Work Life Balance: What is your morning routine?

Last week I discussed your evening routine so would be appropriate to talk about your morning routine.

With all the distractions in today’s world, the morning can some times be the most productive. This is also tied to the importance of keeping a routine to not “blur the edges” and over work yourself.

Some people are early birds; some people are night owls. I’ve always been a night owl but I am becoming more of an early bird for a few reasons.

I try to get up at 7am on Monday to Friday, regardless of where I am (every now and them I get hosed on travel and sleep in – if I get less than seven hours of sleep I am screwed.) The next sequence is very predictable.
6am – still sleeping….
7am – get up and go for a jog
7:30- get showered and dressed – can’t emphasize the importance of this one. It is so easy to not shower and stay in the pajamas – RESIST! Your family will thank you for not stinking
8am – read blogs and write a post
9am – get on the road to meetings or head to Starbucks to work until I have to go to an on-site meeting
9-12pm – meetings, calls, you know, that old chestnut

Another good article to check out is Jim Citrin’s article titled Tapping the Power of Your Morning Routine
Occasionally I have to do a phone call before 9am and I work around this. Like Brad Feld has done, I’ve stopped doing breakfast meetings lunch meetings are fine. I do hang out at Starbucks so it is not hard to meet some one out of the office.

It has taken me a while to figure out this rhythm. While my morning routine might not work for you, I’ve found the notion of a morning routine to be a critical part of my work life balance. Think about your morning over the weekend and start to implement a routine to improve your work life balance.

Please share if you have a good routine that others can learn from.