Image Credit: 51/365 The Snooze Button by ellaluna via CC by 2.0
How I Use My Morning Routine to Achieve More
Today's post will be unique. Instead of offering tips and techniques for developing your leadership skills, I will describe an example of one of my daily practices. This morning habit has helped me progress towards my professional and personal goals. Perhaps you can take parts of my routine to help you on your journey of becoming a better leader.
Co-workers and friends occasionally ask me how I get so much work done. Please understand that so much is a completely relative term. I often look at others and think "how in the world can they do so much and not completely destroy themselves and those around them?". I feel like an unproductive, poor-will-powered sloth when I compare myself to these people and their cumulative accomplishments.
But to some people, I am the insanely productive person. When they ask me that question my reply is always the same. The main source of my organization, output and intrinsic motivation is my morning routine. I referred to my morning routine during my previous post about getting back on track.
In short, my morning routine is what allows me to:
- think creatively and strategically
- keep up with large amounts of work
- focus my day on the key tasks I want to accomplish
- align my task list with my calendar
- practice gratitude and spirituality
Why is morning time so special to me?
- it is quiet so I can think deeply
- I have more willpower and focus in the morning (compared to nighttime) so I can tackle more difficult and complex activities.
My typical morning routine
(all the times are approximate)
- 5:00: Wake up (although lately I've been experimenting with 4:45). I immediately go to the bathroom and turn on the light. The bathroom light does two things: 1) I can better see what I'm doing, and 2) the (especially blue) light produced by the bathroom lightbulbs helps to "wake-up" my entire body. I'm not fully awake at this point but at least I'm functioning enough not to fall down the stairs to the ground floor of our house.
- 5:05: Go downstairs and let the dog outside to go the bathroom. I use this time outside with my dog to feel nature, look at the stars (where I live, it's always dark at 5:00 in the morning, even during summer hours), and briefly pray before I start my day. Once I come back inside:
- I drink a large glass of lemon water. I'm typically dehydrated in the morning but as I've grown older, I no longer like the feeling of drinking plain water on an empty stomach. I've found the lemon helps it go down smoothly.
- Make and enjoy my first cup of coffee for the day. I love coffee. It's likely that I drink too much, but one of the true pleasures of my day is enjoying the first few sips of freshly brewed coffee in the morning.
- 5:20 - 5:25: Journal for five minutes. I use this time to get whatever is in my mind (whether I know it or not) out of my head and down onto paper. This has a very calming, "grounding" mental effect and allows me to focus more deeply on my work.
- 5:25 - 5:35: Reacquaint myself with my task list for the day. I am a big fan of a software tool named Omnifocus for Mac and iOS. This is normally fast (10 minutes or less). I do not perform GTD-style reviews during this morning planning session. I can use less productive periods of the day or week for reviews.
- 5:35 - 5:45: Look at my calendar for the day. Is it aligned with my task list (likely not)? The system that works best for me is if I book a time slot in my calendar for tasks that are due during the day. Normally it is not possible for me to "squeeze them in" during the day because other, more urgent issues pop up that need to be dealt with. I also use this "calendar alignment" activity to respond to meeting invitations and clear out overlapping meetings.
- 5:45 - 6:45: Now that I know what I am going to face during the day, I can calmly handle a "big task" without fear that I've forgotten anything. I pick one thing to work on that requires focus, creativity and deep thought, but that I can realistically conclude (or get close to concluding) in one hour. If I need to create a presentation that I'm going to give, I will typically work on it during this morning session. Sometimes I will brainstorm (using mind maps) about issues at work (mind maps help me to see patterns and connections that would otherwise escape me).
- 6:45 - 7:15: Now that I've progressed with a major task, I can shift gears and work on the uglier side of professional life: email processing. I intentionally use the phrase "email processing" instead of "check my email" because I have a clear intention to take action for each email (either reading it, immediately archiving it, or taking some action). Also, I strictly time box my email processing to 30 minutes in the morning. I will look for and process high priority emails first, and then move to normal priority emails. Some of the strategies I use for email are listed in Productivity Hack #2.
- 7:15 - 8:00: Put away my laptop, get ready for work, socialize with my family while they are getting ready for school.
- 8:00 - 8:45: Drive to my office.
- 9:00: Greet the first meeting of the day with a smile and don't slow down until the day is done.
Q&A
- Is your routine static? No. At this point in my life, the above routine is what works for me but I regularly tweak it to better suit my needs.
- Do I do this everyday? Mostly. I'm neither a Spartan with unbreakable willpower or a robot who rigidly follows a routine at all costs. I successfully adhere to my routine about 80% of the time.
- Do I sometimes just sleep in and then go to work? Yes, it does happen, although rarely because I planned to sleep in. My morning hours are too productive and valuable to me to waste by snoozing my alarm. But ... it does occasionally happen.
- What happens if you can't stick to the routine? What happens if I accidentally sleep in until 6:00am? Or if I get distracted and work on a project until 7:00am and miss processing email? Or if one of my children needs help in the morning and I can't work at all? Realistically, nothing happens. Sure, I feel a little guilty and resolve to do better the next day but life goes on.
Something is better than nothing
Take a look at the unique constraints and resources that make up your life. How can you best structure your day to give you the time you need to work on things that are important?
When you're contemplating establishing a daily routine, the key is not to make it a have/have not situation, that you either adhere to a daily routine 100% of the time, or you have no routine. The most important thing is to find your personal optimal time slot and then do the best you can to get the most productive work out during that time. A good analogy could be moving sand one shovelful at a time until the entire pile is moved. Establish a daily routine that allows you to chip away, little-by-little, at your goals. As time goes by, you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish with a daily routine!
Take care, and I'll talk to you next time.
Question: In the comments section, briefly describe your productivity routine. What time of the day are your most productive hours?