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If you wish you had more time in your day, or want to be more productive, this is the article just for you because this new routine changed my life.
With the ongoing pandemic, it’s really difficult to not feel lazy when you’re stuck at home every day doing absolutely nothing. So over the past few days, I came across a few interesting videos while randomly browsing through YouTube and they have changed my lifeeee. I will list down all the things about this life-changing routine. I’m a changed girl now guysssss 😉 Time to give yourself a software update!
1. Wake up at 5am
So, the video that I was watching said that if I wanted to improve myself, I needed to start waking up at 5am. Erm.. Okay.. Except, I normally wake up at 10am on holidays, and now that my area is under lockdown due to COVID-19, there’s absolutely no way that I can wake up at 5 am. Sounded like a joke to me. But the longer I continued the video, the more I started to understand the importance of this habit. Well, they mentioned a lot of benefits. But what really made me think twice was this.
If I woke up at 5am instead of 10am, I will have 5 extra hours to do anything I want.
This, plus the realization of how small the opportunity cost was, and the fact that the benefits far outweigh the hardship I have to go through (waking up early), gave me the motivation I needed to start. So, I did. And so far, I’m absolutely loving it
2. Set an alarm properly
I used to set around 6-7 alarms every morning. The reason for this was because I didn’t have it in me to wake up to one alarm. Because I always turned it off. I realized, however, that it still somehow wasn’t working. Because I still didn’t wake up. But this time the reason was, every single time the alarm rang, I stopped it cause I knew that there was another alarm coming soon. So I just switched it off and I slept. And I did this again and again and again until there were no more alarms. So I slept. All the way.
So now, I only set one alarm. So I know that if I miss this, that’s it.
Another tip is to change the sound of your alarm every now and then. My previous alarm sound was the same for almost a year. I was so used to hearing that sound, every morning, I woke up annoyed and frustrated and it was simply a bad start to my day. I stopped waking up. When I changed it, I woke up and my mornings felt much nicer.
Also, remember to keep your phone (or alarm clock) somewhere far from you. Somewhere harder to reach. (Don’t follow this tip if you have a medical condition. Obviously) Make sure that it’s in a place where you have to GET UP and WALK. This way, by the time you get to your phone.. you’re MORE awake than normal!
3. Have a cold shower
I know that having a cold shower is extremely uncomfortable. Especially if it’s at 5AM! I felt so too. (Well, I still feel uncomfortable lol). But the thing is, the SHIVER you get when you feel the cold water touch you, will REALLY wake you up – for a second time. Just imagine holding a nice hot cup of coffee in your hands afterward. And believe me, once you’re done with your shower, you’ll feel like a million dollars!
4. Read a book
Early mornings are really peaceful and quiet. This is the perfect time for you to do some reading. Now I know that there are some of us that love to read. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. This is why I said this routine changed my life. I love reading a lot of things – magazines, articles, news, but not books. So I use this magical app called Blinkist. It lets you listen to a summarized version of an entire book in around 15 minutes. And they have a massive library. So this is just perfect for me because every single morning, in less than 15 minutes I’ll be able to absorb something brand new into my life.
If you’re interested, get your free audiobooks from here: Blinkist
5. Update yourself
I have apps like CNBC, Bloomberg, and Google News downloaded on my phone. When I read through the headline news and the trending list in the morning, I feel much more updated on what’s happening in the world. Another one of my favorite apps to go through in the morning is Medium. It is an open platform where normal people like us write their thoughts on different topics for people to read. I find this very insightful and informative as well. I have seen conversations on the same topic from different perspectives. 10/10.
6. Plan your day
Now, this tip is a key point for how this routine changed my life. I used to write down my daily and weekly plan in a notebook for years. But it’s really inconvenient because I always have to carry it everywhere I go and I update it ALL the time… So now, instead of a physical planner, I use google calendar to plan my days.
For those of you who already use Google calendar, you already know what I’m talking about. It’s the best thing I ever came across. I can plan my days, manage my tasks, keep track of my progress and the best part is… I don’t have to erase and rewrite whenever I change my plans now. Drag and drop. Easy. Saves me a ton of time and honestly, when I see something being that organized, it really motivates me to work harder for some reason. So this point is a MUST.
7. Go to bed early
This step was particularly hard for me to follow. That’s because I get distracted REALLY easily. The multiple people inside my games that I have to “put to work” for 8 hours.. the mystery boxes I have to put to unlock.. The wars that I have to fight before morning. It’s a lot. Not just games.. Social media.. the second you open IT (I’m not gonna mention any names. But ill just say it starts with Insta and ends with gram), you’re gone. The homepage and explore page will keep you up for hours, easily. But hear me. Do you wanna scroll or do you wanna be a CHANGED PERSON? Drop the phone. Keep it somewhere far away so you can stop the alarm and wake up tomorrow morning.
I hope you found this article helpful. This new routine changed my life and helped me to be more productive. I hope it helps yours too!
If you’re a student reaching this, I have an article on how to study effectively. Hope it helps!
Good luck!
xoxo ♥
Hey! I’m the co-founder of Smartiac – a pinterest management agency for the home furnishing industry. If you’re a furniture store owner or marketing manager looking for assistance with pinterest management, definitely get in touch with me!
