Small Changes, Big Results

Wake Up with a Plan

If you overuse the snooze button, try this: When the alarm goes off, get out of bed and into the shower. And while you're there, try to remember yesterday's headlines. The one-two punch of physical and mental activity will activate your brain, says Zac Unger, author of Working Fire: The Making of a Fireman. (This Ivy Leaguer learned a lot about waking up quickly when he started fighting fires.) He also suggests that rather than dwell on how awful you're feeling, you make a goal you want to achieve before lunch.