Many morning routines involve exercise - and early. Photo / 123RF
He’s out of bed at 3.30am to say his prayers, exercises over and over, and eats only during a six-hour window each day.
But while multi-millionaire actor and businessman Mark Wahlberg has long raised eyebrows for his exacting daily routine - he used to start his day at an even more unfathomable 2.30am - we can all benefit from a daily routine, psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald says.
“It’s incredibly important, and it’s often one of the overlooked approaches to managing our mood and emotions.”
Healthy routines, in particular for sleeping, eating and exercising, stop us from “following our feelings around”, and don’t have to mean rising with the birds if your body clock or circumstances don’t fit with a Wahlberg-style day, MacDonald says.
“Listen to what you need and what works for you in your life, as long as you’re sleeping and eating right, and getting exercise.”
As we all contemplate our New Year’s resolutions for 2023, the Herald on Sunday asked high-profile Kiwis about their routines.
They included sunrise karakia on the beach, non-negotiable swims, Lego and lashings of tea, but also a healthy dose of reality.
“I followed Tony Robbins around the world for a year”, entrepreneur Seeby Woodhouse said of the life coach who credits sticking with routines each day as a key part of his success.
“After this experience, I developed my own daily routine, and although I don’t always follow it, it certainly helps me.”
My habits/rules:
Keep a toothbrush and toothpaste in the shower and give your teeth a really good brush. Keep your teeth as perfect as possible.
Keep nail clippers and file in the shower and make sure your finger and toe nails are groomed. Have hair growth-stimulating shampoo to keep a full set of hair.
Turn shower full cold 1-2 min before getting out. Let the cold water touch all of your body.
Cold treatment is good for you and makes you mentally tough.
Exercise every day, and the minimum I do is 200 push-ups. Get a personal trainer and see them 3-4 times a week for strength training. Wear a device that tracks your steps (I do 13,000 steps on average a day).
Keep improving. The human body loves walking, it’s good for you.
Get an Oura ring and track your sleep. Every morning review the previous night and ask yourself how you can optimise your sleep today.
Minimum you should achieve every day at work is five key tasks. I block out the time for these tasks as blocks in my Google calendar, I usually do this the day before.
I don’t eat after 7.30pm. It interferes with your sleep.
Learn your maintenance calories (mine is 3100 per day) and count your calories every fortnight.
Make sure you’re consuming 1.5g of protein for every kg of your ideal weight and that you are in a small calorie deficit so keep body weight controlled.
Always have perfectly clean clothes. It doesn’t matter if you wear $80 jeans and a $10 T-shirt - you look good if they are clean.
Expert mode, belt buckle and watch match colour, belt leather and shoe leather match.
Stand in the mirror, learn how to smile so you look nice. When people take a picture of you, smile. Showing teeth is preferred.
Stand up straight. Sit up straight. Your posture matters.
Talk to yourself nicely. If you don’t support yourself, why should anyone else?
When I stop and look in the mirror I will often say out loud - “f*** I am a legend and good-looking”.
Routine is what keeps our family of seven (!) on track, and keeps me focused at work.
Our morning is probably much the same as many Kiwi families: hustling to get the kids out of bed, breakfast, dressed, then off to school!
Exercise is a critical part of the day for me; I always try to squeeze in a Pilates or boxing session to reset my mind before work.
At work, it’s non-stop meetings all day. Keeping a tight schedule means I can pack lots in and get more done. I segment my days into topics or businesses that I want to focus on, so I can have a really clear purpose.
I love our night-time routine, it’s the best time to connect with the kids: homework, catching up on their achievements, and reading together before bed.
I’m a total night owl, so I’ll jump back online for a few hours of work, that’s where I get a lot of energy.
As for the weekends, they’re always packed with family time and kids’ sport, which we all love.
The day starts early with karakia (Māori incantations) and hopefully surfing – it gets me fully connected and ready for the day.
I don’t eat breakfast, but I have a coconut flat white and then read about what is happening in the Māori and business worlds.
It is always a full day of work at BNZ, attending meetings on my boards, or mahi at Ōrākei marae. If I am not at a function for business, then I make it home for dinner and I basically eat anything.
The day ends with watching sports on TV or reading a book. 11.30pm lights out.
As a start-up tech founder and mother who is constantly travelling, keeping a family-focused routine is essential. After waking up (7am-8am) , I check my emails and Slack before squeezing in some chores.
Once work is done, we spend family time and get our toddler ready for bed.
From there, I work on my post-grad studies, and get to admin work leftover from the day.
I then like to relax by constructing my Harry Potter Lego set while watching TV with my husband, before heading to bed (12am-2am).
At the weekends we like to dine out and get fresh air in between toddler classes and errands.
I’m very routine-driven, mostly because I have children who require structure and maybe also because I’m Swedish originally and I think Swedish people quite like routine.
We have three kids, ages 1, 6 and 10. Each morning the kids get up between 6.30-7am; there is no sleep-in, not even on weekends.
While the next few hours are dedicated to getting everyone organised and out the door, I’m normally able to juggle and ensure I get about half an hour of exercise.
Two or three days a week, my husband and I also tend to walk on the walking school bus to get additional fresh air and exercise.
Having three kids with varying degrees of pickiness, most mornings I make us all a freshly pressed juice (think ginger/turmeric/carrots/beetroot and fruit).
This is basically to quieten any guilty conscience and ensure the kids get a good start on veggies for the day.
My husband will make me an English breakfast tea each morning and I now admit to having probably three a day, another one mid-morning and the last one mid-afternoon.
Since we’ve had kids, routine has always been a 10/10 for me.
Having a good routine and structure with our kids means that everyone is happy and knows what happens next.
Bath time happens at 5pm and dinner around 6. We tend to eat most meals together, even with the 1-year-old (for better or worse).
There is very rarely a bedtime battle, and the little kids go to bed at 7pm each night.
We’ve stopped weeknight drinking, we’re not religious about it but it means 4-5 nights out of the week we just don’t drink.
I’ve replaced my wine with an AF or Bach Brewing 0 per cent beer, and we tend to have a peppermint tea before bed, before the day repeats again.
Routine has got a lot more important to me as BBM (Buttabean Motivation) has got busier.
Before it was only my training sessions that were planned, and everything else would just unfold through my day. I never used my calendar.
Now I structure my day around when I’m training. Everything is loaded into my calendar.
Training is my “must-have”, not only for the physical benefits, but more so for the mental benefits.
My routine before this was: wake at 3.50am, train 4.30am, work, then sleep from 12am or 1am. It led me to burn out.
My new routine so I don’t get burnt out is: wake up 6am, train 7am, then work/meetings/bootcamps/helping people, train 4pm, dinner 7pm-8pm, and sleep by 10pm.
Yes, when I think about it I do have routines that I follow at the beginning and the end of the day!
My morning consists of getting up (6.30am to 7am) and enjoying a rooibos tea while reading hard copies of the morning papers.
This is followed by breakfast and a swim. My swim is non-negotiable and sets me up for the day.
In the evening it’s important for me to take the time to wind down. I don’t work for a least a couple of hours before going to bed and usually spend that time talking with friends, reading, watching something on Neon.
My current faves are The Handmaid’s Tale and The White Lotus! My favourite books so far this year are all fiction: The Marriage Portrait, Lucy by the Sea, and Lessons in Chemistry!
The last drink of the day is always a cherry juice, which contains natural melatonin to aid in sleep. I am usually in bed by 9.30pm.
I followed Tony Robbins (world’s number 1 life coach) around the world for a year, and he credits a daily routine as a key part of his success.
After this experience, I developed my own daily routine, and although I don’t always follow it, it certainly helps me.
Routine is vital.
I do Vipassana meditation at 4.30am. Then check the news cycle, as stories first break from 5am. Bedtime is usually 10pm.
The adage “the sun always comes up in the morning”, rings true. I love watching sunrise at the beach. Saying karakia at the shoreline like my tūpuna did with hope of a new day dawning.
No kai at that hour, just water.
Reading the cadence of the sea and the stars is who I am. My diary is aligned to the Maramataka and planetary phases of the Gregorian calendar.
Call me elemental, yet you know what? It works.
[Husband] Leighton and I tend to go with the flow. Friends even call a weekend with us “rolling with the Roberts”.
Our day usually starts with the kids bursting into our bedroom for cuddles and putting in their demands for the day!
Once we get to work, I try to keep at least the first hour of the day free. Usually I have been thinking about my priorities for the day ahead, the night before.
I like to sit down with a cup of tea and crack out what I want to achieve before getting into the work day and meetings with the Sharesies team.
As I’ve got older, and the business has grown, routine has become super-important for me. Especially the morning.
I have a routine, Monday to Friday, which consists of the same alarm time: I go to bed at 8.30pm and get up 5.30am every day, which is followed by hot lemon water, and a 10km walk.
The 10k walk includes my personal meditation and thinking time.
I always have breakfast, I must work out every day, including the weekends, and diet is just as important.
I eat no processed foods, gluten, or excessive red meat.
My routine primarily supports a healthy mindset. Mindset is everything for a productive life and business.
I travel a lot, so routines can be difficult on the road.
But at home I keep a few strict routines, mostly in the morning while I still have control of my day.
I get up - latest 6.30am, usually 6am - feed the pets, and read The Herald, Stuff, The Economist, The Guardian and the New York Times. I like to hear a wide range of opinions.
Then it’s coffee with my partner. That’s our time.
When I get to the office, I always walk up the stairs. I need the exercise!
And I always try to be as active as possible at work. I have a standing desk and like to walk around and chat with the team.
The rest of my day is organised chaos!
The circumstances around the death are being treated as unexplained.