I remember spending $60 (not sure why I thought I was made of gold at the time) on buying an Influencers e-book on “The perfect morning routine”. I was in a post-Uni phase of ‘becoming my best self’, ‘becoming that girl’ and ‘clearly watching too much YouTube’. 

I read that PDF cover-to-cover. Turns out I needed, yes needed, to wake up at 5, journal for half an hour, stretch, practice yoga, make an ‘all-greens juice’, re-align my magnesium levels and make up with the girl who used to bully me at school, all before 6am. Oh and all of that would be pointless if I hadn’t made my bed (plumped cushions, sprayed with sleep scent).

Okay, it wasn’t exactly like that, but it was prescriptive.

Post-Uni me was pretty into wellness and I did my best to copy the whole routine. I liked it! By Friday, I kind of knew the steps off-by-heart, which made it alot easier for 5am half-asleep-me and I was starting to reflect on my days as being more positive and productive. But, 5am was just too early, so that took a hit. Journaling for half an hour was just too long, so that took a hit. The smoothie maker was too loud for other people I lived with, so that took a hit. And soon enough, I was back scrolling and looking for a new morning routine. 

This was 10 years ago and now I feel totally aligned with how I start my day. The key is to align it with yourself and how you feel (and not to spend $60 copying someone else). Don’t get me wrong, experimenting with how others start their day has been crucial for me to discover my healthiest habits- as long as you know that you’re in discovery mode and you might need to tweak habits to suit you. Below are 4 successful, driven individuals who all start their day at different times, do different things but crucially, they enjoy their morning and it sets their body, mind and day up in the best way for them. Enjoy!