The arrival of fall always feels a bit like a brand-new year, and with that feeling comes the urge to regroup and refresh. One of the best ways you can do this is a strategy used by the most productive people to create the space we all need to achieve incredible results. What’s the strategy? It’s your Proactive Routine.

I think of routines like closets. You may have the most organized closet, but as you acquire new items (make way for cozy fall sweaters!), you’re going to need to streamline and edit the rest of the closet. Likewise, we need to adapt our routines as our time demands change.

Watch: Is it time to refresh your Proactive Routine?

Are you trying to settle on a new approach to work, balancing some days in the office and some days at home? Or maybe you are back in the office every day and having to juggle personal and family commitments to accommodate this shift.

As the way we work continues to evolve, you may find yourself craving consistency, predictability, and connection. Building and keeping a Proactive Routine is the key.

But how do you do this? Here is an approach you can use to realign your day, so you can do your best work and feel your best.

There is a great deal of research around “morning people” and countless examples of how top performers leverage mornings to achieve their big goals and aspirations.

There is no real secret to this. When we do our challenging work during the highest energy period of our day – we achieve great results.

For most of us, our energy is at its peak in the morning. This includes the night owls who show up for work with a fresh bucket of energy.  (How do they do it?) Sure, their energy may be highest in the later afternoon/early evening, but their energy at the beginning of their workday is still solid.

Not only is our energy at its prime in the morning, but so is our willpower, and we also tend to have more control over our work at the beginning of each day. It’s a challenge to carve out big blocks of focus time once the rest of the world is sending emails, calling, and maybe even dropping by your desk when you’re back in the office.

Later in the day, there is bound to be work to wrap up, emails to answer, calls to return, and our time quickly becomes sand running through the hourglass.

So, why not try a morning focus routine (with that coffee or tea?)

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C. Maxwell

Here is a sample morning routine, which could work for an early bird. You can adjust the times below to accommodate whatever time you wake up.

7:00-8:00am – Focus Work
You’re going to love this. Turn off all email alerts and minimize email. Use a timer if it helps you focus. I use a timer practically every day.

8:00-8:30am – Email
With a big chunk of focus work out of your way, you can now turn to reactive tasks like email. It may have been tempting to start your day with email, but no one was expecting a response earlier than this time.

8:30-9:00am – Family
If this is a work from home day, you may choose to see your kids off to school. Or like me, you may drop your kids off at school.

9:00-11:0am – Focus Work
Since morning is prime energy, you may choose to protect more time for your independent work. Of course, you can take brief email breaks during this time.

11:00am onwards – Meetings & Supporting Tasks
Where possible, push your meetings later in your day so your prime morning energy is protected for your independent work. There will be exceptions, and the select earlier meeting still works.

This is just a sample routine. Your Proactive Routine will look different, based on your energy patterns and the nature of your work. It’s likely no surprise that when we align our work to our optimal energy period, we work more efficiently, and we produce better results.

What type of work should you align to your peak? At your peak, you are best served by doing your focused, independent, analytical, creative, and insightful work. Your most challenging work. Save your smaller, more administrative tasks that don’t require so much of your strategic thinking or your creative energy for your trough period later in the day.

Building and keeping a Proactive Routine is one of the secrets of the world’s most successful people. It’s built around what you deem to be most important. I like to say it’s your golden ticket to live your life by design versus default. To live a life that is about creating instead of reacting, and to plan for versus hope for an ideal day. But it’s not an exact science. Will there be exceptions? Always. Don’t be discouraged and throw away your system because of a few “off” days. You can always come back to it.

It also helps to build in some accountability. Share your routine with colleagues. Let your team support you. Support each other. And you can always, always use us as your accountability partner.

If you’re looking for guidance to make the most of your Proactive Routine, either individually or for your team, please reach out. We love to help people create winning routines.

Related: 5 ways you can master habits and make them work for you