How to Be a Morning Person

3 min read

If you’re anything like me, the morning is your least productive period of the day as you struggle to turn on. This can be problematic and if you’re reading this, either you want to change your habit and be more productive, or something has come along into your life that’s forcing you to be up in the morning and you’re trying to find anything that will help make the morning more bearable.

Well, whatever brought you here, you can find some tips that can be put to great use, here. Read on.

Set an Annoying Alarm

Assuming you have a cellphone (hell, even a tablet or laptop), this is a simple trick you can employ. Find the most grating recurring sound on your phone and set it as your alarm. This can be a custom ring or you can just pick one out from the available selection your device gives you. Better yet, find a disturbing theme from a horror movie or show, and set that as your alarm.

Pro Tip #1

If an annoying alarm doesn’t cut it for you, choose something motivating that gets you pumped whenever you hear it. Being a gamer an anime nerd, I do this personally, and I tend to rotate around different themes such as main themes from Naruto (ANBU) and Fairy Tail, Number One (Bleach), One Final Effort (Halo 3), and Dragonborn (Elders Scroll: Skyrim), just for examples. Honestly, if you’re a gamer or watch anime, your options are endless; if you aren’t one of those, you still have movies and TV shows to select from; and if you don’t watch much TV then you still have everyday music to choose from like Eminem, Fall Out Boy, Kanye West, Taylor Swift, and the list goes on. Use classical music too, if that will give you the necessary kick.

Pro Tip #2

An annoying or motivating alarm still isn’t cutting it? Then take things a step further by placing your alarm device far from your bed so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. You’ll hate yourself for this, but it’ll work. The only challenge is to not rush back to bed, or tell yourself “one more minute”.

Force “Start” Your Daily Routine

This means, when you wake up in the morning, immediately tackle and begin your daily routine: get up, brush your teeth, wash your face, bathe, eat breakfast, and get started with your daily responsibilities. The biggest challenge in not being a morning person is wanting to ease into the day, but you shouldn’t let yourself fall into that trap.

Grab a Bite to Eat

Nutrition provides energy and you can get yours by fueling your body in the morning. Have breakfast and let the metabolic energy release switch on your body and brain.

Pro Tip

Food gives energy, but it releases through your body steadily. If you want to skip the short release, or if you’re not big on eating in the morning, then turn to stimulants such as caffeine or sugar. Drinking a cup of coffee, tea, or something sweet is an easy way to wake up and energize.

Wash Your Face

If you’re one of those people who wash once every so often, then this is for you. Ideally, you want to force “start” your daily routine by doing all the little things (brushing, bathing, eating, etc.) that create a routine and build up to the more important things (chores, going to school, going to work, etc.), but you can shortcut all of that by splashing water on your face and giving yourself a quick facial rinse. There’s a reason why in movies when the characters have nightmares, they wash their faces; other than the sweat, they are trying to avoid drowsiness.

Use Sunlight

Expose yourself to some sunlight in the morning. Aside from the benefit of some vitamin D, sunlight suppresses the secretion of melatonin, the sleep-inducing hormone. This means, either opening up your curtains or, literally, sitting/lying in the light for a few minutes to help you wake up.

Sleep at an Earlier Time

And last, but not least, the number one thing you really ought to be doing if you want to wake up at a good time in the morning is to sleep at an earlier time and get some rest. If, for whatever reason, this isn’t an option for you, then implement the other tips/hacks listed above to jump-start your day.