Make Your Mornings Count!

Are your mornings a little hectic? If they are that probably means you have more to do in the mornings then you really have time for. Gaining balance between what time you have and what tasks you need to get done will go a long way in de-stressing those morning hours. You can gain that balance by doing a combination of three things. 1) Eliminate tasks 2) Increase the hours you have in the morning to complete the tasks and 3) Make the best use of every minute. Here are a few tips on how you can re-gain that balance.

1. Eliminate Tasks

Start practicing an evening routine to minimize morning emergencies. Each evening lay out everyone’s clothes so you are not frantically looking for that missing shoe the next morning and finding it just in time for your child to miss the bus. Check your refrigerator and pantry to make sure you have the ingredients needed for morning’s breakfast. Make sure you have gas in the car. Load the kids school backpacks in the evening so you are not caught looking for that missing homework assignment during those critical morning hours. If you need to make sack lunches, think about making them the night before.

Eliminate time spent looking for things by de-cluttering and organizing your home. Excess clutter significantly increases the time spent looking for things you need. It really contributes to your feelings of stress. Having less clutter, assigning specific homes for things, and having homes properly labeled will help everyone know where things belong and where things can be found. This will minimize how much time your family spends looking for things and how much stress you experience in the mornings. For a free download of my special report “25 Quick Tips to Help You Finally Get Control of Your Messy Environment” go to www.OrganizeEnterprise.com/25quicktips.

Simplify the tasks that need to be done in the morning. Choose a hairstyle that doesn’t take very long to style. Eat a simple breakfast that requires very little preparation. Buy clothes that don’t need to be pressed, etc.

2. Increase The Hours You Have In The Morning To Complete Your Tasks

Get up 30 minutes before the rest of the family. That should give you time to shower, dress, groom and be ready to go to work before there are other demands. You still need to get enough sleep so that means you need to go to be 30 minutes earlier each night.

3. Make The Best Use Of Every Minute

Get enough sleep so you are well rested, alert and attentive. Consistently go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning day after day (even on weekends). It will greatly improve your stamina. It will help you be alert and rested to take on that morning rush.

Make yourself more efficient with every task. Set up activity regions for each task you need to perform in the morning. An activity region is the place where an activity takes place and where all the supplies for that activity are stored. That means you need to move out all the items in that space that are not used for that regions activity. You create a cockpit scenario where everything you need to perform the activity is within arms reach of where you stand or sit to perform the activity. That way there is minimum time spent on setting things up or cleaning things up. For example set up a dressing region where everything you need to get dressed in the morning is within the bedroom closet. (Hang everything up except socks and underwear and put those in baskets in the closet.) That way you can get dressed without doing any traveling around the room. Set up a grooming region where everything you need to do your personal grooming is within arms reach of the bathroom sink and power source. Set up a cooking region where everything you need to cook breakfast is within arms reach of the stovetop (including the food ingredients). Look at each of the activities you need to perform in the morning and set up their own activity regions. Regions minimize set up time and clean up time and they help you perform the activities well.

Develop a morning routine. Routines help us get tasks done without a lot of stress because our brains go on automatic pilot. We perform the routine without really thinking about it or exercising any kind of discipline. A routine streamlines time wasted in between tasks. A routine is a series of habits that are done in the same order day after day. Do the same habits in the same order day in and day out. This will establish a pattern in your brain until you are able to put the tasks on automatic pilot. This will reduce the stress you feel during your morning hours.

A little routine that will help you stay out of crisis management is to load the dishwasher just before you go to bed at night and turn it on no matter how full it is. Also check your washing machine to make sure there are not any wet clothes sitting in the machine over night. Then in the morning empty the dishwasher and put in a load of laundry. This provides you with an empty dishwasher that dirty dishes can be placed in as soon as they become dirty throughout the day. It helps you make sure that you don’t get too far behind on the laundry.

These tips should help you gain balance in your mornings so they are not so hectic. They will help you gain control so you experience less stress in the mornings.