What's up legend.
Time to optimise the sh*t out of your mornings.
I'm sure you've heard that productivity is dependent on the strength of your morning routine, right?
Ah, I'm just playing, but I am however going to discuss a few ways you can use your morning to set your day up for success.
Let's get cracking...
Building a Morning Routine for Peak Performance
How you start your morning sets the tone for your entire day.
A solid morning routine isn’t about following a rigid, unrealistic schedule (looking at you, 5 AM Club), but about creating habits that prime you for success—without sacrificing sleep or sanity.
Think of your morning like setting up the first domino in a long chain—if it’s placed correctly, everything else falls into place smoothly.
But if you start rushed, distracted, or sleep-deprived, you’re knocking over a messy pile instead of creating momentum.
And who really wants to clean up a messy pile of dominos first thing in the morning?
If you're active on social media, I'll hedge my bets and guess that you've seen a video, or 10, of an 'influencer' telling you how great their morning routine is.
That they couldn't possibly function without their life-changing, 'perfect' routine.
Let's get one thing abundantly clear here.
If you're that attached to your morning routine, heck any routine at all, that you need it to function correctly, then you have problems.
So, let’s break down what actually works for high performers who want to boost energy, focus, and productivity.
In my opinion, a great morning starts with five simple, high-impact habits.
1️⃣ Great quality sleep
A truly productive day starts the day before. You can forget about optimising the finer details in your routine if your sleep is sh*t.
If you're not getting sufficient quality sleep, then you're essentially swimming against the tide for the remainder of your day.
The best morning routine begins the night before. If you’re running on five hours of broken sleep, no amount of hydration, meditation, or ice baths will save you.
You need to nail the most basic high-performing habit of them all before you can even think about anything else.
So start by:
- Prioritising 7-8 hours of quality sleep so you wake up feeling refreshed.
- Not eating too close to bedtime (ideally 2-3+ hours).
- Eating foods high in magnesium (or using a supplement) to promote better quality sleep and recovery.
Think of your sleep as your body's overnight charge - if you don't plug it in, you'll be running on empty the next day.
If you don't forget to charge your phone every night, why not do the same with your body?
2️⃣ Hydrate Before You Caffeinate
Ok, so you slept straight through for 7 & 1/2 hours and got a great night's sleep. But now you've woken up dehydrated.
Now a few weeks ago I debunked the idea that it was more beneficial to wait 90 minutes for your coffee. A craze that had been doing the rounds on socials the last few years.
So you want your coffee first thing. Who's to blame you? Coffee is simply the best!
But before you reach for the espresso machine, do yourself a big favor and hydrate yourself first.
This isn't because opting for coffee when you're already dehydrated, will dehydrate your further
Contrary to popular belief, coffee doesn't dehydrate you. Caffeine is a diuretic, which increases your desire to pee. Which in turn can dehydrate you.
The reason is far less complex.
By rehydrating yourself as soon as you wake up, you're essentially starting the engine of the motor. You're getting the wheels in motion.
You may get things going with a coffee, but it'll be like trying to start a car on an empty tank—it might sputter to life, but it won’t run efficiently.
Without fail, Every. Single. Morning. I wake up and down a pint of cold water.
I've been doing this for as long as I can remember and I'll do it until the day I die.
Not only do you quench your thirst, but you immediately feel better.
If you want to accelerate the hydration process, then I highly recommend adding some electrolytes to your water - ideally sugar-free.
Do you know that foggy kinda feeling you have when you've woken up?
Well, that's gone within minutes of drinking them.
I don't know if it's the cold water, the electrolytes, or there's some sort of placebo effect, but the impact is real.
So I highly recommend you hydrate before you caffeinate. Heck before you do anything else besides get up and pee.
3️⃣ Move Your Body
Next, you gotta move ya body.
For me, this comes in the way of a dog walk, but it could just as easily be 10 minutes of stretching or a workout in the gym.
If you're a morning workout person, then you'll know how much better you feel afterwards.
Now, you don’t need an intense 60-minute workout first thing in the morning. But some kind of movement is a game-changer.
Morning movement is hugely beneficial for a few reasons:
- You get blood pumping around your body. More blood pumping around your body, means more blood to your brain, which can only help in the morning.
- Exercise prodcues endorphins, meaning your more likely to be in a better mood.
- You're also starting the day by doing something positive for your health. This will carryover to the rest of your day.
Like I said, this doesn't need to be a lung busting workout, instead it could be something like:
- A short walk outside - which can also expose you to some beneficial morning sunshine.
- Stretch or do mobility work—especially if you spend long hours at a desk.
- A strength training session, but be sure to keep it efficient. You don't want to exhaust yourself for the day ahead.
You're also taking off the stress of needing to be active later in your day. If I walk for 25-30 minutes I'll get over 3k steps in before 8 am, which goes a long way.
4️⃣ Breathe Deeply
Most people will wake up and immediately stress about work, emails, and to-do lists.
As hard as it can be, the worst thing you can do is look at your phone and start absorbing technology.
Instead, take a few minutes to centre yourself.
In the last few months I've been getting into visualisation. which I can't recommend enough. Having the ability to sit there with only your thoughts and your breath is powerful.
You might not get the opportunity to be still for the rest of your day so taking advantage of some quieter time in the morning can really help.
Don't overcomplicate this, after all the goal is to lower your stress levels.
If you were to simply sit and breathe intentionally in a quiet space for a few minutes, that would be so helpful.
A few ways you could explore this could be:
- Box breathing (inhale 4s, hold 4s, exhale 4s, hold 4s). Deep breathing can lower stress and oxygenates your brain.
- Visualisation helps you mentally rehearse success—imagine yourself executing your day with focus and confidence.
- Meditation or gratitude practice sets a calm, positive tone instead of jumping straight into chaos.
Even something as 'little' as 5 minutes of intental breathing can be super beneficial. I can't recommend it enough.
5️⃣ Plan and Prepare for Success
Then to wrap things up, a bitta planning. Because as cliche as it may be, failing to plan is planning to fail..
The healthiest people don’t just wing it—they prepare ahead of time.
This planning can also be done ahead of time the nght before, but the action needs to be implemented in the morning.
If you've got a workout planned for lunchtime, do you have your workout gear packed in your bag?
Talking of packing, how about bringing a nutritious lunch with you?
Pack exactly what you need so you have no reason not to stick to your plan. Leave nothing to chance. After all, you wouldn't do it with your business would you?
I don't miss workouts. That's not me blowing smoke up my own ass, it's just a fact.
But even so, I write 'workout' into my paper diary every morning and tick it off every time.
Why? Because momentum is infectious!
So I implore you to put your health related habits into your daily tasks and then plan to get them done.
Put your step count, workouts, breath work, breaks, etc, track everything.
A high-performance morning isn’t about what time you wake up—it’s about what you do after you wake up.
The five habits above set you up for success without adding unnecessary complexity.
Find a rhythm that works for you, focus on energy, hydration, movement, mindset, and preparation, and take control of your day.
And if someone tells you that the 'perfect morning routine' has to include ice baths and intermittent fasting, politely ignore their advice and walk away from them 😂
If you have any questions on any of the above, or maybe you have some tips you'd like to share with me, all you have to do is reply to this email.
Quote for the day
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
– Benjamin Franklin
When it comes to health, you have two choices in life.
Easy life now, hard life later.
Or hard life now, easy life later.
Pretty much if you choose to take the easy route now, you'll pay for it in the future with a harder life.
However, if you're willing to put the work in now and 'suffer' a little (like going to the gym and eating well), then you'll be rewarded with an easier life later.
The choice is yours!
Have a great week.
- Mark
P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here’s a few ways I can help you:
