How To Optimize Your Morning Routine For Writing

In the last two years, I’ve self-published over a dozen books on Amazon. Even with a busy life and a full time job, I wrote 1,000 words every day.

It wasn’t easy. Though, once I found the time to write everyday, it wasn’t hard at all to make writing a habit.

Tim Ferriss does his best writing between 10PM and 3AM. I gave that a try; it didn’t work. I tried to write during my lunch break. That didn’t work either.

Through a few days of experimenting, I realized that I get my best writing done about 1.5 hours after waking up. Even though I was busy with work and other obligations, writing was critical to me at that time. It was important, and when something is important to you, you make time for it no matter what.

Previously, I spent my mornings at the gym working out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a wonderful feeling to knock out a workout before you start your day, but I found that doing this made it hard to take advantage of peak mental energy, which was early in the morning.

Then, I found the perfect morning routine that helped me accomplish my exact intentions. It helped me write more, and it’s the main reason why I was able to pump out more books in two years than most authors write in a lifetime. If you want to write more and don’t have a morning routine, I hope you can learn a thing or two from mine.

My Morning Routine Optimized For Writing

Wake Up To Music

6:00AM

The typical alarm clock sound is miserable. When I hear it in a movie or on TV, it makes me cringe. If you use your phone as an alarm clock and someone uses that tone as their ringtone, it makes you cringe. Why? Because you associate with the feelings that come with waking up. Waking up to the standard alarm clock sounds is a terrible way to start the day. It makes the first thought that pops into your head every morning a negative one.

Instead, I set my alarm clock to play the music of my choice. I use a speaker dock that connects to my Apple products. I connect it to my old school ipod so that I don't have to keep my phone in my room.

I usually set my alarm clock to play funk music. That way, the first thought that pops into my head every morning is a pleasant one. The sweet sounds of nasty funk brings me joy and makes me want to dance. You can’t sleep when you’re dancing. You can barely refrain from smiling either. And, I have less desire to turn off my alarm clock because the sounds are so pleasant. The result is that I’m out of bed faster and in a better mood.

What’s this got to do with writing? Everything. When you’re tired or in a bad mood, you never write your best stuff.

Let My Mind Wander (Meditation)

6:15AM

This is my form of meditation. I don’t focus on my breath, I don’t listen to a guide, I just sit and think. Sometimes I think about really weird things. Other times I think about very important issues in my work and personal life.

Sometimes I write down whatever it is I’m excited about at the time. Other times, I just think about random memories from the past. It’s hard to explain, but I really just zone out and ruminate. Some people may consider this meditation, but I don’t care about labels. I do it at the beginning of the day because I used to never have time later in the day to do this.

Write Down 10 Ideas

6:45AM

When I first heard about this from James Altucher, I was skeptical. Why write down ten ideas? What should I write down?

He claimed that writing down 10 ideas every morning would help cure depression. What!?!?

Then, I gave it a shot.

And it changed my life.

What ideas do I write down? Anything. Sometimes I write about how I can save the world. Other times I write about ways my dad could improve his lawn. I just write about whatever I feel like at the time. Most of my ideas are ridiculous or stupid, but some are useful. This blog post title came from one of my ideas. So, overall it’s definitely worth it.

Writing down 10 ideas every morning isn’t easy. Though, once I cut back on drinking, it got much easier. Like most things, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. I find it more challenging early in the morning, which means I’m only flexing the creativity muscle even more. Writing down ten ideas helps my creativity and helps me me be an idea machine. I highly recommend it.

“But I could never do that! I’m not creative.”

If you don’t think you’re creative, then you should probably be writing down 20 ideas every morning. Creativity is a muscle. You need to flex it every day, otherwise it will atrophy.

Journal

7:00AM

After writing out my ideas, I hand write in my journal. The purpose of this is to clear my mind. Once I get whatever is on my mind out onto paper, it’s out of mind. Sometimes I just write about my worries. Other days, I just dribble out my complete stream of consciousness.

It feels surprisingly good, plus it exercises my writing muscle. My morning journal usually doesn't turn into anything I publish, but occasionally it has lead to the formation of a blog post or a chapter in a book.

At the end of every journal entry, I express gratitude. Expressing gratitude is valuable because it reminds me of how good I have it. It makes small things that are stressing me out seem insignificant.

I will express gratitude about anything – big or small – significant or insignificant. Past items of gratitude have included living in New York, being able to stream music for free online, my family, access to great food on demand, a book I was reading that I enjoyed, and many more.

Similar to how coming up with ten ideas in the morning has lead to coming up with many more ideas throughout the day, expressing gratitude in the morning has lead to more feelings of gratitude throughout the day. I take notice of the things I appreciate instead of always focusing on what’s stressful or what I dislike.

Write

7:30AM

Since I’ve spent the last thirty or so minutes writing out my ideas and thoughts, now it’s time to write something more structured. This is when I crank out my blog posts, work on my books, and write my most creative stuff of the day. I’ve found that I am most creative early in the morning, specifically 60-90 minutes after I wake up.

Everyone is different, but some of the smartest business owners and entrepreneurs out there also do their creative work in the morning.

Most Important Work Task

8:15AM

By this time, I’ve started to tackle my work tasks, which are usually blog posts, books, or marketing related to one of my books. At this time, I’ve already gotten some writing done, so I’m usually feeling extremely productive. It’s pretty crazy how powerful momentum can be early in your day. I found that when I’m productive early on in the day, I only want to be more productive afterwards.

For example, as soon as I’m finished writing, I feel great. I want to keep up my momentum by banging out my most important work tasks.

It’s crazy how this has the exact opposite effect when you start off your morning in a non productive manner. If you wake up and check Facebook every morning, after you check Facebook, you’ll be curious to check Instagram, then Twitter. Next thing you know you’ll be finding every excuse there is not to get your work done.

Have you ever realized that on your way back from the gym, you feel like you’re in the mood for a healthy meal? Your morning routine has the same positive influence on your day.

Works For Me, What About You?

This morning routine helped me gain some self knowledge and improve my creative muscle. After a few months, I definitely noticed a difference in both.

I discovered that I got my most productive work done about 90 minutes after waking up, so I made sure that I was writing every morning exactly then.

With this morning routine. life is great, I can’t complain. Because I spend every morning letting my mind wander, journaling about my thoughts, and writing, it allows me to write more and write better content.

But, what about you? Do you have a morning routine? What is it optimized for? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear about it!

About The Author

Mike Fishbein is the self-published author of over a dozen books, including The Morning Routine Blueprint. He has been published in Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post. Check out his personal blog at mfishbein.com