Snooze you lose: Sydney’s biggest names share how they start their day
The early bird gets the worm, and the saying seems to ring true when it comes to some of our most successful public figures and their morning habits. From Anthony Albanese to Home and Away’s Ada Nicodemou, see their routines here.
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The early bird gets the worm, and the saying seems to ring true when it comes to some of our most successful public figures and their morning habits.
While it’s an Aussie habit to rise with the sun, high-flyers seem to take that one step further, with a study of over 1000 US CEOs by Inc. magazine in 2022 finding 64 per cent wake up by 6am or earlier.
But breakfast TV host Natalie Barr is partway through her working day on the television screen by then, woken by her alarm at an eye-watering 2.40am to make it to Seven’s Sunrise studio in time for cameras to start rolling at 5.30am.
Barr’s secret to the surviving her perfect early wakeup is planning- and a coffee by 3am.
“I think after 22 years of this shift, my body starts getting ready to get up somewhere around 2.00am and I wake up, stare at the ceiling, toss and turn, debate trying to go back to sleep, give up and get up somewhere before 2.30am,” she said.
“I always put my clothes out in the bathroom the night before because, hey, every minute counts and I love organisation.”
For star NRL player and Manly Sea Eagles captain Tom Trbojevich, stretches and an ice-cold shower get him started to take on the day, while Australian Olympic Committee boss Matt Caroll has a more leisurely start, strolling along Sydney’s Balmoral Beach with his pooch Marge.
“It’s better to have a time for clear thoughts before the calls, the texts and the emails commence,” Carroll said.
From morning exercise to the first coffee of the day, we reveal how some of our top talent in the boardroom, on-screen and on the sporting field start their days.
CHRIS MINNS
Premier Chris Minns starts his morning at 5am with a quick 30-minute exercise burst either at home or at the gym. Kettle bells are an old favourite and there’s a focus on body weights.
At 5:30am he checks in with his staff and reads all the newspapers and gets on top of what’s running across the radio. If there’s any issues that have arisen overnight, he prepares himself to respond.
“Every morning is different,” Mr Minns said.
“If I have morning TV and radio interviews they are usually early. If I have a press conference, I’ll be reading materials.”
Otherwise, the NSW leader spends the rest of his morning in the office for meetings or out at events.
“In between all that I’ll get the kids to school,” he said.
ANTHONY ALBANESE
The Prime Minister’s morning starts by 6am, if not before.
He reads news summaries and listens to the morning news bulletins, before taking the First Dog, cavoodle Toto, outside before feeding her from 6.30am.
By 7am Mr Albanese is usually making a coffee and checking the country’s newspapers again, at 7.10am he’ll start the first of the day’s interviews – usually on radio – or moving to his first engagement of the day.
At 8am he holds a briefing with his team where the rest of the day’s agenda is spelt out, and if there’s time, he’ll take Toto for a walk and make calls.
Likewise, if not whisked away to an event or an interview, he’ll have eggs for breakfast.
Exercise in the morning can be difficult to fit in and depends on where in the country or the world the Prime Minister is, but when in Canberra he’ll sometimes start the day with a swim.
PETER DUTTON
Australia’s federal Opposition Leader starts his day at 4.30am with exercise between five and six o’clock.
Mr Dutton, who doesn’t drink coffee, opts for either peppermint tea or an English breakfast tea next, and also reads the papers after waking up
“He likes the gym and he likes to walk. He will walk seven to 10 kilometres when he can,” Mr Dutton’s camp revealed.
“If we are limited on time, he will try to go to the gym. Rowing, cycling, some weight work, talking on the treadmill.”
Then it’s time for an office meeting usually between 6-7am before breakfast after which a day of engagements begins.
Although not a part of his morning routine, Mr Dutton is also an avid meditator, meditating daily before bed.
“He meditates but he generally does that in the evening before he goes to bed. It helps him sleep and relax. He’s been a big advocate for that,” a team member said.
JOHN SYMOND
It’s a waterfront start for the Aussie Home Loans founder, who’ll wake each day inside ‘Wingadal’, his $200m Point Piper home.
“I get up at 5:45 every morning, shower and freshen up. I’m a poor sleeper, I always have been ever since I was a teenager,” Mr Symond said.
“I get up two to three times a night, so it means I’m also an early riser. I also make sure I don’t look at my phone during the night.”
Next, it’s a pit stop at Double Bay for a coffee for half an hour at 6.30am, where he meets with half a dozen of friends he’s collected over the years
“They vary from someone who cleans my car to successful business owners, you name it,” Mr Symond said.
“It’s not a work thing and we talk about anything – headlines, politics, cars. It’s to relax.”
Mr Symond then hits the gym with his personal trainer for 45 minutes, and is home by 8am to freshen up before starting his workday with emails at 9 and his first meeting of the day within his home office by 9.30am.
MATT CARROLL
Matt Carroll steps out in a phone-free cocoon at 6am every day, leaving the mobile at home to walk his dog in the “most beautiful spot in the world”.
The Australian Olympic Committee CEO, who has held a number of high-flying positions over three decades including as CEO of NSW Rugby Union, the Waratahs, the A-League and Australian Sailing, makes a deliberate choice to start the working day free from any distractions.
“I start the morning with a walk down the hill, around the oval and along the boardwalk at Balmoral. It’s the most beautiful spot in the world,” Mr Carroll said.
“Just 30 minutes, with (pet spoodle) Marge, and I don’t take the phone. You see so many people on their phones when they could be enjoying the view.
“I just find it relaxes the brain before getting into the day.”
Mr Carroll, who heads off to work at 7.30 each morning, has announced he will step down during 2025 after five years at the AOC.
KERRIE MATHER
The Venues NSW CEO is a business powerhouse used to smashing through corporate glass ceilings.
After a 25-year career at Macquarie Group, she was appointed Managing Director and CEO at Sydney Airport from 2009 to 2018, when a $3.8 million salary made her one of Australia’s highest paid female executives.
Ms Mather was later appointed CEO of the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, becoming the first female to hold the position in its 160-year history.
Now as CEO of Venues NSW – a government agency that manages stadiums and entertainment centres – Ms Mathers has a regular routine to start each day.
“I like to start my mornings with a brisk walk,” she said.
“We live in one of the great cities of the world and getting outside to enjoy it is the perfect way to start the day.
“I’m an early riser and too often late-to-bed given the nature of our business. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“My favourite early mornings are at the SCG, waiting for the gates to open before the New Year’s Pink Test, with anticipation building and a sense of eerie quiet before the excitement begins.”
WESTPAC CEO ANTHONY MILLER
Sport-loving Westpac CEO Anthony Miller, who took over at the bank pre-Christmas, has been a stickler for routine since his formative years.
“I’m usually up at 5am – swim training in my younger years drilled the early starts into me and they’re hard to drop,” he said.
“These days the exercise routine is a bit more relaxed – a body weight workout, and I’m also trying to change things up by adding a boxing class.
“Then it’s into the office by around 7am, with a double espresso as an essential kickstarter and maybe one more later on if it’s a big day.
“In footy season one of the first things I read on Monday mornings is the rugby league coverage in the Daily Tele to get a good roundup of the weekend’s games.
“Of course, I’ll also skim through the news and finance coverage across papers and online as well.
“During the day I really try to build in half an hour around lunchtime to myself, to think about priorities and focus.”
Mr Miller joined Westpac in 2020 from Deutsche Bank where he was CEO of Australia & NZ and Co-Head of Investment Bank, Asia Pacific.
Earlier in his career he was a partner at Goldman Sachs, joining that company in 2001.
TOM TRBOJEVIC
They call him Turbo for his on field prowess, but in order to fire on all cylinders for his NRL season, the Manly skipper needs to cool it down as he starts his day.
A cold shower gets Tom Trbojevic up after his alarm goes off by 5:45am then it’s coffee and a few activation exercises to stretch out his muscles before the Manly superstar heads off to training, often arriving well before the 8am start.
After his chilly shower, the Sea Eagles fullback will aim to be on the massage table for 7am, spending some quality time with his physio before really heating things up to take the field.
“I like to come in and sit in the sauna before joining my teammates,” Trbojevic said.
“I can’t even really check my phone during the morning because I have that many things to do.”
Away from his training morning, the NSW and Australian representative enjoys a more lenient schedule, which usually includes a 6:45am wake up, along with breakfast with mates.
While training five out of the seven days of the week, Trbojevic revealed only one activity remains the same no matter what he has planned.
“The activations are consistent, give’s me a bit of routine, I always do them no matter what I have on,” he said.
JEFF DIMERY
The spark of creativity gets the Alinta Energy CEO’s morning off to a strong start rather than a set alarm time.
“My alarm goes off depending on my first appointment. No set time, I don’t like to rush out the door from home anymore,” Mr Dimery said.
“The first thing I do when I wake up is Wordle. Every day I do Wordle religiously. I get very annoyed with myself when I can’t get it. It happened on Christmas Day, I broke my winning streak! The other thing I do is Sudoku, but that depends on how quickly I do Wordle.”
Next up, he reads through news coverage of the day – “energy is very political so I need to be across it all”- before making time to have breakfast with his young family.
“With jobs like these you don’t know when you’re going home,” he said.
“I talk a lot about work/life balance now but I learnt that the hard way through divorce, I learnt that I disproportionately focused on my career and work life.
“The thing about life – there are four key pieces to the pie. You’ve got family, your career, your health and your social life. If you focus on one too much another piece gets squeezed out.”
Checking his diary and meeting schedule before hopping in the car wraps up Mr Dimery’s morning before work.
NATALIE BARR
Having worked as a presenter and host of Sunrise for more than 16 years, Natalie Barr’s mornings are meticulously planned so she arrives on time at work- and “every minute counts”.
“At 2.40am my alarm goes off, but I’m rarely still in bed,” she said.
“I check my work email first to see if anything urgent/big has happened overnight.”
Then it’s time for a shower, before she gets dressed and is sipping on her first coffee of the day as she leaves the house, arriving at the TV studio by 3.30am.
There, Barr prepares for the screen by reading overnight news and planning segments with team members before hitting the wardrobe department by 4am, catching up on the rest of the news as hair and makeup artists “turn me into a TV worthy face”.
At 5.15am, it’s studio time to record the Sunrise Opener and read through scripts and chat with her colleagues, before it’s go time from 5.30am.
By 10.30am Barr has left work, hits the gym, grabs an hour sleep, then gets on with typical life admin.
“It’s an incredible job and I love it but it’s also a lifestyle you must respect and take seriously,” she said.
“I hardly ever go out midweek or it really affects my sleep. I take my sleep seriously or I get sick.”
HOME AND AWAY STAR ADA NICODEMOU
There are three non-negotiables for the Home and Away star in the morning- coffee, something to eat and a load of washing on.
“As soon as I wake up I go upstairs and first thing that I do is turn the coffee machine on, then have my probiotic,” she said.
“That’s the one thing that I don’t skip ever, my coffee. I have a double espresso with two dollops of cream and I always make my first one myself.”
Next up it’s the washing and getting her son Johnas up and ready for school.
Then it’s off to work for Nicodemou to play Summer Bay’s Leah Patterson with a 6am call time which kicks off in the makeup chair with coffee number two.
“The make-up room is a great place to be in the morning,” she said.
“It’s always quite loud in there. There’s a lot of laughter and supposedly I’m the loudest. It is a really great way to start the day.”
While Nicodemou dabbles in meditation at home when she can squeeze it in, this year she plans on slowing her morning routine down.
“I don’t do meditation enough,” she said.
“And at the moment, I feel like wonder woman in the morning and I turn up to work exhausted because I’ve already done 15,000 jobs.
“I need to breathe. Slow it down a little.”
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