I should also add that I sometimes make rules for myself, which seem to work fairly well. For example, no Internet or TV unless I'm on the treadmill (with ipad or phone). This tends to help, a bit. I also rent history dvd's and watch them when I feel I need the TV on...

Oh my gosh. This might as well have been written FOR me, specifically. Thank you so much! I have the exact same problems and goals, and this reinforced what I've been thinking I need to do!

On my best days, I wake up at 7:30. I don't open my phone or computer, and I immediately exercise on the treadmill for an hour & meditate for 20 minutes. Every M, W, F I go into my home gym to do weight training for an hour. ideally, after doing all of these things, I go into my home office and read one if the thousand books on my "to do" list and/or study whatever I am working on (eg the real estate market, Spanish, a class Im taking, etc.), or (weather permitting) I will do gardening or grocery shop, etc. At 2:00 I meditate for the second time (20 minutes).

Lately, however, I have not been on a routine, and I feel much less productive and a lot more scattered. I get up whenever I want (usually 8:30-ish), and i make myself a protein shake and look at my news/gossip/FB sites for too long. Then, head swirling w/what I've read, I attempt to meditate. I do cardio for an hour...Then I usually waste more time on the computer...then I may meditate again or read...or maybe I will turn on the TV and clean/cook and wait for my husband to get home.

This article reminds me that it only takes a few steps at the beginning of your day for the rest to fall into place. If I can just keep the morning routine, and stay "present/mindful," l will feel much more productive and focused.

Right on. I've been trying to cook at home and be healthy while I save some money. Now I make lunch the night before and bring it to work with me. Second thing on my list is to wake up early and get to work by 9 am so I can add extra hours to my day BUT it is just so hard. I've set my alarm for 7:30 am for the last two weeks and I keep snoozing it until 9 am which is ridiculous. I am also cutting down on coffee. I used to drink Starbucks at least twice a day and now I have set my coffee budget to $16 a month which means 4 cups of starbucks in a month! 

This was a great post

This is great Spinks! What do you do when you miss parts of your routine? I just had a bad week (blogged about it) and I found it really instructive in surfacing deeper issues that I needed to address. It was a check engine light kind of moment.  

@pabloidz thanks man (=

@prtini @DavidSpinks Nice post! I want to be more intentional about routines, as well. Especially the cooking thing. And reading.

The old adage "freedom ain't free" is very clear in this, and mimics the thrust of Nadia's post too.  Decisions have an innate opportunity cost in the form of bandwidth, which you have to consider.

I'm a big fan of momentum builders.  Starting the day off with a win helps your productivity and self-esteem/confidence so much.  One has to put pressure on themselves to make decisions, which in turn leads to burn out earlier and erodes at the sense of control you have over your life.  Self-discipline is the best gift you can give yourself.  Follow through with the goals you set, and you're off.

How do you go about setting routines?  For me, they have to have  an element of joy in them, not just a "should", as in "I should eat healthier, although I hate vegetables."

Great post, @DavidSpinks. I can definitely relate to many of your struggles. I am a nightowl too- and I've always been more productive in the evenings and night. I am also lucky that I only need about 6 hours of sleep to really be "on." So, the whole going to bed at 1:30am or 2am and waking up 7:30am or 8am thingie, generally works decently for me. 

That being said, I definitely could learn a few things from you via working out. I love how energized I feel after working out but I am so bad at sticking to a workout routine.  Any tips? 

Interesting! 

1. I have the opposite approach to waking up. I don't set alarms, I set a timer (actually http://www.simplebots.co/ ) for 6 hours and 15/20 minutes when going to sleep (15 minutes if I think I'll crash quick, 20 minutes if I'll need to calm my mind first). So, regardless of time I finally go to bed, I'm going to fully complete 4 REM cycles.

2. I've been building routines using http://lift.do It "just works" for me.

The tab thing is a problem for me. Here's my situation right now: http://screencast.com/t/TCSJZ5xO 

Womp womp.

Nailed it: "Snoozing is even worse than sleeping in because you’re not actually getting a good sleep when you’re snoozing every 10 minutes. Then you start your day off with a failure and you get a late start." 

Love this list and am trying to do something similar on my end. 

@StyleRealist sweet! Let me know how it goes.

@JPedde thanks (=

@DavidSpinks You run 3-5 miles every morning? that's hardcore. resepect

I'm having a difficult time getting into a normal routine each day. I see the benefit of it, but my main problems are this:

1. I like working late at night. Everyone in my house is asleep, there are no distractions from people contacting me on Social Networks, Phone, Email or Other. It's silent out. I can take a walk and just listen to the night world around me.

2. I really like getting a lot of emails, social network messages and tasks sit before me right away when I start to work. Rather than getting distracted as I get 30 emails throughout the day, I wake up and immediately all 30 are there and ready for me to respond to. 

3. That said, I work with people who have such a variety of schedules that it's hard to keep any routine going that allows me to work with them when necessary. Some stay up late, some wake up early, some sleep all day and others sleep all night. By staying sporadic, I can schedule meetings any time to fit their calendar, and then just sleep when I get my own chance.

While I hate it when I lose productivity because I'm tired, or don't respond to an important email I get around 11 AM because I went to sleep until 2 PM, I also feel like I have some excuses to just keep going with the flow.

But, I'm already pretty sure I'll change my tone when I mature a bit more and have actual employees working for me and a customer base that keeps me busy quite a lot more than it currently does. Might as well start getting in the groove with it.

@DavidSpinks so far I've tried couple things, I put my alarm on my iHome which is on my dresses so forces me to get out of bed and I get out of bed to turn it off but then fall back into bed telling myself "Only ten more minutes" :P I've tried going to sleep early but I still end up snoozing my alarm couple times before I get out of bed. I think determination is the only way. The day I tell myself "I'll wake up around 7:30 am"- I snooze but the days I say "I HAVE TO WAKE UP AT 7:30 am"- I do a lot better. 

@AviRandhawa Awesome! What have you tried to change your snooze habit? I struggle with it every day so interested to hear what you're experimenting with.

@jasondiller Thanks Jason!

@TonySheng Loved your post. I definitely mess up my routine sometimes. Like right now, I'm awake at 12:30 and I know that means it's going to be 10X as hard to get out of bed at 7:30 tomorrow. I think it's important to be forgiving.  

Evan's points are spot on with how I try to approach it (maybe because we just read the same book). You WILL face challenges. They're inevitable. If you can plan for it, and figure out a rational response to dealing with it they won't have as large as an effect on you.

@TonySheng I think that's an excellent question. I just finished reading The Power of Habit, which was amazing. One story is about how Michael Phelps basically has a videotape in his head of the process of winning a race. This includes problems cropping up. In fact, his coach made him do laps in a totally darkened swimming pool to prep for the possibility that he might get water in his goggles someday. And, sure enough, he got water in his goggles at the Olympics and managed to still win the race blind.

I thought the story was amazing exactly because of what you mentioned - if my routine gets messed up my whole day can often be ruined. I haven't figured it out yet, but I need to do the Phelps thing and build backup routines in case things go wrong.

@DavidSpinks that's a very good post, thank you =)

@cloverdew I hear you on cooking. I need to be better about it, too. Probably helps if I'd grocery shop more regularly!

@Ben R totally in line with nadia's post on minimalism.  I almost think of routines as a minimalist approach to actions.  

Self-discipline is everything, I'm learning.  And to be brutally honest with myself, it's something I need to improve a great deal.

All my routines are things that I really want, and enjoy.  They're also provide value on more than one level. For example, running every day also helps me clear my mind and explore new ideas.  Cooking helps me relax and focus on using my hands.

@jessicamalnik can you find value in the workout beyond the workout itself?  For example, I love running because I clear my mind and it gives me perspective.  I love basketball for the competition and strategy.  Working out becomes more than just getting in shape.  It helps me in other areas, making it easy to stay motivated.

Might be helpful? 

@thomasknoll That rise alarm clock looks cool.  What would you say it helps with specifically?

I tried to use lift once.  Didn't stick.

@AlexaScordato one-tab.com   You're welcome ;)

@DavidSpinks That book "power of habit" threw me for a loop too. Been implementing a lot of what you put in that past

@erangalperin As long as my knees hold up.

@stifflerdean Totally feel your pain man.

Thing is, 1 and 2 are both routines, they're just different from my routines.

I used to be the night owl as well.  I'm still really productive at night.  But I don't like the way I feel and how I spend my time when I go to sleep at 2 and wake up at 10-11.  So I'm forcing myself to adapt.  I've found now that when I get up earlier, I am more productive during the day than I used to be.

I guess the point is, if your routine is working for you, great.  If you think you need to change something, then you might find that there are other routines that will work well for you, and that can affect other areas of your life.  Are you really only productive at night?  Or is that just a result of your current habits?

On 3, sounds like everyone else has a routine except you ^_^.  It's okay to not be "on" all the time.  In fact in my experience, you'll burn yourself out really quickly that way.  You can still be available and responsive.  I've been making a conscious effort to have less meetings and to keep all my meetings within the same time frame every day.  Another rhythm that helps me be more productive.

On the last point of maturing and having employees, maybe you're right.  I have felt like I've matured a lot through my startup experience and these experiments with routine is a result of that.  Every great CEO I've seen seems to have a very specific routine.  

@AviRandhawa Have you tried inserting a new response to the alarm? Like for me, it helped to put my running shoes on right away. Maybe it's to SHOUT OUT LOUD to get the blood flowing. Or to clap 3 times. Something to break the routine of alarm --> snooze --> sleep.

I have found setting the alarm across the room helpful so you have to actually get out of bed to turn it off. I used to do this when I was younger and was responsible for opening a restaurant at 5:00am. Once I am out of bed it is easier for me just to get on with the day.

@prtini Same here. I need to get more into a routine on the weekends... grocery shopping, down time, cleaning, etc.

For years I've just used the timer on my phone. The only reason I switched to rise was because it was free for a day. But, I prefer the alarm sounds over the ringers on my phone, and it has a progressive volume which is nice and less jarring. The main thing is using timer instead of alarm.

@JPedde nice nice. Yea I'm really enjoying it so far. About halfway through.

 @DavidSpinks Thanks, these are good tips, don't wanna scare my roommate by shouting in the morning but I will definitely try claps tomorrow morning and let you know how it went!

@cloverdew @prtini I know of a cool company that helps you do that ;)

@thomasknoll Interesting. I may give it a shot.  Thanks.

@DavidSpinks @JPedde @virginialaird sorry to be a spoiler :S

@sjw @JPedde @virginialaird nice! Sad to hear the community section was a let down. I'm really looking forward to it.

@DavidSpinks @JPedde I'm halfway through it too! @virginialaird actually just wrote a review of it: loyalcx.tumblr.com/post/625044159…