Success belongs to those who get up early. Many leaders share their “morning routines,” the daily rituals that get the day off to a good start. Here are the 14-morning routines of successful leaders.
This is the big trend of the moment, not a day goes by without leaders sharing their morning routine tips. The phenomenon of “morning routines”, which originated in the United States, is becoming the new organizational norm for leaders. Their workday now begins before breakfast.
- Getting up early
The first rule if you want to save time is to get up at dawn. Because the program that separates you from your first coffee promises to be busy. Exemplary CEOs often wake up as early as 6 a.m. or even earlier, like Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, who starts his day at 5:30 a.m. to go for a run, or Tim Cook, the Apple boss, who sends his first professional emails at around 4:30 a.m. Richard Branson, Virgin’s boss, and Marissa Mayer, Yahoo’s boss, are also fans of the “miracle morning”. The secret: doesn’t press the snooze button on your alarm clock.
- Drinking water
Today’s leaders are watching their lines. A tip to do without coffee and feel less hungry: drink water, hot or with lemon, instead of coffee. A technique also used by supermodels to stay slim.
- Playing sports
We know that marathon runners are more efficient. Exercising from the very early morning starts the body and mind on the road. It’s a lifestyle that you can’t do without when you exercise, according to those who practice it. Running, yoga or fitness is the new morning drug for leaders to stay in shape.
- Work on your priority business project
In the morning, when everyone is still asleep, you have some time to focus on priority issues. Your mind is wide awake and ideas come easily. For the rest of the day, you can concentrate on tasks that require less thought. This is called Laborite’s Law.
- Working on a personal project that is close to your heart
You want to write a novel, but you can’t find the time? No excuse, give yourself a small window of opportunity to develop a personal project. Passion is a driving force for fulfillment and efficiency.
- Spending time with your family
There’s more to life than just work, especially at 7 a.m. Career development should not come at the expense of family life. Taking the time to be with your children, taking them to school, talking to them… it’s essential.
- Connecting with your spouse
Having life as a couple is not incompatible with an ambitious career (see our survey of dual-career executive couples). It is a question of organization. Making time slots with your significant other will make you happier, that’s for sure. As Business Insider reminds us, making a fulfilled sexuality you smarter, burns calories, and even increases your income (performance is never far away…).
- Making your bed
Once again, it’s proven that this morning routine is good for productivity. Not to mention the fact that you’ll be happy to have your room tidy when you come home at night. After this household task, you can take a shower, if you haven’t already done so.
- Networking while having your coffee
Your smartphone, on one hand, the coffee cup in the other, connects to your network that just woke up 2 or 3 hours after you.
- Meditate
One of the other current trends among leaders is mindfulness meditation (or mindfulness). Breathe and focus on the present moment. Again, this is good for productivity and stress reduction.
- Write down the things you are thankful for
Express your gratitude for life’s pleasures, it only takes 5 minutes. This routine helps you look on the bright side and celebrate how lucky you are, for example, to be healthy.
- Plan the day
It’s time to work on your daily strategy for the workday ahead. You still have a clear idea of how to do it. It’s time for the to-do list.
- Check your emails
Looking at your pro emails before you get to work is against the right to disconnect. But it is an undeniable time saver.
- Get informed
Leaders often stay up after hours. During the rest of the day, meetings follow one another and it is not always possible to get information. The morning is again the best time to do so.
The list is long, as Rue89 points out, quoting a British journalist from the BuzzFeed site who had fun calculating the time needed for these 14 rituals: almost 3h30 without being unemployed. If you want to do this, get up very early.
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