For the select few that find weekday mornings a sinch — we’re jealous! For the rest of us, a suggestion or two to make mornings easier might be welcome advice. And while we may not have cracked the code for becoming a morning person, we have some great tips for making the start of your day a little less hectic! If you can make these suggestions a habit, you’ll be well on your way to starting every day right.
Pick out your outfit the night before
Sure, this may not be a new concept, but it IS a serious time saver. Picking out our clothes can be one of the most time-consuming tasks in the morning, especially if you suddenly realize that your go-to striped shirt is sitting at the bottom of your hamper…or…it isn’t, it’s mysteriously disappeared! Or maybe you’re having one of those mornings where everything you try on just feels like a “no,” - choosing your clothes ahead of time nixes the wasted minutes on decisions.
Plan Your Breakfast Ahead of Time
We all have our breakfast rituals that make us feel like we’re ready to take on the day. Maybe this includes a sit-down meal with eggs, pancakes, bacon – the works, or maybe it’s just grabbing a protein bar as you’re running out the door. Regardless of what your breakfast time looks like, it can be extremely helpful to pre-plan – or even pre-prep!
Pro Tips for a Quick Breakfast
If you’re sitting down to enjoy a hot breakfast, try the Sunday prep – cook all your food then store the portion-sized meals in ready-to-go containers that you can just pop into the microwave for quick heating. This not only saves you precious time during your weekday mornings but also ensures you have a nutritious start to your day without the rush.
More of an on-the-go type?
Keep a basket of one-handed breakfast snacks in a dedicated basket in your pantry, on the kitchen countertop, or even near the door, so you can truly just grab and go when you’re heading out. This simple yet effective strategy can be a game-changer for those bustling mornings when every second counts.
Coffee lover?
Aren’t we all – here’s an easy tip – pre-prep your coffee for each morning the night before - add your water and coffee grinds so you can simply hit “brew” when you wake up – bonus points if your coffee machine has an automatic brew setting so all you’ll have to do is set up your cup!
Have a Grooming Game Plan
Grooming isn’t always one small feat. Shaving your face, washing and drying your hair – those tasks can take a lot of your precious morning time. Our advice? Take one of those grooming routines and move it to the night before so your morning routine can be a bit smoother (bonus: you can hit the snooze button just one more time). Not feeling the night before? At least keep a back-up plan in place – you know, just in case you oversleep, or you wake up to find that there’s no hot water. You can keep a beard comb and oil on hand to make sure the beard that really needed a shave, could look polished in a pinch. Dry shampoo will soak up excess oil on your hair, plus add some extra lift just in case a shower and hair wash isn’t in the cards. Making sure you’re ready for the unexpected takes the edge off of stressful situations and can help keep rough mornings from ruining the rest of your day.
Keep your out-the-door essentials in one place
This one might be the hardest to accomplish but may also be the biggest lifesaver on a hectic morning! We’ve all been ready to walk out of the door, blissfully on time and stress-free, only to realize that our keys/wallet/phone are nowhere to be found. Cut to you tearing through the house trying to find them, leaving behind a trail of clutter that you’ll have to clean up after you get home. Nothing can derail an otherwise great morning like the sudden panic of not knowing how long it might take you to find your stuff (…and IF you’ll find your stuff). The simplest way to avoid this is to always keep your must-haves in the same place. You can drop your keys and wallet in one spot that’s convenient for when you leave in the morning or when you come home – think an entryway able or even the kitchen counter. While that may not work as well with your phone, you can find a time in your morning where it makes sense to cut off phone use, and simply drop your phone with your keys and wallet, so it’s there when you head out. Or keep everything on your bedside able, along with your phone, so all your essentials can truly stay in one place.
Utilize Virtual Assistants
One of the worst ways to start your day is by realizing you forgot to do something (or bring something) that was crucial. We live in a tech-obsessed world, but sometimes forget the most useful tools we have right at our fingertips. Whether it be Siri, Google, Alexa, or any other robot friend, these AI companions can easily be that reminder you need as you’re walking out the door. Constantly forgetting to grab your coffee thermos? Never remember your kids’ lunch? Just ask one of these helpful gadgets to remind you around the time you’d normally be leaving and remove that thought from your mental load.
This list may seem like a lot to take in, but a key takeaway is to plan ahead! Procrastination gets the best of all of us sometimes but trust us when we say that smooth mornings can positively impact your whole day.
