Like many, I find getting out of bed the worst part of the day. Over the years I’ve tried a few ways to make the process easier, and here are my findings. I owe most of this advice to Steve Pavlina (this post, in particular), but I’m going to reiterate it (since it was years ago) and add my own notes.

I’ve always wanted to be a morning person: I’m most productive in the morning (especially since I don’t check email), no task seems too large when the day’s ahead of me, and it’s the most practical time for me to exercise. A note about that last part–working out in the morning means only one shower/getting-ready per day (since it’s post-workout) and an early run almost never gets in the way of other commitments (whereas lunch and early evening are cluttered with various activities). So my goal has always been to get up early enough to run, eat, and start or arrive at work by 9:00.

Steve Pavlina’s advice is the key: get up at the same time every day, and go to sleep when you’re tired. And, equally important, Continue reading…

It’s interesting that we can be excited about discovering the most productive ways to do things…regardless of the impact it has on our productivity. It’s like hearing the secret to a magic trick–just because we’ve found it out doesn’t mean we can now pull it off on our own. It takes a little patience and practice. With that in mind I’m not going to give you another tip for you to gloss over, but instead invite you to look at some articles that have influenced me, some helpful tips from others, and some that I’m most proud of sharing–all of which can help you out.

Some influential reads/views:

• Marc Orchant’s advice on putting things aside that you’ve started (discussion of Dave Winer and David Allen’s decision to stop blogging)
• Merlin Mann’s video on Inbox Zero (of his speech at Google)
• Kathy Sierra on how to be an expert

Some great lists of tips:

• Steve Pavlina’s 33 productivity tips (there are 66 more on the bottom of the page)
• Dave Cheong’s 18 ways to stay focused at work
• Chrono Cr@cker’s keyboard tips for “life without mouse”

Some of my best tricks:

• My list of helpful mobile websites (if you browse the internet on your PDA/iPhone/etc)
• My tips for how to process email without being a jerk
• My advice for how to keep a small wallet

If you have any links to resources that you feel would be helpful, please do share them below.