Are you able to get stuff done in the morning before you go to work?

[suchafunnybear]

I'm hoping people will tell me the secret of how to do anything first thing in the morning.

All I can do is shower, dress, clean teeth and brush hair before leaving for week.

I can't even eat or drink anything, and I don't know how people find the time to have breakfast.

If I get up earlier then everything just takes longer so I still have no time.

But I know of other people who clean their houses, write novels, bake, learn Japanese, do DIY etc before work.

I just want to be productive in the morning because it feels like I'm wasting time but I don't know how. How do you make time in the morning and stop it disappearing?

Yup.

I have a tidy up, feed the cats, put a load of laundry on, open some windows and light incense.

It’s a habit, though. And I function better when things are tidy and organised.

I work out in the morning. Gym and a walk.

I’m not sure that I would be motivated to clean at 6am!

Read atomic habits and the art of habit stacking.

Sometimes I manage to do stuff in the morning but not always. What time do you get up and what time do you have to leave for work?
I wake around 7.15 and leave by 9am.
I might only get 20mins each morning which I can allocate to something beyond shower/getting dressed/breakfast/DC but I get more done within that amount of time than what I would in similar period in the evening as I am still fresh and rested. So I do sometimes do condensed "bursts" of one thing or other that might otherwise have taken an hour. Doesn't always work this way of course, esp with kids

I put a wash on overnight and hang it out to dry in the morning. It makes the laundry feel like an easy chore.

Get up earlier?

Due to husbands work work/early rising children etc. my day usually starts around 5am and we don't need to leave for school/work until 8:45 which gives almost 4 hours to use.

I get myself and 2 preschoolers and a primary age ready for school including shower and wash hair for me, 3 lunch boxes , tidy house stick a wash on on the tumble dryer make beds basic tidy up and have a coffee - I get up at 6 and leave house at 730

It's about when we are most productive during the day. The people learning Japanese at 6am, enjoy their most productive hours in the mornings and they're capitalising on that. For me, productivity comes late in the evening, after 9pm. So if I have a report to write, I'll often do chores for a couple of hours during the day, do the school run, and then do the report at my most productive time.

I always make sure I get everything ready for the morning, the night before. So all I have to do is get up, washed, dressed, drink, meds, kids breakfasts. The more organised I am, the smoother my least productive times of day go. For me, mornings are my worst time.

Work with your body and mind; not against it. It is okay if your brain and body doesn't work in the same way as other people's: in caveman times, this was a necessity for survival of the species. If we'd all slept at the same time, we'd have been wiped out. 😁

If necessary, setting alarms.

I like to go to the gym before work but I know I could lose ages playing with the cat or reading the news over breakfast, so I give myself a certain amount of time for that & when the alarm goes off I need to move on to the next thing.

I think it depends on whether you are a morning person or not. I get lots done in the morning but I am not efficient at all in the evening.

Not everyone is an early bird so don't compare yourself to those that are. I have to leave at 7am to start work at 7.30 I am most definitely a night owl and struggle to wake up early. I ha e time for a shower slap some minimal makeup on make a travel coffee then I'm out the door. It would kill me to set an alarm for 5 something but others do easily and that's fine for them but it's def not for me!

I have a habit of emptying the dishwasher and hanging out the washing first thing because thry are both on overnight. But I'm not one of those 5am overachievers on a fast track to burnout.

I am a long way from perfect at this!

But when I do need to get stuff done what works for me is setting a start time. So if I have to leave for work at 8, then I have time 7-8 allocated for whatever it is. Which means I get up at 6.30 and get showered, dressed and have breakfast to be ready by 7. If I don’t do all the getting ready bit first, I don’t really get anywhere.

Also I dislike eating too early, so what I do more often is take breakfast with me - peanut butter sandwich in the car, or yoghurt and museli at my desk.

I start quite early so 5 until 530 coffee news.
Wash make up and 100 kettlebell swings.
Empty airer put washing on
pack work bag
clean bathroom or kitchen sink drainer.
Feed water cats.
Teeth and pack work bag hang wash if done.
Out 615 or 645.
The trick is to multi task.
I'm 58 so it's easy when you are older I think.

I'm long retired but, no, I never did anything in the form of housework before leaving for work. Neither did my late husband.

Not sure there's a magic secret- you either get up in time and do the stuff e.g. eat breakfast or you don't

yep, well I always make my
bed, open the curtains and the window, make he dc’s lunches, take out the meat from the freezer for dinner. Put on a load of laundry sometimes.Get myself ready and that’s about it.

I shower the night before and get up an hour before I have to leave for work. That's enough time to attend to the pets and get a washing on. Husband unloads the dishwasher and puts things away.

You get up earlier but strictly get ready for work in the same 20 minute slot then do the other stuff.

I agree if you aren't a morning person it's unlikely to work.

Those days are passed me thank goodness, but yes, I would get myself up shower dressed makeup, 3 children to school including their breakfast, wash,uniform on, lunches etc, make beds, wipe bathroom washing on line kitchen cleared.

its all about being organised and sticking to a time table.

I would make lunches the night before and put in fridge, make sure Pe kits etc are ready with school bags so you only need to add lunch box, shoes and coats with each child’s bag, this takes 2 minutes in the evening, 20 in the morning 😂. Then going up to bed I would make sure their uniforms were laid out ready (I’m talking little children here, or pre school had clothes ready for going to child minder). In the morning I was ready and my bed made before the got up, whilst they eat breakfast I would have coffee and do other chores then do their rooms whilst they dressed. Shoes on go.

i would get up at 7 leave the house 8.15

Do you doom scroll OP.
Next question what time do you get up, and do you spend a long time wakening up enough to be able to move.
You need to establish how much time you really have. Eg if the alarm is set for 7 and you leave at 8, in your head you have an hour. But if it takes you 15-20mins to get moving because you are half asleep, then you doom scroll for 20mins over a coffee at the kitchen table, in reality you only have 20 min left which only leaves time to clean teeth, brush hair, pack bag and maybe use the loo, and get out of the house.

If you find it hard to get up at the point your alarm goes off you probably went to bed a bit late. Dont try and adjust this all in one go but maybe try and adjust by 10 mins every few days til you are going to sleep 30min earlier and waking up more naturally with the alarm.
Be more aware of the time loss of doom scrolling on your phone. Its literally time wasted, in reality.
Start small. Pick 1 small task to try and achieve in the morning that you think will make an improvement to your day, whether its chucking a laundry load in the machine, or unloading the dishwasher so you have it empty to load stuff in through the day rather than it sitting on the counter. You can do it OP

Wow I just don't know how you do this. My little ones are on and off the potty twenty billion times so that takes a good 30 mins every morning to start with.

DH and I are awake at 6, up by 615. Before the DC are up me and DH clear the dishes (no dishwasher), make packed lunches and water bottles, open windows (shut before we leave), make beds.

Once dc are awake we divide and conquer 😂 DH does kids getting dressed and breakfast while I get myself ready. Then he gets himself ready while I do kids teeth/hair/shoes/coats.

All out the door at 8am.

I'm home by 4 with DC. I then wash all breakfast and packed lunch stuff, put a wash on and hang it up and take anything still damp from previous day off the airers and finish off in dryer. I empty school bags, make dinner etc. DH home at 6. After tea he does dc bath while I tidy downstairs and hoover.

I sometimes put the odd cup in the dishwasher,but that's about it. I don't have little kids at home though.

I’m generally better in the morning tho I do struggle at this time of year (not so bad in Dec/Jan for some reason – guess I’ve got used to the dark).

I don’t have high maintenance hair tho – I have colleagues who spend 30 mins on their hair each morning.

I do yoga each morning – about 20-25 mins usually, sometimes a bit less. Also prep lunches for me and DS, then do some cleaning job – bathrooms, wash on line, small kitchen jobs, change bedlinen. That kind of thing.

I get up 6.30-6.45, do tasks, do yoga, get dressed and do quick makeup (like, 5 mins) then out the door before 8am.

I am not running at the moment (I say that optimistically, rather than "I no longer run") but when I do, I often do a run as well. Just 15-20 mins tho if in the am.

Some days I go swimming early and then I need to get going by 6.50 so I ditch the housework tasks on those days.

Edited to add: DC all big enough not to need anything doing (beyond lunch haha) and also, if you are not a morning person then don't worry. It’s not for everyone.