How Slow Mornings Make Me More Productive
And happier
It’s one of my happy places—my slow mornings.
I’ve tried to be an early-morning person (waking up before 630am) lots of times in my life.
But, it’s never stuck, permanently.
Every now and then I’ll naturally wake up early, but that’s normally due to poor sleep.
The mornings where I do wake up early, especially if a busy schedule demands it, I knock out my workout for the day. The problem is that I spend most of my workout feeling in a haze of sleepiness. Once I’m through with my workout I usually feel accomplished. But then the 2pm sluggishness kicks in.
I’m just not an early-morning person and I’ve come to embrace that fact.
My Happy Place—Slow Mornings
My natural, unforced wake up time is between 7am-8am (usually closer to 7am).
It still takes me a bit to get going, which is why I always try to give myself some space to wake up.
That’s why I designed my mornings to be slow.
It has become one of my happy places. Here’s what it looks like:
Bible study
Journal (not currently, I’m on a break; by the way paper or digital for those of you that journal?)
Breakfast (almost always Overnight Oats and a Vanilla Cream coffee)
Soft, lyric-free music (usually the Spa channel on Apple Music; I have my Alexa preset to play it when I say “Alexa let’s relax”)
Some form of ambient video playing on YouTube (this is typically only in the colder months, but today I decided to play one; see image below)
Writing (some form of it; either business or personal)
When my schedule allows, that “flow” will take about two hours. After which I knock out a workout (5-6 days per week).
Why Slow Mornings Work (for Me)
Slow mornings feel like gifts to my future self. Giving myself the space to start slowly, rather than being jolted into the day, makes my mind feel more at peace, protects my mood, and makes me feel more productive than waking up running at full tilt.
Here’s what I’ve noticed the benefits are:
It protects my mental health. Starting the day with Bible study and journaling means I’ve already done something for my soul before the world gets a chance to demand anything from me. The day hasn’t hijacked me yet. That matters more than I used to realize.
It reduces decision fatigue early. My morning routine is predictable on purpose. Same music, same breakfast, same rhythm. I’m not making a dozen small decisions before 9am. By the time I sit down to write or work, my brain has some gas left in the tank.
It makes the workout better. Here’s the thing I noticed when I stopped forcing the early workouts — I actually perform better when I exercise after my slow morning instead of before it. No haze. No dragging. I’m awake, fed, mentally settled, and ready to push.
It sets the emotional tone for the whole day. On the days my routine gets interrupted — an early meeting, a disrupted schedule — I can feel the difference. I’m a little more reactive, a little more scattered. The slow morning is doing more work than it looks like it’s doing.
Where’s Your Hustle, Bro!?
I used to think that slow mornings were just an excuse to avoid doing hard work. But, that’s simply not the case.
I see slow mornings as using intentionality as a weapon. Intentional starts are the opposite of laziness. They are a deliberately designed system that allows my body and mind to warm up, not an excuse to avoid the day.
Are there days where my slow mornings have me too relaxed and when I’m unmotivated to get to my workout? Sure. But that’s just a matter of discipline, not how I structure my day.
All the hustle/productivity bros online would have you believe a slow morning is a mistake. It’s not. In fact, its biological for some people.
A Quick Note on Chronotypes
You’ve probably heard of being a “morning person” or a “night owl.” That’s essentially what a chronotype is — it’s your body’s natural, built-in preference for when to sleep, wake, and be most alert. It’s not a personality quirk or a discipline problem. It’s biology.
Your chronotype is largely determined by your circadian rhythm — the internal clock your body runs on. That clock influences not just when you feel sleepy or awake, but also when your body temperature peaks, when your hormones shift, and when your brain is sharpest. And here’s the part most people don’t realize: you don’t fully choose it. Genetics plays a significant role.
Researchers typically break chronotypes into a few broad categories:
Lions — natural early risers; alert in the morning, wind down early (this is my wife)
Bears — the most common; follow the sun roughly, peak mid-morning to early afternoon (me; sort of)
Wolves — the true night owls; slow to start, hit their stride later in the day (100% our daughter)
Dolphins — light, irregular sleepers who often feel like they don’t fit neatly anywhere
(These labels come from sleep researcher Dr. Michael Breus, author of The Power of When.)
Most people are Bears, which is why the typical 9-to-5 workday was more or less built around them. If you’re a Wolf — or even a late Bear like me — you’ve probably spent years feeling like something was wrong with you because you couldn’t make the early-morning hustle work.
Nothing is wrong with you. Your clock is just set differently.
The pressure to wake up at 5am and conquer the world before sunrise is real, and it’s loud. But productivity isn’t one-size-fits-all. Working with your chronotype instead of against it tends to produce better focus, better mood, and yes — better workouts. Which I need to head towards, now that I’m fully awake. 💪