How to Start your Day Successfully with a Morning Routine

The entrepreneurial blessing and curse

One of the perks of being an entrepreneur is being able to create your own schedule, but let’s be real, if you’re not intentional about your days, all this freedom can quickly become your worst enemy. Myself and many of my entrepreneurial peers have found that creating our own routines is what really helps us thrive. A routine prevents us being too lax with the productivity of our work hours and also protects our personal time and self care. And what better way to have a great day than starting with a solid morning ritual?!

Start the day on the right foot

A really important focus for me this year was establishing a routine that sets my days up for success. When I have a great morning routine, my day is awesome, but when I don't I'm totally out of whack and never seem to have as great of days. I had a routine when I owned my coworking space, but after selling that brick & mortar business, I lost my good habits and my productivity and happiness suffered because of it. After floundering for a while, I eventually made one of my priorities establishing a new schedule and I instantly started working and living better.

PREPARE FOR MORNING…AT NIGHT!

My morning routine actually starts, oddly enough, in the evening. At 9:30 pm I start getting ready for bed. I pick up the house, shut off screens (leave my phone in our home office), and do my whole hygiene routine. If I’m leaving the house the next day, I’ll set out my clothes (one less decision to make in the morning!), prep the food I’ll take with me (I make healthier, less impulsive choices this way), and gather my workout stuff to make sure I don’t get lazy and skip it.

Then read in bed until I get tired, ideally having lights out by 10:30 or 11 pm.

This evening routine is key because I’m naturally a night-owl, but I found that being on a funky schedule wasn’t great for the type of lifestyle my husband and I wanted to live together. I established this night-time routine first before working on my morning one. Having an earlier bedtime and some things ready for the next day made my mornings a lot easier.

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE

When 7:30 am rolls around in the morning, I can hear the coffee-shop-music-playlist alarm faintly through the wall (our home office is next to our bedroom). Using this instead of annoying alarm sound wakes me up more gradually. Plus, having my phone in the office means I have to get out of the bed to shut the alarm off. The more I’ve been doing this, the less I need the alarm, and the more I'm waking up naturally. Wahoo!!! Who said a night-owl can’t become a morning person?! (Well at least a 7:30am kind of morning person…)

In the morning I make my bed which gives me a quick win first thing in the morning (sounds silly, but it does feel good for us check-list kind of people). It also just makes the room look nice (especially since I walk by my bedroom all the time when I work from home), and I sleep better when the bed has been made versus getting into messy covers.

Then for the newest addition to my routine, I weigh myself. Contrary to what you might think, it’s actually the opposite of a vanity thing. Struggling with my weight and body confidence, I dreaded the scale. Life Coach and founder of Mindsetting, Rachel Murphy, encouraged me to weigh myself daily so I can start to view the number as nothing more than factual information (and it worked!). I am now more aware of how certain things I eat or drink affect my body and have since cut out some things from my diet that leave me inflamed and bloated. I feel better both physically and emotionally.

Next I shower (if I have to, haha!) while listening to NPR or a non-fiction book, and I let my hair air dry as much as possible, just finishing it off with a blow dryer and maybe a flat iron later on if I’m leaving the house.

Then I'll make tea and while it brews, I put away the clean dishes from the night before and do any additional tidying around the house as needed.

WELLNESS ROUTINE

I also have a specific mindfulness & prayer time routine that I go through every morning next. I even have a chair in my living room dedicated to just this: I read my Bible, prayer journal, write in my miracle book (a daily affirmation journal), and pray.

Then I do a series of breathing exercises I learned from Megan Johnston followed by a short series of stretches inspired by a dance workout class called DanceFix.

I’m sort of doing intermittent fasting—more like only-eat-when-I’m-hungry fasting—so I’m not eating breakfast before I start work at the moment.

By 9:00 am I either start working in my home office or leave for my coworking space, The Living Room.

Tips for a more fulfilling morning

While everyone's morning ritual is different, that is the routine that has been keeping me on track this year. For other perspectives, I asked some friends and people at my coworking space to see how they start their days productively. Here are some other fun and interesting things they do that will hopefully inspire you to craft your own morning ritual to set your day up for success.

CHANGE UP YOUR LIGHTING + ALARM CLOCKS

Everyone knows that turning on a light first thing in the morning isn’t usually pleasant, and makes you want to stay under your covers to avoid it. Megan Hughes, Community Coordinator and Recruiter at Living Room, fights harsh lighting by turning on her pink crystal salt lamp first thing. She says, the calm dimness of the light makes it easier for my eyes to adjust! 

My intern, Cassidy Brengartner, uses a sunrise alarm clock that wakes you up gradually before your alarm even goes off. It’s just like it sounds, it’s like a sunrise in your bedroom, and the light doesn’t shock you when you look at it because it’s be getting brighter for the time span that you set it to. It’s awesome and makes 5 am more fun and easier!

Or if you’re really good at the whole morning thing like Terry Sullivan, Executive Director, Analytic Solutions at NPD Group, train your body to wake up without an alarm clock! One way to get there is by going to bed at the same time every night and staying on schedule.

QUENCH YOUR THIRST AND GET ENERGY

No matter what time you wake up in the morning, sometimes you just need that little pick-me-up to get moving.

For Cat Toth, founder of Juniper, this starts immediately by going to her Kangen Water Machine and drinking 32 ounces of 9.5pH Kangen Water, which is later followed by a 12-oz. half decaf coffee. Megan also loves to make coffee with her Aero Press, which makes the perfect amount for just one person! For those of you that get super anxious from drinking caffeine, tea is always a great option. Liz Haselmayer, Marketing Manager at The Living Room, and Cassidy opt for this lesser-caffeinated drink instead of coffee. Cassidy’s current faves are green tea, peppermint, and Egyptian Licorice.

FEED YOUR BRAIN

What better way to get your brain ready for work than by feeding it interesting information and challenging it?! Megan likes to listen to The Daily Podcast, or whatever Spotify playlist she’s in the mood for. Terry dives into the Washington Post and the New York Times for as long as she can get away with (she likes the puzzles and the funnies!). Joey Haselmayer, CEO at The Living Room, likes to do something fun or competitive for 30-45 minutes. You probably never thought video games were an option in the morning, but who says they can’t be?! To get your brain going in a way related to work without going straight into work, follow the lead of Jason Scherrer, Senior Vice President at Fifth Third Bank. He reads or researches news pertaining to his field.

QUIET TIME TO CENTER YOURSELF

Now that your brain is up and ready to go, it’s time to center yourself and your thoughts and quiet down for a couple minutes. This could be easy as snuggling with your pet like Terry does or by walking the dogs, rain or shine, to reflect like Gregg Burke, Account Executive at ThoughtSpot.

Some other ways to do this are reading, meditating, or journaling like Megan, Joey, Liz, and Cat do. If you don’t know how to meditate, download an app to help! Megan uses Insight Timer, which makes meditating so easy! I usually pick a 5-10 minute meditation. I've found that even getting a few minutes in starts my morning off on the most positive, relaxed, and joyful note! There are also tons of guided journals out there to use. Liz uses the Start Today Journal, reflecting on gratitude for the previous day, dreams she’s pursuing, and one goal she’s working towards. 

If spirituality is important to you, spending time with God in the morning is a great way to ground yourself and challenge yourself in the morning. Some ways to do this are reading the Bible and prayer journaling like Cassidy, or praying and saying gratitude for the previous day and current day like Jason does before getting out of bed. He also reads from a Bible plan or the devotional Daily from Rick Warren and prays to be part of God’s kingdom and to be a blessing in some way today.

GET YOUR BODY MOVIN’

Who loves to get your sweat on early in the morning? I don’t, but some people do! Cassidy swears by this. It gets me ready and pumps me up for the day. It’s also a great way to blow off some stress and be ready to face the day at work or school. Joey and Jason also share the same morning motivation to get that workout in early in the AM. Gregg walks to his local gym and takes a group class that helps keep him accountable.

AND SOME RANDOM TIPS

Cat’s essentials for the morning include her favorite handcrafted wool slippers and taking extra steps with her hygiene routine, making sure to use her tongue scraper and handmade mouthwash. She also doesn’t check her electronics until about 8 am. Talk about discipline!!

Jason thinks of employees he needs to stop by to visit (especially the ones he has not engaged with recently) and connects with them before getting his head ready for the madness of the day!

Liz soaks up the outdoors by sitting on the porch (if its above 40 degrees) and sips on coffee or tea (I aspire to do this more regularly!). The natural morning light helps her wake up and regulates her circadian rhythm. She says that being outside in the morning is one of my favorite things.

Gregg says that his mornings are nothing too elaborate or regimented. If I try to be strict on my morning ritual I feel like it is a job. I tend to go with the flow and adapt. Not saying this is always the right way to attack my life however it works in this stage of life. He even has two different flows depending on when he wakes up.

Figure out what morning routine energizes you

Something that can help you figure out what to include in your morning routine is an Energy & Engagement Journal. This super helpful exercise was developed by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans and discussed in their awesome book, Designing Your Life. The main intent of this exercise is to figure out what type of work energizes and engages you the most, but you could also do this specifically for your morning routine. You can download the free journal and guide I created below and read more about the Energy & Engagement Journal exercise here.

Ideas to create your own morning routine

• Consider what you can do at night to set your morning up for success. If you’re a night-owl, this is the best place to start. Prep things for the next day like your wardrobe, food, or bag to take with you. Tidy the house. And set a time to turn off all screens or to start getting ready for bed.
• Spice up your lighting and alarms—they don’t have to be an annoying shock to the system—or train your body to naturally wake up with a consistent wake-up time.
• Nourish your body with water and get some energy with coffee or tea.
• Make your brain think with insightful, challenging, or fun things such as podcasts, the news, or even something competitive!
• Spend some quiet time with yourself (ie. meditation, journaling, affirmations, gratitude) or with God.
• Move your body and get your sweat on.