I was having a bit of a mental blank about what to make the blog post about this week. It’s a strange one as I haven’t had many weeks like this since I set myself the target of doing one blog post a week for a year and this is number 51 so I’m forgiving myself a little. Anyway, I turned to social media for some inspiration and asked my Instagram followers for some possible topics. There were some great suggestions mixed in with a heavy number of ‘bots’ replying with just ‘Hi!’ or ‘Follow this account for more followers’ nonsense, so once I’d sifted through all of them I decided on something really simple that was suggested by the lovely actress and friend Dominique Jackson. Dom and I shot together, what feels like a lifetime ago when she was on Hollyoaks playing Lauren Valentine and we were supposed to be shooting just before all the madness in the world started.

Dom had a great suggestion of talking about a ‘Creatives’ morning routine!!!’

It’s an interesting topic and something that I’ve heard lots of people much wiser than me discuss. If you go online you can find loads of videos and articles about morning routines and the importance of waking up in the right way and starting your day positively. I’m a firm believer in this! If you start your day well it ripples forward for the rest of your day.

I can only really talk about my morning routine though and the few things that I do to try and start the day in a positive fashion. So here it goes! I’m not sure I do anything groundbreaking to most but you never know you might find some of them useful. I will throw a disclaimer in there though. Not every day is the same as a commercial photographer and I may be somewhere random on a shoot so I’m doing my list of things as if I was waking up at home… that sounds dodgy like I find myself waking up in stage places or something… Anyway, moving on!

MY MORNING ROUTINE…

• WAKE UP: Always a good start! Usually, about 7 am (shoot days it’s often much earlier). Now, this is going to sound funny and probably a bit cheesy but my alarm is actually set up to play ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ the 1980s track by Bobby McFerrin, to wake me up. I told you I like to start the day in a positive way. It’s one of my ‘happy tunes’ and I embrace it haha! If you don’t know the song then I’ve included the link below. You can thank me, or not, later but if it doesn’t make you smile a little then you, my friend, are dead inside!

• TRY MY BEST NOT TO CHECK MY PHONE: This can be a tough one sometimes and we’re all guilty of it but I do my best to stay away from my phone or screens until it’s time to start working.

• DRINK WATER: This is every morning without fail. I drink a 750ml to a litre of water as soon as I wakeup. All the clever stuff works and fires better in your brain when you’re hydrated and you’ve been asleep and not drunk anything in 8 hours or so. Your body needs water!

• GET OUT OF BED: I may have woken up happy but that doesn’t mean that I want to get out of my nice comfy bed. A little trick that I use that I discovered through listening to a podcast with Mel Robbins on it, talking about the 5-second rule. It’s so simple and works for me. The principle is that when you wake up in the morning count down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and by 1 make sure you’re out of bed. Something in our brains responds to the countdown that we are conditioned to as a call to action. Mel explains it way better but it works for me!

• PUT MY GYM KIT ON: Why don’t I just say workout? Well, because we aren’t there yet! Motivating myself to workout in the morning is important but some mornings especially in the winter it can be a big ask. I’ve found by having my gym kit ready to go and me getting into it is half the battle. If I’m in my gym kit I may as well go to the gym or go for a run or something.

• WORK OUT: If I don’t work out or do something physical in the morning then I have all day to convince myself out of it or in most cases busy myself with other things and I end up not doing it. I head to the gym and usually spend 45 minutes in there but if I can’t make it to the gym I run or do some sort of HIIT style routines at home. My current favourite couldn’t be more simple… 5 pull-ups, 10 press-ups, 15 squats and as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes no rest. It’s quick and gets the blood pumping. Anyway, this isn’t Men’s Health Magazine let’s crack on…

• SHOWER: Err… I’m not sure you need to know much more about this do you haha!

• BREAKFAST: Usually a couple of rounds of toast and peanut butter (can’t get enough of peanut butter I’m an addict) and a coffee.

• LISTEN TO MY ‘POWER SONG’: Another one that some of you might find strange. Yes, I have a ‘power song’ haha. It’s a song that just focuses me a little and gives me some energy! Music is a great tool in helping your focus and mood. My ‘power song’ is a track called ‘Syria’ by UNDERS. It’s about 8 minutes long and gives me long enough to sit still and just listen and think about my day ahead. I guess it’s my form of meditation for the morning. Give it a listen but I would always recommend it played loud and so you can feel the bass!

By this time I’m pretty much ready to start my day in whatever form that takes whether its a shoot, post-production, meetings or the boring office admin stuff.

You might be wondering what happens after that… Well, I’ve got into the habit of writing my lists of the things that I need to do or accomplish for the day, the night before. I find it really useful in the hour or so before I head to sleep to write a list of things that I need to do the next day. Having the list done already means that I get straight on with things in the morning rather than procrastinating.

I hope some of this has helped and been useful to one or two of you. As I say I don’t think I do anything too crazy? What’s your morning routine if you have one? I’m always after new things to try to make my day more productive from the minute I wake up. Let me know your tips and tricks that you use.

Until next week! Stay safe and creative!