Mornings; we all struggle with them. Your alarm goes off. Loud and blaring, and you’re instantly in a bad mood. So, you hit snooze, (27 times) and then scramble at the last minute to find a shirt and pants that will hopefully pass as matching.

Before you know it, you have to be to class in 1 minute and you haven’t even fully come to your senses. Luckily, there are a few things you can to help ensure you have a timely, productive morning. Here are 5 tips and tricks to help you become a morning person:

1.Set out your outfit the night before

Most of us have probably sat in bed at night thinking about what were going to wear the next morning. We go through every item of clothing, almost like a mental checklist. “This shirt, those pants, these socks and those shoes….” when you finally come to an outfit you’re contempt with, you shut your eyes and go to sleep without giving it a second thought. There’s always that one thing, however that’s never where you thought it was. It’s always that very shirt you wanted to wear that’s in the hamper, or those stupid pants that are still in the gym locker at school, thus ruining your entire outfit, and causing you to scramble for something, anything to wear. Taking just a few minutes every night while you’re in a clear state of mind can immensely benefit you in the morning. Not only does setting out your outfit the night before relieve the stress of trying to think of something that looks good, it gives you time to be able to go through and put as much thought and detail into it as you need. This allows for a quick and easy task the next morning that only requires you to throw on whatever you’ve laid out, rather than trying to play a game of hide-and-go-seek with your wardrobe.

2. Put your alarm on the other side of the room.

An old trick, but also a very effective one. This works because it takes away your ability to mindlessly hit snooze and continue to sleep. It forces you to become aware enough to stand up, walk across the room, and turn off your alarm. By the time you’ve turned it off, you’ve started to increase your circulation and bring blood flow to your brain. In order to increase the probability of this working, there are a few more things you can do in relation to your alarm to help you wake up. For some of us, a loud, blaring alarm does nothing but put us in an instant bad mood, and make us want to squish down into the covers as far as possible. Using a gentle sound that you relate to good vibes/feelings/memories, as your alarm will help to increase your mood and make you more willing to get up. If you’re worried that the soft sound might not wake you up, try it out for a weekend before you start using it as your daily alarm. You can also set other, louder alarms that will go off a few minutes after the softer one. Don’t forget to turn on lights as you walk across the room to click off your alarm, this will help tell your brain that its time to wake up, and you’ll be less likely to go back to sleep.

3. Splash cold water on your face right when you get out of bed

This is an instant wake up call. For some, this helps to instantly make them alert, and also feel refreshed at the same time. The shock of freezing water hitting your skin is proven to instantly make you become more aware of your surroundings, and to wake you up quicker.

4. Make your bed

If your issue with mornings isn’t getting up from bed, but trying not to crawl back into the warm, fluffy covers, try making your bed right as you get up. Your nicely folded covers will deter you from wanted to hop directly back into bed. If you leave it un-made, it becomes much easier to just crawl back into the perfectly placed pillows and blankets. Making your bed also helps you to feel more productive, and it becomes one less thing you have to do later in the day, which can also reduce stress.

5. Drink Water

Drinking water as soon as you wake up has several benefits. One of those benefits being that it speeds up your metabolism. This helps to increase productivity and alertness. Drinking water on an empty stomach also helps to flush toxins out of your system, helping you to feel fresh and renewed from the very beginning of the day

Mornings can be rough, but creating a continuous pattern for yourself is guaranteed to slowly turn you into the morning person you’ve always aspired to be!