Attaching electrodes behind the ears while sleeping, waking up and answering emails by 4:30 in the morning, injecting shots of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide to improve brain function — these are all ways that tech CEOs have been known to start their day to try and make it as successful as possible.
Looking for a secret recipe of habits that make us more productive, creative and ready to face the day is not limited to the tech industry, however. Self-help book sales continue to rise, growing by 9 percent in 2022, according to Marketdata. The Google search term “biohacking” peaks every few years. And 50 of the top “longevity-focused” companies brought in over $1 billion in venture funding in 2020, according to Deloitte.
Finding little fragments of the philosopher’s stone that can help us get the most out of every day takes up a fair amount of time in the zeitgeist.
Built In San Francisco spoke with a Silicon Valley engineer about the ideal daily routine for success.
Cisco Meraki is a cloud-managed IT company focused on cloud-controlled Wi-Fi, routing and security.
Building the tech that in turn powers a lot of tech companies requires a game face every morning. What does your daily routine look like to help keep you focused and ready to work?
I usually wake up around 7 a.m. I’ll have coffee and a glass of water pretty soon after waking up. I go into the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work from home on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I’ll try to get on the train around 7:45 a.m. if it’s an office day; I find that it’s a lot more crowded after 8 a.m. If I don’t take the train, it’s a 15-minute walk to the office — a nice way to get a little movement before work. Even working from home, I try to walk before starting my day. I find it’s helpful to have a little “commute” to get myself in the mental space for work, where I can let my mind wander as I think about work and non-work things.
I prefer to have my meetings clustered together in the morning when possible. I typically do more of my administrative work in the morning between meetings. A few times a week, I write down my to-do list in a paper notebook, along with some freeform journaling.
I skip breakfast and have lunch as my first meal to stay energized for afternoon work. I work from various places, including my home, my desk in the office or conference rooms and quiet areas in the office, which are helpful for concentration or relaxation amid busy shared spaces.
How did you tap into the rituals, habits and places that power your daily schedule?
I try to be mindful of how my various habits and rituals affect my day and add things that I enjoy or help me. I started playing Wordle and Connections on the train. Besides being something to do, it gives me a sense of how I’m doing that day. Obviously, it depends on the puzzle itself, but if it seems particularly difficult, I’ll make sure to give myself a little more care that day. Or the opposite — if I blast through it, I know to lean into that energy and have an extra productive day. But there will probably come a point when this ritual becomes a little less interesting or my schedule changes, and I’ll find something else to do instead.
“If [my daily puzzle] seems particularly difficult, I’ll make sure to give myself a little more care that day. Or if I blast through it, I know to lean into that energy and have an extra productive day.”.
On the other hand, I find it interesting to elevate something ordinary into a ritual. For example, I recently switched teams at work, and there are some plants that live in my old part of the office that a colleague and I tend to. We would water them occasionally, but now that I sit in a different part of the office, we have a little standing meeting to water the plants in the evening before we leave. It’s a nice way to wrap up some days and see how the plants’ growth progresses along with the ebb and flow of work projects.
What advice do you have for tech professionals hoping to build sustainable and energizing daily routines?
My day is made up of several events and routines. Some of these events aren’t fully under my control, like certain meetings, but most of my day is a collection of habits. Productivity looks different for everyone, so I try to understand what works for me. I’m not a morning person, so trying to do something that requires a lot of effort first thing in the morning isn’t going to go well.
I think there’s a point where a routine becomes so ingrained that you stop thinking about it, which can be freeing if it’s something that previously took a lot of effort. But I think it’s worth periodically examining those things and re-evaluating to ensure your routine continues serving you.
