This 3-Hour Morning Routine Can Set You Up for Success

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gary vaynerchuk
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of VaynerMedia, speaks onstage at 'What It Really Takes To Win In Business' during the 2015 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at the Austin Convention Center on March 14, 2015 in Austin, Texas.Jessica Alexander—Getty Images
By Gary Vaynerchuk / Business Insider

I wake up at 6 a.m. Literally. Every day.

For me, every minute counts, so my schedule is planned down to the second.

And I’m not kidding: I’ve had, and continue to have, three- and four-minute meetings.

The first thing I do when I wake up is grab my cellphone and take it to the bathroom with me, where I start my day by consuming quite a lot of information.

I go to TechMeme and check out the headlines. I read Jason Hirschhorn’s email newsletter, MediaREDEF.

Then I hit the news outlets, primarily Business Insider and ESPN. But the main site that I focus on during this time is Nuzzel, an aggregator of headlines and links that my circle is sharing. It’s a tremendous tool, and I recommend everyone look into it if they feel they don’t have time to properly focus on every website individually.

After those sites, I head to Twitter, my No. 1 outlet for communication with the public. I search my handle and try to find anything I might have missed from the night before, or even that morning, considering my European and Asian bases. I respond to as many people as possible.

Twitter is becoming a listening platform; there is such a volume of information on the platform now that you need to pay attention and listen more than you tweet out. So I spend a significant amount of my morning responding to people and starting conversations.

Lastly for my phone, I open Instagram and look at photos from my friends. It’s a nice way to start the morning — seeing all the cool stuff your friends are up to.

After all this comes my workout with my trainer Muscle Mike. I usually work out for 45 minutes to an hour. The specific workout routine varies depending on the day of the week, what I ate, how much I’ve been traveling … There is no one big secret GaryVee workout.

After the workout, I head back home to say bye to my kids before they go to school. I hug them for five minutes, give them a kiss and they’re off. After getting myself ready, I’m off to my first meeting of the day, which is often before 9 a.m.

This is where, I think, one of the more original aspects of my morning routine happens. In the car to the meeting, I call my mom, dad, or sister, depending on who I called last.

I catch up with them. Talk to them. Just learn what they’re up to. I really value those small moments.

You have to use every second you get in a day. For example, later, when I’m in the car, I’ll use the travel time for phone meetings or talking with my team.

The last call of the morning is to Brandon Warnke at Wine Library, who is the vice president. We review the Wine Library strategy for the day ahead.

By the time I step into that first meeting, so much is going through my head already. The day started the minute I opened my eyes.

A lifelong entrepreneur and longtime tech investor, VaynerMedia cofounder and CEO Gary Vaynerchuk has counseled and invested in more than 50 startups, including Twitter, Tumblr, Medium, Birchbox, Uber, and Venmo. Read more from Gary here.

This article originally appeared on Business Insider

5 Horrible Habits You Need to Stop Right Now

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Do Not Email First Thing in the Morning or Last Thing at Night “The former scrambles your priorities and all your plans for the day and the latter just gives you insomnia,” says Ferriss, who insists “email can wait until 10am” or after you check off at least one substantive to-do list item.Chris Pecoraro—Getty Images
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Do Not Agree to Meetings or Calls With No Clear Agenda or End Time “If the desired outcome is defined clearly… and there’s an agenda listing topics–questions to cover–no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes,” claims Ferriss, so “request them in advance so you can ‘best prepare and make good use of our time together.'”Sam Edwards—Getty Images/Caiaimage
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Do Not Check Email Constantly Batch it and check it only periodically at set times (Ferriss goes for twice a day). Your inbox is analogous to a cocaine pellet dispenser, says Ferriss. Don’t be an addict. Tools like strategic use of the auto responder and Boomerang can help.Jetta Productions—Getty Images
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Do Not Carry a Digital Leash 24/7 At least one day a week leave you smartphone somewhere where you can’t get easy access to it. If you’re gasping, you’re probably the type of person that most needs to do kick this particular habit.by nacoki ( MEDIA ARC )—Getty Images/Flickr RF
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Do Not Let People Ramble Sounds harsh, but it’s necessary, Ferriss believes. “Small talk takes up big time,” he says, so when people start to tell you about their weekends, cut them off politely with something like “I’m in the middle of something, but what’s up?” But be aware, not everyone agrees with this one (and certainly not in every situation), and you may want to pay particularly close attention to norms around chit chat when traveling internationally.Reza Estakhrian—Getty Images

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