7 Things To Do Before 9 AM For A Productive Day
7 things you need to do before you start your day
How we decide to spend our mornings can influence the course of our days. Our energy levels, emotional wellbeing, and productivity can be affected just by the outlook of our mornings.
If you find yourself often rushing out the door to get to work or feeling stressed over choosing your outfit for the day, this may be a sign you need to create a more effective morning routine. Doing so will make you feel stressed, overwhelmed, and frantic.
I remember the good old times when I was a college commuter. Let me just tell you that there were countless of times when I would run out the door in a hurry to drive to class. I also definitely won’t forget the countless of times I had to run across campus to get to my classes (lol).
It was so not fun.
Though I graduated college, I’ve been able to create a morning routine that makes me productive and ready to start my day! I never feel rushed going to work because now I actually have structure to my mornings.
In this post, I’ll be sharing with you 7 things you need to do before 9 AM every morning to have a productive day.
Why is a morning routine important?
If you tend to procrastinate like me, you probably have experienced the familiar feeling of snoozing your alarm button and rushing through your mornings.
But what if you created a morning routine that increases your productivity, decreases your stress level, and grounds you?
It is definitely possible. That’s why a morning routine is so important because it comes with so many benefits.
Get Your FREE Morning Routine Worksheet!
The 7 Things You Need To Do Before 9 AM
1. Wake Up Early (AKA Stop Snoozing!)
As tempting as it is, please stop hitting the snooze button!
Studies have actually shown the negative impact of hitting your snooze button can interfere with your health and mental wellbeing. In fact, one week of poor sleep can mess up hundreds of your genes in your body, which leads to a weak immune system, increased inflammation, and high levels of stress.
A helpful trick in order to stop snoozing is charging your phone across your room. If your phone is within arm’s reach when you wake up, it’s going to be way too easy to silence your phone alar.
Find a plug outlet that’s farther away from you or go the extra mile and charge it in a different room that will force you to get out of bed.
It’ll be hard in the beginning, especially if you tend to snooze. But I promise it’ll get easier as time goes!
2. Make Your Bed
When you make your bed, it becomes a small intention to create structure, balance, and calmness in your life. It’s crazy to think that something so small can have a big impact on how we start our days.
According to studies, researchers have found that our sleep environment plays an important role to our sleep cycle and our sleep hygiene. That’s why a cluttered room or messy bed can interfere with our sleep.
A helpful tip: Right when you get up, make your bed before doing anything else!
3. Drink A Glass Of Water
Raise your hand if you tend to reach for coffee or tea before drinking a glass of water. I have been guilty of this so many times before.
Hydrating with a glass of water is so much more beneficial than drinking caffeine first thing in the morning.
Before you start your mornings, I highly recommend drinking a glass of water. Not only does it help you with your physical performance and hydrates your body, drinking water also greatly impacts your brain function and energy levels.
When we sleep, our bodies become progressively dehydrated after 7-8 hours without drinking any water. That’s why when we wake up, we feel dehydrated!
So make sure you’re downing a glass of water before turning to coffee or tea in the morning!
A helpful tip: If you struggle to drink water, consider making it an aesthetic to do. I don’t know about you but making seemingly difficult things an aesthetic, makes them easier for me to do.
Psst…if you’re struggling to create an effective morning routine, I got you! This FREE morning routine worksheet will help you create intentional mornings and feel more energized throughout your day. Grab it for free while you can!
4. Practice Gratitude
I recently listened to a podcast about the benefits of practicing gratitude. I’m sure at some point in our lives, we’ve heard that gratitude is a beneficial thing.
But do we actually know why?
Psychologists and therapists (mine included) have found that gratitude alters your brain chemicals. Gratitude removes us from toxic emotions like jealousy, envy, and anger.
In the world of social media, it’s so easy to compare ourselves to others and envy what other people are doing in their lives.
Gratitude can change our mindset though and improves our mental health by shifting our attention away from toxic emotions.
I personally practice gratitude almost everyday by writing in a gratitude journal. As someone who constantly struggles with negative thoughts, practicing gratitude helps me to shift my attention to the present.
If you’re looking for a gratitude journal, this one is a great starter!
*This post may contain affiliate links which means I may earn a small commission if you purchase through the link at no extra cost to you. Please read my disclosure here.
This gratitude journal contains weekly journal prompts, gratitude prompts, as well as space for you to jot down any notes and ideas. I also love that it has a habit tracker to keep you accountable. 1.5 million copies have been sold which clearly shows that its popularity and recognition.
A helpful tip: Write down in your journal or on a sheet of paper three things you’re grateful for and why. Try your best to tune in to the present and ask yourself what you’re grateful for at this very moment.
5. Do A Light Workout
Exercising in the mornings has been shown to have many physical and mental health benefits. Working out doesn’t have to be a ‘drenched in sweat’ type of activity.
It could be simply going on a light jog around your neighborhood or going to the gym. Moving your body for at least 30 minutes a day has significant benefits to your energy levels and productivity as well.
If you could feel better throughout the day by exercising for at least 30 minutes, why not do so? And if working out requires you to wake up earlier, then do it!
You’ll make time for the things that matter to you.
A helpful tip: Wake up earlier so that you can workout as a part of your morning routine. Set out your workout clothes the night before so you’re not wasting time trying to pick out an outfit.
Related: How To Set Fitness Goals
6. Eat Breakfast
A nutritious filled breakfast is essential to your productivity levels. Skipping breakfast can actually have short-term AND long-term effects on your health.
Breakfast can help us retain information easier and improves our memory function. It can also give us the fuel when it comes to long work meetings or challenging projects and assignments.
Make sure that you’re eating a nutrient-filled breakfast though that is minimally processed. I know it’s so tempting to go to the bakery and buy cake and bread.
But because these are processed foods that contain a lot of refined carbs and sugar, it’s important to start your day with a more well-balanced meal. I’m not saying you shouldn’t buy them, though!
You could definitely eat them as dessert or a treat later in the day, but a well-balanced breakfast will keep your blood sugar optimal and stable throughout the day.
A helpful tip: Meal prep your breakfast the night before to save you time and energy! My go-to is making overnight oats cause it’s super simple and yummy. Check out my favorite go-to recipe.
7. Plan Your Goals For The Day
What does a productive day look like without actually planning your day?!
After I’ve journaled, exercised, and ate breakfast, I like to sit down and plan my day with 3 goals.
Goal planning helps you to stay focused on your most important tasks and have more structure to your day. I definitely would not be writing this blog post if I didn’t plan out what I needed to get done.
Planning your day increases your productivity, helps you stay focused, and helps you achieve your long-term goals.
A helpful tip: Write down what the 3 most important tasks of your day are. If you don’t know what they are, ask yourself, What would I want to accomplish today that will make me one step closer to my long-term goal?
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Thoughts about things to do before 9am
With that said, what you do before 9am can really make a big difference on how the course of your day will go. Essentially, you want to create a morning routine that will benefit you in the long run.
To recap, here are the 7 things to do before 9 am for a productive day:
- Wake up early.
- Make your bed.
- Drink a glass of water.
- Practice gratitude.
- Workout.
- Eat breakfast.
- Plan your goals for the day.
I hope these 7 tips have encouraged you to start your day feeling inspired and ready to tackle your morning routine. I’d love to know – what does your morning routine look like? Comment down below!
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