The transcript discusses a personal and practical morning routine for writers, emphasizing the importance of tailoring routines to fit individual needs and preferences. Here are the key points:
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Enjoyable Start: The speaker highlights the importance of starting the day with something enjoyable to foster a positive mindset.
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Custom Routine: Everyone’s morning routine should be personalized. The speaker’s routine is a modified version of Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning,” which focuses on maximizing writing time.
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Work Backwards: To create an effective routine, it’s crucial to start by understanding how much time is available in the morning. The speaker advises to determine an endpoint based on responsibilities, such as work or family commitments.
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Realistic Expectations: The speaker shares that many popular morning routines can feel overwhelming and unrealistic. They encourage not to get caught up in what “should” be done, but to focus on what feels good and works effectively.
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Focused Writing Time: Mornings serve as a dedicated time for writing, free from distractions related to marketing or other commitments.
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Relaxed Approach: The speaker emphasizes a relaxed approach to meditation and journaling, suggesting that these can be done in bed rather than adhering strictly to more formal practices.
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Iterative Process: The routine can be adjusted based on personal circumstances, and there may be days when routines don’t go as planned. Flexibility is important.
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Early Wake-Up: To make the most of the morning, the speaker advises against hitting the snooze button and recommends preparing for the morning the night before to facilitate a smoother transition into the day.
Overall, the transcript conveys that an effective morning routine is one that is enjoyable, practical, and allows for creativity to flourish without guilt.
Transcript
What time is it? I gotta get up now. Where’s my coffee? Okay, we’re gonna do things. I guess I’ll do things. If that’s you in the morning—and trust me, it is definitely me—then stick around and grab your coffee, because today we’re going to talk about a real morning routine for writers. Cheers!
So, look, my morning routine is not always perfect; it’s probably almost never perfect. I have come to realize that mornings are the best time for me to work on my writing, so I try to optimize my morning routine to get the most writing time in.
My morning routine is a very modified version of the “Miracle Morning” from Hal Elrod. It contains pieces of that, and his morning routine is super motivational, so you can always check out his book. I will link it in the comments.
The first thing you should do when you’re trying to create a morning writing routine is to work backwards. Let me explain. First, decide how much time you can reasonably give yourself in the morning before the rest of the world comes knocking on your door.
If work emails usually start rolling in by eight, and your phone starts blowing up with notifications around that time, make sure that you can get in as much writing as you want before eight o’clock. If the kids start getting up at seven and needing help getting ready for school, then that’s gonna have to be your stop time. Start by picking an end time.
I start work at 8:30, and luckily I work at home, so I only need about 10 minutes or so to wash my face, get myself ready, change from one set of comfy clothes into another, and get back to the desk that I was probably already sitting in. I worked that into my schedule so that I know I need to be done writing by around 8:20 or so.
Once you know what time you need to end, you can decide how much time you can reasonably give yourself for all the things you want to get done in the morning, including your writing time. It might only be 20 minutes, maybe it’s 30 minutes, or perhaps you can make it an hour. But now you know, and you can work backwards to decide what time you need to get up.
And once you know what time you need to get up, my next tip is: don’t hit snooze. I know, I know! I am terrible about this one, and I’m constantly working on it. But trust me, when did it ever feel really good the second time you woke up after hitting that snooze button? Probably never. You think that extra 10 minutes is going to make all the difference in the world, but that second time the alarm goes off sometimes feels even worse than the first. So just do your best to get up on the first alarm.
One way to help yourself do that is to make the first part of your routine something you actually enjoy. My next tip when you’re creating a morning routine for writers, or a morning routine for yourself, is to make it work for you. There are a lot of morning routines out there that look fantastic. I watch reels or TikToks of influencers who wake up with hours to spare before they need to get to whatever it is they do. They make a delicious-looking breakfast, tidy up, take a shower, get fully ready, probably get some exercise in, and go outside to take a walk. It’s insanity!
It looks exhausting, and trust me, I’ve tried it before. I’ve tried to duplicate morning routines that I thought looked perfect and wonderful, and spoiler alert: it didn’t work. First off, in these reels and videos, it’s usually bright, sunny, and beautiful first thing in the morning, but in Michigan, that is almost never the case—especially in winter. Trust me, it’s a lot harder to jump out of bed on a cold, gloomy, cloudy morning.
The only way I can get myself up and out of bed in the morning with enough time to do the things I want is to allow myself to do some of those things in bed—which is probably a no-no in a lot of these routines and all these books about the optimal morning routine. But it works for me, so I’m awake, and if I haven’t hit snooze, I’m already winning.
First, I get up to get the coffee, and hopefully the night before, I set it to start brewing before I even got up. I get that coffee and then get back in bed—yep! Here’s where some elements of the Miracle Morning come in. Even though I’ve already broken some of the rules, I set a timer and read for about 10 minutes. Usually, I read something non-fiction or something inspirational. Very rarely do I read fiction first thing in the morning, because I know that I will get sucked into the story and not want to do anything else.
When I’m done reading, I set another timer and journal or work on what’s called morning pages for about 10 minutes—both while sipping my coffee. Morning pages are something from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way,” which you can read more about if you want. I’ll link to her book in my comments. According to her, you are supposed to do those first thing before you do anything else. But again, I’m adapting. I like reading before I journal sometimes because it gives me something to journal about. I’ll journal about what I just read or if it made me think of something else.
There is a lot of benefit to journaling first and just getting everything out of your head, and that’s what she talks about in morning pages. When I’m done reading and journaling, I set another timer and meditate for about six to eight minutes—yes, still in bed! You do not have to be on the floor on a pillow; you don’t even have to be cross-legged. I stretch my legs out in front of me, sit up straight— not kind of lounged back in bed—but straight and tall so that I can breathe freely.
My meditation game is not perfect, and it never will be. Sometimes I repeat something in my head that’s important to me to focus on at the time; other times I count backwards slowly to keep my mind occupied. Sometimes I just sit in silence, trying to focus on my breath and directing my thoughts back to my breath if they start to wander—which they do, and they will.
Once I’ve journaled, read, and meditated while sipping my coffee, then I write. Sometimes still from my bed, sometimes if I’m feeling stiff from sitting, I get up and move to my desk. Sometimes I get real writing done, and sometimes I just sit and think or make notes or reread what I’ve already written. Whatever I do, it’s my time to focus on my writing projects.
I don’t work on marketing my work, I don’t work on copy for ads, I don’t work on YouTube stuff or tasks for anyone else. I strictly focus on my writing — or at least that’s my goal, though I sometimes break that rule because I’m human, and so are you.
This is the most important part of my morning routine: the fact that I use my mornings to work on my writing. Yes, sometimes I slip and break my own rules, but the days I dedicate to my writing are my favorite, and they make me feel the best throughout the rest of the day. And that’s what a morning routine should do.
Now here’s the secret: this doesn’t happen every day. There are mornings where I chat with friends about writing, and that helps fill me up just like journaling or meditating. Some days I lead online writing sessions first thing in the morning, and on those days, sometimes I jump right out of bed and go straight to those. My routine adapts to my life and my schedule, and I have to let it, because if I don’t, I will feel horrible, guilty, and awful.
If it helps me reach my goals and makes me feel better about my day, that’s a great morning routine—that’s a real morning routine. Yes, there are lots of things I know I should do in the morning. I should get more movement in; I should go outside to get light on my eyes. But it just doesn’t always work out.
But don’t get caught up on the things you should be doing for your morning routine; do the things that are going to make you feel good. Because that’s how you should start your day—not with a ton of guilt. We get enough of that throughout the rest of the day.
So that’s a real morning routine from a real writer. It’s not perfect, but it’s what works for me. Thanks for getting real with me today, warriors! If you liked this video, make sure to hit that like button, and if you want to see more real content like this, make sure to subscribe to my channel. Now go fight for your creativity!
Reference
- Original Source: https://youtu.be/PumkIIWpxbM