Coffee, News, and a Clean Inbox: My Favorite Morning Routines for Entrepreneurs
Most of the time, when you come to my blog, you’ll find tips and tricks for your content and digital marketing efforts. Today felt just a little bit different. Maybe it’s the recent change in weather or the time change. Every year, around this time, I find myself shifting and in need of a little extra help building momentum for the day.
With all that on my mind, today I wanted to share a few morning routines that help me — and that I think can help you too.
Waking Up with The Daily Skimm
Almost every morning, I start with a cup of coffee and The Skimm. It helps me shift my brain into a more wakeful place, and sometimes it gives me ideas for content, too.
I promise this isn’t shameless product placement. Well, maybe it is, but the folks at this worthy little publication aren’t paying me to do it. I just really love reading this newsletter every morning for a quick overview (a skim, if you will) of the latest news around the world. From economics to foreign and domestic affairs to elections, environmental news, and even a few good memes.
Cleaning Out my Inbox
I’m not sure if I’m doing the whole “inbox zero” thing right, but as long as I don’t have any unread messages, I don’t feel like anything’s looming over me. The nature of my work puts me on a lot of mailing lists. I try to unsubscribe from as many as possible, but some of them are really persistent. Others I forget about or don’t care enough to hit “unsubscribe” most mornings, and then there are the ones I actually want to hear from on occasion.
All that’s a long way of saying, I end up with a lot of junk in my inbox. And a lot of it accrues overnight. So, when I open my eyes at around 6:30 a.m., I already have a bunch of emails waiting for me.
I like to go after these automated mailers with a digital flamethrower. If they don’t immediately catch my eye, they’re deleted.
Sometimes I do this before reading the news. Some days, it’s job #2. I like to keep it loose.
Planning the Day
I almost always create my daily to-do list ahead of time. I like to go to bed with a pretty solid idea of what I need to accomplish the next day and a rough picture of the order of operations for the day.
That said, in the morning, after I finish reading the news and deleting spam, I like to take a moment to plan the day. I look at my to-do list, set priorities, make adjustments as necessary. Then, I figure out what I can get done when. This lets me get a good start to the day, so I can knock out a few things before…
Taking a Break to Move
I won’t lie. One of my favorite things about being a one-woman marketing agency is the freedom to set my schedule. And, for me, that means the freedom to schedule time for the gym in the middle of the day. I’m not one of those psychos who loves the treadmill (or any cardio), but I do love picking heavy things up and putting them back down. Plus, I have a bunch of friends at my gym. Getting away from the office, moving my body, and getting in some social time with friends is a great way to keep my momentum going throughout the day.
And that’s about it. These are a few of the things that get me going and keep me going (along with a healthy serving — or six — of coffee) every morning. What are your fav morning routines?
