How To Start Your Day To Be More Productive And Motivated [INFOGRAPHIC]

Tired of your usual morning routine before going to work? Start your day right and be more productive and motivated at work by following these tips. Read on to find out more.

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In this article:

1. Extremely Productive People Start Their Day with an Activity That Contributes to Their Overall Success
2. The Most Productive Morning Routine You Can Try
   1. Step 1: Read Your Objectives
   2. Step 2: Ask Yourself, “How’s My Mindset?”
   3. Step 3: Ask, “Will I?” for Critical Tasks
   4. Step 4: Ask, “How Will I Be Better Than Yesterday?”
   5. Step 5: Start with Your GIA

Have a More Productive Day With This Morning Routine

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Extremely Productive People Start Their Day with an Activity That Contributes to Their Overall Success

According to new Extreme Productivity Benchmark Report, The Extremely Productive (The XP) are 2.6 times more likely than The Rest to agree that they start their day with a morning routine that contributes to getting themselves off to a productive start.

Morning routines of successful people help them get off to a good start in the morning, but few actually implement a routine that becomes a part of their daily life.

In fact, most morning routines hinder productivity.

One interesting finding from the research is that The XP begin their work every day with their greatest impact activity (GIA) — the activity that will contribute most to their overall success. In fact, nearly half start their day like this compared to just 12% of The Rest.

Starting your day with your GIA has additional benefits beyond increasing your productivity. It also helps you feel more accomplished, and it fuels your motivation.

Think about how you’d feel if, even before checking email, you’ve already made significant progress on an important project. Feels pretty good.

In the book, The Progress Principle, author Terese Amabile sites a study of more than 600 managers asking them to rank the impact on employee motivation based on the following five factors:

What’s most motivating?

• Incentives
• Clear goals
• Interpersonal support
• Recognition
• Support for making progress

The managers guessed that recognition was the most important.

When they studied workers themselves, they found that “support for making progress” is actually what’s most motivating. Amabile goes on to write, “When workers sense they’re making headway, their drive to succeed is at its peak.”

You too can start your day making meaningful progress.

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The Most Productive Morning Routine You Can Try

To start your day off right, follow this proven morning routine.

Step 1: Read Your Objectives

If you follow RAIN Group, you know we’re proponents of goal setting for both the short and long term. It’s important to have a big picture goal and then to break it down into three-year goals and annual goals followed by quarterly priorities, monthly objectives, and weekly to-do lists.

By reviewing your goals regularly (daily!), you remind yourself of where you’re headed. This can be extremely motivating.

It’s easy to get lost in your day-to-day activities. When you keep your goals and objectives front and center, it keeps you focused on what’s important.

Step 2: Ask Yourself, “How’s My Mindset?”

Do a quick check-in with yourself to see where your head’s at. Maybe you’re worried about something going on with your family, stressed about a tight deadline, or down on yourself for not getting to everything you wanted to accomplish yesterday.

It’s important to start your day with a positive mindset. If you notice you’re being negative or are in a bad mood, do what you can to snap out of it.

This could involve going for a walk, talking to a friend or colleague, exercising, or using positive self-talk. Make sure you’re in the right mental space to have a productive day.

Step 3: Ask, “Will I?” for Critical Tasks

You know what you need to get done each day. For the most important tasks, ask yourself, “Will I get this done?”

By asking this, you’re recommitting to what you say you’re going to do.

It also allows you to do a reality check with your work expectations. Often, you need to trim your to-do list in order to get to the really important tasks.

Step 4: Ask, “How Will I Be Better Than Yesterday?”

What’s one thing you can do better today than you did yesterday? Just one.

When you ask yourself this question each morning, it has a compound effect. Being a little bit better each day through the best morning routines leads to greatness over time.

Step 5: Start with Your GIA

Begin each day with your GIA. This is the one activity that will give you outsized returns for your time.

Creating a daily routine or GIA is rarely the easiest task on your list. But, when you start with your GIA, you start your day by making progress on the most important item on your to-do list.

Not only does this lead to greater production, but it also increases your own motivation.

Figure out what’s most important and start your day with that. And if you forget, this morning routine will remind you to do so.

Don’t forget to download, save, or share this handy infographic for reference:

Watch the video below to learn more tips on how to start your day right:

If you want to be more productive and more motivated, start your day off right with this morning routine. Make it a habit and success will surely follow.

What other morning routines to become productive and motivated can you share with us? Let us know in the comments section below.

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