I'm not a huge fan of the ice-bathing-single-white-alpha-male-productivity-gurus out there telling you how much time you've got to hustle 24/7. I'm sure that works well for them, but as a working parent I have different responsibilities that they simply can't understand until they become fathers.
I've found a routine that works for me. You need to find your own routine. Perhaps you'll get some inspiration from hearing what I do, and perhaps not. Either way, try to be more intentional with however you invest your time.
Every morning at 4:30 AM, I slip out of bed while the rest of my house sleeps peacefully. The pre-dawn hours offer me something I can't find at any other time: uninterrupted focus.
My mind is fresh, unburdened by the day's responsibilities and decisions.
I don't have to respond to emails, attend to my children's needs, or handle work calls. It's just me and my thoughts. I've learned that these early morning sessions yield my best creative work. Research shows our prefrontal cortex - the brain's creative center - is most active after sleep. I capitalize on this by diving straight into writing or brainstorming.
This routine didn't come naturally at first.
I started by waking up just 15 minutes earlier each week until I reached my target time. Now, it's become an essential part of my day. The sacrifice of sleep is outweighed by the satisfaction of completing meaningful work before the sun rises. When my family wakes at 7:00 AM, I've already accomplished what matters most to me.
In my experience, the right creative space can make or break a productive morning session.
I've learned that setting up my workspace the night before eliminates decision fatigue and lets me dive straight into creation when my mind is fresh. I keep my creative space minimal but purposeful. I maintain a strict "creativity only" policy at my desk - no bills, household paperwork, or other administrative tasks allowed. This helps my brain associate this space solely with creative work. I keep only essential tools within arm's reach: my computer, a notebook, favorite pen, and a single reference book relevant to my latest review.
Everything has its place, from my headphones to my notebook, so that I never waste precious morning minutes searching for tools I need.
Time thieves lurk around every corner of a morning routine, threatening to derail your creative momentum before it begins. Protecting my morning hours requires both firm boundaries and strategic planning. When I first started my pre-dawn creative practice, I made the mistake of thinking good intentions were enough – they weren't.
I now treat my morning time as a non-negotiable appointment.
My phone stays in airplane mode until my creative session ends. I've removed social media apps from my phone. These digital barriers prevent the automatic habit of "just checking" notifications that can spiral into 30 minutes of lost time.
I prepare for potential interruptions the night before.
I've also created a backup plan for days when things go wrong – a shorter routine I can fall back on rather than skipping my creative time entirely. While protecting morning hours creates a fortress for creativity, building those hours into a lasting routine demands careful attention to your natural rhythms and real-world constraints.
I've learned through trial and error that sustainability comes from aligning my schedule with both my peak energy times and my family's needs.
The key is maintaining this schedule consistently, even on weekends. I go to bed around 9:30 PM each night, ensuring I get seven hours of sleep. When I first started, I tried pushing through with less sleep, but it quickly derailed my routine. Now I treat my bedtime as sacred as my wake-up time.
I also build in flexibility for life's inevitable disruptions.
If one of my girls is sick or I have an early meeting, I have backup plans - like shifting my creative work to my lunch hour or breaking it into two shorter sessions. What matters isn't perfection but consistency over time. I accept that some days won't go as planned.
My most valuable tool is a paper notebook where I outline the next day's creative goals each evening.
This eliminates decision fatigue in the morning and lets me dive straight into work. While my morning routine anchors my creative practice, its benefits ripple throughout my entire day.
I've also noticed that starting with focused creative work sets a productive tone that carries into my other responsibilities.
When I protect this morning time, I'm more present with my family, more during the rest of my day, and better equipped to handle unexpected challenges.
I'm no longer frantically switching between parent, professional, and creator modes. Most importantly, I've stopped viewing creativity as something that only happens during my morning routine.
It's become an integrated part of my lifestyle, where I can tap into that same focused state I cultivate at dawn whenever I need it.
This flexibility means that even on mornings when my routine gets disrupted, I don't lose my creative thread – I just find another moment to pick it up again.