I love my morning time. I am and always have been an early riser, and I enjoy the quiet morning time. However, recently I have been staying in bed a little longer to catch a few extra minutes of much coveted sleep. However I found myself cutting my mornings too close and barely missing the traffic or getting stuck in it. As one of my New Year’s solutions, I decided to change up my morning routine. I found how I start my morning mostly impacts how the rest of my day will go!

Set the alarm half an hour before you have to be up.

Yes I know this sounds crazy! But knowing I have to get up early - at least in my head- forces me to go to bed at an earlier time. But in this extra half an hour, I have the ability to wake up and spend some important “me” time. Between school, work, spouses and anything extra that might come and beg for your attention, this extra thirty minutes helps you focus on you. In my extra 30 minutes, I decide to get up and read my Bible and journal. It helps focus my heart and mind on what is most important. Those 30 minutes help calm any anxiety and plan for the rest of the day

Stretch or exercise.

Like setting your alarm early, this is probably the last thing you want to do just when you wake up. However I have found that when I exercise in the morning I feel more refreshed the rest of the day. If my schedule allows, I hit the gym first thing. However like most young adults I don’t have the luxury of going for that run before work, so I plan my main exercise routine after. However, I still get up and stretch out my body for five or ten minutes. This helps wake up my muscles but pushes me out of bed. Once I am awake I am less likely to head back to bed. Stretching gives me a motivation to get out of bed and start my day in a calming and relaxing way.

Bring on the coffee.

If I am setting that alarm ahead of time, there must be coffee on the other end. To save some extra minutes, I program mine ahead of time and do it the night before. Not only does this save extra time, but it also means when I wake up there is already a freshly brewed cup of goodness waiting to be consumed. If anything that will get my butt out of bed!

Prepare for the day ahead.

I couldn’t get myself to get in the habit of prepacking my lunch because sometimes what I want changes. However, I do get all my other stuff ready together before the morning. I put my laptop, gym bag, and other items in one spot. They are ready to go as I dash out the door.

Set the tone.

Get yourself pumped for the day with some music or other listening. I play Pandora on my phone as I get ready. It helps keep me going, when I want to crawl back in bed. Some mornings, I also listen to Ted Talks. These inspirational speeches help keep my focus on the awesome job I get to do and helps my mind to prepare to serve my students all day long.