Get Up & Go!

On Monday, I appeared on HuffPost Live — Huffington Post’s online talk show — to opine on how to make mornings more stress free. Click here to see me in action on their Get Up & Go segment. As a Classic (SJ), I was born to do this segment. Growing up, I’d often sleep in my clothes with shoes and socks placed by my bedside to better hit the ground running when my dad woke me up or my alarm went off. My Organic Freedom (NFP) sister was still drooling on her pillow while I was downstairs eating my cereal. I no longer sleep in my clothes — although I probably would if my husband wouldn’t tell everyone what a freak I remain —  but I do a ton of things before bed to reduce morning stress. It’s the advice given most often when discussing how to do so. We offer some important tweaks on this age old advice plus some novel ideas.

Do everything you possibly can the night before:

We list ideas of what you can do below. Boiled down the list just tells you that before your head hits the pillow, prep anything you plan to ingest or place on your person in the morning. Personally I do all of these things so my brain can be on semi-auto pilot and I will not screw up lots of basic things like making coffee and therein ruining my morning. For Classics (SJ), you could pretty much do the entire list and instantly find your mornings less stressful. Organic Structures (NFJ) and Smart Structures (NTJ) should read through the list and see if anything appeals to you or more likely sparks an idea of something you could do to ease your morning adrenaline level. Funs (SP) are built to handle time sensitive situations but if you find you’re frequently late (or rather late and it’s a problem that you are late) then have fun and experiment with a few of these things.

  • Check your calendar for the next day.
  • Check your To-Do list for the next day.
  • Prep coffee.
  • Prep breakfast (set table or get food ready to go).
  • Prep your clothes (and your kids’ clothes if you have them) and accessories.
  • Pack up or corral stuff you need for the day (Make sure you have a designated area for this stuff on an ongoing basis. I used italics for a reason because the kitchen/dining table doesn’t count unless everyone in your household is on board with your designated area).
  • Make lunch (for you and others). 
  • Shower (Kids bathe at night, why not you? Assuming this doesn’t wreak havoc on your hair)

Prep things a week in advance:

This one isn’t really for Classics (SJ) and Funs (SP) who can probably find a few things on the list above to do. It’s geared toward Smarts (NT) and Organics (NF) — bigger picture thinkers. If you’ve got kids, pick out the clothes for the week instead of doing it every night. The latter can seem tedious to you. Do the same for yourself. Do the same with lunches. Plan them out for the week or buy pre-packed Lunchables for them. In the end of the day, any routine like this is always going to be easier for an Organic Structure (NFJ) than an Organic Freedom (NFP) ditto for Smart Structure (NTJ) and Smart Freedom (NFP).

Get two+ versions of things you use at home and elsewhere:

If there’s something you use both inside and outside of the house or it switches homes — perhaps not your mobile phone but more mundane like lip gloss, sunscreen, gloves, reading glasses, etc. — get more than one of them. If you have two versions on hand, one can permanently reside in your office/car/bag and one at home. This eliminates forgetting things. Ditto for kids items — hat/glove extra pair in the car/stroller etc. One of the best things I ever did was invest in more than one pair of nice gloves. I keep them in the pocket of each winter/fall coat I have and therefore I NEVER forget my gloves. These are not problems Floridians but extrapolate from there.

Get travel versions of your essentials:

If you travel frequently, have a Dopp kit filled with everything you need for a trip (in TSA approved sizes) so packing is made much, much simpler. Seriously, you’d be amazed how easy it is when you just have to focus on packing clothes. Ditto for electronic chargers etc.

Make your mornings more fun:

If you’re a Fun (SP) and dread getting up in the morning, perhaps you need to weave something into your routine that will make you want to get up. Obviously, I’ve no idea what floats your individual boat but again the idea is to GIVE yourself something that makes you excited about opening your eyes. Here’s my lame brainstorming attempt: maybe it’s giving yourself enough time to make your favorite foods, listening to music or a radio program you love, having a movie/show you love on in the background. Also, you might just be bored by the monotony of a morning routine so whatever you choose to do, shake it up again and again. This same advice could be taken by Organic Freedoms (NFP) and Smart Freedoms (NTP).

Set more alarms:

I don’t know about you but I am always checking the clock to see if I’ve hit that magic “panic” level time when we’ve got 5 minutes and a LOT to accomplish before heading out the door. So, set your phone to have a daily alarm that goes off when you’ve got 10 minutes until lift-off. Classics (SJ) will not need this because old habits of checking a clock die hard. But Funs (SP), Organic Freedoms (NFP) and Smart Freedoms (NTP) could definitely use this “if” being on time is a problem for you. All Funs know why I used those quotation marks.

Accept it:

Mornings are designed to be stressful because with a few exceptions, you and everyone in your house has an early morning deadline called “Getting out the door!” Deadlines often mean a little stress. So, minimize it as best you can with some of our tips above and then just accept it’s always going to be a little stressful and imperfect. You will forget things some days. Last night, I packed my purse with everything I needed for the day and then forgot it for the school run. When I realized it, my four year old son said, “It’s okay. It’ll be there waiting for you.” He was right.