The Secret Morning Routine Of An Author Who Has Written 30 Novels And Over 600 Articles

My alarm clock rings at 6:00 a.m. on weekdays. Actually, it's not an alarm clock. I use the alarm on my phone.

My Apple Watch is connected to my cell phone, which is a huge advantage because this way, I can use the snooze function without moving around a lot.

I don't have to reach for my mobile phone but simply press on my Apple Watch. I do this about twice before I actually stand up.

Then I drag myself into the bathroom and drink water from the tap because I'm always terribly thirsty after sleeping. I also hate the taste in my mouth in the morning.

Afterward, I go to the kitchen to make coffee. Did I mention that I sleep naked? You probably noticed I didn't say anything about getting dressed before I went into the kitchen. Imagine the following picture: A sleepy, forty-six-year-old man standing naked in the kitchen making coffee. Sorry if you can't get that image out of your head now.

While I wait for the coffee to be ready, I clear out the dishwasher from the night before. Then I feed the cats.

I do all this every morning in that exact order. With morning routines, it is vital to follow a precise sequence, as we all know.

Here is additional information: We live on the ground floor, and from the terrace, you can see through a glass door directly through the living room to the kitchen. That is why we have a blind in front of the terrace door.

But there are days when I look around after finishing my kitchen sequence and notice that we forgot to close the blinds the night before.

Every morning a lot of neighbors pass by our terrace on their way to work or to the bakery. I suppose many of them now also have images in their heads that they can' t get out of their minds anymore.

It is important not to let such mishaps distract you from your routine. That's why I ignore it when it happens and continue.

Next, I go to get dressed. In the still dark bedroom, I reach blindly into the wardrobe and take something to wear. Often my wife corrects my outfit when she has also got up and sees that I am wearing a red shirt and green socks.

As soon as I am dressed, I wake up my wife. She sleeps longer than I do, so she doesn't get in the way during my important morning routine.

Everything that follows then has no predetermined order any more. Breakfast, brushing my teeth, showering, the first cigarette of the day, and watering the flowers - everything happens, but none of it is as ritualized as my routine between getting up and waking my wife.

At some point, I sit down in front of my computer and start writing. Every morning I boot up my laptop and work on one of my books. I also write a new article every day. In this way, I have written 30 novels and over 600 articles over the years.

What does this have to do with my morning routine? Nothing at all, of course.

I have read a lot about morning routines and tried out a lot of them. I thought I had to journal in the morning, do sports, write down my goals, recite mantras, and do thankfulness exercises.

Unfortunately, I realized that I'm far too tired for such nonsense in the morning.

Don't let yourself be talked into thinking that you need a proactive morning routine to be successful. If you're like most of us, for the first thirty to sixty minutes after getting up, you're busy not crawling back to bed right away.

I'm not saying that journaling, morning yoga, and the like are useless. Maybe I would be even more productive if I could somehow manage to squeeze all that into my morning. All I'm saying is: you don't need it.

Find out what works for you instead of copying what others say worked for them.

I've been getting up at five o'clock for years, and I've always tried to establish morning routines that are recommended in self-help books.

I don't do any of that anymore.

You shouldn't even start. Then again, that's just my opinion. Don't listen to me, but find out for yourself what's best for you.