Ladies, I need your advice. For context, I have a heavy workload. I am insomniac and I am not a morning person. I have low mood in the morning
1. I work out in the morning before work everyday and post workout, my energy and mood is low. I end up procrastinating work. This is more severe closer to my period. I mostly eat healthy
2. I waste time in the morning, I end up pushing work later during the day and in the evening. I would rather utilize the evening to cook
Cont'd.

Could you work out in the evening? I am similar to you and I do better with evening workouts

Zquil regimen until you pay off sleep debt. Then a staycation where you catch up on life. Then a spa weekend treat to rejuvenate and reflect on what you actually want in life. Then catch up at work. Then a full overhaul of lifestyle so this doesn’t happen again, or at least you catch it quickly and decide how to proceed rather than self blame. Love yourself first. 💕

Again, if I waste time, I end up having regret and develop a lot of self hate.

How to be more positive and productive in the morning? - please give advice and suggestions

How do you waste time? Scrolling? Put your phone in another room not to be touched until x number of tasks are complete. Or better yet lunchtime.

Have you tried a new routine for at least two weeks to see how things change? Like sleeping in and working out during your lunch break, for example. Or maybe sleeping in, crank out work first thing, cook and eat after work, and workout later in the evening?

I applaud you for having the will power to wake up early and go to the gym on a work day. For someone like me who also isn't a morning person, I think choosing not to snooze my alarm and going to the gym is the hardest part. Since you can overcome that, I think you can fix the rest of your morning with a little extra motivation and discipline. Maybe that's some sort of treat or ritual (like meal prepping if you WFH since you want time to cook) that you do for X minutes post workout with a hard stop at Xa.m. to hit the ground running with work. This personally works well for me.

Also I uninstalled social media apps on my phone years ago, and that eliminated a lot of useless distraction.

Have you talked to your doctor about this? This could be a hormone imbalance, ADHD, depression, etc. I was similar and my doctor put me on Wellbutrin (anti-depressant and ADHD) and I noticed that I had more focus once I started taking it. I have friends who had similar results when they took saffron extract. This could also be a mental thing that you should work through with a therapist.

Have you tried working at the office? You might feel more accountable and it might increase your productivity

You need to get to bed early.

There are so many studies that have shown that our brains are generally not wired to start work before 10am. There are also studies showing those of us who are neurospicy do have a harder time with mornings and thrive at night. I don’t know what your workout consists of or how many days/wk you go, but if there’s an option to break it up and do a 30 minute workout/walk/bike/etc as a midday break then maybe catch up with the rest at the gym after dinner that could help?

Yeah, the lifehack here is to see a doctor & take some adhd/depression meds. No amount of "healthy life changes" is going to make you have a, frankly unnatural, drive to create stakeholder value, and stare at a screen and push buttons & do brain problems at 830 am, especially around your period when your body is telling you to rest. So try a not that healthy way (artificial joy of work/urgency with medication). You could also make like the overachievers & convince yourself it's the end of the world if you don't do it (another way to get that sweet, sweet artificial urgency). Or, alternatively, give up. Accept where the intersection of being a biological entity and living in late stage capitalism have left you. Waste some time. Try not to stress it.

Prioritize protein in the morning! I feel like I have less afternoon “crashes” when I have high protein, balanced meals :)