The Secret to My Morning Routine
Actually, I have two secrets to share with you about my morning routine.
My mornings weren’t always as magical as they are now. Even as a self-described morning person, mornings can be tough even for me.
For years I was proud of not using an alarm to wake up. It was a symbol of my freedom to live and work on my own terms.
I got up whenever my body naturally wanted to get up. Sometimes I slept for eight hours and sometimes as long as ten hours (generally in the dead of winter when it’s dark longer).
Over the past couple of years, I’ve been sleeping a bit longer. I was averaging between nine and eleven hours a night.
It was a symptom of my depression and my unhappiness with my work. When your work makes you feel miserable it provides little motivation for getting out of bed. The comforts of a warm, cozy bed are so much more satisfying.
I recently reversed course. Now I’m overjoyed about getting out of bed. I’ve even decided to set an alarm again! (I’m using Sleep Cycle, so the alarm doesn’t go off when I’m sleeping deeply.) I’m getting up two hours earlier now and I’m very happy about it!
Why? What changed?
Secret #1: Clarity of Purpose
Since I was laid off 25 years ago I have been fascinated with alternative ways of working. It’s been an obsession of mine. I’ve conducted countless lifestyle experiments, interviewed hundreds of people and read just as many books.
My previous self-employment experiences never gave me the joy I felt when I was tinkering around with a new way of working. My calling, my purpose and my “why” were staring me in the face, but I ignored them, until about a decade ago.
I realized my purpose in life was to help people work on their own terms.
I want to teach people like you how to do it. After all, I have been researching and experimenting with it for years. I have a lot of knowledge to share. It was time.
I finally had the clarity of purpose I had been seeking from my work for so long. It gave me a burst of energy like I’ve never felt before.
It is that clarity of purpose that makes me climb out of bed with ease each day at 6am. Many days, I wake up just before my alarm goes off. I wake up as excited as a kid on Christmas morning every day (I know that sounds over the top, but it’s true!)
Nothing will transform your mornings to feel more energized than having clarity of purpose in your work.
Secret #2: Eliminate Decisions
My purpose made me very excited to get out of bed each day, but I noticed I was still experiencing some early morning “brain fog”. It was particularly evident every time I had to make a decision about the next thing I had to do to get my day going.
I thought to myself, “Is it possible to eliminate all the choices and decisions facing me during the first hour of my day?”
Sounded like a worthy lifestyle experiment, so I tried it about eight years ago and it worked!
First, I realized it was important to prepare as much as possible the night before, so I:
Lay out my clothes in my home office, so I didn’t have to think about what to wear the next morning.
Pack up my breakfast of a hard-boiled egg, half an avocado, orange, vitamins and a piece of lox, as well as my mid-morning snack of nuts and seeds, so I could easily grab it all in the morning on my way out.
Shower at night, instead of in the morning, so I have one less thing to do.
Prepare my home office for my morning stretches by moving the chair against the wall, so I have plenty of room to roll out my yoga mat. During this time I also mediate and recite my daily mantra.
Pack up my bag with my laptop and related gear.
All these shortcuts were an enormous help, but over time I was surprised by how many other decisions I could still eliminate. Here are some of the adjustments I made after the first couple of weeks:
Put all my vitamins for the week in a small container and put it in my bag, so I didn’t have to pack them every night.
Cooked all my hard-boiled eggs for the week every Sunday.
Cut my hair shorter than I’ve ever had it in my life, so I don’t have to do anything to it.
Permanently leave my water bottle in my bag.
Put five shirts on a separate shelf in my closet for the week, so I spend less time time thinking about what I’ll wear.
Have a specific arrangement for my glass of water, eyeglasses and phone on my nightstand, so I don’t have to fumble around for them in the dark when I wake up.
I know that looks like some crazy obsessive-compulsive behaviors, but it makes the first hour of my day immensely more enjoyable because I don’t have to think about anything. It’s all been done for me.
It’s an automatic routine. I am able to conserve my energy and thought power for my most important work when I get to work an hour after I get up.
My Morning Routine
So here’s what my morning routine ends up looking like.
First 10 Minutes
Shut off alarm. Put on glasses. Pick up phone and glass of water. Leave bedroom.
Go to bathroom. Wash face. Put on face lotion with SPF. Wash glasses. Brush teeth.
Go to home office to stretch and meditate.
Stretch and Meditate for 30 Minutes
Roll out my yoga mat. Perform a series of stretches for 20 minutes.
Then meditate for 10 minutes and recite my daily mantra.
Leave the House
Get dressed. Pick up bag. Leave home office.
Get breakfast in fridge and put in bag.
Put on coat and shoes in back hallway.
Leave and take 15-minute walk to co-working space.
My Peak Performance Period
My peak performance period for my best work and personal productivity is between 7am and 12pm. I arrive at my co-working space around 7am.
I eat my breakfast by 7:30am.
I write from 7:30am to approximately 11am. I don’t look at emails, social media or anything else. I focus on my most important work: writing. I average 2,000 words per day.
I generally schedule phone calls from 11am to 12pm. If I don’t have any, I continue to write.
I leave the co-working space at 12pm and head to the gym, followed by lunch.
Going With the Flow
Life happens. My morning routine obviously gets disturbed by any number of curve balls life throws my way.
I tend to schedule doctor appointments as early as possible in the day to get them over with. I travel frequently, so my morning routine isn’t as regimented when I’m on the road.
The goal of my routine is to conserve my energy and to reduce as many decisions as I know I’ll need to make. It provides me with a familiar routine for a calmer start to my day.
When unforeseen problems or demands popup, I can deal with them more effectively because I’ve taken steps to reduce common decisions in the morning. I’ll be able to get back into my groove more easily by minimizing my energy loss.
Your morning routine sets the tone and pace for the rest of your day.
The more chaotic your morning feels, the greater the potential for that chaos to seep into the rest of your day.
Taming that first hour of your day provides you with greater willpower to maintain a calmer flow for the remainder of your day.
And if you lack clarity of purpose right now, consider enrolling to our 12-Week Self-Assessment Challenge to learn about designing a workday that will make you feel most fulfilled.