#twentytwentytwo

Waking up at five a.m. gives me a kickstart to a productive day. Being an early riser gives me ample time to think and reflect on how my day should go. Waking up as early as five in the morning allows me to filter the high-grade tasks from low-grade ones. My focus will not be on things that are not truly essential.

Waking up late has reduced the quality of my life over time, from going to work feeling groggy to ending the night feeling unproductive and unfulfilled.

I am struggling to develop the five a.m. habit. I’ve tried doing it, but I would always go back to sleep. 

Over the years, I kept asking myself, “Why can’t I do it?” So I started to evaluate my personality and habits. Getting to know thyself is the first step towards change. 

My body has not adopted a program after getting up at five. If I had a programmed body, it would know what to do next after waking up. It is vital in developing the habit.

“If I wake up at five, what will I do next?” 

Answering this question holds an impact on cultivating this habit. So, here are the five must-dos to fully wake up at five and avoid becoming unproductive throughout the day:

1. Make Your Coffee

Getting proactive in making your dose of coffee can boost your mood. It can increase your dopamine, the happy hormone, and shake away the grogginess of the early dawn.

I like to share my coffee recipe by making a TikTok. I am satisfied looking at my videos of the coffee I make. It is quite a great feeling in adulthood to see myself make a good dose of coffee.

2. Make your bed I never do this right after getting up. The sleepiness will win over me. It will just tempt me to lie back down on soft pillows.

The key to a productive day is to see small wins. One win will lead to another and more. Fixing my bed is one small but impactful win against my laziness. It sparks my desire to do more winning streaks.

Fixing your bed can also bring clarity to the mind. Letting your bed messy is an indication of a disorganized mind and life. Thus, it is helpful to make up our beds to organize our thoughts.

3. Water thy Plants. I can hear you. Watering plants can be painstakingly tedious. Remember, however, that our goal is to develop a body program to amp up our productivity.

I can think when I water my plants. It has given me time to myself and my thoughts. It is my form of dopamine detox exercise. Doing a menial and easy task like watering the plants causes my focus to skyrocket and last for a day.

4. Journal

Journalling ultimately makes me feel good. It is one of the best decisions I made in my life. I sit at our balcony, feeling the cold breeze of air, smelling the familiar wisp of coffee, and holding the pen to my paper. Sounds very classic.

The contributions of journalling in my life are mainly getting to know myself and identifying my priorities. I learned to eliminate all the glamorous ideas I thought I wanted to do, obtain, or live.

Overall, it has reduced the stress of always wanting and chasing after something. It made me realize the beauty of what I have at the moment.

5. Skin Care and Styling

I am a die-hard ‘look good, feel great’ follower. Turning my work clothes fashionable improves my confidence, charisma, and social skills. Just adding jewelry or earrings can immensely change the dull-looking uniform.

I take particular care of my skin. Our skin is the best clothes we take out to show. I spend a lot of time doing my skincare routine. I also think it is good to spend on our skin. Our skin is what we will be wearing for the rest of our lives anyway. 

Productivity can be in many forms. Skincare and styling are some of the many. After all, becoming productive meant that you accomplish the things that truly matter to you alone. So include this in your morning routine if you find this helpful to your mood and productivity.

It has always been everyone’s struggle to be destroying a bad habit, more so develop a good one. If you can find anything, no matter how small and seemingly irrelevant, to solidify a routine you are trying to build, incorporate it by all means.