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 freedom
• cat‑dictated wake‑up times
• early‑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:

• Greg
• Alessandra
• Gretchen
• Shadows (Shadows Pub)
• Devin
• Bailey

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 someone who grew up with seasonal farm routines.

Notable points:

• She had a “forced” morning routine for years as an elementary school teacher: be at school at a specific time, no flexibility.
• She has never considered herself a true morning person; early in her marriage, her husband would literally run coffee under her nose to get her out of bed.
• Even now, her husband helps her start the day by making the coffee and bacon so she can feed Aldo the dog.
• Since retiring, she has experimented with multiple approaches; Creative Work Hour is now a meaningful morning anchor.
• She has adopted “morning pages” (since March) and finds that even imperfect, irregular practice makes a noticeable difference to the rest of her day.

Key quotes:

• On past routines: “I’ve had kind of a forced morning routine for so long… I had to be there by a certain time.”
• On morning pages: “It sounds like it should be, ‘Oh, I’ll just sit down and write three pages.’ But it becomes much more.”
• On how skipped morning pages affect her: “The mornings that it doesn’t [happen], I recognize since the rest of my day that it would have been better if I had.”
• On what matters most: “The essential part of my morning routine has to be something included that I’m not dreading but that I really look forward to. That brings me some joy.”

Interesting observation:
Gretchen introduces an important idea: routines can be seasonal and situational.

• “Even though it’s the word routine, routine can be seasonal and it changes… My dad grew apples… routine was very seasonal… For me, it’s still that way.”

She also delivers a relatable boundary-setting rule:

• “The only really consistent thing is… don’t speak to me before I’ve at least got a third of the way down my coffee cup.”

Shadows (Shadows Pub)

Comic relief, cat representative, and unexpected nutrition note.

Notable points:

• Her mornings are not entirely her own; Hobo the cat is “the driver” of her schedule.
• She usually wakes up at 2:30–3:00 a.m. (or is woken by Hobo).
• They’ve struck a compromise: she can spend the first hour to hour and a half reading, as long as she tolerates a cat standing on her iPad.
• The order of operations is non‑negotiable: prepare her own morning drink, make the cats’ food, supervise eating (to prevent Hobo from stealing others’ food), and only after about two hours does she make coffee.
• She drinks an anti‑inflammatory concoction first: mainly cacao (she calls it “cacaya,” describing it as raw cocoa beans, lightly refined) and beetroot.

Key quotes:

• On who’s in charge: “There’s only one way on earth that I can tinker with my morning routine. It would be getting rid of Hobo or getting her permission, whichever comes first. She’s the driver.”
• On her drink vs. coffee: “I have another drink that is actually anti-inflammatory. Coffee actually drives your cortisol up first thing in the morning.”
• On training cats: when Greg jokes about teaching the cat to make coffee: “Have you ever tried to train a cat?”
• On being a morning person: “By the way, I should mention that I have always been a morning person, which is probably the reason that Hobo’s been allowed to live.”

Interesting observations:

• Her routine is a reminder that other beings (pets, kids, partners) can dominate our mornings, no matter what productivity books say.
• She drops a genuinely interesting health note: delaying coffee and starting with an anti‑inflammatory drink to avoid spiking cortisol.

Devin

Self‑described Tim Ferriss fan, data‑driven morning person, and structured routine explainer.

Notable points:

• Devin is an unapologetic, “bona fide” morning person.
• He used to be “competitively” early, trying to beat colleagues into the office, sometimes waking at 3:30 a.m. to ensure he’d be first.
• His current wake time is 5:00 a.m., with a fairly structured routine:
  • Immediately drink a liter of water, refill, and drink another liter (2 liters before coffee or tea).
  • Check BBC news (for big global events), then work email, then work Slack.
  • Read headlines of at least three newspapers each morning (self‑described news junkie).
  • Spend an hour to 90 minutes apparently “doing nothing”: staring into space, thinking, praying, letting creative ideas and solutions surface.
  • Around 7:30, do a combined yoga and kettlebell workout.
  • Some tea, some reading, following curiosity.
  • By 9:45, he is at his computer for Cup O’ Joe and Creative Work Hour. He uses that time to plan his day and do journaling/morning pages‑style writing.

Key quotes:

• “I am a bona fide morning person. It’s just how I’m wired.”
• On competitive mornings: “There are times when if someone else was a morning person, I made it my goal to beat them into the office… I’ve gotten up at 3:30 in the morning just so I would have time to get ready and get to the office first.”
• On his water habit: “My goal is to get two liters of water in me before I have any coffee or tea.”
• On his “doing nothing” time: “I sit and really just sort of stare off into space for an hour to an hour and a half. And a lot of work gets done. It looks like I’m doing absolutely nothing, but… a lot of creative ideas, a lot of solutions to problems… come in when I’m just trying to meditate. That’s when I pray.”

Interesting observations:

• Devin underlines that “being awake” doesn’t automatically equal “ready to talk,” even for a morning person:
  • “Just because I’m awake doesn’t mean I want to talk to you.”
• He also adds a small but powerful micro‑habit:
  • “First thing I do is make my bed… When I walk past it later in the day, I’m like, well, at least I did that.”

Bailey

Resident anti‑morning person who is also ironically most productive in the mornings.

Notable points:

• She identifies as the exact opposite of Devin.
• She says she hates mornings and warns people not to talk to her; if you do, “expect me to walk away.”
• Despite that, she finds mornings are often when she writes best.
• She has been trying to wake up at 6:00 a.m. (which is “super early” for her) because that’s when her writing is strongest.
• Since daylight savings time, her ability to keep that 6:00 a.m. wake‑up has collapsed, and her routine has become “inconsistent.”
• Still, three things are always present in her mornings:
  • Music
  • Coffee
  • Contemplation (including stepping outside, looking at the sky, especially clouds)

Key quotes:

• “I’m the opposite of Devin… I hate mornings. And if you talk to me in the mornings, just expect me to walk away.”
• “I would say my morning routine is inconsistent, but always includes three things, which is music, coffee and contemplation.”
• “I walk outside and look at the sky. I love clouds and drink coffee and then get on here. So yep, that’s about it. Never the same.”

Interesting observation:
Bailey’s routine highlights that even for people who dislike mornings, there can be a quiet, meaningful ritual: stepping outside, noticing the sky, pairing coffee with some mental space. It’s not rigid or repeatable in a checklist sense, but it’s emotionally consistent.

Big-picture observations from the group

1. Morning routines are deeply personal

• Everyone’s mornings are shaped by their wiring (morning person vs. not), their life stage (still working vs. retired), their environment (farm childhood, office jobs, pets), and their responsibilities (caregiving, work demands).
• There’s no single “right” routine; the episode showcases multiple working versions.

2. Nighttime design is part of the equation

• Alessandra’s experiment with moving her phone, and then moving it again, shows how easily good intentions can backfire—and how much the night before controls the morning.
• Sleep quality, screens, and room layout all matter.

3. The role of creative anchors

• Gretchen’s morning pages, Devin’s journaling during Creative Work Hour, and Bailey’s contemplative sky‑watching all work as anchors—small practices that signal creativity and reflection.
• Greg’s attendance at Creative Work Hour is his main grounding practice: when he misses it, he feels the difference in his day.

4. Caffeine and “the morning drink”

• Coffee is a near‑universal ritual here, but some people space it out differently:
  • Devin: no coffee until after two liters of water.
  • Shadows: an anti‑inflammatory cacao/beetroot drink first, coffee two hours later.
  • Greg and Bailey: coffee is right at the heart of the morning.
• The idea of a “Creative Work Hour” coffee roast comes up, with Greg and Alessandra joking about actually doing it, and Devin mentioning he already has a “Smart Ass” blend from Kicking Horse Coffee that seems to fit the group’s personality.

5. Seasons, change, and flexibility

• Gretchen points out that her farm childhood taught her that routines can (and maybe should) be seasonal. She still treats her routines as configurable in 4–5 day blocks if needed.
• Daylight savings visibly disrupts Bailey’s wake time.
• Devin openly calls his current routine “subject to change without notice.”

Main takeaways for listeners

• Don’t chase someone else’s perfect morning. Start with:
  • One or two things you actually look forward to;
  • One small tweak to your night that might help your morning.

• Consider:
  • Moving your phone farther away (and maybe getting a simple analog alarm clock).
  • Adding a quiet ritual like morning pages, journaling, or simply staring into space and thinking.
  • Drinking water (or a non‑coffee drink) before your first caffeine.
  • Including something joyful: a walk outside, watching clouds, a special mug, or a playful ritual like a daily “coffee selfie.”

• Accept that:
  • Your morning might be dictated by pets, kids, or work for now—and that’s okay.
  • “Routine” doesn’t have to mean “forever;” seasonal routines are allowed.
  • You don’t have to hit your full routine every day for it to be useful. Even partial practice (one page instead of three, or 10 minutes instead of an hour) can still help.

Quick bullet recap of the episode

• Topic: Morning routines—what works, what doesn’t, and how we’ve tinkered with them.
  
• Greg:
  • Simple, coffee‑centered routine.
  • Creative Work Hour as a daily grounding practice.
  • Noted caffeine as a shared thread; floated a Creative Work Hour coffee brand.

• Alessandra:
  • Focused on engineering the night before: moving the iPhone out of the bedroom, then out of the foyer, and adding an analog alarm clock.
  • Started a daily coffee selfie + micro‑blog ritual.
  • Interested in a future episode deeper on morning pages.

• Gretchen:
  • Lived with a “forced” morning schedule as a teacher.
  • Husband helps kickstart her day with coffee and bacon.
  • Morning pages since March; feels the difference on days she skips.
  • Emphasizes seasonal and joy‑based routines.

• Shadows:
  • Mornings are driven by Hobo the cat’s schedule.
  • Compromise: early reading with a cat on the iPad.
  • Anti‑inflammatory cacao/beetroot drink before coffee; mentions coffee’s effect on cortisol.
  • Lifelong morning person.

• Devin:
  • Strong morning person; previously “competitive” about being first in the office.
  • Current routine:
    • 5 a.m. wake
    • 2 liters of water
    • News and work check‑in
    • 1–1.5 hours of quiet thinking/prayer
    • Yoga + kettlebells
    • Journaling during Creative Work Hour
  • First action: make the bed.

• Bailey:
  • Hates mornings but finds them most productive for writing.
  • Aims for a 6 a.m. wake, disrupted by daylight savings.
  • Inconsistent routine, but always:
    • Music
    • Coffee
    • Contemplation outside while looking at the sky.

Closing

Greg wraps up by joking that listeners have “wasted some perfectly good time” listening when they could have been doing something else—but reassures everyone that no cats were harmed in the making of the episode.

The invitation:

• Reflect on your own mornings.
• What works? What doesn’t?
• How have you tweaked your mornings to make them easier and more enjoyable?

Find more and share your thoughts at:

• creativeworkhour.com

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