Lifehacker: A few months ago, I realized I was kind of a gross mess in the morning. I was snoozing my alarm way too long, then jumping out of bed in a panic, forgetting a bunch of things I needed to do and grab on the way out the door, and starting each day off on entirely the wrong foot.
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Yeah. I mean, I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I try to failure-proof my life as much as possible – so if I know I’m less acute in the mornings, or at the end of the night after a long rehearsal, I plan and prepare in advance so I don’t have to worry about extra stressors, and I either know exactly what I have to get done, or move it to another time. I am also not a morning person, so I try not to put too many tasks in the morning before my first commitment, but I pretty much have my routine down so I don’t have to think about it as I’m doing it. Of course, I’m in school and I have a backpack, so I pretty much need the same things every day which makes it easier than having to figure out what the day holds. I am a big fan of Notion and Google Calendar as opposed to random notes app, but whatever works works, and I know that differs based on the person.
I find it incredibly interesting how this author uses what is almost a branch of gambling science to create a morning routine that works for her. To help in the formation of her good habits, the author sets up a system of large tasks and small rewards at night that she will be going through the next day. This idea of small, consistent but unpredictable rewards is nothing new, and goes back to the idea of mobile apps and gambling. Human brains are wired to enjoy the small dopamine hits that we get when we have a small reward associated with a task, and by playing off of that we can accomplish just about anything in a less arduous way. I was inspired by this person's method. As someone who is also very unproductive in the morning, I may try implementing a similar system into my life next week.
This article really taught me a lot, including how to stay awake in the morning and how to make the most of a productive day. Generally, for my 9 a.m. classes, I tend to get up at 8:30, rush through my preparations, and head to class in a disheveled state (sometimes even wearing pajamas and slippers). At times, I feel like I lack the energy to get up early, needing a lot of sleep to avoid headaches or morning mood swings. However, after reading this article, I realized the feasibility of reward mechanisms and how exercise can help avoid getting stuck in the same place every day. Just like the article mentions, "For me, little treats and enjoyable activities really keep me going. First, I play the NYT Games while I brush my teeth and wash my face. Knowing I get to play Wordle and Mini Crossword as soon as I wake up, provided I get up and head straight to the bathroom, really motivates me." These small rewards motivated the author to get out of bed, and I will also try telling myself that if I can get up within five minutes of waking up, I can have a piece of chocolate (usually a high-calorie treat I love but rarely eat). Moreover, I should exercise more to maintain my energy levels.
This article brought up really great tips and pointers. I usually wake uo one hour before my classes start, and usually allot myself thirty minutes to get ready. I do usually lay my clothes out before bed, but keeping a to-do list for the upcoming days is something I need to start doing. I have one but I don’t really update it, so it is not that helpful. Like I really need to run laundry today, but nothing in me wants to. The reward system is a really good idea. Maybe I’ll get a meal from stacked or dessert from there as a reward. The idea of scheduling emails is also super smart, because I honestly keep forgetting to send emails so this would probably be really helpful. Reading this article was just my reminder to send that email. Going forwards though, I will start laying out my skincare routines the night before, so I’m not searching my desk for them while half asleep the next morning.
Like the author of this article I also really struggle with getting out of bed feeling like I've started my day positively and to keep it going as such. I do many of the same things, I prepare my lunch, backpack, and anything else I need with me in the morning. I have a notebook to put my random thoughts that need a follow up in, and utilize my google calendar and the task function religiously, and there's nothing I love more than schedule sending an email for the morning. I also subscribe to the ideology that I always deserve a little treat after doing something, and especially after a rough day, like playing a game or having a snack. One thing about my day that really throws a damper on my ability to get up early, and ensure I'm not scrambling no matter how much prep I've done is the fact production requires late hours and class requires me back in the morning. I know this person is writing from the lens of having consistent hours and having harder in and out times, but for students and especially those of us in production, we don't have that privilege. Getting yourself as ready as possible is great, but if that has to happen at midnight and you need to be out the door by 8:30am for class you're still pushing your luck on sleep. A rewards system can only go so far when you don't seem to have enough hours in the day to get it all done.
Having a productive morning routine past getting to class on time in some semblance of togetherness is something I have not yet managed to accomplish between early morning classes and our late night production commitments. That being said, this article does provide some useful tidbits of information, some of which I already try and apply - things like prepping items you might forget in the morning or scheduling emails for the morning. While I personally don’t have time in the morning (short of getting up at 7AM and losing a precious hour of sleep out of the already few I get) to explore the idea of adventuring for breakfast or errands in the morning, I think that there is a world where I can implement a few changes in order to be a complete and together person in the morning. Having an “incentive” is a way that might be useful in small doses but in general I think that giving myself more structure is the way to go in the end.
Routines can be hard for people and I think the pandemic definitely threw off alot of people and the routine they used to keep themselves orgnized. I know that is my experience. And changing back to my old routine has been difficult because I frequently stay up late and leave more to do in the morning then there is time. But this is probably some of the most frequent advice shared is set yourself up for success. I also believe that a night time routine that helps one set themselves up for success has to improve quality of sleep and allow for more control. This is common but to build a reward system out of it is new. How can waking up become the best part of my day? If anything this article helped get me thinking about how to set up an evening routine to assist in my morning routine.
A lot of things in this article I try to do as well, especially after having come to college and having a new routine to create and manage. I have only recently been trying to pre pack a lot more things that may have been moved during the day, which is good as I would often leave in a rush and forget something or spend too long trying to locate an item. I also try to, at the very least, have an idea or plan for what I will wear as sometimes there’s no space to lay out clothes. Serving a similar purpose to the sticky note reminders in the article, I use a journal mixed with a diary so that I have records on how my day went and what is due next or of fun plans coming up in the week, I have found this has worked well to consolidate all the things from all the different places that information can show up. Another thing that wasn’t mentioned but works wonders is a puzzle lock alarm, which requires a puzzle or math problem to be solved before it can be turned off/snoozed.
An early productive morning is a really great way to start your day. I have never been a morning person, but over the summer I wanted to change that. I started going to bed at a consistent time and getting up at 7 am, doing my devotional time and going for a walk or doing some other productive tasks. It was very nice and felt like a great way to start my day. I felt ahead of the game and more energized for the most part. I sometimes napped later in the day but it still felt good to have a consistent morning routine. I came in to college planning to keep a consistent routine like that, but with long days and a very inconsistent bedtime, it certainly makes it harder to get up early in the morning. I do wish to set a morning routine again but it does take a lot of effort to stick to it.
Just like so many people, mornings are very hard for me. I am naturally more of a night owl, and also have very bad insomnia, so trying to wake up early has always been a problem. I have gotten much better over the years at being able to wake up early, and I am 9 times out of 10 able to wake up at my first alarm. To be sure I wake up on time, I usually set about 4 or 5 alarms at 5 minute intervals which means even snoozing an alarm wouldn't give me enough time to go back to sleep. I do think this article has some good ideas that I try to implement when I can, like making lists at the end of each night so that I remember what I needed to do the next day. What I end up doing most nights that has helped me throughout life has been instead of fighting to fall asleep, I will instead think of solutions to problems for school or production. Usually my best thoughts come to me around 2 or 3 am, so I've been able to balance the time lost sleeping with some dedicated time to thinking through problems as thoroughly as I can. When I set my alarms, I usually give myself 30 extra minutes to start waking up and I can usually do some doom scrolling on tiktok in that time. It works well because I don't have to instantly wake up and go, but rather can be waking up while staying comfortable. I don't think there is a one size fits all solution to waking up, and really it just has to be specific to each person.
I thought it was interesting when she mentioned writing down not only what tasks she has to complete the next day, but the things she’s excited about doing too. I think that’s really cute and inspiring. It’s a nice way of waking yourself up that morning, and making yourself excited for the day to come the night before. I do find that writing down daily tasks, specifically with pen and paper, has helped me in the past, especially for “reset” days. Another thing that I personally use to help me get up are sleep apps! I use “Rise,” which is a circadian rhythm tracker that finds out how many hours of sleep you yourself need, not the “at least 6 hours.” From there, it plans your day out, with when you should wake up, when you should fall asleep, tracks your “sleep debt,” and tells you when you should be productive versus when you’re going to feel tired. Highly recommended, this app really helped me out in the summertime with maintaining energy throughout the day.
I really like this article because, for like all of my senior year of high school, I had such a bad morning routine that I lulled like almost every single day of my senior year, and it was just really bad and unhealthy, so I really liked how this article was mentioning the emphasis on preparation the night before because, honestly, when I packed my bag and made my lunch set at my clothes the night before, it was so much easier to get up and go, but I often forgot, and it resulted in me taking forever in the morning, especially because I was always so tired at night from rehearsals.
The concept of a reward system also resonated with me. I've discovered that rewarding oneself to something small, which in this case for me would be my Dunkin', can boost how you feel in the morning and make your day that much better.
As a person of structure I am incredibly disappointed that my morning routine has fallen from order this year. Over the summer I had to make up at 5am multiple days a week and due to this significant change in my schedule from what I was used to I developed a strict and productive morning routine. I would wake up get dressed attend the zoom meeting I needed to attend from 5:30-6, do some homework and the New York Times and meet up with my friends for breakfast by 8. This routine is obviously not transferable to out CMU SOD schedule but reading this article reminded me how important having a solid morning routine is especially as I am entering tech and midterm season in the next couple weeks. I hope to sit down this weekend and schedule a more solid morning routine then what my morning have become over the past couple of weeks.
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