How Getting Up Earlier Has Helped Me Level Up During Covid

It's pretty much common knowledge at this point that mornings can make or break a person's day. In fact, nowhere has this been more evident for me than pre-coronavirus when I worked multiple acting jobs that sometimes required me to wake up as early as 5 am. Since I'm not a morning person, I would always wait until the last possible moment to wake up. This always resulted in me feeling groggy and rushed. Studies have shown that the most successful people, including CEO's and business owners (and I'm sorry, but if you're a working actor, you are a business of one) tend to wake up well before 6 am. One of the things that I've found is that by having an ironclad morning routine, it helps me to want to get out of bed. When I was a freshman in college and severely struggling with low self esteem, I never bothered with skincare and frankly didn't even shower frequently. "What's the point?" was my attitude at the time. However, I've found that it helps my skin to not only look but also FEEL better when I get the sleep out of my eyes, and moisturize my dry skin (particularly if you're like me and live in New England). Although it may not be the healthiest option in the world, I've found that having a Keurig and my favorite coffee, Bulletproof Coffee, on hand is another small hack that makes getting up early more bearable. Another small change that has resulted in big gains for me has been to simply make my bed every morning. I definitely sleep better with a made bed, and it also helps to eliminate mental clutter. I used to always wait until the absolute last minute to wake up, but now I view it similarly to procrastination: better to be an anti-procrastinator and get a head start on the day!