Become a Better Employee by Making Your Mornings More Productive

Everybody wants to be good at their job, and becoming more productive is a great way to become a better employee. This list should give you a good idea of where to begin, starting with the second you roll out of bed. Most people are highly alert and productive in the morning, so use the tips below for maximizing that time. Below you’ll find the top four morning habits of productive employees:

They find their perfect at-home morning ritual.

Hitting the snooze button four times, rolling out of bed 15 minutes late, skipping your shower, and scrambling to get to work on time are hardly ways to start your day off right. Instead, develop a morning ritual to help get you in the right mindset for a productive, fulfilling day at work.

So what comprises a good morning ritual? A good morning ritual is one that lets you focus on yourself for a short amount of time before starting your day. Experts recommend things like the following:

• Drinking plenty of water
• Stretching
• Exercising
• Reading
• Waking up earlier
• Eating a light and healthy breakfast
• Meditating

Although these things might not have an obvious link to your productivity at work, your morning ritual at home does affect your workplace performance. If you start every single day with a quiet, structured, and healthy morning, you’ll arrive at work focused, energized, and ready to start your duties. On the other hand, if your mornings are hectic and unstructured, you’ll arrive at work frazzled, irritated, and already tired – hardly ready for a productive day’s work.

They exercise.

As mentioned in the point above, exercise is a great way to start your day. But it deserves its own explanation because in addition to being great for your body, there’s also plenty of research showing that exercise can also make you a better employee.

Exercise has long been known to boost mood and energy levels (both of which contribute to increased productivity), but a recent study by British researchers at the University of Bristol indicated that exercising before or during the workday could also improve employee performance in other ways.

According to the study, employees who exercised before work (or sometime during the workday) came into the office with better time management skills and improved mental sharpness. They were also more patient with their peers, making them better team players. So there you have it – yet another reason to hit the gym!

They tackle their big projects first.

If you’re like most people, then you’re probably no stranger to procrastination. In fact, you probably find yourself putting off major projects and assignments on a fairly regular basis, only to panic when deadlines draw near.

Tackling your big projects early in the day is a great way to solve that problem. Many people find that they feel they are most energized and motivated at the beginning of the day, so rather than surfing the internet, checking email, or completing some mindless, unimportant task during your peak productivity time, why not use that energy to start in on your more important projects?

This not only helps to clear your schedule for the rest of the workday, but knowing that big assignments have already been completed also helps to ease your mind, setting you up for a productive, stress-free day.

They avoid meetings.

Again, for most people, mornings are the most productive part of the day. So why waste that time sitting in a meeting? Instead, try to schedule meetings during slower parts of the day (like sometime after lunch, for example) when your body and brain will already be ready for a break from your more demanding duties.

The exception to this, of course, is if the meeting IS the most important part of your day. If that’s the case, then it makes sense for you to schedule it during your peak productivity period. But in many offices, meetings are drawn out, poorly organized productivity drainers, meaning that if they have to happen, they should at least happen outside of your prime focus periods.

If you’re like most people, then your mornings probably leave plenty of room for improvement. But by establishing a productivity-oriented morning ritual and taking advantage of the fact that your body is naturally focused and motivated in the morning hours, you stand to become a better, more productive employee.