A Powerful Daily Routine for Men (Morning, Afternoon, Evening)

As a man, starting your day off on the right foot and ending it on an even better one–is essential.

You may be the leader of a company, the leader of a family, or just someone going through the daily motions.

Regardless of what position you find yourself in, you are the leader of yourself.

You are responsible for leading yourself through the twists and turns of daily life.

This is where a daily routine comes into play.

With a strong daily routine for men, you will build the foundation to kick ass and take names no matter who you are or what you do.

This article will be an entire walkthrough on how to structure a daily routine for men you so you can generate momentum and achieve the success you clearly see in your mind’s eye.

Why Is a Daily Routine for Men Essential?

As I just stated in the previous paragraph, having a daily routine as a man is essential because it helps you start and end your day–well.

But there’s a bit of a deeper reason.

The current world we live in is full of more opportunity for the average man than has ever existed at any time in history.

If you live in a free, democratic, Western society – your opportunities for self-improvement are nearly unlimited.

This means you can go as far and as high as your imagination and work ethic take you.

However, if you have no real structure to your days, you will find yourself trapped in the many distractions that are around today.

You’ll fall into one of the many pitfalls out there that are designed to get men (young and old alike) ensnared.

And at the end of your life? You’ll look back with massive regrets.

If you don’t want that to happen to you, follow this sample daily routine for men and then create your own variants from it.

The Morning Routine

The first hour is the rudder of the day. – Henry Ward Beecher

Many people wake up in a reactive mode.

They get woken up by an alarm clock, they then check their phone, maybe watch some news, and then rush to get ready for work.

If they have a significant other, they may start the day with an argument of some kind over something very trivial and then rush out the door without saying “love you, have a great day”.

That’s not a morning that sets you up for success.

You want something that will powerfully set you up to hit the bullseye on your target. Think of it like an archer shooting an arrow. He pulls it back, taut – then releases.

Consider these things as you set up your own morning routine.

Wake up early.

There’s a reason why most high achievers wake up early.

It allows you more time in the day to get shit done. No one’s up and you have that time all to yourself.

It gives you the chance to respond to the day rather than react.

You get to greet the day on your terms.

In order to wake up early, you should be getting to bed early. You should be in bed and asleep the night before by 11pm, at the latest.

Workout (at a gym if you can).

Working out early has many benefits.

It not only gives you a powerful start to the day and flushes your body with endorphins and other chemicals making you more focused, alert, and optimistic.

What workouts can you do? You can stretch. You can do yoga. You can lift weights.

The latter one is essential for all men. Strength training boosts your testosterone levels and makes you use whatever testosterone you have more effectively.

If you can’t lift or don’t like lifting weights, at least do bodyweight calisthenics. Try out the Jailhouse Strong routine.

Practice gratitude.

Gratitude is a way to give thanks for the things that have happened to you, the things you currently have, and the things yet to come.

Gratitude is shorthand for “great attitude”. And if you’re reading this, significant chances are that you have many a thing to be grateful for.

I recommend writing these down daily either in a daily journal or some other record-keeping device.

That way, you have a track record of all the good things in your life, which can provide a source of external motivation, if you need it.

Meditate and/or pray.

The morning is a perfect time to still your mind.

Religious folks use the early morning hours to get closer to God because there’s little distraction or turbulence in the mind.

Even if you’re not religious – you can still use the early morning hours a distraction-free way to get in touch with yourself.

The health benefits of meditation are already known and it would be unwise not to develop some type of mindfulness practice.

Meditation apps like Calm have helped millions of people worldwide and provide an easy entry into meditation.

Try it and see for yourself.

Strategize and create plans.

With the clear head that the morning gives you, it’s an ideal time to make plans for your day, week, or even your life.

One tool I use for doing this is the Clear Habit Journal. It’s a bullet journal and long-form journal all in one.

I fill it with quick notes, habits I’m tracking, quotes, and plans for each quarter of the year.

I use the morning to reinforce my short-term and long-term plans and to ensure that I’m on mission to achieve my goals.

You may have your own system, but I’d recommend writing things down.

When things are down in writing, you’ll remember them and it also makes it more concrete so you have something to refer to.

Start on your most important tasks.

Every day, you have tasks that you need to do, tasks that are nice to do, and tasks that you don’t need to do at all.

Putting the wrong tasks in the wrong category will do more to set you back than almost anything else you can do or not do.

Therefore, you need to be clear on the priorities of your tasks.

Two tools that I have used to make sense of tasks are the Eisenhower Box and the ABCDE Method. Each of them have their advantages and use cases.

I’d recommend familiarizing yourself with them and using them when the need arises.

The Afternoon Routine

By this time, you are several hours in your day and you are either:

• Working on a task or series of tasks with a deadline for completion
• Starting your day (especially if you work shift/night work)
• Ending your day (again, if you work shift/nights)

Regardless, this time of day is when the sun is out. And as a human, we are a dinural (active during the day) species. You’ll feel the most alert in the afternoon, so use it as a time to do things.

Continue your most important tasks.

If your day started in the morning, you should be headlong into your most important task(s) for the day, if not finished.

If you’re not done, now’s not the time to stop and do something else.

You should continue your task until it is complete.

This method is called “single-handling” and it will do more to boost your productivity and output than anything else.

Take (strategic) breaks.

If you’re the type of person who is used to “go, go, go, go, go” in the afternoon without stopping, then [STOP] and do not pass “Go”.

You need times during the day when you recollect yourself after periods of expansive output.

The best things to do during this time are:

• Walk
• Meditate
• Get some sun
• Eat a nutritious lunch
• Write in a journal about how the day is going
• Sit on a bench and just observe people and/or nature.

Whatever you do during this time, use it as a time to reset your mind before you get back to whatever your task is.

Start queuing up for the evening.

You should think of yourself as a battery. Overnight, you get charged up. But every hour, you lose energy.

By the time the late afternoon comes, you should feel a significant dip in your energy levels compared to morning (unless you guzzle caffeine in the late afternoon).

This means it’s time to start preparing for the evening by starting to put a bow on certain tasks and preparing to leave others until the following day.

The Evening Routine

The evening routine is how you wind down in a productive and purposeful way. There’s a good way to do this, bringing a solid close to the day.

Recount the day.

Use your journal and make a mental account of your day.

What went right? What could you do better? What is one area of improvement you want to focus on for the following weeks or months?

Use it as a type of record to keep you honest and focused on one central organizing theme for your week, month, or quarter.

When it comes to journaling, there is no such thing as “too much detail”, so add as much as you’d like.

Tie up loose ends.

You’ll have some objectives from the day that you wanted to finish but you won’t finish them. That’s perfectly fine.

Finish up what you can and then push what’s left over into the next day.

Create your to-do list.

The most important part of your evening routine is to create a to-do list for the following day.

By creating your to-do list for the next day, you already eliminate the guesswork.

Use the ABCDE Methods and/or Eisenhower Box to help you structure the following day.

Don’t go to bed until your to-do list for the following day is completed.

Read.

The end of the day is a prime time to catch up on some reading.

It will prevent you from looking at blue light on a phone or computer screen and give you something to focus on until you fall asleep.

Indulge in entertainment (for a bit).

Now’s the time to catch up on whatever your choice of entertainment is.

Maybe you’re in the middle of a show, maybe you’re looking forward to your favorite team playing, maybe you’re a video game connoisseur.

Whatever your entertainment of choice, make sure to practice some degree of “moderation”.

And most importantly of all – enjoy the hell out of it.

Cement and build relationships.

Now’s a great time to catch up with friends and make new ones.

You can catch up with a friend over drinks and/or dinner, go out with a group for drinks and/or dinner, call a friend, participate in hobbies, volunteer activities – so many things.

If you have a significant other, go on a date night or just spend time with them in your own way.

Life is about relationships, so make sure yours are tended to with care.

The weekends make an easier time for this sort of thing, but even if you work a regular job with regular hours, you can still fit social things in. You just have to have good time management.

Close out with silence.

If you like, close out the day with a quick meditation or mindfulness session, helping you center your mind once again.

Sample Men’s Daily Routine

Here’s a quick rundown of what that day would look like on a normal weekday. Note, I left out the commute because many people work from home and your commute may be variable.

I also leave out working hours because people work different hours or have their own schedule.

5:30AM – Rise
5:35AM – Meditation
5:45AM – Journal/Strategize/Goals
6:15AM – Workout
7:15AM – End Workout
7:40AM – Breakfast
9:00PM – Recount Day/Tie up loose ends/Plan for next day
9:30PM – End of Day Meditation
10:00PM – Read
10:30PM – Bed

I don’t expect you to follow this schedule to the letter, but it gives you a good idea of how this structured day would look like.

Wrapping Up

A solid morning and evening routine helps you to frame your day within a context of productivity.

It should be something that gives you a solid start and a solid end to the day. You do this through a combination of mindset strengthening, physical strengthening, and lifestyle/time management.

Your routines will provide the base for your future success.

Is there anything particular that you do for your morning and evening routine? If so, let us know in the comments.