If you hit the snooze on your alarm more than three times every morning, this article is for you.

I used to hate mornings. I would stay up late and struggle every day just to get out of bed. After one too many missed breakfasts and forgotten Tigercards, I decided to change the way I wake up. Now, I’m one of those obnoxious morning people. You know, the ones that are just a little too cheery first thing out of bed, who don’t seem to understand the concept of “early.” Yep, that’s me. I’ve found that I'm most productive in the mornings, and I believe you can be too.

In a quest to escape my early morning daze, I’ve found some serious tricks that have helped me go from struggling to surviving. This is my guide to a good morning.

Before you go to bed:

Make a List

At the end of the day, reflect on everything you’ve accomplished and figure out all of the things that still need to get done. If you don’t follow anything else in this guide, follow this. Making a list of everything you need to accomplish for the following day leaves you falling asleep in what I like to call “problem-solving mode.” In this mode, you go to sleep thinking about tomorrow’s tasks and envisioning the best ways for them to play out. This means that in the morning, you will not only feel refreshed, but you’ll also feel ready and prepared to tackle the day!

Decide What You Will Eat for Breakfast

Instead of opening the fridge every morning and sifting through the week-old takeout and your roommate’s mystery meals, make your life easier by deciding what you are going to eat for breakfast the night before! You can even go a step further and put all of the ingredients together so that everything is easily accessible when you walk in the kitchen looking like a zombie the next morning. It’s a no-brainer.

Pick Out Your Outfit

You would think that throwing on a pair of leggings and a t-shirt wouldn’t take that long. Wrong. Save yourself fifteen minutes every morning just by deciding what you are going to wear the night before. If you are the kind of person (like me) that changes my outfit three times a day, this tip can be a serious game changer. I like to lay my entire outfit out on my dresser before I go to bed, so it’s impossible to miss in the morning. 

Organize Your Backpack

Can you tell that prep is important? Anything to make your life easier in the future is time well spent. That includes prepping your backpack for the following day. This trick is most useful on those days when your professor asks you to bring the one book you haven’t seen since the first day of school to class the next day. Do it now, because you won’t remember when you’re rushing out the door tomorrow (trust me).

When you wake up

Make Your Bed

Your mom was right. Making your bed first thing in the morning helps signal to your brain that you have exited the sleep realm and are ready to get the day started. It also allows you to wake up and fully complete a task before you even eat breakfast. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to get stuff done in the morning, so that sense of accomplishment, even if it’s just from making your bed, can set you off on the right foot to have a more productive day.

Give Yourself a Moment

Mornings are my favorite time of the day because they are mine. It is the only time when I can take a moment and indulge myself with positive thoughts and catch up on the celebrity gossip for the day. You deserve a moment too.

Leave Your House Early

Okay, so you don’t have to do this one in order to have a good morning, but I think it’s important. For me, leaving my house early lets me feel like I have a little edge on the day. It’s my way of saying, “Watch out world, I’m coming for ya!” without actually having to say anything.

If you can adopt just a few of these tips and tricks into your morning routine, I promise you will see an improvement on not just your mornings, but your entire days!

Go ahead and try it out and let us know what you think!

Be well, Auburn. 

Photography: Lydia P.