By Dr. Peter Kim of Passive Income MD, WCI Network Partner
Every sunrise brings with it a new day, a fresh start, and a chance to make progress toward your overall goals. Plenty of successful people count their morning routine as (at least one of) the keys to their success, so it may be time to reevaluate yours.
Which morning habits are helping to make you a more successful person? Which habits are dragging you down? Here are some ideas to use your morning routine to propel you toward success.
Make Sure You’re Getting Enough ZZZs
One of the most important morning habits starts the night before. The CDC recommends that adults aged 18-60 get at least seven hours of sleep per night. If you’re planning on waking up early, it’s important that you’re getting to bed early enough to account for those seven hours of sleep.
If you’re getting enough sleep, a 5am wake-up call means that you’re going to sleep by 10pm. Sleep, not bed. Make sure that you leave time for bedtime routines without encroaching on your recommended daily allowance of ZZZs.
Practicing good sleep hygiene can help you get the most from your time between the sheets. Some of the most important sleep hygiene tips include:
- Stick to a routine: go to bed and get up at the same time each day.
- Put down the electronics a couple of hours before bed.
- Keep your bedroom cool—about 65 degrees is ideal.
- Clear your mind before bed. Meditate or write down the things you need to do the next day—whatever you need to do to allow your mind to relax.
Rise and Shine . . . Maybe Earlier Than You’d Prefer
Some of the most successful people in the world attribute their success to waking up early to engage in a morning routine that works for them rather than against them.
One of the best ways to set yourself up for success is to begin your day with plenty of time to get off to a great start. That might mean getting up earlier than you’d like. While the perfect time to get up will vary from person to person, aim for getting up by 6am.
The early morning hours are often the quietest and least stressful. If you have kids, they’re generally asleep. The phone doesn’t ring. Even noise from outside is less intense early in the morning. There are fewer Amazon delivery drivers or dogs barking to distract you. It’s the perfect time to relax by doing something for yourself (exercising, painting, reading, whatever piques your interest), focus on what needs to get done, and get in a mindset to do it all.
Get Moving Early
There are a ton of benefits to getting up and getting moving early in the morning. For one, exercise releases endorphins that can give you an early morning mood boost. It helps you feel energized and more focused, both of which are key components in a successful morning routine.
Exercising in the morning also means that you’re more likely to get enough physical activity throughout the day since you’ve already gotten a jump on it. Plus, vigorous exercise in the evening can make it harder to fall asleep, so it makes sense to get your workout in early.
Your morning exercise doesn’t need to be an intense Crossfit routine. A walk or jog around the neighborhood or on the treadmill, a half-hour of yoga, or even just a dance party in your living room will do the trick.
Feed Your Body and Brain Well
Another key to getting your morning off on the right foot is a healthy breakfast. A morning meal that contains protein, healthy fats, and plenty of fiber is ideal. Avoid sugary breakfast cereals and processed pastries filled with unhealthy fats. Try fruit and yogurt with healthy granola; eggs; whole-grain toast plus fruits or veggies; or a simple protein shake or smoothie to help kick-start your brain and keep you from feeling like you need a snack by 9am.
Coffee and the caffeine that comes with it is a little controversial among successful people when it comes to their morning routine. Some swear by it and others vilify an early morning cup of java. Just remember that moderation is key.
Your mind needs attention beyond simple nourishment, as well. Take time to get yourself into a productive mindset—however it is that you do that. It could be a few minutes of quiet meditation, repeating a mantra that helps you make the most of your day, or journaling.
Prioritize Your To-Do List
There are so many suggestions out there for how to make an effective to-do list and, there isn’t one right answer for everyone. However, they pretty much all begin with writing down the tasks you need to accomplish.
You could try Eating the Frog, a method where you pick the biggest, ugliest task on your to-do list and knock it out first thing in the morning. You could also split your to-do list into Top Priority, Medium Priority, and Low Priority categories. Time blocking is another popular way to plan out your day for maximum efficiency.
It’s important to remember that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to successful mornings. For some people, mornings simply aren’t their most productive time, or maybe work or family schedules simply don’t allow for an early-to-bed, early-to-rise approach. The most important part of a successful morning routine is just that: a routine. Create a routine that serves you well and stick to it.
What are a few daily habits you’re currently implementing in your morning routine? Do you get enough sleep, and if so, how do you manage that? Comment below!
[Editor's Note: We know you visit The White Coat Investor to learn about investment strategies and planning, and we’ve always strived to teach financial literacy to physicians, high earners, and anybody else who finds their way here. But the COVID pandemic has also shined a light on physician burnout and its dangers. That’s why we feel compelled to run articles and columns like this one—to make sure white coat investors stay mentally healthy. We know mental wellness is what leads to a long, fruitful financial life, and we’ll continue to run pieces like this because combatting burnout has become such an important part of everybody’s financial journey.]
I like articles that address health/well-being from an optimization standpoint. This article does feel a bit “fluffy,” like one a resident would do for a local newspaper because they were required to do so. I’d like more in-depth articles with some links to books/research/podcasts/references pertaining to optimizing lifestyle.
I hope you accept this critical post as intended: to challenge you to improve lifestyle content if you intend to post it.
Blessings.
We’ll pass the feedback on to Peter Kim, the author.
I never used to drink coffee. I associated it from a young age as something that old people drank.
When I was 49 I worked in Bogota briefly and finally gave in, but only black and only on the weekends. I didn’t want to become someone who was dependent on it to start the workday. So somewhat oddly, I never drink it before work, but drink it everyday when I’m on vacation. –Maybe I would have been more successful if I had consumed it every day of the year!
A fluffy read just like a lot of self-help feel-good sites. I would like to see someone talk about what I find to be a conundrum. I do love medicine and my “job,” but it is not the most important thing to me – it is a time commitment weighted down with EHR and insurance tomfoolery. It is very easy to be “dumbed down” at the end of the day when the important things come up (family, alternative interests, etc). I get up at 5:00 and workout and review my goals and tasks and then the modern medicine monotony just drains me. I did a stint of getting up at 3:00 to have more time for MY STUFF but it just wasn’t practical. Curious to hear others with similar questions or experience.
You can only get up so early eh? I agree with you though that I get a lot more WCI work done before I work an evening shift than after I work a day shift. But I also miss out a lot more on time with my kids and other social events. Hard to strike the right balance.
Treatments for severe insomnia are relatively poor. By this time, anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows that it’s important to get sleep. Personally, I think insomnia is better defined as the sleep problems that remain when sleep hygiene measures or CBT for insomnia haven’t worked, which is a lot of people with bad insomnia. I treat insomnia and have studied it intensively. I wish I could treat severe insomnia better. I can’t tell you how personally frustrating it is to read articles about the importance of sleep, when I know that many of those who are not getting that sleep have little means of complying. This isn’t a complaint about this well-intended piece; it’s part of every article that recommends getting enough sleep.
It’s a frustrating problem all right. I wake up all the time at 3:30-5:30 in the morning. I don’t feel like getting out of bed so I often lay there for a long time. If I take something to help me sleep longer like benadryl, that doesn’t happen nearly as much but then I worry I’ll end up with Alzheimer’s from it. But I’m not really tired throughout the day or the next day those days that I wake up too early. It’s just kind of annoying. I can’t imagine I only need 4 or 5 hours though.
Wish I could find the motivation to get out of bed when I wake up too early and actually go do something productive though. That would be a lot of hours I could use.
1. You may be going to bed too early.
2. Do not drink a glass of water before going to bed.
3. It may be a newspaper vehicle going through your neighborhood every morning that is loud or is playing the radio. Try a sound machine or ear plugs.
I’ve wondered about # 1. This last week I’ve been staying up late quite a bit and I don’t wake up before the time I was planning too. I’m more tired maybe when I do get up and I even go back to bed for an hour or so sometimes after getting the kids off. But it doesn’t feel as bad as laying awake in bed the last half of the night. I’ll have to noodle and experiment some more. Maybe I am a bit of a night owl after all!
Great post…
Although I don’t agree with everything in it, the book “The Morning Miracle” has some great recommendations very similar to your post. I practice as many of your recommendations as possible.
I’m a fan of taking an optimization and efficiency standpoint with morning routines in particular because it’s a big part of that 80/20 (or really 95/5) that can get you a ton of results with a small amount of effort.
However, one criticism I have of the suggestions here is that they are not for everyone. For example, not everyone responds well at all to eating breakfast early.
I would suggest a bit more emphasis on the fact that these are just suggestions for a starting point and that experimentation to work out what gets you the best results as an individual is really the key.