This year, our church schedule has changed. I now work 3 nights a week instead of just one, like the past few years. It’s GREAT, because that means we have kids at our church more often, and I LOVE OUR KIDS. But it’s been a hard adjustment, especially with the changing of the seasons, because I feel like I hardly have time to get things done. It’s all in my head, I know. But I’ve started to develop a routine so that every morning I can wake up and get things out of the way and feel like I’ve been productive with my hours off in the morning. I documented some of these secrets (which aren’t actually SECRETS, just things I do) to share with you.
#1. To-Do list.
I make my to-do list the night before. I include things that are a JOY to cross off… things like COFFEE! 😉 When I wake up, I get to glance at my to-do list and remind myself of the things I want to accomplish in the next hour or two.
#2. Change out of pajamas.
I keep a little rotation of my non-pjs comfy outfits. I find that if I wake up and stay in my pajamas, I am less likely to feel motivated. As soon as possible, I change into other comfortable clothes. Like leggings and fuzzy socks and a comfy sweatshirt.
#4. Grab some grub.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, y’all. I’m back on Whole 30, and so I know exactly what to have for breakfast. Eggs scrambled with a meat (sausage or ham), peppers for days, and if I’m feeling fancy… olives. Plus some fruit and a cup of joe. This morning I brewed a cup of Wild Foods Lumberjack blend coffee. Y’all, it’s so good. I was sold at the first sniff of it in the bag – it’s a big, full flavor. Certified organic, fair trade, and displays a cute, excited little coffee bean? Yes please. They also sell cold brew, so you KNOW I’m going to be trying that out. I’m so glad I found Wild Foods because I can get behind their products. Remember my Whole 30 mocha? I’ll definitely be ordering their Cocoa powder and trying that instead of cacao nibs this time around!
#5. 30|30 App
A few weeks ago I wrote about the 30|30 app and said I’d be writing more about it. Here I am, finally elaborating. The 30|30 app is brilliant – you make a list of what you need to do, set a time limit for each one, turn your volume up and hit play. It will sound an alert when your allotted time is up, and you then move on to the next task. It’s been really helpful for me when I’ve been overwhelmed with wanting to clean AND catch up on blogging – I’ll do a repeating round of 10 minutes cleaning, 15 minutes blogging, 10 minutes cleaning, 15 blogging… until I’m all caught up. I love being able to just work as hard as I possibly can and let the app tell me when it’s time to switch tasks.
#6. Multi-task
Normally I’m not at all a fan of multi-tasking, so hear me out on this one. I’m saying multi-task in a way that is like “I’d be doing nothing if I was doing this.” Like… a hair mask. I recently received this fortifying protein hair mask. Masks of all sorts are kind of “eh” to me. But this protein mask has been AMAZING. It smells fresh and when I rinse it out of my hair, my hair FEELS stronger. After I jump in the shower, I apply this mask, put my hair in a really cute bun on top of my head, and then keep working on my to-do list.
The great news is that because of the 30|30 app, I just finish one 5 or 10 minute task and then I know it’s time to go rinse my hair. It helps me make the most of my mornings because then I don’t waste time sitting on Pinterest while I am deep conditioning my hair.
Love it.
I also read, favorited + retweeted this tweet by Donald Miller this morning about having productive mornings:
So your turn. Tell me about your mornings. Do you use them to be productive, or is it all a blur until you start working? Share. 🙂
I received one or more products listed above in return for my honest opinion.
