10 Things You Need in Your College Morning Routine (For Success!)

1. Wake Up Early 

A morning cocktail is probably the best thing that could ever happen to your morning, besides this blog post, of course. 

When you first wake up, you're severely dehydrated, tired, drowsy, and in a bad mood. 

Let's address hydration first: 

Overnight, you lose roughly a pound of water in your sleep, just from breathing. That's why you usually wake up feeling parched. 

As you know, hydration is crucial for proper brain and body function, so don't expect to wake up feeling energized and ready for the day without hydrating first. 

Now, let's talk about being tired.

You know that groggy feeling you have when you first wake up?

The one that makes you want to hit snooze again, crawl under the covers, just for five more minutes? 

That happens because your body goes into 'sleep mode' overnight, and trying to jolt it awake without proper energy is like trying to jump-start a car that's been left out all night in the freezing cold, without any fuel.

That's why fueling your body with a healthy source of fast-acting, long-lasting energy is crucial to get going, even early in the morning. 

Lastly, if you wake up in a bad mood, the rest of your day will be impacted - that's why enhancing your mood first thing in the morning is crucial for a productive day in college. 

So, what is a morning cocktail?

It's essentially a morning drink that fixes all of the problems above.

Most people will drink water, or water with lemon, which is a good start.

But while water hydrates you, and you should drink it in the morning, water alone doesn't fix the energy or mood issues. 

That's why we created EarlyBird, the perfect morning cocktail to jumpstart your day and help you get sh*t done. 

Why?

EarlyBird is designed to supercharge your morning by hydrating you insanely quickly, give you fast-acting, long-lasting energy, and enhance your mood all at once.

EarlyBird makes use of the perfect combo of 3 Nootropic Blends that gives your body energy, motivation, and everything else you need to have a kick-ass study session (and day). 

The powerful blend of electrolytes hydrates you insanely fast - it's essentially supercharged water.

EarlyBird also has a ton of natural, clean energy ingredients from fruit and veggie extracts, which make the snooze button a thing of the past. 

So yeah, you can spend many more months hating your mornings, or you can check out EarlyBird by clicking here, wake up early, and get sh*t done. 

Better yet, it tastes great and is super easy to make, by simply mixing with water the night before. 

Once you've woken up at the crack of dawn and downed your morning cocktail, it's time to get ready.

I like to shower in the morning because it wakes me up and gives my brain some time to wake up (#showerthoughts). 

Next, I do the usual routine of brushing my hair and teeth, getting dressed, etc. 

I'm a boy, so my 'getting ready' routine takes about ten minutes from start to finish, shower included, but if you're a girl, it might be longer.

Budget your time accordingly. 

Here's a pro tip: 

If you plan out your clothes the night before, getting ready is much faster and easier. You don't have to spend time picking out an outfit because a sharp outfit is already waiting for you. 

Once I'm dressed and ready, the first official task of my day is always making my bed. 

Look, I know it might seem stupid at first - after all, you're just going to mess it up at night anyway, so what's the point? 

I was in agreement with that philosophy for a while, but my life has changed since I started making my bed. Seriously. 

And no, making my bed isn't what changed my life.

It's the mindset I've adopted since I realized the importance of making your bed. Your mindset is what drives you and what will determine your success.

Here's why I love making my bed, and why I think you should too:

First of all, if you want to achieve great things, you can't compare yourself to who someone else is today. Rather, you should only compare yourself to who you were yesterday. 

You can't control anything or anyone besides the person staring back at you in the mirror.

Someone will always have more money than you, faster cars or a bigger house, but none of that matters. You can't compare yourself to them. Only compare yourself to who you were yesterday.

In other words, you should strive to make tiny improvements to your life every single day.

Even a 1% increase per day while compound FAST - that's exponential growth for you.

Making tiny improvements doesn't mean running a marathon or lifting a million pounds in the gym, either.It's making a tiny change. Thinking of the things you could do better, that you KNOW you can do better, and doing them. 

So, would you rather have a clean room or a dirty room?

Exactly, a clean room is better for your mental health and sense of self-worth. Coming home to a chaotic, messy room isn't good. But cleaning your whole room can be a huge process.

Instead of trying to do a big task, start with little, tiny improvements.

Start by making your bed.

The next day, you can tackle the massive stack of papers on the desk you've been meaning to get to.

All of these little improvements will compile and propel you to become the person you want to be, without feeling sad when comparing yourself to who you perceive to be 'better' than you. 

Here's another reason why making your bed should be part of your morning routine: 

The success or failure of your first task of the day will impact the rest of your day.

Nail your first task of the day and you'll be confident and set up for success. Conversely, if your first task of the day doesn't go so well, you'll feel a bit off thereafter. 

Making your bed is easy, simple, and quick. It's a task you can do right, every single time, no matter what.

Completing the first task of the day properly will set you up for success.

Lastly, even if your day sucks despite setting yourself up for success, at least you can come home to a made bed at the end of the day. 

Once you start making tiny improvements to turn the chaos in your life into order, you'll be shocked how productive and successful you'll become. 

With your bed made, you're ready to take on the day.

Successful, productive people know their schedule is their secret weapon. 

To-do lists are a place where tasks go to die, but a schedule is where things happen. You'll not only have a plan for what you have to do that day but when you're going to do them as well.

Typically, I schedule my entire week ahead on a Sunday evening with everything I want to accomplish, from work and school to fitness and reading.

Then, every night during the week, I'll revise tomorrow's schedule accordingly, because we all know life never goes exactly according to plan.

Still, even hitting your schedule with 50% accuracy will render you far more productive than someone walking through life with their eyes closed. 

Some say making a schedule restricts them from doing what they want with their day, but it's actually quite the contrary. Planning your week allows you to do exactly what you want to do.

You can schedule a time for work and school, along with video games, seeing friends, and getting hammered at a bar. It's totally up to you!

Planning your day after making your bed is a great habit - I typically write down the top three most important things I need to accomplish before my head hits the pillow in my journal and cross them off throughout the day. 

I used to be a member of the skip breakfast club, but I've found that eating a healthy, nutritious breakfast is a great way to set myself up for success.

I get hangry and irritable without food in my stomach and end up binging later in the day. 

That said, I'm not a nutritionist, but I do think eating a healthy breakfast is a great way to start your day. 

I tend to keep it simple with over-easy eggs on avocado toast, along with some fruit and water, but that's just me. 

Bonus Activities 

Not all of you will have time to do these things before class, especially if you have an 8 AM class. It also depends on your work life and other habits. 

But, for those who have time and/or want to do any of the following, I'm going to list some bonus activities that I incorporated in my college morning routine that helped me crush it in school.

Here they are:  

1. Exercise 

There are a ton of benefits to exercising that I'm not going to get into here, but I think we can all agree that hitting the gym is good for both mental and physical health. 

Whether you're pumping iron or going for a walk, getting your blood pumping and getting exercise in the morning is a great way to clear your mind and sharpen up for the rest of your day.

After eating my healthy breakfast in the morning, I'd hit the gym at my college to workout and go for a run.

If you do decide to work out in the morning, I'd recommend holding off on the shower mentioned above until after your workout so you don't have to shower twice.

Instead, leave your workout clothes out the night before so you can wake up, get dressed, and workout before you do anything else. 

2. Work 

Typically, after a workout and a shower, I'd hit the library before class to work. Sometimes this involved studying, but I was also working online in college, and used this time to make some money before class.

The morning is a great time to get some work done, whether it's for school or a traditional job.

This way, you can get your most important tasks done early in the day - exercise, studying, and classes - which frees up the rest of your day for leisure activities and relaxing. 

3. Meditate

This one isn't for everyone, but I loved meditating after my shower in the morning.

Meditating not only helped to clear my mind but also sharpened my brain for the rest of the day. 

Meditating on your own is a bit difficult as a beginner, so if you'd like to give it a shot, I recommend using a guided meditation app like Headspace. 

4. Read 

Reading is a terrific way to learn and become a better version of yourself. In college, I found myself reading a chapter a day in the morning after meditating, in addition to a chapter at night before bed to help me fall asleep. 

How Do I Create a Morning Routine? 

At the end of the day, what worked for me in college probably won't work exactly the same for you. 

Using the insights from this post and any other information you gather online and elsewhere, I recommend creating your own morning routine that fits your schedule. 

How Long Should My Morning Routine Be?

There is no cut and dry answer for this one and depends on your definition of a morning routine. 

Is it only what you do in your room before leaving, or is it what you do throughout the morning?

Rather than worrying about the length of time, consider how realistic it is, and whether or not the morning routine will benefit you. 

It's hard to form a new habit if it requires a lot of effort and extra steps. In the book Atomic Habits (Amazon link, highly recommend you check it out if you're a go-getter) the author, James Clear, recommends making your habits as easy as possible.

That being said, don't make an insane morning routine that, realistically, you won't stick to. Instead, start small, and create a morning routine full of easy habits that you can consistently execute, and that you're happy about. 

For example, rather than making a morning routine of working out, you can make a morning routine of putting on your running shoes. The next logical step is running, but putting your shoes on is far easier than going for a run. 

It might sound crazy, but the book explains it better than I could. 

Here's the bottom line:

Your morning routine doesn't need to have a set length, as long as it fits with your schedule and is realistic. 

Conclusion

Those who rise early get sh*t done and those who get sh*t done are successful in life.

It's all about taking action. 

Establishing an effective college morning routine is a great way to accomplish your goals, especially if you get your most important tasks out of the way bright and early. 

But waking up early sucks if you're not a morning person.

That's why we created EarlyBird, which you can check out by clicking here.

Prices are lower now than they will be for a while, so get yours now while supplies last so you can wake up early feeling great and crush your mornings!