Richard Bransons Morning Routine

I’m a huge fan of routines in general. I learned as a teacher is that routines are comforting to children and adults. It seems obvious, yet we rarely think about how we can use routines strategically.

One popular way that designing a routine has become a bit more mainstream is the idea of a morning routine, or the actions we take when we rise each morning. Drink a warm glass of lemon water, do yoga, write in a journal, eat a small meal. Do it every day when you wake up, and your day will continue to have some kind of structure.

It’s become a trend lately for people to post these routines as YouTube videos or blog posts. Seems like it’d be helpful, but it’s actually nonsense.

Here’s why: the benefit here is not knowing the components of someone’s routine, it’s just having a routine in the first place. Knowing what comprises Richard Branson’s morning routine won’t help us – the things he does in the morning reflect his own values and needs. Doing what he does won’t make us in any way like him, any more than eating 3000 calories a day like Michael Phelps does won’t turn us into Olympic athletes.

So make a morning routine, yes, but don’t model it after anyone else’s. Especially someone you admire.

You have everything you need in your brain to determine the right structure for your life. The key is consistency, not influence from others.