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Episode 71: Morning Routines? What Works, What Doesn’t?

Episode 71: Morning Routines? What Works, What Doesn’t?

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 Title: The Creative Work Hour Podcast Episode 71: Morning Routines? What Works, What Doesn’t? Episode summary Today’s conversation circles around a deceptively simple question: what do your mornings actually look like, and how have you tinkered with them to make life easier, more enjoyable, and more creative? The group compares wildly different styles of starting the day: rigid, work-driven mornings vs. post‑retirement freedomcat‑dictated wake‑up timesearly‑bird competition to get to the office first“I hate mornings but they’re my most productive time”and the quiet reality that your morning is only as good as your previous night. It’s a funny, honest, very human look at how real people (not productivity robots) handle mornings, caffeine, creativity, and the constant adjustments we all make as our lives and seasons change. Episode details Topic: Morning routines What works?What doesn’t?How have you changed (or are you trying to change) your mornings to make them easier, more enjoyable, and more creative? Hosts / Co‑hosts: GregAlessandraGretchenShadows (Shadows Pub)DevinBailey Key themes and takeaways Your morning starts the night before Sleep quality and evening habits are inseparable from how your morning feels.Moving your phone, changing your bedroom environment, or planning ahead can be a bigger lever than adding yet another morning “hack.” Routine doesn’t have to be rigid (or permanent) Several people emphasized that “routine” can be seasonal, adaptive, and flexible, not something you have to get perfect or stick to forever. Anchor habits matter more than long checklists A small set of non‑negotiables (coffee, journaling, water, quiet thinking time, feeding pets, etc.) can carry your whole day, even if everything else shifts. Mornings are emotional, not just logistical For some, mornings are full of dread; for others, they’re sacred, quiet time. Designing mornings you actually look forward to makes a huge difference. Caffeine is the unofficial seventh co‑host Coffee (or at least some kind of morning drink) shows up in nearly everyone’s routine, often doubled as a ritual that signals “day has begun.” Quotes and insights by co‑host Greg Host and facilitator, asking questions, noticing patterns, and injecting humor. Notable points: His current routine is pretty simple and very honest: wake up, take medicine, drink coffee (and then more coffee).“Creative Work Hour” itself is part of his morning structure, serving as grounding time and a daily reset. Key quote: “My morning routine is wake up, take medicine, take coffee, take more coffee and adjust as the morning goes on.”On Creative Work Hour: “That’s my grounding time… it sets the tone for the rest of the day. I find that consistency with that… it’s just productive for the rest of the day to come.” Interesting observation: Greg notices a common thread across everyone’s shares: “There’s one common thread that’s run throughout this whole thing. And that is that caffeine is involved in people’s mornings in one way or another.” He also floats a playful but intriguing idea: a “Creative Work Hour” branded coffee. That hint of product/brand thinking shows up naturally in the conversation. Alessandra Co‑host, framing the topic and bringing in the “night before” angle plus a small personal experiment with coffee selfies. Notable points: She’s actively trying to improve her mornings by engineering the previous night.She moved her iPhone out of the bedroom into the foyer, only to realize she now stops there in the middle of the night, checks the phone, and loses 40 minutes of sleep.Her next tweak: move the phone even farther away (into the kitchen) and buy an analog alarm clock.She’s started a “coffee selfie plus micro‑blog” ritual as a daily morning practice. Key quotes: “You can’t talk about morning routines without the relevance of how did you sleep, right?”On outsmarting herself: “I got the iPhone out of the bedroom… But I outsmarted myself… I stop and I look at what time it is… I’ll see a notification… and then it’s like 40 minutes before I go back to sleep.”On her new experiment: “Starting November the 1st, I am doing a coffee selfie every morning and a little micro blog… where am I, what’s so important about me getting this cup of coffee down me so that I can do the next thing.” Interesting observations: Alessandra is very clear that her current morning routine is “not the good example yet,” but she’s curious and willing to experiment, especially with an episode dedicated to “morning pages.”She’s also open about crossing personal boundaries for the sake of creative practice: she says she once vowed never to use “that thing that people call Facebook,” and yet that’s where she’s now sharing her micro‑blog coffee posts. Gretchen Brings a long view of routine from the perspective of a retired teacher and ...
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