1- Take a deep breath
Yes, we all breathe without even thinking about it. However, we all mostly don’t breathe properly. Deep breathing helps in the better delivery of oxygen to your body’s cells, along with nutrients in your blood stream. As well, it helps in the process of carrying away toxins via your lymphatic system. If you do not detoxify properly, which proper breathing does, you become susceptible to weight gain, muscle loss, inflammation, and yes, fatigue! Try it out, take a couple of deep breaths, you will automatically feel better, and more awake instantly.

2- Drink water
If you aren’t drinking plenty of water by now, you should! This may be the reason why you are feeling tired. Juice, soft drinks and the likes aren’t what you should be consuming if you are tired. You see, dehydration reduces the blood volume which creates fatigue. Those other drinks are full of sugar which actually causes dehydration. Water is king, so make a habit to drink a glass of water whenever you feel tired. While I work, I always have a full glass next to me. This is the best way, because if you have to get up and get water, you will never remember it, especially while you are working intensively. With water right next to you, your mind will just know to take a sip here and there throughout your activity. You will be surprised how quickly just drinking water can get rid of your fatigue.

3- Get up and move!
Sometimes our fatigue is caused by inertia. Especially when you have to work at a computer or sitting at a desk all day. Movement, any type of movement is exercise! Moving your body creates an increased blood flow which in return increases your energy and defeats fatigue. As well, it makes you breathe deeper and you already know the benefits of breathing deeply as mentioned in point #1. So, all that you need to do is just get up, stretch a little bit, and walk around if you can. The best would be to do this every hour, so that you break the pattern of inertia. So get up and move, you will feel more awake right away!

4- Listen to music
Whenever it’s too quiet, we tend to get bored very easily. Being bored leads to fatigue. So turn up the radio, or pull out your iPod and start listening to your favorite tunes. In an instant, you can turn your boredom and fatigue into a fun, entertaining moment. As you sing along to your favorites songs in your head, your thoughts of being tired will slowly fade away. If you can actually get up and start dancing, then you will have mastered point #3 and #4 in one shot

5- Laugh a little
Laughter has a lot of benefits, such as releasing higher levels of endorphins which make you feel better. This also sweeps away any feelings of being tired. As a matter of fact, recent studies have shown that even the anticipation of laughter increases endorphin levels. So you don’t have to laugh out loud, simply finding something amusing is beneficial. So start reading some jokes online, listen to your favorite radio show, or watch some funny videos on YouTube. You will notice that once you start laughing, you won’t be tired anymore.

6- Speak your mind
It is very easy to find ourselves being tired when we are quiet. Think of a classroom for example. It’s very easy to get bored and feel fatigue during a monotonous routine. However, the cure is to participate! Speaking can bring about the same benefits as movement (after all, you are moving muscles when you talk) and being a part of something such as a conversation or a discussion can give us an extra boost in focus and energy to counter the feeling of fatigue. So say something to a co-worker, or pick up the phone and call up a loved one for a few minutes. If you are alone, then maybe sing along to your tunes out loud?

7- The Ultra Quick Power Nap
A quick power nap in the middle of the day is a great method to revitalize yourself and boost your energy to last you until the end of the day. However, most people who work in public settings cannot just take a nap like that! What you can do is take an “ultra quick power nap”, which consists of simply closing your eyes for a few minutes, clear your mind, breath deeply and slowly, and then return to your task. You can do this either at your break, or even at your desk. Just like that, you have gotten rid of your fatigue, and you can also enjoy better focus and alertness.

Practicing any of these techniques will make you feel more awake, more energized, and increase your concentration skills. With the very long working days that we now experience, it is crucial to implement such methods into your routine so that you can get through your days without always having to feel tired. I used to always feel like I wanted to sleep, all day, whether I had enough sleep or not. Basically, I got tired of being tired These methods worked really well for me, so I hope they can be beneficial for you as well.

Get out of bed immediately
Arguably, the worst thing you can do to your motivation in the morning is to stay lying in your comfortable bed. You will try to debate with yourself, whether you should get up or stay a little longer. Guess which side usually wins? How do you get yourself out of bed immediately? My trick was to put my annoying alarm clock in another room. I had no choice but to get up and look for it to turn it off. So I was immediately out of bed. I hear now they make alarms that bounce around so that you have to get up to catch it…I think that’s pretty clever too! Getting out of bed asap is the #1 priority if you want to wake up motivated. It’s the foundation, without that, everything else fails.

Drink a large glass of water
Once you are out of bed, you should drink water as soon as possible. You body becomes quite dehydrated during sleep, and this lack of water in your system causes you to feel fatigue when you wake up. Drink some water, and guaranteed you will feel better and immediately more lucid and motivated. I always keep a full glass of water in my room before bedtime, so once I am done running around to shut my alarm off, my glass of water is ready for me

Stretching
I remember many years ago, I had a personal trainer that told me that if you stretch for 5-10 min. every morning, guaranteed you will have a much better day. For some reason, this always stuck with me, and I truly believe that it does wonder for motivation in the morning. When I say stretching, I don’t mean the quick stretch you do when you get out of bed. I mean, do full stretches of your arms, legs, neck, everything. Stretching increases circulation of the blood to various parts of your body, which is very important in the morning, since your system was inert for many hours. This increase in circulation increases energy levels, and energy is crucial to motivation. This 5-10 minutes of stretching in the morning can really make a difference as to what type of day you will have.

Glance at your goals
As I mentioned above, one of my biggest problems in the morning was the fact that I had forgotten all the motivation and all the things I was pumped up to do with my day once I got up. It was as if I had a case of amnesia and that within the span of sleep, everything that I was so excited about had disappeared. My way to resolving this issue was to keep a list of my goals next to my bed. I have my goals for the day, as well as my long term goals. This helps remind me what I have to get done and why it’s important to get it done. A visualization board can also be very useful. This is where you create a montage of all the things you want in your life on some type of board that you keep around your home. Looking at this right away in the morning is a wonderful method to get the right amount of motivation that you need to jumpstart your day.

Psyche yourself up
Many years ago I worked in sales and within two months I had become the #1 salesperson in the company. Although I was a newbie, I was more motivated than anyone and it paid off big time. One of my tricks was that I had the ability to psyche myself up so much as I was getting ready in the morning, that by the time I had arrived for work, I was on fire. I couldn’t be stopped. Instead of saying to yourself how it would be better if you could just go back to bed or that you just don’t feel like doing anything, learn the habit of having constructive self talk. Build yourself up. If you need a boost, use self help tapes. Those are always great to listen to and the morning is ideal to get that motivation going. You can put it on as you get ready, even listen to it as you stretch for example.

Music
Listening to your favorite music in the morning can help put you in a good mood, which will then increase your energy and your motivation. I know I find it very boring in the morning if it’s all quiet. Feeling bored makes you want to go back to sleep! Music helps tremendously in creating an atmosphere that is more fun and more upbeat, which is required to get that motivation in the morning. You can set your alarm to play your favorite song, there are programs that easily do so available on the web, and the easiest way is probably to use your cellphone to play your favorite tune as your alarm ring tone. If you want some fun songs that can really help motivate you in the morning, check out this article I wrote recently: 10 Cool & Unique Songs To Wake Up To

Remember that one Desire
What is that one thing that you want in your life? What is it that you absolutely desire? Waking up with that one thought in your mind can provide you with the motivation to move mountains! We all have that one “want” that is the driving force behind everything that we do. Having this in your mind first thing in the morning can make the difference between a lackluster day and a day where you completed everything that you set out to do. This desire should never leave you. It should be with you at all times, and particularly as you get out of bed. This desire should be so grand and so spectacular that it overrides every negative or non-productive thought that may cross your mind in the morning. Think about your one desire and make it the first thought that pops into your head as you open your eyes in the morning, and watch your motivation skyrocket