Ryan Crownholm is a serial entrepreneur, mentor, investor and the president and founder of Crown Capital Adventures Inc.
When you consistently start your day at 5 a.m., you start to understand why people call the time before dawn “magic hour.” Those moments before the world wakes are my daily chance to truly focus and learn something new. I start each day with a book, podcast or YouTube video and always find myself absorbing the information more deeply.
By 6:30 a.m., I’m out for a walk. Early-morning exercise helps wake me up, and some of my best ideas for professional and personal development tend to come during this time. It sets me up for the rest of my morning, which I spend channeling my creative energy into actionable work. My productivity tends to fizzle around noon, so that’s when I end my work day. I head to the gym, spend time with family or tackle projects around the house. It’s taken me years to figure out my own rhythms, but now that I have, I embrace the unique opportunity I have as an entrepreneur to structure my day around my internal schedule.
Having my personal routine is sacred, and I’m not alone in this: Over half of CEOs Inc. surveyed last year (paywall) wake up at or before 6 a.m., but our secret to success isn’t an early alarm—it’s being unafraid (and able) to hone in on how our minds and bodies work best and respect those needs. An entrepreneur who finds inspiration between midnight and 4 a.m. should ideally be honoring that need as well. Being able to tune into your own circadian rhythm is one of the biggest perks of working for yourself. Yet, too many entrepreneurs get lost trying to mimic others’ routines or recreate the 9–5 grind.
An entrepreneur’s routine shouldn’t be modeled off of someone else’s. In order to make your day work for you, you should truly make it your own.
Lessons From Successful Routines
There are still lessons we can draw from the daily routines of successful entrepreneurs. Many of the most successful people in business have been transparent about how they’ve adjusted their workflows over time. I’ll never forget hearing Arianna Huffington’s personal story of collapsing from exhaustion. Timothy Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Workweek, was pivotal to my journey toward understanding the need to build a work routine that works for you.
When you’re in the initial exciting phase of building a business, the toll of working 18-hour days can seem far off. But physical burnout and subsequent business failure are an often inevitable endpoints if you don’t invest in a balanced daily schedule. Whatever your goals are, personalization is key.
Working Like An Artist
Whether you wake up before 4:30 a.m. or you’re getting out of bed at 10 a.m. like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, establishing your own daily routine is essential. The recent explosion in remote work has made it evident that entrepreneurs aren’t the only people who seek more control over their daily workflows.
In a 2022 study, Microsoft found that about 30% of employees whose work habits it looked at had an evening spike in work. Historically, this kind of night owl work style was primarily associated with artists, but virtual work and entrepreneurship is changing the game. Novelist Honoré de Balzac may or may not have consumed nothing but coffee while he wrote, as the legend says, but it seems reasonable to believe that he did wake up around midnight to write all day—while wearing a monk’s robe. He completed at least 90 novels in his lifetime.
Having an unusual routine may make you more eccentric to your biographers, but it’s crucial to prioritize what works for you over what others may think. Disrupting your natural tendencies toward creativity, productivity and rest can have long-term negative impacts. Without the ability to customize your own workday, you can’t truly build a custom business.
Why We Mimic ‘The 9–5’
One of the main appeals of being your own boss is the ability to keep your own schedule. However, if you don’t create clear boundaries around your own circadian rhythm, the standard hours your customers and clients keep can quickly become your own. Entrepreneurs can often feel pressure to appear productive at all hours of the day, even if this sort of schedule hinders their true ability to produce. The routine I established above has always been my most effective schedule, yet I spent years rushing out the door with a cup of coffee to work 10- to 12-hour days and nights.
It was only after a serious physical accident and subsequent hospitalization that I had the chance to stop and do what entrepreneurs do best: think. In that much-needed silence, I was able to consider what aspects of my business I could delegate and which required my full attention in those productive daylight hours. I reclaimed my schedule and never looked back, and it benefited me, my family and my business.
The important thing to remember is that appearances don’t generally matter—only outcomes do. If you’re able to deliver on your promises to clients and customers, many won’t care whether you’re working in the middle of the night or the middle of the afternoon. Scheduling software and support staff exist in part so that we can honor these rhythms while still communicating during more common work hours, when necessary.
At the end of the day, you can’t build your own business following someone else’s schedule. If you want the mental space to understand your professional life from all angles, you should develop a routine that maximizes your creative thinking. No matter how unconventional your routine may seem, make it your own and reclaim that freedom all entrepreneurs deserve.
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