If you’ve ever tried to wake up before 6:00am, you know how difficult it can be. Crawling out of bed can be pure torture, and the thought of working for another eight, ten, or even twelve hours can be soul-crushing. Despite how difficult it can be to wake up, getting out of bed early and starting your day on a positive note can set the tone for your entire workday. Here are six ways that you can make your mornings less painful and build a productive routine.

It’s important to remember that, just like starting any new routine, waking up earlier is going to take its toll and seem extremely difficult at first. If you can stick with it long enough to build a habit out of it, you can change the way you view waking up in the morning.

Wake Yourself Up with an Upbeat Alarm
Chances are that if you don’t have kids, you’re probably using an alarm clock to ensure that you wake up in time to get ready for work. You can make it easier to wake up by using a song that will make you want to get up and out of bed as soon as possible. Whether you’re a heavy metal nut or if you just like a funky tune, use something that’s loud and will help prepare you to start your day.

Keep Your Phone Out of Arm’s Reach
Most people sleep with their smartphones charging right next to their bedside. This makes it extraordinarily tempting to just hit the snooze button rather than wake up, especially if you have nowhere to be for a few hours. If you have your phone on, say, the other side of the room, you’ll be forced to get up in order to turn off the alarm. Once you’re out of bed, you might as well stay up and try to get something done.

Keep a Glass of Water Handy
After spending so many hours without water, your body will likely need something to ingest in order to function properly. By keeping a glass of water close to your bedside, you’ll have one of the most crucial elements of life itself on-hand to start the day with.

Get Some Exercise and Fresh Air
While the water might be helpful, it’s far from enough to get you to the point where you can work on anything important. You need to get your body moving, if only a little bit, if you want to feel fully awake and alert in time to get quality work done. Take a walk around the block, or go for a short morning jog. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you get your blood pumping.

Get Something Done
Here we are; the one thing that you’ve been trying to get to all morning. One of the best ways to ensure that you get work done in the morning is to do something that’s not necessarily important, but rather, you should do something that you care about the most. If you’re waking up to something that you want to do, you’re more likely to actually get out of bed and do it. For example, maybe you’re hooked on a TV series, but you’re just too tired to watch television when you get home. Try waking up to watch an episode while you eat your breakfast, then move on to other, more important tasks.

Eat Some Breakfast
Whether or not you eat breakfast in the morning can be a major factor for your mood and health throughout the day. In order to feel your best and get the most work done, you should eat some breakfast, be it a simple bowl of cereal or steak and eggs. Ideally, you want something that’s quick and easy to prepare.

What are some of your favorite ways to start the day the right way? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to our blog for more great tips and tricks.