Part of being organized is creating habits that help us get the most out of every day. When we rely on habits (which we do without thinking) rather than deliberate actions that require conscious effort, we free up our brains for more important stuff.
Morning is an ideal time for getting into habits that can lead to a more productive day. Here are five things you can do early in the day, every day, to get more done.
1. Track Your Sleep
When you first wake up, while sleep is still fresh on your mind, check how much you slept the night before. If you wear a fitness tracker or smartwatch that has a sleep-tracking function, look at your data. If not, estimate it based on the time you went to bed.
(Credit: Garmin/Apple/PCMag)People need sufficient sleep to be able to focus and be their most productive. "Sufficient" is a relative word and varies by individual. Not getting enough sleep takes a serious toll on performance. One bad night's sleep isn't going to ruin you, but several days in a row will. While everyone has unique sleep needs, research shows that for most people six hours or less of sleep, night after night, is not enough. (Parents of small children: I'm sorry.) If you aren't sure how much sleep you need, give yourself enough time in bed each night to get at least eight hours of sleep and, based on how you feel, adjust it from there. One remarkable thing found in sleep studies is that when people are slightly sleep deprived night after night, it affects how well they do on tests, but people report feeling fine. So a lack of sleep can deteriorate your performance and abilities, and you may not even know it.
If you're not getting enough sleep, how can you fix it? Most people can't simply sleep later because they have to wake up at a fixed time to prepare for work. Instead, you have to go to bed earlier. Figure out by what time you'd have to be in bed to get a solid eight hours of sleep, and then set an alarm to remind yourself to go to bed a little before then. iPhones have a built-in feature that does exactly that. For example, if you need to wake up at 6:30 a.m., set a bedtime alarm for no later than 10:30 p.m.—better might be 9:45 to give yourself time to wind down in bed.
That said, some people have a biological need to fall asleep later than others. If you put yourself in bed at 9:45, you might still not fall asleep until well after 11:00. In that case, you may have to adjust your sleep schedule to go to bed later but also sleep later. If you're lucky enough to have remote work as an option and don't have to commute to a job site, it's very possible you can get the extra shut eye you need in the morning rather than at night. Otherwise, minimizing your morning routine (like showering at night instead of in the morning) might help you sleep better.
2. Review Your Calendar and To-Do List
Has your productivity ever been derailed by an appointment or meeting you forgot was on your calendar? Get in the habit of reviewing your calendar and to-do list before your day gets going, and make sure you do it every day. It helps to tie this action to an existing morning habit, such as drinking coffee or powering up your computer. You might also set a quick-access view in your phone that shows your daily calendar or to-do list.
By default, your calendar probably notifies you about meetings a few minutes before they're scheduled to occur. Take those notifications seriously—not to arrive at the meeting on time, but as a cue to wrap up your other work and give yourself a few moments to prepare. Meetings add to stress when they are seen as interrupters of more important work. Try not to let meetings get in the way. If you only have half an hour until your next meeting, don't start a task that will take an hour. And if you really loathe meetings, you can actively work to make them shorter with some tricks for wasting less time in meetings.
(Credit: Alphabet/PCMag)3. Check the Language of Your To-Dos
How we phrase the tasks on our to-do list greatly affects whether we complete them. Set yourself up for success by being clear and making sure what you write down is something you can actually accomplish.
(Credit: Doist/PCMag)As you review your to-do list, be aware of what exactly you're asking yourself to do today. For example, "Book the corporate retreat" is too big to be one task, but "Find three possible venues for corporate retreat" is achievable. Be clear in your language and make sure your tasks are the right size. Otherwise, you risk letting stubborn tasks get stuck on your to-do list.
4. DND Yourself Until It's Time to Process Email, Messages
Do you get sidetracked by email or Slack messages? Decide ahead of time, before you even start your workday, when you will tackle messages. Pick three or four time slots when you will look over email and do something with the messages you see. Do the same with business messaging apps. Then comes the most important step: silence notifications or set yourself to Do Not Disturb mode for at least two hours of your morning.
I encourage people to do this in the morning because willpower is still typically high early in the day, since we haven't yet been run down by other work.
(Credit: Slack/PCMag)There's another reason not to get caught up in email when you're trying to do real work in the morning specifically. Research shows the interruptive effects of email are worse in the morning than in the afternoon for most knowledge workers.
If you use webmail and have a hard time breaking email's temptations, you can block your own access during just the morning hours using the browser extension StayFocusd or another one like it. With Stayfocusd, you can block your access between specific hours, such as 8:30–11:00 a.m., or limit how many minutes you can use the site during the times you set.
5. Watch Cat Videos or Standup Comedy Clips
Think of a few things you enjoy that you can do in about two minutes. These can be as simple as hitting up your favorite TikTok cat video, watching a standup comedy clip, or listening to a favorite power ballad. Then try to do some of those things during a few short mid-morning breaks. Don't get sucked into them for longer than about two minutes! Use a browser-based break/work cycle timer, like Strict Workflow, if it helps.
(Credit: @jade13tr/TikTok)Why would watching cat videos in the morning help you be productive? Two reasons: First, breaks only rejuvenate us from work when we do something we enjoy during them. Second, there's mounting evidence that shows breaks are most effective when we take them frequently but keep them relatively short.
In one interesting experiment, researchers found that a group of subjects who watched comedy clips before completing a series of tasks outperformed a control group by about 12 percent. A different group of researchers in Japan who study the effects of cute images found that when people looked at pictures of kittens and puppies before completing tasks, they were more careful than a group who looked at photos of adult cats and dogs or neutral objects.
So think of something relatively quick that you enjoy, whether it's checking sports scores online or treating yourself to a fresh coffee, and don't feel guilty when you do it during your morning breaks.
For more help every day, see our latest articles on productivity advice.