as well.
Instead, write out your daily to-do list. Yes, with a paper and pencil. Or, if you’re like me, use a whiteboard and marker. Nate Green wrote about this in his e-book “The Hero Handbook,” which you can check out for free here. I’ve been using this strategy to help me outline my days, weeks, and even months, and it’s worked fabulously for keeping me on track and my tasks in perspective. The feeling of physically erasing something from your list once you’ve completed it is totally underrated.
When making your list, focus on a few key tasks. Modern to-do lists often fall victim to information overload. I never put more than 5 items on mine. I know from experience that anything more will stretch my attention and force me to forfeit the necessary care each task requires. Here’s an example of one of my recent to-do lists from this past semester at school, separated into two categories: “Must Do’s,” stuff that needs to be done that day, and “Also On the List,” other stuff that is coming up or I should be mindful about.
Must Do:
- Study for CS exam (2 hours)
- Draft final 478 paper
- Finalize edits for 483 project
Also On the List:
- Research agencies and companies I’ll be visiting on California trip
If you’re adamant about remaining in the digital sphere, check out CARROT. It’s like having your own personal Jarvis (fellow superhero fans will feel me on that one), because CARROT is a virtual to-do list with a personality and changes her mood based on how productive you are.
Focus on the bigger picture and organize your thoughts before mindlessly engaging with the Internet. Your E-Mail will still be there, I promise.
Now, both your body and mind are primed for the day ahead, and it’s all taken less than 15 minutes. Not bad.
3. Work Smarter, not Harder
In the age of distraction, people are oftentimes fooled into believing they’re working much more than they really are. Our minds are constantly pulled in different directions and tempted to engage with several different stimuli. Some call it multitasking. I call it distraction. Agree to disagree.
For zeroing in on the task at hand, I like to race the clock, yet another productivity method I picked up from Nate Green.
Set a phone, stopwatch, timer, whatever you have handy for one hour. Then get to work. You’d be amazed at how much you can get done when you actually commit to doing things. The timer keeps you accountable and helps you maximize your time. When it goes off, take a short break – grab some water, go through the mobility routine outlined in the first point, or just sit back and relax. Then reset it and go right back to work. Tasks that you anticipated taking “forever” are usually done in one to three of these hyper-focused intervals.
If you’re a Mac user and big on keeping tabs or other windows open while you’re working on a computer, I suggest downloading Self Control. This free app lets you blacklist certain websites that sap your productive time and energy by distracting you from the task at hand. Download it, set the timer (killing two birds with one stone!), and get workin’.
4. Chill Out
Even if the above steps are taken, some days will bring an avalanche of anxiety-promoting work. Stuff falls through. Deadlines go from creeping up on you to breaking out into a sprint. Motivation or desire to be productive wanes. What’s the best thing to do when you feel like the walls are closing in on you?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
I’ve found great value in daily meditation. Five to ten minutes of “me time” when I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed. Just me and my thoughts, whatever they may be. Sometimes I’ll sit and relax, focusing on taking deep breaths. Other times I’ll read for pleasure, go through the mobility routine from point one, or shut the computer and take a quick walk around. Anything to disconnect for a moment and mentally regroup. Just make it mindful and “you” centered.
Then, once I feel revitalized, it’s right back to work.
5. Pump Up
I love working out. I’m active 4-5 times a week, regardless of my schedule. Hitting the gym is a cherished ritual – a time to become stronger, leaner, healthier, and work on my physical mobility. It’s also a great way to spend more “me” time, as point four discusses, and several studies have supported a positive correlation between exercise and improved cognitive function.
Strong body, strong mind.
When it comes to exercise, you can’t go wrong with including basic barbell lifts that stress the whole body. When combined with dumbbell and bodyweight movements, they will have the most carryover to your physique and health.
- Deadlifts
- Squats (front or back)
- Bench presses (any variety)
- Overhead presses (standing, with a barbell)
- Rows (barbell or dumbbell)
- Pull/Chin ups (all varieties)
- Dips (parallel bars or rings)
- Push ups
- Romanian deadlifts
- Lunges
- Glute bridges (barbell)
- Goblet squats (dumbbell)
Some other great additions are single-limb and core-centric movements, such as:
- One arm overhead press (dumbbell)
- Reverse lunges
- Hand walkouts
- Planks
- One-legged squats (to a bench)
This is just a sample list and is by no means exhaustive. However, I have found that combining movements like these brings a great return on my workout investment. Organizing these movements (and more) into a comprehensive workout template will be discussed in a future post. For now, know that if time is of the essence and there is work to be done, you can’t go wrong with moving quickly and focusing on the basics.
—
Putting these five strategies into action has helped me become more productive now than in days past. By practicing early morning activity, organizing my thoughts, committing to mindful work, occasionally disconnecting, and training hard in the gym, I’m more focused and motivated to conquer whatever life throws at me. It works for me, and I’m hopeful it will for you.
Monday.
Not so scary anymore, is it?
Ian Estabrook 