You know what’s cooler than a morning ice bath? The snooze button

At some point, my LinkedIn feed got weird (or at least weirder than usual), and was flooded with experts sharing their secret formula for success – rise and grind.

They say to thrive at work depends on a strict morning routine that goes something like this: wake at 5am, meditate for 93 minutes and top it off with an ice bath for good measure. Apparently, if you do these things daily, you’ll be successful.

Except there’s one little problem, called reality. My reality is a far cry from the rise and grind, ice bath enthusiasts. My kids are my alarm clock and my morning routine is anything but zen. It’s chaos, covered in Weetbix and mixed with tears (mainly mine).

As a parent with two little kids and two businesses, a consistent morning routine seems like an impossible feat. Hitting the snooze button is far more realistic.Credit: iStock

As a parent with two little kids and two businesses, a consistent morning routine seems like an impossible feat. Aspirational, yet never attainable. Just last week – after a particularly dramatic school drop off – I saw a “Win the morning, win the day” post on Instagram, another annoying reminder that I’ve lost … again.

The guilt around morning routines is nothing new. In 2019, Adam Grant tweeted: “Let’s end the obsession with morning routines — and the shaming of those who reject them. One person’s productivity ritual is another’s cage. Instead of mindlessly adopting others’ habits, be mindful about the ones that serve you well.”

Yet for some reason, the rise and grind mindset endures, as relentless as its followers. It’s not just working parents who feel this pressure. The night owls – those work better in the evening – are made to believe that they are less productive than early risers.

The key to success is not adhering to someone else’s routine, but finding what works best for you.

They wake in the morning feeling lethargic and foggy. But from 7pm, they are in their element, energised and focused. Despite doing their best work at night, they too fall prey to the narrative that good things come to those who wake early.

It’s not surprising then that night owls end up conforming to the morning routine to fit in. But here’s the problem: ‘one size fits all’ doesn’t fit at all. Research by Till Roenneberg found that each person has a chronotype – a kind of biological blueprint – that influences the times of day when you are most productive and when you feel most tired.

In Daniel Pink’s book When he shares three common chronotypes: Larks, the early risers. Third Birds, those who are the most effective middle of the day, and Owls, who do their best work at night. It’s not a matter of preferences. Your chronotype is based on your genetics. You can take the test here if you’d like to know yours.

Let’s face it, forcing a rigid morning routine on people with diverse biological rhythms is not only irritating (because it is), it ultimately reduces their productivity as the routine doesn’t align with their chronotype.

Instead of a prescriptive formula for productivity, people need the freedom to find what works well for them. It starts by noticing the times of day you feel most alert. Over a two-week period, pay attention to when you feel most energised and creative. Look out for the times of day when you feel lethargic or struggle to do deep work. From here, you can introduce routines that optimise your focus and schedule deep and shallow work tasks based your natural rhythms.

The key to success is not adhering to someone else’s routine, but finding what works best for you. You can still win the day without the rise and grind. Yeah, ice baths are cool, but you know what’s cooler? The snooze button.

Shelley Johnson is the founder of HR agency boldside and hosts the podcast my millennial career.

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