There’s a newish platitude making its merry way around the internet, maybe you’ve heard it. It’s about getting up before 5 a.m. to achieve Massive, Ultimate, and Total Global Domination. It’s mostly in passive income and entrepreneurial type memes and usually attributed to Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett and somewhat mysteriously, Einstein. Apparently, they were all known for waking up before the birds and that’s why they are (were) massively successful and you are, well, just plain old, massively failing you.
I’ve found myself caught up in this one at times. It’s hard to look at those guys and not compare your own routines, wondering if maybe imitating Warren Buffett would also make you a billionaire. Then I realize that you could really take this too far and wind up drinking milkshakes in an Omaha diner every day. Shudder.
The thing is, none of the memes and articles ever get too deep about why we’re all supposed to wake up early and drink milkshakes. There are also no dots connected between parking in the handicapped spot and success. I think we can all stop pondering if that’s a good idea.
Over time I’ve learned that more important than simply copying what other successful people do or did in their daily lives, is the realization that what made them successful is that they created their own routines. If Steve Jobs got up at 4 a.m. every morning, it’s because it fit his lifestyle and made sense for the things he wanted to accomplish. He very likely didn’t know or care about Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban or Ariana Huffington’s daily routines. That’s what made them successful, the fact that they knew themselves and knew what worked for them.
Have a Routine. But Make it Yours.
I have a morning routine. It goes kind of like this:
- Wake up around 7:15 or so (I don’t use an alarm)
- Go to my movement space and do some yoga, stretching and/or meditation
- Make coffee and breakfast for our family
- Sit down and plan my day using my bullet journal
I try to stick to that routine as much as possible. There are, of course, days where I wake up tired, skip the yoga and go straight to coffee (coffee!). A couple days I might walk after breakfast instead of stretching before.
This works for me, but it may not work for you. You might even be thinking that I’m either lazy for getting up so late or insane for rising before 8:00 a.m.. And that is exactly the point. We are all unique. Every one of us has our own body clock and circumstances that change the way we structure our days.
Learn about yourself. Find what works for you and build your own morning routine around that. Otherwise, you might find yourself still not a billionaire and asking a Nebraska waitress if this is really how Warren takes his coffee.