One Thing You Can Do Every Day That Will Improve Your Life

Every morning should start with a poop, a shower, and a shave – the ‘three S’s,’ according to my grandfather. This has been his morning routine ever since meeting my grandmother in Germany, post-war, sweeping her off her feet and moving her back to St. Thomas to start a family.

Well, this was his morning routine. He now has advanced stage Alzheimer’s and is bedridden, but he got a kick out of me telling him that I chose to include him in a post I was writing. He probably has no clue what a blog post is or that I am his granddaughter but none-the-less a smile is still a smile.

Why A Post on Morning Routines?

Some of us rise with the sun, while others wake to the blaring mid-morning sunshine. No matter the ‘start time,’ we all start our day at some point.

For a while, my morning routine depended on the day, workday vs. weekend, or early morning meetings vs. the usual workday start. I set my alarm according to my schedule and whether or not I felt that I had the time to workout before heading off to work.

As you can imagine with inconsistent wake times, I found myself waking up tired and always in a bit of a rush/panic when my alarm went off. Not the bright and shiny way you expect at the ripe old age of 27.

It took me a while to figure out that I needed to use a consistent routine. Without one, I was setting my days up for failure – I’m sure I’m not the only one… hence the post!

First, What is a Routine?

 Routines by definition are a sequence of events followed regularly. Routines are important both professionally and personally. You might have a gym routine, a breakfast routine, a meeting routine, etc.

Routines can help you develop a sense of discipline and help create a more productive and effective environment.

What About ‘Routines’ In Business

Routines in business can be thought of as standardization. You can simply think of standardization like this – doing something the same best way every time to achieve consistent outcomes.

I recently worked on a project at work to help patients move through our clinics faster (also inspiration for this post) and found that one of the main improvement initiatives that gave us our biggest impact was standardization. What I mean by that is we created standard work for the nurses, clinic assistants, physician assistants and the physicians. This standard work covered prepping the clinic, handling patients and functions the same way throughout the day and closing the clinic. That way everyone knows what to expect and outcomes become predictable and consistent.

In essence, we created routines for each of the clinic functions. We found that through standardization and routines, we could more effectively see patients and end clinic sessions on time. Resulting in a better experience for both the patients and staff.

Ok back to the morning routines.

What Does the Research on Morning Routines Say?

According to a recent FastCompany article, science says: “willpower is highest in the morning and suggests starting strong! Additionally, the way you start your morning can set the tone for positivity and productivity for the rest of your day.”

If you are looking for social proof to convince you of the value of morning routines, you need to look no further than a few industry leaders who swear by their morning routines:

  American Express CEO, Kenneth Chenault details out his top three wants to accomplish for tomorrow.

  Mark Zuckerberg, the one from Facebook, gets up at 8 am for a run and wears the same thing every day to save time on deciding what to wear.

  Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, gets up at 5 am to meditate, workout, make coffee and check in with his companies.

  Bezos from Amazon, starts his day between 7 and 8 am to exercise on the treadmill and to read the morning newspapers.

These industry leaders are a great example of how building a consistent routine can help you be more effective.

So, Which Morning Routine Is Best?

That really depends on you and your goals.

As the day goes on, studies have shown a decrease in your self-control, therefore making your morning hours that much more important. Knowing this, it’s a good idea to make the most of your mornings and make sure they set you up for success the rest of the day.

Here are some morning routine activities you may want to consider implementing into your life:

What About Your Big Tasks?

From the famous Mark Twain quote:

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

Some say that making your bed first thing in the morning is key. It gives you a ‘win’ right off the bat! I make my bed simply because I love the way getting into a neat and clean bed feels like at night. I wouldn’t count this as a win but it is something to routinely do to get you in the habit.

A big win for me is something I think about and plan for the day prior – like completing a report/PowerPoint for a work project or selecting a blog post topic.

I would argue that a morning routine, in fact, starts the night before. This, of course, depends on the type of person you are. If you’re like me, you’ve meal prepped and prepared a lunch box for the next day, you have an idea of your outfit and you’ve set a few alarms according to when you’re first meetings of the day start.

Working in academic medicine, some days start at 6:30 am in the Operating Room and others start at the normal 8:30/9 am. The good news is that I am a morning person and don’t mind an early start. One extreme positive is that I skip all of the horrid Miami traffic trying to get to work like everyone else.

My (Weekday) Routine

5:35 am – My alarm goes off. I give myself 5-10 minutes to actually get out of bed. Personally, I like to stretch and fully wake up before proceeding to put on my gym clothes and making the bed.

5:55 am – I then head to the gym for my workout.

7:30 am – Back at my house, I make coffee and eat breakfast; usually an omelet.

7:45 am – I then shower, dress for work and head into the office.

8:25 am – Before diving into work I give myself some time to catch up on some reading, news mostly. Then I review my top three goals for the day (which I set the day before).

This is my current morning routine and I have to say that the sense of predictability and knowing what to expect really works for me. This set routine helps direct the tone for the day and I find myself getting my work done more effectively and I have more energy throughout the day.

Use It or Lose It:

To create a standardized morning routine:

  Start by documenting or understanding what you currently do – determine what works well and what might need some tweaking

  Determine what your goals are for your morning routine; do you want to start exercising or eating a good breakfast? Do you want to meditate or journal?

  Try out some of the suggested morning routines (see above)

  Once you find a set routine that works for you, stick with it

 When to Use a Morning Routine:

  Well, obviously you’d use it in the morning.

  Ok, ok joking aside, if you find yourself waking up every day to chaos or a crap storm of things to do, consider starting a morning routine. Specifically, try a morning routine that focuses on setting yourself up for success.

  All of the morning routines we’ve discussed in today’s post have to do with bettering you, exercise, eating right, journaling, etc. Don’t get me wrong they do take discipline and self-control but the juice is worth the squeeze.

  Maybe most important about routines is that by nature, humans are habitual creatures, we like familiar and usual things. Find out what works best for you and stick with it.

What Do You Think?

  I’d love to hear about your morning (or night) routines, so please comment below!

Get a good night sleep, wake up early and keep priming that pump!

Xoxo Bri

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