Best Morning Routines for Productivity in 2025: Build a Day That Works for You

Ever feel like your entire day is off because your morning started with chaos? You’re not alone. According to a survey done in January 2025 by McKinsey Health Institute, only 57% of working professionals reported good holistic health (mentally, physically, spiritually, and social functioning). However, there is some good news! You don’t need to wake up at 4 a.m., take an ice bath, or meditate for an hour to build a morning routine that works for you. In fact, the best routines are often the simplest ones with just a few intentional habits that help you start your day clear headed and focused. 

In this post, we are going to break down exactly how to design a realistic, energizing morning routine that will help set you up for an enjoyable day. Whether you are an entrepreneur, remote worker, student, or someone who just wants to feel a bit better each day, you’ll find practical examples, tools, and ideas that you can adapt into your life. 

Alright, let’s dive in.

Your morning sets the tone for everything that follows. When you start the day in a reactive state, scrolling your phone, answering emails before you even brush your teeth, or jumping on your computer without making your bed, it’s much harder to find your focus. It’s building a simple yet intentional morning routine that creates that momentum to carry you through your day. 

Here’s why it works:

1. Reducing your Decision Fatigue
   • Each choice you make drains some of your mental energy. A predictable routine limits early decisions so you have more willpower to do the important work later. 
2. Boosting Motivation and Mood
   • Simple habits like movement, hydration, or writing down a goal can trigger your “feel-good” dopamine chemical in your brain to get you engaged and ready to take action. 
3. Creating a Sense of Control
   • Even if your day is unpredictable, your morning doesn’t need to be. Start your day with simple and important wins like making your bed or doing a 10 minute stretch can build up some confidence and clarity in your mind. 
4. Establishes Habits
   • A morning routine isn’t just about productivity, but about showing up to be your best self. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, calls this “casting votes for the person you want to be.” As the votes build up with each repeated habit, so does the evidence of your own identity and your own success.

Key Tip: The checklist does not need to be long. Start with one or two intentional actions. That is more than enough to start a more productive day. 

There’s no one size fits all formula for the perfect morning, but most effective routines share a few common ingredients. Let’s dive into these elements to consider when designing yours: 

1. Wakeup Time
   • Consistency matters more than waking up at 4 or 5 AM. Research shows that maintaining a regular sleep and wake schedule helps regulate your circadian rhythm, improve mood, and boosts daytime energy. Try to find a wake up time that works best for you, your body, and your goals. (Source)
2. Movement
   • Movement is a key factor in setting up your body for the day ahead. You don’t need an hour long workout to feel the benefits. Just take 5-10 minutes to move, stretch, do yoga, or go on a walk to increase your blood flow, release endorphins, and help shake off grogginess. (Source)
3. Mindfulness
   • Meditation, journalling, and yoga are all great examples of short and easy ways to start your day. A short period of any of these activities can help calm your mind and set up an intentional tone for the day. Mindfulness is a common practice to create a space for you before jumping into a new task. (Source)
4. Fuel
   • What you eat and drink first thing in the morning also impacts your focus and your energy. Regardless of your diet choices, hydrating when you wake up is an important step to startup your body. A healthy breakfast with proteins and complex carbs can take you a long way, keeping your blood sugar steady and having your body ready for the day. (Source)
   • One nuance here is intermittent fasting. I know many people, myself included, who actually feel more focused when they do a morning fast. Harvard Health has shown that intermittent fasting has been linked to improvement in insulin sensitivity, cellular repair, and mental clarity. (Source) Fasting is not for everyone though. Every body is different, and some may feel more fatigue, irritation, or distraction without some morning calories. Fasting is a trick worth testing in your lifestyle and for your morning routine, but make sure to stay hydrated and monitor how your body responds. Make your decision based on what works best for your body.
5. Planning
   • The last thing I do in my routine before starting the day is taking 5 minutes to write down the main tasks or goals for the day. I intentionally do not use much detail when doing this because I don’t want to spend 30 minutes every day on a planning session, I just want to create a sense of clarity. This small step shifts you out of a reactive mode for the day and helps you move with purpose. (Source)

You don’t need to jump in on all of these things at once. Choose 2-3, or even just 1 that really makes sense to you and start with that. Build up your habits over weeks or months to build a morning routine that will help you for years. 

Everyone’s life looks different. A startup founder’s ideal morning will be vastly different than a remote worker or a parent of 3 kids. You don’t need to copy someone else’s 5 AM morning routine to feel focused or in control of your day. Let’s look at a few realistic morning routine styles that can help inspire your own. Each of these are designed with intention and with some flexibility in mind. 

The Creative Professional

Morning Routine Goal: To start the day with clarity and creative energy

Routine:

1. Wake up at 7:30 AM (no alarm if possible…)
2. Journal for 10 minutes (prompts or just free thought)
3. Prepare coffee or tea without any distractions
4. 5-minute stretch or yoga to get the body moving
5. Review the top 3 actions for the day

This routine is designed to give your brain space to wake up gently. It will encourage creative thinking and allows your body to wake up into more focused work. 

The Entrepreneur

Morning Routine Goal: To maximize your energy and deep work without distractions

Routine:

1. Wake up at 6 AM
2. Quick 15-30 minute workout (a run or body weight strength exercises)
3. Drink 16 oz of water + electrolytes
4. Update top 3 goals for the day
5. Focus work on goals before checking inbox or phone by 9:30 AM (minimize distractions)

This routine is a bit different. We are waking up earlier and going straight into movements. Movements help jumpstart your focus and your motivation for the day, then preparing your goals and getting hydrated primes the brain for thinking. We maximize our early morning to have some personal focus time before having to deal with the collaborative work. Once you check your notifications, information flow is too much to sit down and focus on your singular task.

The Minimalist

Morning Routine Goal: To ease into the day mindfully, minimizing any friction.

Routine:

1. Wake up at 8 AM
2. Shower and listen to a podcast (minimal interactions with notifications on phone)
3. 5 minute breathing and mindfulness practice
4. Write down 1 major action that needs to be taken today

Keep your phone on Do not disturb for prolonged period (based on what’s reasonable for you)

This routine is short, simple, and focused on just reducing stress and stimulus overloads while still setting some intention for your day. 

I personally have a morning routine closer to “The Entrepreneur” during the week where I try to be very task focused and move projects forward, and then “The Minimalist” during the weekend when I can slow things down and give my brain and body some more relaxation, while still getting things done. It’s important to create your morning routine with things that energize you, not ones that drain you. A 2 hour morning routine that uses all your energy for the day is NOT helpful. 

The things you choose to do in your productive morning routine are just as important as the things you choose NOT to do. There are a few common missteps that can quickly and quietly sabotage your day before it even begins. 

1. Hitting the Snooze Button
   • Again and Again. We are all guilty of it. It’s so tempting to just throw your alarm clock or phone across that room when that cursed sound plays early in the morning. It never feels like you have enough sleep, and that extra 5-10 minutes could just make the difference… WRONG! Turns out that snoozing can actually lead to sleep inertia. Sleep inertia is that groggy, foggy mental state we wake up in whenever we aren’t waking up on our own body’s natural clock. It’s natural to have this feeling for minutes, up to an hour, after waking up. (Source) To avoid putting yourself through more of that groggy, slow feeling in the morning. The best thing is to get up when your alarm goes off. Personally, I let my phone (my alarm) sit across the room so I have to get up to turn it off. Once I’m out from under the covers, it’s much easier to stay up.
   • If you want to get some more information on sleep and how to improve your general sleep quality, check out our other article on sleep here!
2. Checking Your Phone Right Away
   • As someone who does everything on their phone, this is the hardest thing to avoid. I am truly addicted to the little device. Notifications everywhere, it’s easy to pick it up. I open my stock watchlist thinking I’m just going to give a quick glance to see what’s going on, and next thing I know I’ve stared at 20 candles pass by and I’ve just naturally made my way to scrolling instagram reels or reading the latest crazy news story and suddenly I’ve lost 30 minutes of my morning! Don’t be like me! You want to avoid this at all costs! This is your brain shifting into reactive mode, increasing your stress and shortening your attention span, and that sits with you for the rest of your day. (Source)
   • Try a no-phone window. Make the first 30-60 minutes of your morning a no-phone morning and start with something else. Journaling, stretching, meditation, or a workout are all good options. 
3. Skipping Hydration
   • Your body loses fluids overnight and the best thing you can do to help your body start up in the morning and have the energy, memory, and concentration it needs for the day is to hydrate. I think it’s pretty common for people to take the route of caffeine in the morning, but you need both. (Source) Coffee, Tea, or Energy drinks are great kickstarters, but remember that caffeine is a diuretic (meaning that you produce more urine), and will actually contribute to your morning dehydration. 
   • You can also think about adding salt or lemon into your water for extra electrolytes or healthy vitamins to start your day. 
4. Making it Overly Complicated
   • A 10-step, hour long morning routine can work on some days, but on a busy or a low-energy morning, it usually leads to skipping out on key habits or just starting your day feeling guilty for not doing your whole routine. Make your routine work for you! Simple and automatic, your morning routine is just a few steps that help you in your goals and fit within your morning energy and schedule. Don’t get worried about following some optimal 2-hour YouTube morning routine that takes you from 4:30 AM to 7:30 AM just to finally start your day exhausted. 
5. Lastly, Not Tailoring It to Your Lifestyle
   • There is no one perfect morning routine. A perfect routine for one person may be an absolute disaster for you. If it feels too rigid, overwhelming, or just plain unreasonable, then change it! If it’s ridiculous, it won’t stick anyway and you will just end up wasting your time. Build up your morning routine around your goals and your schedule, and build it up one habit at a time. 

The best routine is the one you actually do. 

Technology doesn’t have to be the enemy of focus. It can be a powerful ally when used with intention. With the right tools, you can reinforce your habits, reduce decision fatigue, and keep your morning routine moving smoothly. 

Here are some top apps to give a try:

Alarm Clock that work with your brain:

1. Sleep Cycle – Analyzes your sleep and wakes you up during the lightest phase for a smoother start to the day.
2. Loftie Clock – A screen-free alarm clock to gently wake you with light and sound.

The key here is to avoid jarring alarms. 

Habit Trackers:

1. Habitica – Turns your habits into a fun game with rewards and levels
2. Streaks – A Clean way to track habit consistency
3. Loop – A simple, easy, ad-free habit tracker

Tracking habits with your daily routine helps reinforce your identity as someone who is showing up consistently.

Mindfulness Apps & Journaling

1. Insight Timer – An of free guided meditations, breathing exercises, and ambient music
2. Day One Journal – An app for reflection, gratitude, and goal setting. Perfect to track your regular morning habits and set the day off right.

Setting the tone of your day with a calm check-in and setup of your expectations for the day pushes you forward with intention. That intention with each day and action is what makes you effective throughout the day.

Focus & Planning

1. Todoist – Organize your top tasks and get clarity each morning, or with anything you do.
2. Notion – A flexible system to match your goal planning, journaling, habit tracking all in one.
3. Brain.fm – Music engineered to improve focus! Perfect for a mindful start to your day.

As always, try one tool at a time. See what works for you and give each tool a chance to see what methods, styles, or capabilities resonate with you and your lifestyle.

So, we’ve gone through all the ideas, the tools, and the inspiration. Now comes the hardest part, making it all stick. One of the biggest reasons for someone failing at their routine is not because they are lazy, but because they try to do everything at once. Like we said before, start with small changes, small wins, and see the successful repetition pay you back as you build up healthy habits and a productive morning routine. Let’s look at how to build that sustainable morning routine. 

1. Start with Just One or Two Habits!

I’ve said it many times now because it’s just that important. Trying to journal, stretch, meditate, drink lemon water, write a gratitude list, run a mile, take a cold shower, and run your skin care routine on day one is a recipe for failure. Choose 1 or 2 things that you are really excited about. You want to start burning some more calories and jump start your body? Run the one mile in the morning and then continue with your normal morning. Once that is solidified, build out the next habit. It may feel slow sometimes, but remember, you are building this routine for your life, not just one week or one month.  

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear, Atomic Habits.

Build your systems.

2. Anchor Your New Habit to Something You Already Do

Habit Stacking. It’s a useful tool to make new habits easier to build by tying them to other existing habits that are easier to remember and follow through. 

Easy examples:

• After I brush my teeth, I’ll drink a glass of water. 
• After I make coffee, I’ll journal for 5 minutes. 
• After I get dressed, I’ll review my top 3 priorities.

James Clear has a great article about habit stacking here. 

3. Make it so easy that you can’t say no.

The first version of a routine doesn’t need to feel hard. Actually, I’d say it should actually feel easy. Because success builds up your momentum. And momentum builds habits. 

A one-minute journal entry is better than a zero-minute journal entry. 

Five pushups is better than zero pushups. 

A glass of water is better than no water at all.

4. Track your progress, even on the bad days

Use a habit tracker and see your consistency. Document it. A visible streak motivates you to keep going, especially on the hard days. Don’t panic if you miss a day. Reset and return to it. The goal isn’t to be perfect, but to make the identity change you want. Build the confidence to say that you are the person who takes care of themselves with their routine. 

5. Review & Adjust

Whether it be weekly, monthly, or anywhere in between, take the time to review your progress. Pat yourself on the back for all the days you succeeded. Be honest with yourselves on the days you didn’t. Most importantly, adjust your routine with your evolving life. Life will never be the same for too long. Your 7 AM wake-up routine worked when you worked close to home, but with the new 45 minute commute, that needs to change to 6 AM. It’s ok to adjust and make your schedule work. It’s not ok to just say you will figure it out and have another week or month of failed morning routines. That’s not going to help anyone. 

Set a reminder at the end of each month to check in. 

What’s working?

What’s dragging you down every morning?

Can you simplify anything?

Your mornings set the tone for your entire day. A morning routine with intention gives you the advantage to take you through your day with intention. You don’t need a perfect plan with 20 steps. A simple plan with a few habits that make you feel clear and energized will give you massive results. 

Try a 3-day Morning Routine Challenge. Show yourself just how easy and effective it is.

1. Pick 1 or 2 Habits from this guide. 
2. Commit to practicing them three mornings in a row.
3. At the end of the three days, sit down and ask yourself how do you feel? 

If you feel good afterwards, keep going! If not, tweak the plan and try again. That’s how we build habits. 

What’s one small change you could make tomorrow morning to feel more in control of your day? Share it in the Forum!