Daily ROUTINEs FOR ENTREPRENEURS & Solopreneurs

One of the things I am immensely grateful for since going self-employed is the freedom to craft a daily routine which puts me in the best, most creative entrepreneur mindset for my business. So I thought I’d share my daily routine along with other successful self-employed entrepreneurs to help you pick up some quick tips that you could implement to start your morning off with good energy. Having a great entrepreneur daily routine can make all the difference in being productive, achieving goals, feeling centered and making decisions from a place of calm energy.

My entrepreneur daily routine…

Waking up…I’m not an early riser but I am trying to get better and wake up earlier. Currently usually between 7-8am without an alarm so I can embrace natural rhythms. I then splash some cold water on my face.

Tea and Daily Meditation or Yoga. I try do some morning meditation or yoga to centre myself and calm my busy mind. But first is a lovely hot cup of Tea!

Movement. Exercise keeps my anxiety at bay so I try to do something each morning. Monday mornings are usually started with a run, some mornings it may be yoga or a Youtube HIIT class. Then breakfast!

Cold Shower Blast. I love water and wish I lived by the sea for a morning dip but I make do with a shower! This year I’ve started doing a cold blast at the end of my shower and although it feels like hell it’s great for waking me up and there are many benefits of cold water therapy. The cold surprises or shocks you and will bring on the fight or flight response and raise your level of alertness. The cold blast also raises your adrenaline and increases alertness. If you’ve woken up feeling groggy but have a jam-packed day then a cold blast can change your mood in minutes!

Gratitude. If I have time I write 3 things that I am grateful for. It’s easy to get wrapped up in business stuff so I find this helps me focus on those little things that bring everyday joy.

And then I sit down to work in a much better place than when I first woke up and try not to check emails before I’ve finished my routine!
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Hana Bedrnarova who is a Digital PR specialist www.hanabednarova.co.uk

“A daily routine is really important when it comes to productivity. I do need a routine to ensure I don’t end up sitting on a sofa watching TV while working. I even have my ‘work mug’ when working from home. My desk set up helps my mindset. My office is simply a desk, office chair, and draws that only contains work things. Pads, pens, any other work supplies.

When it comes to my office I also have posters on the wall that have motivational quotes on them or posters I received when speaking at conferences and other events. I made sure the furniture is also slightly different from any other furniture in my apartment. Just to ensure that I feel like in an office, not at home. I listen to my favourite podcast when working and don’t make any personal calls (unless urgent).

The little details of my routine also are things like – I have a cup of tea to start with and then I move onto coffee. I don’t do breakfast so I do make sure I have my lunch break between 12-2pm, which also makes me switch off for a bit. “

“Starting the day well is so important to me and it can determine how the rest of the day goes. I like to wake up early (read: forced to because of my 8 month old son!) – at 5:30 – to get ready before I wake my baby up. I have a shower, get dressed and eat breakfast. I can’t function without food in the morning! I usually go for a big bowl of full fat yoghurt to stop any cravings and start the day healthy. I like to take my time with everything – I hate rushing in the morning. It’s so nice and quiet that it’s kind of my “me” time. At 7 am sharp I go into my son’s room with a bottle of milk to wake him up. I feed him, dress him and take him to his childminder. I usually work from home, so I get back, make a cup of strong black coffee and sit at my desk. Work begins!”

“I Wake up around 5:30-6:30am and first I make the bed. This is inspired by Jocko Willink who is former navy seal. I like the idea of doing this as he calls it the first win of the day and really nice to come back after a long day to a neat bed.

I then drink Lemon water (luke-warm). This is based on Ayurvedic principles to wake up the digestive system and alkalise the body.

I write a Gratitude journal which is based on Positive Psychology to reprogram the brain to see the positive and how lucky I am to be alive.

Following this I do 30 mins of movement which is usually Yoga or physical activity. This is to increase the serotonin levels in the brain through movement and increasing the heart rate and then it’s time for a shower! I usually follow this with 30 mins meditation/mindfulness practice, 30 mins of reading, 30 mins to plan, reflect, and decide what are the most important tasks and win the day”.

Carolyn Hughes, an independent PR consultant in Stockport at Breathe PR, says of her entrepreneur daily routine, “I usually get woken up around 6am by my children who have always been early risers. Despite, not being a naturally early-riser I now love having a cup of tea looking out over the garden, watching the birds and slowly waking up.

Although mornings are a little hectic when you’re trying to feed two kids and get them our the door for school, I usually make time for five minutes yoga before I head downstairs to start my work. Not only does it stretch out my poor hunched-up desk worker muscles, but if gives me a few minutes to gather my thoughts and signals the split between hectic family morning, and jumping into my professional world with multitudes of to-do lists.”

“My morning routine really helps me from a mindset perspective. I’m a morning person anyway, so having a productive early start gives me time and space for myself, a sense of achievement from the get go and sets up me up properly for the working day ahead. Being structured and consistent allows me to get off to a positive start each morning which I can take forward into my work.

To pretext it slightly, I have no children but I do have a young puppy as a recent addition! Below routine is when I’m working from home. When I’m at the office, I head straight there from the gym and my partner takes over puppy duties.

05:15 – alarm goes off

05:30 – let the dog out, make a coffee, have a pre-workout shake

05:50 – gather my bags (everything organised the night before) and drive to the gym

06:00 – 07:30 – strength/conditioning workout

07:30 – 08:00 – 5 mins in the sauna, have a shower, drive to work

08:15 – usually grab a coffee (reusable cup of course), read my book for 15 mins

08:30 – in the office, ready to go

And that’s it! Quite a diverse selection of successful entrepreneur daily routines for self-employed entrepreneurs and solopreneurs. Hopefully you can see the benefit in starting off your day well and how it can impact on how productive and successful your business will be. I also use a variety of business tools to empower my daily routine and you can read more about them in the following article…

Read my top 5 Business Tools for self-employment

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