Morning Routines
Have a think for a moment about your morning routine. What daily habits kick-start your day? Are you a well-oiled machine in the morning, setting up your day in the best possible way? Or is it a mad panic of activity that ends with you just about getting out of the door with your shoes on?
I started to think a while ago that my morning routine needs some attention on average days it can take me 2 ½ hours from getting up to getting out of the door. I remember back in the UK I used to take about 20 minutes to get out of the door (clearly exercise or hair washing was not a priority for me back then!) I don’t think it is in my or anyone else’s interest to go back to that! I do think though that there must be room for efficiencies and some tweaks I can make to maximise the hours before getting to work.
So where to start? Well, I think it always helps to look at what others do. Why reinvent the wheel if someone has already figured it out for you? So, I googled some people I admire to see what I could learn about their morning rituals.
Tony Robbins – I know from UPW that Tony does his morning priming every day – this involves breaking exercises, gratitude, and visualisation of success. (Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTlqTNje7qI He also has a vitamin/vegetable juice, does a short and intense workout (15 minutes), and eats breakfast of eggs or fish and salad. Robbins also does a quick sauna to cold plunge for a few minutes. This improves circulation and trains his mind to act in the face of fear!
Tim Ferris – Ferris has arrived at his morning routine after interviewing thousands of successful leaders (so maybe ignore everything else and just do what he does!?) First up he makes his bed. I have heard others advocate this as it sets you in motion for a day of getting things done. He then meditates for 10-20 minutes and then has a strong tea. He then journals for 5-10 minutes, clearing his thoughts and noting what he is grateful for and anxious about. Next up a 30-minute workout and then a small breakfast.
Oprah Winfrey – Winfrey also starts her day with meditation, followed by the treadmill for fifteen minutes. She will then tune herself into the day by going for a walk or listening to some music. She then eats a healthy breakfast.
Richard Branson – Branson lets the sun wakes him up naturally, usually before 6 am. He goes for a swim around Necker island, plays tennis, and sits down for a healthy breakfast. This sounds italic, all I am missing is the private island to swim around!
Indra Nooyi – before even googling this one I had a feeling it was going to be intense and shame-Inducing and it certainly is! Nooyi wakes at 4 am. She does 15 minutes of meditation and then reads the news over a cup of tea for 30 minutes. She works out for 90 minutes and then eats breakfast before heading to work at 7 am.
Jack Dorsey – The twitter CEO has a consistent morning routine. Each day he wakes at 5 am, meditates for 30 minutes, and then does a 7-minute workout, repeated 3 times. Followed by a caffeine fix and breakfast.
See here for the workout - https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/the-scientific-7-minute-workout/
Elon Musk – Musk wakes at 7 am and deals with critical emails for 30 minutes. He drinks coffee but most days skips breakfast. He gets the kids off to school (he waves them goodbye, from what I can tell I don’t think his involvement extends much beyond that), showers, and goes to work.
Sheryl Sandberg – Sandberg leans into her morning by taking a moment to be grateful and setting an intention for the day, she then does a workout at her home gym, deals with emails for an hour, and drops the kids off at school. This sounds OK until you learn that she is in the office by 7 am!
Mark Zuckerberg – Zuckerberg wakes at 8 am (I feel better about myself already!) and checks Facebook, messenger, and WhatsApp immediately. Three times a week he works out, going for a run with his dog, Beast. Beast is basically a mop on legs, including a picture here because he's awesome. He wears the same clothes almost every day to reduce his morning decisions (Mark not Beast). Zuckerberg strives to read a book every 2 weeks, I couldn’t figure out if he reads in the morning or evening, as he only wakes at 8 am I am guessing that his learning takes place mostly in the evening.
The Routines of ‘Normal’ People
The people above are to be admired but let’s face it, their daily lives are often quite removed from the realities of most people. I don’t have a sauna and ice-cold plunge pool in my apartment or a tennis court downstairs for my morning cardio. I am also unfortunately lacking a personal chef to prep my breakfast for me. I wanted to know what people like me did in the morning and what I could learn from them. The benefit of asking people personally who I know, is that I think they are more likely, to be honest with me than a celebrity is with the media. So, I polled some people, and here is a selection of what I learned:
Sarah Anthony, Co-Founder, North Point Coaching Academy
“I wake up and check my email. I am based in the UK and working with my Dubai team so am conscious of attending to emails first thing as they are already into their working day. I always make sure I have time to be alone with my thoughts to set me up for the day. I make sure I get this in before my daughter wakes up or occupy her while I take some time to think. I have a hot drink and make a healthy smoothie for the day. Then my time is focused on getting my daughter ready for school.”
Any changes you would like to make to this routine? “Be less reliant on my phone and be able to start the day with a fully fresh mind.”
Matt Trenchard, Co-Founder, North Point Coaching Academy
“I found I was putting too much pressure on myself to stick to a fixed morning routine so these days I start my day by being kinder to myself. More important than my morning routine is the decisions I make for how much ‘stuff’ I put into my life.”
Sara Elawady, Coach
“I like to wake naturally with no alarm – usually around 7 am. I check social media when I wake and then prepare to pray and do my prayers. I prepare a breakfast of eggs with hot tea. And have a quick conversation with my husband before getting ready and starting the day.”
Any changes you would like to make to this routine? Reduce my reliance on my phone first thing.
Nathalie Spree, Director, TrueSearch
“I wake at 5.45 and scroll through messages, mail, and news, make the bed, and wake kids up. Put the kettle on, unload the dishwasher from the night before, and wake the kids up again. Make the kids breakfast (usually something with eggs) and maybe lunch for them too. Drop off at the bus stop at 6.55. Come back, either go for a run or do a workout at home. Quick shower, dressed, make myself breakfast, and be at my laptop by 8 am.”
Any changes you would like to make to this routine? Step the habit of checking messages first thing.
What did I notice?
On none of the ‘celebrity’ morning routines I read did anyone say – I hit snooze 3 times before waking. Only one person said they check social media first thing (and he owns the platforms – so I think that’s OK), and only one person said they read the news. Either no one successful does these things, or they are just not shouting about it. As they are highly successful, efficient people I don’t think the snooze button and mindless procrastination of starting the day are on their morning to-do list very often.
On the morning routines of people, I know they almost all spoke about checking their phone first thing and wanting to stop this! I am glad I am not alone in this challenge as I had thought after reading about all the super-focused morning people.
A lot of the morning rituals I read about had lots in common – almost everyone did some form of meditation practice, exercised, and ate breakfast. These three things are ubiquitous. If you are looking to optimise your day through your morning rituals my non-scientific approach would indicate these are the things to focus on.
My Takeaways
The morning routine you design for yourself must fit your lifestyle, sleeping preferences, and family setup. Those with kids inevitably have it tougher. I can take 2 ½ hours now to get out of the house, with kids is that morning schedule going to take me 3 ½ hours!? There are definite inefficiencies in my routine – hitting snooze, checking social media, and deciding what to wear are things that can be cut out completely or streamlined. I had been making a choice before between exercising and meditating and I think after looking at the routines of the rich and successful that both can be incorporated. Lack of time is just an excuse; it is about motivation and willpower to get up earlier and make the commitment to starting your day in the right way.
Before starting this, I was focusing on cutting the length of time in my morning routine, but I think now it is more important to make effective use of that time to set my day up in the right way. So, considering all the advice from others and knowing what works for me this is the new plan:
6 AM: Wake up and get up, no hitting snooze, no checking email, and social media.
6.10 AM: Walk the dogs; this has to come first as soon as they hear me get up, they will be shouting at me to walk them!
6.30 AM: Work out; 30 minutes of cardio or weights on the balcony.
7.00 AM: Tony Robbins Morning Priming Routine
7.15 AM: Shower
7.30 AM: Get ready; - hair and makeup are required, one of the advantages men have over women! Sometimes I will listen to an audio book during this time also but it slows the process down
8:00 AM: Breakfast; eggs on toast, water, and lemon. Check emails and what’s app over breakfast and set priorities for the day.
8.30 AM: Leave for work; arrive at office 8:40 AM.
What could go wrong?
The plan above is the best-case scenario and plenty can go wrong. I have broken down the key areas for failure below and explained how I will deal with each one:
Other People
Firstly, there’s not much time for a chat in here, what if my other half wants to have a conversation in the morning, where can I fit him in? His morning routine is usually get up, shower and 10 minutes later he is sitting at his laptop working, so I think I will be OK on this one most of the time.
Training
The routine above works well for days when I am in the office or coaching and with some small adaption when training in Dubai. The problem comes at times when training is in Abu Dhabi, and I need to be out of the door by 7. On these days exercise needs to switch to the evening which isn’t ideal for me but not impossible.
Exercise
In summer I think my routine will suffer the most. At the minute the efficiency of the morning routine relies a lot on the luxury of being able to work out on the balcony. In summer I will need to add in a walk or drive to the gym which will push the rest of the day back.
Snooze Time
Probably the biggest opportunity for failure is right at the start of the day. I habitually press snooze to get an extra 10 minutes of sleep. To counter this I am going to set the alarm for 5.50 am. This seems more practical than setting it for 6 am and forcing myself up. Try to change too much at once and you are bound to fail so I am giving myself some leeway here!
Juice
I like to have green juice at some point during the day. Adding this to my morning routine is going to throw the timings off so I need to make this the night before so it’s ready to take to work with me.
Clothes
I am not going to do a Zuckerberg and start wearing the same thing every day, but this process has got me thinking about how I can make this process more efficient. Why not hang clothes up ready compiled into outfits? That way each morning I can just select the first outfit that is ready to go. Again, this requires a bit more thinking and planning in advance but would save me time each morning.
What is your morning routine? Would love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions below!
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