My Morning Routine as a Writer to Boost Motivation

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Your morning routine can influence a great deal about your day as a writer. How you handle yourself first thing can affect energy levels, focus, stress, and much more. And when you have a lot on your plate, you need every advantage you can get. So, what do I do to keep motivated every day?

Well, there are a few things that get my blood pumping and imagination flowing. While not all of these things are ideal for everyone in every situation, perhaps they can give you a few ideas of your own.

Also, keep in mind that I work from home. So, some of these are much easier for me to handle than someone who might have a regular, full-time job.

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5 Ideas for a Morning Routine as a Writer

I’ve been writing both personally and professionally since January of 2012. To become a successful freelance writer and move to full-time in 2013, I had to come up with ways to keep myself motivated.

When you’re working from home, there’s no one standing over your shoulder to make sure you’re still on task.

For more than a decade, I’ve been keeping myself motivated through a variety of means. But these are the five that I wind up doing the most. They are essentially my bread and butter for writing, so to speak.

So, what do my morning routines look like as a blogger/self-published author/freelancer?

1. Exercise in Some Fashion

For a writer, your most important organ in the body is your brain. Well, outside of your fingers, anyway. While you’ll still need to type, it’s your brain that drives your words forward. And one of the best ways to kick the brain in gear in the morning is through exercise.

In fact, routine exercise improves everything from your overall mood to mental awareness and cognitive function. Speaking from experience, I am far more engaged and focused throughout the morning if I get in some kind of exercise before starting the day.

My exercise usually includes:

Going for a 20-minute walk
Walking is great to get the blood flowing and is one of the easiest exercises you can do (for most people).
Going to the gym
I try to get to the gym three times per week. But if I can’t, then I do one of the other two exercises on this list.
Playing Beat Saber on the Oculus
Beat Saber is one of the most effective games for driving up the heart rate. I’m always in a sweaty mess after 30 minutes of playing.

The bottom line is that exercise does more for you than just burning fat. Your mental health is just as vital, and exercise helps clear the cobwebs while focusing your thoughts for writing better content and stories.

Getting Hyped with Music

I listen to specific music while exercising. They are all scores that are fast-paced and energetic, as that’s what works to get my mind in the game. I feel more empowered and ready to take on what the day throws at me.

You can listen to whatever you’d like. I just prefer music that gets the adrenaline pumping while working out.

Visualization Techniques

I often visualize things while exercising. Whether it’s scenes I’d like to write in the book or envisioning the success of a blog post, I visualize a great deal. I also find myself getting sucked into the project more while “seeing” the things I want to create.

I’ve talked about using music for writing books in the past. And I often see those scenes while walking around in the backyard. This practice works exceptionally well for me, and I’ve written some great scenes and dialogue because of it.

2. Turning On the “Motivation” Playlist

Once I am done with my exercise for the morning, I’ll start playing my “Motivation” playlist on the computer. Have a collection of almost 1300 MP3s that I play through Winamp. Yes, I’m old, and yes, I know there are other apps out there.

Currently, I have 138 songs in my “Motivation” playlist, most of which are also on my phone. I turn down the volume to where I can barely hear the song as I start my day. That’s because having the music too loud often distracts me from writing.

I just want the background tune playing while I work on projects.

Lately, though, I’ve found myself using the writing sprint sound effects for certain projects, like writing my books. The sounds of nature are more soothing, and I find myself very productive during something like a rainstorm or beach sounds.

Music has always played a role in my creativity and motivation. I’ve been doing something similar since the days of loading a tape into the Walkman. I guess I’ve always visualized things I’d like to accomplish while listening to music.

3. Proteins in the Morning

Lately, I’ve been including more protein in the morning, as I have been quite deficient for a long time. What I’ve found was an improvement in mood, concentration, and energy levels.

I’ve always known that I was not getting enough protein in the day. I just didn’t really do much about it until 2026. It’s something I should have been focusing on since I started my weight loss journey in 2014. Well, better late than never, I suppose.

Anyway, my breakfast usually ranges between 20 and 45g of protein, depending on the activity of the day. For instance, I’ll eat more protein if I go to the gym, but not so much if I am just doing some form of cardio.

The kinds of proteins I eat vary. Eggs, steak (jerky), protein shakes from Costco, Built bars, and more fill my shelf. I don’t really have any one absolute protein that I eat every day. It just depends on what I’m doing, how much time I have, and what I feel like that day.

4. Keeping an Eye On Writing Goals

Once I’ve had breakfast, I take a quick look at my writing goals for the week and where my numbers stand. Because my life is so chaotic, I had to change from daily to weekly objectives. And my spreadsheet provides estimates regarding my progress and whether I’ll meet my goals.

The reason I do this is because I find the numbers quite motivating. This has become a part of my morning routine since I started as a freelance writer. I get excited about what I can accomplish and how the week will end based on how well I’m doing.

Now, you probably don’t need to go so far as to create an elaborate spreadsheet to track your progress. In fact, if you’re writing a book, Reedsy Studio’s goal and deadline functions work quite well.

What if you’re not hitting your goals? Wouldn’t that depress you a bit and drain motivation? It’s possible, but it also depends on how you’re looking at your progress. Are you still writing more today than you did yesterday? Have you written more this month than last month?

Don’t just look at your day-to-day word counts. Keep all aspects of your writing in mind when looking at those numbers.

5. Weekly Analytics and Search Console Checking

This morning routine is mostly centered around blogging as a writer. If you don’t have a blog, then it doesn’t really matter much.

I am a bit of a dork and love looking at data. Every Monday morning before I start working on projects, I take a look at the data from the week before. And in some instances, I am completely shocked by how well a newly published blog post performs.

It’s moments like that, when I see something gain a lot of traction, that inspire me to write additional content. Then, I dig into a bit of the nitty-gritty of the data to figure out why it worked and how I can duplicate the process for next time.

The new posts don’t always work as well, but it’s a great place to start if you’re focusing on search engines to drive traffic. For instance, I can see how well some of the list articles (listicles) perform on all of my sites, which gives me reason to create more of them.

Again, I am a dork and love to collect data regarding the blogs. Seeing the numbers motivates me to keep doing what I do to help as many people as I can.

Getting to Work on the Next Project

Once I am done with all of the above, I start my day with whatever project is scheduled for 8:00 am in Asana. Lately, it’s been working on getting more videos published regarding writing content. Well, except for Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I am heading off to the campus.

Currently, I have classes at the university to attend on those days.

Now, does my day always come together without a hitch? Absolutely not. My life is incredibly chaotic, and it doesn’t take long before I have to put out another fire. However, I am able to handle most of that with a clearer mind, especially on days when I work up a decent sweat.

Morning routines are nice, but life always finds a way to intervene as a writer, especially while working from home. The trick is to get into a pattern or develop some habits that are beneficial for your needs.

It may take a bit of trial and error, but if you work at it consistently, you’ll find your groove. And once you do, you’ll find yourself in a far better headspace to make things happen for yourself.

Setting the Pace for the Day

Not every writer is a morning person, so it’s more difficult to stick with such a routine. In fact, I know a lot of authors who swear up and down about being more effective in the middle of the night.

In reality, there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to methods to boost your motivation. It all comes down to what inspires you the most to sit and write that story, blog post, or client article.

For me, it all comes down to how the day begins. If things are going well, and I am able to move through even a couple of the things above, the day is so much better in terms of productivity, energy, and excitement for what I create.

So, load up that yoga video on YouTube, read that Post-it note on your mirror, drink that protein shake, or whatever you need to get yourself jazzed for the day. It can make a massive difference, not just from a writing perspective, but also in how you interact with others throughout the day.

Experiment with a few things, and discover what routines can really rev your engine. Kick-starting your day with a good morning routine will make a massive impact on you as a writer. You just need to find that inspiration and run with it.

Find a Good Morning Routine for Yourself

As I said earlier, not everyone is a morning person, and that’s fine. But if you want to get things rolling first thing and have the energy to tackle the day, it’s worth the time to find a morning routine that works, whether you’re a writer or not.

Yes, I focused mostly on writing in this post. But a lot of the things I mentioned above will influence everything from general decision-making to positive interactions with those in your life.

Discover a flow that works to keep your mind positive, healthy, and focused. You’ll be amazed at what you can get done throughout the day.

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Michael Brockbank

Michael has been a freelance writer since January of 2012 and has contributed to a long list of blogs throughout his career. He is also a published author and continues to help other writers find their own paths. Maintaining both the WriterSanctuary blog and YouTube channel, he covers topics that relate to writing in all forms.