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1-Page Summary of My Morning Routine

Overview

“All of life is an experiment,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote. “The more experiments you make, the better.” Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander’s My Morning Routine presents a collection of living experiments conducted by 64 successful innovators, entrepreneurs, writers and artists.

So what do these self-starters all have in common? They’ve developed morning routines that help them start the day in a positive way. These key points aren’t meant to be rules for you to follow, but rather ideas that can inspire and motivate you to create your own morning routine.

So, let’s find out what kind of morning routine is most likely to boost your productivity and happiness. For example, artists who rise early record their dreams; CEOs who meditate in the morning swear by it; Olympic athletes can’t do without an early workout.

A good night’s sleep is critical for success. It helps you wake up refreshed and ready to go. Children need routines so that they know what to expect in the morning, and exercising improves your mental health as much as it does your physical health.

Big Idea #1: Nothing gets you out of bed like an important task or something you love to do.

There are many mornings when you wake up and just want to go back to sleep. You hit the snooze button on your alarm clock several times, but eventually have to get out of bed anyway. Mornings can be miserable if you don’t know how to make them better.

One way to ensure that you start the day on a good note is to have something important to do. MIT president Leo Rafael Reif does this by waking up early every morning and checking his email before anyone else can get there first. This is because MIT has students from all over the world, so he needs to know about what’s going on in order for him to run it properly. If he doesn’t wake up early, then he worries that he’ll miss out on something important.

Not everyone is the head of a large organization, but everyone can find something they care deeply about and jump out of bed to work on it every day.

Caroline Paul’s morning routine is similar to Reif’s. She wakes up at 6:00 a.m., and she spends the first few hours of her day reading in peace before others are awake.

Reading is very important to her. It’s a welcome break from the chaos of everyday life. She loves reading, especially in the mornings because it helps her relax and forget about everything else that’s going on around her.

Street photographer Andre Wagner is usually out of his house by 7 a.m. He walks the city and photographs it with early morning light.

However, there is a simple trick that will help you get out of bed on time. Don’t use the snooze button on your alarm clock. It’s like revving an engine without putting it into gear—both activities are a waste of energy and resources.

The most important thing is to follow your instincts. Try things out and see what works for you. If something doesn’t work, don’t be afraid to abandon it and try something else.

Big Idea #2: Some of your best work will be done in the morning, so give yourself time to see to it before tackling other tasks.

You probably have a lot of things on your to-do list, but you never seem to find the time for them. You feel like there are not enough hours in the day, right?

There are many important things to do in the morning. For example, you could spend time working on your own business; other examples include reading and writing. Sheena Brady is an entrepreneur who dedicates her mornings to Tease Tea, a company she started. Todd Henry is another person who uses his mornings for studying and writing because he thinks it’s the most valuable use of that time during the day. He claims that you should avoid checking emails when you first wake up so that you can devote more attention to what really matters later in your workday.