Have you ever wondered why focus and productivity is effortless for some people, but others routinely struggle to accomplish anything meaningful during the day?

Many factors lead to high productivity and building massive momentum during your days and weeks. Few bear as much weight as your morning routine checklist. The way you start (and end) your days profoundly impacts your success in achieving your goals and experiencing true satisfaction. In this article, we’ll cover the perfect morning routine checklist for high performers so that you stay focused, fulfilled, and empowered. 

What are high performers?

High performers have a high capacity to achieve more than the average person. For most people, the words “high performer” conjure visions of board room execs with briefcases and pantsuits. Our definition of a high performer is much more expansive. It includes entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms, coaches, teachers, actresses, and more. You’re a high performer if you have a drive for achievement and a unique capacity to excel beyond others who occupy similar roles in life. 

High performers also understand time differently than others. They tend to view every moment as an opportunity to create forward momentum, pushing themselves closer to their goals. And it’s no different with their morning routine. Ask a high performer how they spend their mornings, and they will most likely have a very specific, detailed rhythm. We’re going to take a look at common practices of high performers to get your creative wheels turning as you create your own perfect morning routine checklist. 

Why You Should Have a Morning Routine Checklist

Checklists ensure that stuff gets done. They are tools to help you navigate toward an expected result, especially when used consistently. Most of us have a desired outcome each day, whether we know it or not. We want to end our days feeling fulfilled, happy, satisfied, accomplished, peaceful, and empowered. But this is hardly the result that we often get. Instead we tend to feel stressed and frustrated and overwhelmed with our responsibilities and the tasks that didn’t get done. 

The perfect morning routine is a lifesaver because it serves as a compass, guiding you to the outcome you want to achieve that day. Abandoning the morning routine increases the likelihood that your day will be filled with distractions and rabbit holes that have nothing to do with your goals. The key to having a productive day starts with what you do in the morning. 

Perfect Morning Routine Checklist for High Performers

1. Water > Coffee

A wellness-focused high performer reaches for water (not coffee) as their number one morning routine drink.  Coffee isn’t off-limits, but it shouldn’t come before water. After you’ve slept all night and fasted from food, water is the perfect beverage to replenish your body. Starting the day with proper hydration wakes up the digestive system and promotes lymphatic drainage to flush toxins from cells.  Depriving your body of this much-needed resource can set you up for fatigue, headaches, and brain fog later in the day.

2. Put Your Phone In Its Place

While the average person reaches for their phone immediately upon wakeup, high performers avoid this. Scrolling social media, checking texts, or responding to emails first thing gives other people the opportunity to powerfully influence your day before you’ve had a chance to set your own intentions. At face value this may be of little concern, but it’s actually a subtle resignation of your power. 

Your phone is dictating your focus for you instead of you choosing your focus. How many times have you mindlessly grabbed your device to read a text, news story, or email that distracted you or soured your mood? We’ve all done it, and sadly, it’s become the norm. This is why Americans will lose 36 days this year to content consumption. A high performer will not allow this. They control the domain of their devices and do not allow the phone to have first position in their morning routine. 

This small habit sets the tone for the entire day. Try it and I’ll guarantee you’ll spend the day with a heightened sense of focus. 

3. Talk to Yourself

The power of positive self-talk is highly underrated. I’m not talking about the destructive kind that suppresses real, raw emotions in favor of false peace. The positive self talk I’m referring to is the kind that empowers you to have the kahunas to go and conquer the day. What we say to ourselves about who we are and what we can accomplish is half the battle. As C.S. Lewis, a British writer and theologian, once said, “We are who we believe we are.” 

Affirmations are self-empowering statements meant to support you mentally and emotionally as you make positive behavioral changes. They are one of the most powerful ways to influence your belief in yourself. Regular repetition of affirmations can lead to the development of new neural pathways, promoting more positive thinking patterns. This is especially helpful if you tend to get mentally stuck in negative thinking. 

I focus my affirmations wherever I need mental and emotional support. If I have a challenging project I’m working on I might say:  God has given me the capacity to figure out hard things. I’m a person who perseveres through difficulty. I embrace challenges because they help me grow. 

I say the affirmations out loud because it strengthens neural pathways and activates the reticular activating system. This helps my brain filter what I focus on, reinforcing my alignment to my affirmations. Saying them out loud is also more effective for countering negative self-talk. 

4. Be Clear About What You Want

Setting an intention or purpose each day gives you the space to clarify what you want to create. Rather than just waking up and letting the day take you wherever it leads, a high performer takes responsibility for their experience of life. Setting an intention is less about goals and outcomes and more about who you are becoming. It’s an opportunity to be clear about how you want to align your actions with your values. 

If I want to become a more relaxed, unhurried person, my intention might sound like: I create my schedule with space to have meaningful interactions with the people I love. I move through my day with grace and ease, allowing peace to rule my mind and spirit. 

The above intentions can also double as affirmations. Or an intention can be as simple as one word: peace. The point is to revisit your intention throughout the day allowing it to inform your actions and the choices you make.

5. Set Goals and Review Them

Most people don’t set goals. Of those that set goals, most don’t achieve them. If you need evidence, just visit a local gym at the beginning of the year. It will be filled to the brim with would-be health enthusiasts proclaiming that this year they will finally get in shape and drop that last 20 pounds. Revisit the same gym toward the end of February, and you’ll find that 90% have fallen off. Why is this?

Many people set lofty goals without developing action steps – a plan – for achieving those goals. Others set goals and never revisit them. If you’re a high performer, chances are you’re setting goals. 

What you may not be doing is reviewing your goals consistently. The point is not to set goals and shove them in a digital (or physical) drawer only to be reviewed at the end of the year. Your goals should be a living and breathing part of your daily rhythm. 

We set goals for the year and use our annual goals to inform where we will focus each month. Within each month, we are chipping away at our goals week by week. Within each week, we focus on 3 main tasks to support our overarching goals. This strategy is not unique, but it drives massive momentum and progress.  This is one of the most productive morning routine habits we can recommend. We would never think of leaving our goals out of our morning routine. 

6. Review of the Schedule

Have you ever been in the zone, only to get a stressful call: “Hey, we’re waiting for you on the Zoom link.” Or “Hi, this is the doctor’s office. You missed your son’s appointment.” Instantly, frustration kicks in. Whatever you were working on is disrupted, and now you’re dealing with unnecessary stress.

Efficient high performers always stay a few steps ahead.  A quick morning glance at your calendar can prevent these surprises. It also allows you to strategize your day effectively. If your schedule is jam-packed, you can adjust your workout, meal plans, or other priorities accordingly.

Conclusion

These are the non-negotiables we highly recommend for your morning routine. Notice we didn’t include cold plunges, hour-long meditations, journaling, or breathwork. While these are fantastic morning routine ideas, you don’t need them to be healthy and highly productive. You can keep it simple.

The purpose of a morning routine is to pre-set your day for success. Most people want to feel empowered, clear-headed and prepared. This morning routine checklist gives you the space to achieve all of the above.

If you want our free simplified morning routine you can get access to it here. 

Now we want to hear from you: If you have a routine, what morning activities do you include? Do you pack it with wellness practices, or do you stick to the essentials? Drop a comment—we’d love to hear from you!