Copying Morning Routines Won’t Make You a “Successful CEO”
There’s no such thing as the unique morning habits shared between successful people, and this bullshit must stop.
There is hype around copying the morning routines of “successful CEOs”.
It’s a very simple cycle: people go to Instagram and feel like underachievers, they try to change their reality by seeing what overachievers do. So if you have the same habits as someone successful, then so will you.
Well then, let’s look at the reports of 21 CEOs and see if this makes sense.
“See What Successful People’s Mornings Have in Common” — Oh, That Trash Talk Again!
“I’m a night owl, so my morning routine is nonexistent!”
Natalie Bloomingdale, Founder, The SIL
Could you expect this? Some people simply have no choice but to work overnight. Several times I’ve talked about the harm of being a night owl.
“I am an early riser — up at 5 am We have a lot of construction calls. I speak with my teams from Florida, New York, California, and Israel. I spend most of my day on Zoom. I think everyone has become a Zoom expert.”
Jules Trump, Co-Chairman, The Trump Group
Meanwhile, other people are already waking up working. Some executives are not from the 5 AM Club by choice, but because their business starts very early, such as civil construction.
“When working from home, I usually start my day by reading the news in the morning. After breakfast, I hold Zoom meetings with my senior management teams to get important updates on different projects and make sure that everything is on the right track despite the social distancing.”
Adrian Cheng, CEO, New World Development Company
In the book “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” Nicholas Carr explains how reading news became something consuming and stressful — especially in the morning.
Of course, people who do this today do it out of necessity or out of distraction, not necessarily to stay informed.
“I am in constant communication with my team at large to thoroughly review each AKA property.”
Larry Korman, President, AKA Hotel Residences
This person just doesn’t seem to get off work. If this is his morning routine, it doesn’t seem to fit in with today’s wellness trend, would you agree?
If it was you, would you be willing to pay the price?
Every Context Is Different
Morning routines all successful people have in common is a bourgeois myth.
This can yield extremely clickable headlines, but they are simply lies. Period.
The fact is: if you’re stubborn about having more self-fulfillment, money, recognition, and an amazing life story, then you have to work hard. What you will do in the morning is a consequence of your reality, not the other way around.
What you can do is acquire some good and effective practices, to reduce stress and give you more strength to better serve your “life stakeholders” — if possible.
Some will be able to exercise and have breakfast with the family, others will not. The difference is how important this is to them.
And in some days it will simply not be possible to go through with the routine, it is even necessary to be prepared for that.
Are you?
