The Myth of the Morning Routine

If I just do these 27 things in the first hour of my day, I can’t possibly fail!

It’s very tempting to fall into this kind of thinking.

Some examples…

Just wake up early. Start the day before everyone else and get a head start.

Sleep in and don’t use an alarm. Make sure you’re well rested!

Spend some time in silence. Peace, quiet, serenity, all that…

Listen to some energizing music. Psych yourself up for the day.

Eat a big breakfast. You need your energy! Protein! Or vegan! SUPERFOODZ!

Skip breakfast and fast until dinner. Ketones help your brain work.

and on and on…

People giving advice like this mean well. And what they’re recommending probably works really well for them.

Some of it even works for me.

But that doesn’t mean it will work for you.

Just look at all the equally successful people who do the exact opposite!

Some spend hours meditating, drinking hand picked cave aged puh erh tea, doing yoga poses at sunrise, and writing lists of what they’re grateful for.

Others are checking social media and responding to emails as soon as the alarm goes off, followed by lots of coffee and a hectic commute to the office.

There’s no one size fits all morning routine.

Copying the morning routine of a successful person will not make you successful.

That person’s morning routine probably isn’t what makes them successful. Even if they think it is.

True, what you do in the morning does matter.

The guy who gets up and works on his goals is probably going to have more success than the guy who gets up and smokes a bunch of meth and tries to rob a laundromat.

But that much is obvious.

Beyond ‘don’t be stupid’, there’s a lot that’s open to experimentation.

The key to a good morning routine is to figure out what works best for you.

What makes you most productive during the day.

What helps you tune out all the unimportant bullshit and stick to what matters.

Or just what you like doing. Or what’s necessary with your schedule.

If you’ve got a lot of important stuff to do, sleeping until noon might not help. If things are a bit more calm, and you’re good right now, do what you want.

Align your actions (and your “morning routine”) with your life and your goals.

Once you’ve got the basics down, feel free to experiment with some of these other “expert” suggestions.

Like meditation.

Or exercise.

Or gratitude.

Or Bulletproof coffee and intermittent fasting for the rest of the day.

Or whatever else sounds good to you.

I’ve tried all of these things, with good results. And other things, with other results.

But now I generally stick to what works for me, with the occasional change to switch things up.

I’m not even going to tell you what I do now in the mornings, because it doesn’t matter to you.

Figure out your own thing. Make sure it gets you closer to your goals, and then go with it.