Trying to win the morning has been an ongoing project of mine. Although I’ve never been unhappy with my mornings, there is always something that needs tweaking or refinement. So I decided to try and put my routine on paper a few years back, as I felt that having a master document to continually update and refine may help give my routine more structure and consistency, and keep it top of mind. I decided to borrow a format used by a website I used to follow called ‘My Morning Routine’ as they seemed to have landed on a good set of questions. So here is where I got to with it:
What is your morning routine?
Well to begin with, I must admit that my Summer routine is vastly different to my Winter routine. My winter routine is very simple – wake up, look at the frost on the window, hit the snooze button and dive back under the blankets. So in light of this, I think I will write about my routine in the not so cold seasons.
My morning routine has two distinct phases – the first is focussed around exercise which involves golf, kayaking or running, and the second phase is family focused time.
Phase one has me waking around 5am, after hitting snooze on my apple watch a few times, before dragging myself out of bed. I walk out to our balcony to check if the water on the harbour is flat and wind is low, to detmine whether to kayak, run or play golf. I then head straight to the kitchen where I drink a small glass of water, eat a banana and grab a nutribullet juice (that in a perfect world I’ve prepared the night before) containing various fruit and veg, nuts, seeds and a swig of fish oil with Vitamin D. I throw the kayak on the car and hit the road. I sip the nutribullet on route to the harbour (or golf course if I am golfing), this way by the time I arrive, I hit the water with a full stomach. One of the things that really draws me to kayaking before work, is that the harbour is usually buzzing with other kayakers and they are all so incredibly friendly – before work I’ve already said “good morning” to 10-15 strangers and it’s a really nice way to start a day. After a quick 5km paddle, I stop in for a coffee at my favourite little beach-front cafe – Plonk!. They have a serving window facing directly onto the beach especially for dirty wet kayakers (like myself) who they would prefer not trudge wet sand through their freshly cleaned restaurant. This is the main reason I love this cafe, but they also do (as I will claim) the best bacon & egg roll in Sydney.
First thing when I arrive home is a shower, and then phase 2 of my routine begins. I throw down a cup of water with magnesium powder to rehydrate after the paddle and to help my muscles recover and relax through the day. I then prepare breakfast for my family. This always happens in a mad rush, so I find having a tea with my breakfast helps restore a sense of calm – even if only in my mind. I’ve always loved the smokier style of Teas such as Iribancha. I haven’t been able to find a local supplier for Iribancha, so when I don’t feel rich enough to ship it in from Japan, I substitute with Lapsang Souchong from T2 which also has a rich smoky flavour. Japanese Buckweat tea is another favourite also.
We have two rosella’s (Itchy & Scratchy) that fly onto our window sill just as we are sitting down to breakfast each morning, their internal body clocks are truly amazing! Their daily visit sends my daughter into a frenzy of excitement, so this makes for a very feel good start to the day for all of us.
The other thing that dramatically brightens our morning is music. I recently created an uplifting morning playlist that is designed to get the entire family up and about, and usually has us dancing around the house like energizer bunnies. I have my laptop wake itself up shortly before our alarm clocks using a great little app called Apimac Timer Pro (for mac) and automatically start playing iTunes. There is something special about waking up to the likes of Chuck Berry, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles and Cyndi Lauper that really activates your day.
Once fed and dressed I throw on my headphones and will usually tap into a Tim Ferriss podcast episode as I board the bus for the ferry wharf. On the odd occasion I have been lucky enough to spot dolphins from the wharf, so I usually spend the minute or two before the ferry arrives with my eyes darting around the harbour hoping to spot some.
My 9 minute ferry ride is usually spent ticking off the first item on my to do list for the day or checking my Feedly Account (link). I also try and use this time to select something to eat for dinner that night, so I am not doing it at the last minute on the way home. Out of pure frustration caused by frequently struggling to think of what to have for dinner each night, I developed a customised iphone sized cookbook, that has made this process a whole lot easier.
How has your morning routine changed over recent years?
I tend to live by a series of experiments, so there is never any pressure on anything to have to succeed, so admittedly my routine is constantly being tweaked and redefined. If something I try works, then great, I combine it into my routine, and if it doesn’t, then no harm done as it was just an experiment. I find this becomes a very fun and creative way to live as you are constantly trying new things that are sometimes unique and a little left of field
Being a graphic designer by profession, I tend to live by visuals, so I recently decided to introduce a visual representation of my routine, which has certainly helped tighten it up and stick to it more often.
Do you use an alarm to wake you up in the morning, and if so do you ever hit the snooze button?
Most mornings our little human alarm clock in the next room wakes us with a brain piercing cry before we make it to any alarms, and unfortunately she didn’t come with a snooze button. But when we do make it to our alarm time, this is where my apple watch has really added significant value. Having the ability to wake myself with a silent vibration on my wrist that doesn’t also wake my partner has been a big win. It still hasn’t solved the issue of me hitting the snooze button 2 or 3 times, but at least my wife doesn’t have to know any of this is happening.
Do you use any apps or products to enhance your sleep or morning routine?
I find tracking my sleep on the apple watch has made me more conscious of trying to improve my sleep patterns and quality. Many of the sleep tracking apps require you to log when you start/finish sleeping, but a friend referred me to an app called Autosleep (link) which automatically tracks without having to do anything at all, and the visualisation of the data is captured is extremely impressive.
How soon do you check your phone in the morning?
Instantly. And not because I am phone obsessed, but simply because if I fumble through enough content to locate something that actually resonates with my half functioning brain, then I find it works quite well to get me into a semi awake state, ready to start the day.
What are your most important tasks in the morning?
I try and sort all the important tasks that drive a productive morning the night before, so my morning routine requires zero thought and runs smoothly. The most important task the night before is putting my sports gear (and work clothes) in the loungeroom ready to change into quickly when I wake up. I find that if I miss this step, it’s very likely that the morning exercise I had planned won’t happen.
How does your partner fit into your morning routine?
I would say more than fitting into my morning routine, my partner truly is the key enabler of retaining any kind of consistency in the mornings. She is soo incredibly positive and fun to be around, and it is this positive energy that I believe is the very life-blood of what makes our family (and morning routines) run so smoothly.
Do you also follow this routine on weekends, or do you change some steps?
On weekends we try and convince our energetic little human to have a sleep in by bringing her into our bed when she wakes, so Mum & Dad can catch up on some much needed sleep. The percentage of success is very low, so our expectation is always low also, but that lack of expectation means that when it actually works we really appreciate it. Weekends are usually completely dedicated to family time and move a lot slower, which is always nice.
On days you’re not settled in your home, are you able to adapt your routine to fit in with a different environment?
Most aspects of my routine are focussed on family and sport, which is quite location specific, so I do struggle to achieve a consistent routine when away from home, but travel for work is quite infrequent in my role, so this doesn’t cause too many issues.
What do you do if you fail to follow your morning routine, and how does this influence the rest of your day?
A day where I miss my routine always feels like I’ve set off on the wrong foot, and things become less intentional and positive, and more frantic and ad-hoc. When I start the day in the kayak or golf course I am on a high for the entire day, but if I have a very unproductive morning I am a very different person for the remainder of the day.
Anything else you would like to add?
I think for anybody looking for a more inspiring routine, be it morning, day, week or life – I would suggest trying to live via a series of experiments for a period of time – even if only for a week or two. When something is an experiment, it simply can not fail, and therefore there is ZERO pressure around its outcome. I find this makes you try things that are a little outside the norm or comfort zone, and it becomes quite fun and addictive and encourages you to continually think up new things to try. I personally find it to be an extremely fun and refreshing way to live. And lastly for any parents of young bubs out there, a complete life-changer for us when our daughter was very young, was a song. Yes, a song – sounds strange I know, but it’s not just any song. Shortly after my daughters birth, my wife told me about a song that she had been using to calm our daughter when she would start crying/screaming in the car. She claimed the song was scientifically proven to make babies happy. I was a complete and utter non-believer and told my wife exactly what I thought about this so called ‘miracle’ song. So fast forward to today, our daughter is now 17 months old and I’ve used this song to settle her to sleep every night with a 100% strike rate. Whilst I obviously can’t guarantee that every child will be as responsive as this, I am still shocked at the effectiveness of the song and longevity of the results it has had for us. And given that it has racked up 13 million views on youtube, I guess it must be working for somebody else out there.