14 things successful people do before breakfast

Many successful execs reach for water instead of coffee first thing in the morning.

Kat Cole, president of FOCUS Brands, the parent company of Auntie Anne's, Carvel, and Cinnabon, wakes up a 5 a.m. every morning and drinks 24 ounces of water.

Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and Birchbox Man chief Brad Lande both start their days with a glass of hot water with lemon.

Drinking water in the morning helps you feel more alert, rehydrates your body, and kickstarts your metabolism, says Rania Batayneh, MPH, a nutritionist and the author of "The One One One Diet."

The top morning activity of the rich and powerful seems to be exercise, be it lifting weights at home or going to the gym.

For example, Vanderkam notes that Xerox CEO Ursula Burns schedules an hour-long personal training session starting at 6 a.m. twice a week. Plus, "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary gets up at 5:45 every morning and jumps on the elliptical or exercise bike, and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk starts every day with an hour-long workout with his trainer.

“These are incredibly busy people,” says Vanderkam. “If they make time to exercise, it must be important.”

Beyond the fact that exercising in the morning means they can’t later run out of time, Vanderkam says a pre-breakfast workout helps reduce stress later in the day, counteracts the effects of high-fat diet, and improves sleep.

The quiet hours of the morning can be the ideal time to focus on an important work project without being interrupted. What’s more, spending time on it at the beginning of the day ensures that it gets your attention before others (kids, employees, bosses) use it all up.

Vanderkam uses the example of a business strategist who dealt with so many ad hoc meetings and interruptions throughout the day that she felt she couldn’t get anything done. She started thinking of the early mornings as project time, and chose a top-priority project each day to focus on. Sure enough, not a single colleague dropped in on her at 6:30 a.m. She could finally concentrate.

Novel-writing and art-making are easy to skip when you’ve been in meetings all day, are tired and hungry, and have to figure out what’s for dinner. That’s why many successful people put in an hour or so on their personal projects before they officially start their days.

A history teacher at the University of Chicago told Vanderkam she spent the hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. working on a book about the religious politics of West Africa. She was able to read journal articles and write several pages before dealing with her teaching responsibilities.

Carving out the time in the morning to write, and making it a habit, meant she would actually follow through. Vanderkam cites one study of young professors that showed writing a little bit every day rather than in intense bursts made them more likely to get tenure.

We may exalt the family dinner, but there’s nothing that says you have to have a big family meal at night, says Vanderkam. Some successful people use the mornings to invest in family time, whether reading stories to the kids or cooking a big breakfast together.

A financial planner in New York told Vanderkam that, unless she’s traveling, mornings are her special time with her young daughter. She helps her get dressed, make the bed, and occasionally they work on art projects together. They also make breakfast and sit around the table and chat about what’s going on. She calls those 45 minutes “the most precious time I have in a day.”

In the evening, it’s more likely you’ll be tired from the day’s activities, and time can easily be wasted with dinner preparations and zoning out in front of the TV. That’s why many successful people make connecting with their partners a morning ritual.

Besides, as Vanderkam wonders, what could be better than pre-dawn sex to energize you for the day? After all, regular sex may make you smarter, boost your income, and burn calories.

Even if they’re not getting frisky every morning, many couples use the early hours to talk. For instance, she notes that a BlackRock executive and his wife commute from the suburbs into New York City every morning. They spend the hour-plus trip discussing their lives, finances, household to-do lists, and plans for the week.

This one-minute habit can make you happier and more productive all day long.

In his book, "The Power of Habit," Charles Duhigg writes that getting into the routine of making your bed every morning is correlated with increased productivity.

Making your bed doesn't necessarily cause you to get more done at work, Duhigg writes, but it's a "keystone habit" that can spark "chain reactions that help other good habits take hold."

In addition to being more productive, people that consistently make their beds also tend to have "a greater sense of well-being and stronger skills at sticking with a budget," Duhigg writes.

Especially if you like to make it home for dinner, the mornings can be a great time to meet with people for coffee or breakfast. Plus, networking breakfasts are less disruptive than midday lunches and more work-oriented than boozy cocktail parties, Vanderkam notes.

Christopher Colvin, a New York-based lawyer and entrepreneur, started a networking group for Ivy League alums called IvyLife. Most days he wakes at 5:30 a.m. to walk his dog and read, but every Wednesday he attends an IvyLife networking breakfast. “I feel I’m fresher and more creative in the mornings,” he told Vanderkam. “By the end of the day my mind is more cluttered.”

Type-A personalities typically demand as much from others as they do from themselves, so it can be difficult for them to disconnect from their mental to-do lists and calm their minds. Before they head out the door, many successful people devote themselves to a spiritual practice such as meditation or prayer to center themselves for the rush of the day.

Manisha Thakor, a financial adviser and former corporate executive, practices transcendental meditation to clear her mind. She does two 20-minute sessions a day, the first before breakfast and the second in the evening, and focuses on breathing and repeating a mantra in her head. She’s found it to be “one of the most life-enhancing practices” she’s ever experienced, she told Vanderkam.

Expressing gratitude is another great way to center yourself and get the proper perspective before heading to the office. Writing down the people, places, and opportunities that you’re grateful for takes just a few minutes but can make a real difference in your outlook.

For example, a pharmaceutical exec told Vanderkam she spends a good chunk of her morning “expressing gratitude, asking for guidance, and being open to inspiration.” When she gets to work, she always has a clear vision for herself and her staff.

Similarly, entrepreneur and author of "The 4-Hour Workweek" Tim Ferriss spends five minutes each morning writing down what he's grateful for and what he's looking forward to. It "allows me to not only get more done during the day but to also feel better throughout the entire day, to be a happier person, to be a more content person," he said.

Planning the day, week, or month ahead is an important time-management tool to keep you on track when you’re in the thick of it. Using the mornings to do big-picture thinking helps you prioritize and set the trajectory of the day.

One banking exec turned teacher told Vanderkam she wakes at 5 a.m. on weekdays, exercises, reads a few Bible verses, and reviews her tasks for the day before making breakfast. She said this ritual makes her days more manageable and effective.

While time-management gurus may suggest putting off email as long as possible, many successful people start the day with email. In fact, one recent survey found that the first thing most executives do in the morning is check their email.

They may quickly scan their inboxes for urgent messages that need an immediate response or craft a few important emails that they can better focus on while their minds are fresh.

For instance, Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project,” wakes at 6 every morning before her family’s up at 7. She uses the time to clear her inbox, schedule the day, and read social media. Getting these tasks out of the way from the start helps her concentrate better when she moves on to more challenging projects, she told Vanderkam.

Whether it’s sitting in the corner diner and reading the papers or checking the blogs and Twitter from their phones, most successful people have a pre-breakfast ritual for getting the latest headlines.

For example, GE CEO Jeff Immelt starts his days with a cardio workout and then reads the paper and watches CNBC. Meanwhile, Virgin America CEO David Cush uses his mornings to listen to sports radio and read the papers while hitting the stationary bike at the gym.

By the time they get to work, they have a good idea of what’s going on in the world. Then, they can get down to the business of changing it.

This is an updated version of an article that was previously published.