I’ve recently been having people ask me what a typical day looked like for me. The last person that asked me that questions caused me to ask a question to him in return. I asked him, why he was curious about? He replied, that he believed that “successful people had some routines that helped them achieve their success” and that’s why he was curious.
I thanked him for including me in that list of people he thought were successful and told him I would write about it in an upcoming blog – and here we are.
I believe my friend was correct – I too believe that successful people have routines that keep them focused and engaged. Routines are truly different for every successful person. What is the same is that they have a routine and they follow it. I can’t say that mine are that exciting but, they are mine and I like them.
I should note that I travel a lot and when I’m traveling – the routine is much different.
If I’m not traveling or attending a meeting, this is my normal routine.
- 7ish wake up.
- 30 minutes exercise in my home gym. Nothing crazy – walking, (sometimes outside – but often in the home gym watching the news), push-ups, crunches, stretching, simple bar weights.
- Steam shower (contemplative meditation).
- I try to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper. (All the meals are generally organic and always healthy).
- 9 am I walk the 51 steps to my home office and tackle email communications
- I am a zealot about my schedule. Almost every hour is scheduled with something (including time to think, research, and/or write). Most importantly, I color code my calendar to know what kind of activities I have scheduled for the day. The things I love doing are all in various shades of green. (Red is bad, very bad. They are the things I don’t want to do but must do – yes, I have some of those too).
- My primary focus is writing, speaking, and doing interviews.
- On writing days, I only tackle urgent emails and then focus most of the day on writing related activities (research, writing, editing).
- Throughout the days I do scheduled media interviews (these are always a priority) or record videos for BNI regions.
- End around 6 pm.
- Wine O’clock on the balcony to watch for deer or wild turkey on our property. Almost always a big bold – “hit you over the head” – red wine. 😊
- Dinner around 6:30 pm.
- Around 7, I watch some movie or TV shows recorded on my DVR (yes, I have some guilty pleasures that I do NOT feel guilty about).
- If necessary, I go back into my home office around 8 – 9 pm to get some work done.
- Head to bed between 10 pm and 11 pm.
- Read the news or a book for up to an hour.
- Generally asleep by 11:30 pm.
This is a normal day – I don’t always have those but when I’m home, this would be pretty normal. The routines I have that I think are worth noting include daily exercise, contemplation, healthy food, a specific routine for the work, guilty pleasures (wine, TV, or movies), and reading time each evening.
And that my friends, is a day in the life of Ivan Misner.
What surprises you or what would you like to add to your list?