I was born a morning person. I am one of those people who have a lot of energy in the morning, but tends to crash around 4:00 p.m. For 4 semesters I taught an 8:00am class to college students. As a college student, even I didn’t take 8:00am classes! So I know that a lot of my students were annoyed by my overly enthusiastic discussions on career strategies at that early hour of the day.

Does being a “morning person” make me feel like a happier and healthier person? I never really thought about it. I do, however, like to be productive, so I decided to see which of the following traits I met on this list:
http://www.businessinsider.com/12-things-killer-employees-do-before-noon-2012-8.

Clearly, doing all these items would lead to a more productivity. The question is, how do you accomplish them given the reality you are in? Given what is currently happening in our lives, we may not have the ability to accomplish all of these items. Can you get a full 8 hours of sleep, exercise in the morning and still get to work on time? It is possible for some, but not for others who may have children to tend to or other morning responsibilities.

My suggestion is to take action on the ones that are in your control. For example, we can all write down ‘to do’ items or items in your mind before going to bed. This may help you sleep better. I believe it helps the brain relax instead of working so hard to remember them.

Another item we can do is to tackle the big items first. Oftentimes we put off the biggest task of our day until we have to address it. This task might seem overwhelming to us. It feels better to cross off a bunch of small items from our to-do list. It gives us a sense of accomplishment. However, if you tackle the big project first, you will have most of your energy at your disposal helping the task go quicker or easier than you originally thought.

Review the list of tasks in the article and assess the ones you are currently following. Of those that you aren’t, ask yourself which ones you can implement. As with implementing any new behavior, start small. Try adding one item and see how it can work for you and your schedule. You might be surprised which tasks help you become not only more productive at work, but happier during the day.