Mike’s Morning Routine
Hi everyone!
I’ve been finding that adding structure to my life has been very beneficial for my mental stamina and focus while I am working from home. Below is my current morning routine that I’m sharing in the event that one or more of the parts might benefit you.
WHY HAVE A ROUTINE?
Humans are creatures of habit - we learn by repetition. The morning repeats whether you want it to or not, and therefore you have a morning routine whether you think so or not. You might as well curate productive and healthy activities for yourself each day.
I have found that, by creating a structure, I am able to dive deeper into thought during each activity. I am not asking myself what is the next activity and the routine allows my brain to get to thinking about deeper analysis of each activity.
WHAT’S IN YOUR ROUTINE?
I will answer a few more specifics below, but the categories that I cover each morning are:
Physical Health (exercise/running)
Accomplishment and Discipline (making my bed)
Psychological and Spiritual Health (meditation, phone call, tea, staying away from computer)
Musical Technique and Fundamentals (warmup, One-A-Days)
WAKE UP
The best way to accomplish all my tasks every morning and develop a healthy, repeatable habit is to wake up at the same time every day, even on the weekends. I’ve been really enjoying using the wakeup alarm from Apple in the Health App. For some reason, the sound of birds is much more enjoyable every morning than the marimba ringtone…wonder why!
MEDITATION
I created automation in my Shortcuts app to automatically open up the daily meditation in Headspace. This reminder is very helpful in the groggiest of mornings.
Each morning I sit and meditate for 10-20 minutes. I found this short daily practice is very beneficial throughout the day. Constantly I encounter renegade thoughts that flood my brain in hopes of derailing my desired laser focus. The more I act on these thoughts, the more they feel they have permission to commandeer my brain’s activities. Meditation helps me to analyze the thoughts that arise and, if it is a task, I write it on a Post-It or in OmniFocus and if it is a renegade, then I take a deep breath and go back to the task at hand.
MAKE MY BED
I absolutely got suckered into this click-bait title, and I am so glad that I did. When I first watched this a few years ago I didn’t think much of it, but once it came time to decide whether making my bed found its way into my daily routine, it was met with a resounding “YES!”. I appreciate Admiral McRaven’s thoughts here on this simple task, and who doesn’t like walking into a made bed in your room?
If you’re interested in the full speech, that can be seen here.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE
Strength is an investment: if you want to reap the rewards now, you need to have been putting in work well before now. Percussionists call upon strength constantly throughout the day, whether it is moving heavy instruments or unique contortions to play the next instrument. Currently we need a lot of lower back and core strength to be seated for so long each day.
I have been alternating between indoor and outdoor exercise since the spring, and once the blustery Ithaca winters take hold, I imagine a more indoor approach will win out. For outdoor activities I have mostly been running around Ithaca, NY (where it is, as they say, “Gorges”) and for indoor activities I have been using YouTube workouts or my subscription to the Centr app (where I also find recipes and mindfulness practices).
On Sundays I find that giving my body a chance to recover with a full-body stretch is the most productive use of that morning exercise block.
TEA
I just love hot tea. There - I said it. It doesn’t matter how hot or cold it is outside, I love having warm tea in a mug each morning. I think adding joy to your morning is absolutely worth it!
The anecdote you didn’t ask for is: I had a snafu with Amazon and received a double-order of Hawaiian Mango tea. I will have had the same tea for 6 months if I have one bag every day. Yum.
PHONE CALL WITH LOVED ONES
There’s no “I” in team…or “functional relationship”. Well, there are a few in there, but you get my point. I want to spend dedicated time each day connecting with those who are close to me. Sometimes that is in the morning with my girlfriend (who lives a few hours away from Ithaca) or later in the day with family. I feel that hearing from those I care about gives me motivation and purpose throughout the day, and enriches my work day.
…but James Taylor said it best:
WARMUP
A morning routine for a percussionist would not be complete without playing my instrument. I have a brief warmup on a few instruments - snare, mallets, timpani, congas - to get blood flowing and to remind myself of a few technical points.
After that, I’m onto a repertoire routine that I started calling “One-A-Days” that has helped me gain momentum in my work/learn/teach-from-home life. I’ve made a separate video and a separate website page for that routine, if you’re interested.
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED?
Many activities are not included in my morning routine, but notably:
Email
Social media
Digital “notifications”
I have so much screen-time logged each day that keeping it away from my morning routine is helping me cut down on all that computer time. Also, staying out of email in the morning keeps my brain clear to think creatively until it is time to work.
I hope that something above has resonated with you. Thank you for reading!
Mike
CONTACT
If you have questions or thoughts, I’d love to hear them. Click the button below to write to me directly.