Morning routines are all the rage these days.

Whether it’s the 5-9 before the 9-5 routines that have been going viral on Tiktok or the ever-popular Google searches for “how to be a morning person” or “how to force yourself to wake up early” or “how to wake up early, even if you’re not a morning person”.

Samantha and Meagan, two incredible women that I get to work with over at my company, Three Boudoir, challenged themselves to take on morning routines inspired by millionaires. They added in steps such as skin care, exercising, journaling, and meditation while putting off work-related tasks until their typical clock-in time. This was all in an effort to be more productive, but that’s not necessarily what the results were.

You may actually be shocked by what Samantha and Meagan concluded during this challenge.

How the Challenge Began

They wanted to be more productive – during a conversation, Samantha has been the one to bring up the idea of following the routine of a millionaire to see if these routines really do make you more productive, and possibly more successful.

Both say that in the beginning, they were eager to go all in on their new routines. They sat down and wrote out the routines they wanted to follow for their most ideal, productive, and healthy morning routine.

What did their morning routines look like?

Samantha began her day at 6 am, which is two hours prior to her typical wake-up time. She added in skin care, meditation, breakfast, and getting away from her bed to start work. She used to start her work from bed as soon as she opened her eyes!

Meagan’s day started a bit earlier at 5 am, she would skip the scroll and write in her 5-minute journal or read a self-help book while still in bed to help her wake up. Then she started her skincare routine, vitamins, and she jugged water. Next up was her Pelaton workout, breakfast, a glass of celery juice, walk her dog while listening to a podcast then she began work. ALL of that occurred before 7:30.

The Results?

The general consensus of the experiment was that if you can or enjoy waking up early then go for it. However, if it’s not your thing then that is a-okay too.

Meagan noted that she didn’t feel that she was more productive with the earlier mornings, her productivity just shifted to the beginning of her day rather than the end of her day.

If you think at the end of each day that there are not enough hours in the day then just try waking up 30 minutes earlier and really micromanage your time. I enjoyed the process, but I don’t know if it will make me a billionaire. -Meagan

Samantha said that she actually found that she found her creative tasks a bit more difficult and often had to take breaks in her work day and wait till later to do her more creative work.

Your season of life does matter when it comes to waking up early. In college, I couldn’t have done this. Now that I have a lot of flexibility, it works. It might not always be this away. So for now, I’m happy to let it ebb and flow whether that’s really early or not. -Samantha

Both did note that tried this challenge in Chicago during the winter where the sun rises later and sets earlier, and the days are cold so getting outside is not much of an option. They would be interested to try this in the summer where the sunlight streaming in and getting outside was more of an option to see how that might affect the outcome.

The Science

With the popularity of morning routines and productivity being nothing new, there is science behind the art of waking up early and what the perfect day might look like. However, there really does seem to be a seasonality to it.

Light does affect your ability to wake up and enjoy being awake. Night owls also often get a bad rap, but that doesn’t have to be the case!

“Those nefarious owls actually tend to display greater creativity, show superior working memory, and post higher scores on intelligence tests such as the GMAT. They even have a better sense of humor.” – Daniel Pink, author of When

Samantha says that she is more of a night owl than a morning person and that works for her! However, she enjoys waking up earlier for pilates class especially now that the sun is streaming in a bit earlier and helping her out of bed.

There is no judgment of when you wake-up or what your morning routine is. Whatever routine is healthiest and infuses the most joy into your life is the most perfect routine there is.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• Are the benefits of waking up so early in the morning worth all the hype
• Seasonality of early wakeups 
• If waking up earlier increases productivity, efficiency, and joy
• The scientific research that highlights the benefits of being a night owl

Listen below… and perfect your morning routine to be more successful!