My morning routine

One of my productivity "hacks" is to get up several hours before work starts and go into the office. I've been doing this since my last job - roughly four years now.

Here's what I tend to do:

Hack on things that are important to me

The longer the day goes on, the more obligations and competing responsibilities I have tugging on me. Setting this time aside allows me to give some focus to projects I wouldn't otherwise get to ship or learn from.

Write

I'll write blog posts and newsletters. I'll write to old friends whom I haven't spoken to in a while or to new connections I just met. I'll write notes about my ideas so they're properly captured for later. I'll return emails if they're important.

Write more

Sometimes, I'll write out my thoughts in a raw format if I'm trying to think through or process something personal or professional. I prefer to use Obsidian for my second brain because the sync functionality works so well across my development machines and phone.

In the past, I drew

I used to alternate pretty well between art and computer stuff, but lately, computer stuff has been winning out for several reasons. Luckily, I can use computers to generate imagery, which I quite enjoy. But doing art in the morning can be good.

I'll say that it CAN BE good because regardless of the medium I'm working in during my morning sessions, I'll either get a huge rush and boost from getting something I like done before work or go into work feeling pretty frustrated that I was spinning my wheels on something.

Clean up my office

And my desk and floor. Take out the trash. Restock something that's out. Ensure I have water, snacks, caffeine, tools, a notebook, and pens. Open the window, turn on the fan - wipe down my desk. Remove the keys that are sticking and clean them.

Read

Outside of showing up to work every single day and trying to learn something or improve, this habit has probably had the greatest total impact on my life and career. I'll read technical books and business books within and without my comfort zone, and I'll read about health, the body, or the personal habits of famous artists and writers.

I went a little deeper into reading and why it helped me so much in this post, but I'm due to create an updated reading list on a blog post somewhere. Start now if you're not reading a lot and want to boost your career.

Meditate

I have to return to this one constantly and restart repeatedly (which is okay). But it greatly helps my general outlook, mood, and focus.

Reflect

As I get older, I try to focus on my inputs more - the regularity of showing up every day despite whatever insults or injuries have me moving slowly when I first wake up. More of the creating and publishing and less of the checking analytics...

But I'm human. Having a crappy start to the day development-wise still bums me out. Fortunately, I am energized most of the time by whatever I am working on that morning.

What's your morning routine? Let me know in the comments below 👇.