An Interview With Sara Connell
My morning routine is my lifeline. It is the way that I can most likely guarantee that I will show up for everything that my job demands in a given day. Without it, I feel foggy, disorganized, distracted by stiff muscles and unable to focus on the tasks at hand. Because my morning routine sets me up for a focused and distraction free work day I am able to get my work done more efficiently and ultimately have more time to be present with myself and my loved ones.
Beginnings are a Genesis. That means that not only are they a start, but they are also the origin of all that follows. This means that the way we start something, the way we start our day, for example, creates a trajectory for all that follows. How do highly successful leaders start their day in a way that creates a positive trajectory for a successful, effective, productive, and efficient day? How do you create habits that make these routines permanent? How do you get inspired to develop the discipline necessary for such a lifestyle? In this new series, called Morning Routines and Habits Of Highly Successful People, we are talking to successful leaders who can share the morning routines and habits that have helped them to achieve success.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarajane Case.
Sarajane Case is an author, podcaster, and speaker working with the enneagram as a tool for greater self-compassion and creativity. She helps to take the ancient map of human psyche and make it relevant to the modern life struggles of balancing self-care, productivity, and creative expression.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
I grew up in a trailer in rural North Carolina with my mom, my stepdad and two of my brothers. My family life was chaotic to say the least. When things were particularly loud or scary I used to run to this commercial garage at the end of our dirt road and just lay on the pavement and watch airplanes fly over. It sounds cheesy now but I would imagine being a business woman who flies on planes. It’s wild to think that I spend so much time flying now — that that little girl really did make it out.
What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.
I wanted to be a writer from the age of 9. My mom bought me a limited two diary on sale. I imagine it was the only thing she could afford from the store but it unlocked my purpose. I started writing in the diary that day and have written nearly everyday of my life since.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?
When you grow up in a ‘troubled home’ it can often feel as though the only person you can rely on is yourself. However, I recently was reminded of all of the angels who came into my life at my most vulnerable. From a woman on my mother’s mail route who used to buy me clothes to wear to school, to our landlord who would pay me to babysit and my grandparents who would let me live with them when things were particularly tough. I think we are all a tapestry of the beautiful people that have crossed our paths for both short and long periods of time. A weaving of souls that offer hope even if it’s just in a smile as we pass them on the street. With this in mind, I think we are all more connected than we realize and though it can feel as though I raised myself I actually had a lot of help from many people who weren’t responsible for offering it.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or take away did you learn from that?
I accidentally became known for the Enneagram. It’s a personality typing tool that discusses the nine major motivations and fears of human psyche. It was a hobby that I’d let take over. I was annoying my friends and family talking it about it all of the time. Eventually a friend asked me to create an outlet for it so I made an Instagram account. I called it Enneagram & Coffee which no-one thought was a good name. I made enneagram content just for my friends and family to read. Within three days it grew from 0 followers to 100,000 followers. I say this as my mistake because it was never my plan to be an Enneagram teacher. I had a thriving coaching business at the time and these three days changed my life forever. I wouldn’t take it back, I’ve created the life of my dreams talking about the thing I can’t stop talking about! I did eventually changed the name of the account from Enneagram & Coffee to my name (@sarajanecase) because I wanted to be human and not a brand. If I’m honest, that was perhaps the biggest business ‘mistake’ I could have made. It’s a bit confusing for my audience and I lost followers along the way but stand by that mistake. I learned through that journey that being seen as human and being treated as human is more important than being seen as successful at the cost of my happiness.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
1. Listening. I became successful for my knowledge of people. Being able to synthesize the human experience into words and graphics based on this map of human psyche. I am only able to know people and be inspired by people as much as I am willing to listen. This looks like being a great listener in conversation with loved ones. But it also looks like eavesdropping. By observing the world around me I can pull from what I see and make it relatable to others who may be experiencing similar struggles.
2. Perseverance. As a parent I think we often want to teach our children skills. But the greatest lesson my mother ever taught me I learned from watching her do it over and over again. Every time we would hit an obstacle she would try one more time. At the moment I thought it was time to give up — she would try one more time. Every time. Through watching that and seeing it work for her I absorbed the belief that there is always one more thing we could try before giving up. In business and in creativity we are going to hit countless roadblocks. We are going to be terrible at things that we love. We are going to be criticized for the things we were proud of. If every time that I hit a roadblock I called it quits, I would have given up on everything I ever loved. Taking the time to try just one more time is the only reason I’ve completed anything.
3. Boredom. I am in love with being bored. As a creative I think that boredom is our best friend. I went through an intense bout of burnout in 2014 and closed my business at the time. I thought that working for someone else would feel better but I found myself working for them full-time and then doing all of my creative work on the side — more tired than I was before. This change in my life didn’t help my burnout because it added more not less. It wasn’t until I let myself feel truly gobsmackingly bored that I was able to create from a place of abundant thought rather than hustle. Meaning, I do my best to regularly create space for no podcasts, no TV, no YouTube, no social media, no input what so ever so that I have time to think my own thoughts and create an overflow of ideas from which to work.
I’m an author and I believe that books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book in your life that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
Similarly to how I think about the people I’ve shared my life with for a time, I believe the books we read shape us in irrevocable ways. I would say that every book I’ve read whether I loved it or hated it has made me more of who I am. However, when I think of the book that has shaped my view of success the most, I think of The Desire Map by Danielle Laporte. She invites the reader to explore success as more than just reaching our goals but instead living in a way that helps us to feel the way we want to feel. I recognize that being where I am in my career is such a gift but if I am not careful I could keep wanting more and more without an end to my striving. Redefining success based on how I want to feel has helped me to not only set goals that I actually want to achieve but also to be more present in the good that is already here.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?
I just finished writing a book called The Enneagram Letters: A Poetic Exploration of Who You Thought You Had to Be. It’s a compilation of poems and essays written to each of the nine enneagram types. Essentially, they are empathetic letters written to the part in each of us that feels we must be perfect, lovable, successful, unique, informed, prepared, happy, strong and easy to get along with. We all carry each of these nine pressures around everyday and it impacts the way we experience the world. My hope for this work is that it reminds us that we are not alone in this pressure but also that we are able to put down the expectations of who we thought we had to be at any time. We are so much more than what we do and how we perform.
OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the core focus of our interview. This will be intuitive to you but it will be helpful to spell this out directly. Can you help explain to our readers why it is important to have a consistent morning routine?
My morning routine is my lifeline. It is the way that I can most likely guarantee that I will show up for everything that my job demands in a given day. Without it, I feel foggy, disorganized, distracted by stiff muscles and unable to focus on the tasks at hand. Because my morning routine sets me up for a focused and distraction free work day I am able to get my work done more efficiently and ultimately have more time to be present with myself and my loved ones.
Can you please share your optimal morning routine that can create a positive trajectory for a successful, effective, productive, and efficient day. If you can, please share some stories or examples.
My morning routine is long and thorough but it is my favorite part of the day.
6am — Journal — I’ve been journaling everyday since I was 9 years old. I free write mostly at this time just to clear my head and release any emotions or thoughts that could prevent me from focusing on what I have to do that day.
6:30am — I read a chapter of whatever book I’m reading.
7am — I do yoga. I change my practice everyday. Sometimes I do a full hour routine, other times I do three sun salutations and call it a day. My commitment to myself is to show up on the mat everyday and listen to my body. This means that I start my day in relationship to my body which allows me to stay in conversation with her. It also relieves any aches and pains and makes it easier to move into the next phase of my morning.
8am — meditation — this is different everyday. Sometimes I listen to a guided meditation. Sometimes I stay in final rest pose for longer. My favorite is simply to go outside and be in silence for 5–15 minutes without any devices or people nearby.
8:30am — coffee with my husband. Every morning I have coffee with my husband after he drops our little one off at school. We sometimes get an hour in but mostly we are able to have about 30 minutes in the morning to touch base and talk about our day.
9am — breakfast
9:30am — Get Ready
10am — Start work — I go into the office and start work at 10am. The very first thing I do is prioritize my top three tasks for the day. The idea is that I start with the tasks that are essential to a successful work day and then I can either call it quits or keep going if I have the momentum. This allows me to focus on the most important tasks at hand while also allowing room for spontaneity should my creative brain need it!
Speaking in general, what is the best way to develop good habits? Conversely, how can one stop bad habits?
In my first book, The Honest Enneagram I talk about why I value curiosity over discipline.
We all have habits that simply aren’t serving us. The enneagram shines light on those vividly.
There are self-help gurus out there teaching that the path to growth and change is in these areas is simply to:
- Focus more
- Just keep going even when it sucks
- Buy more products
- Just be better
And I couldn’t disagree more.
Personal growth isn’t about discipline, it’s about understanding and making micro-shifts to be closer to who you want to be. It’s about the relationship.
I used to think that my lack of progress meant that I just wasn’t trying hard enough or honestly, that I was a failure. If I could just discipline myself enough then I would be worthy of the good things I wanted in my life.
It wasn’t until I decided to stop FORCING myself into someone else’s definition of ‘good’ that I felt the freedom to truly start making shifts in my life.
It wasn’t until I quit discipline that I was able to make HUGE steps in my personal and professional life. I learned something that no one else was teaching — a clear cut approach to personal growth, self-confidence & creative expression that had nothing to do with shame and guilt.
Instead, it’s about curiosity and habit shifting.
Focusing on how you operate, why something isn’t working for you and making micro adjustments that serve you better.
Taking the conversation from ‘just be better’ and changing it to “what do you need to feel supported in this process?” Then setting small achievable goals to build a new habit.
As mentioned earlier in the book certain schools of the enneagram use language to describe struggles of each type that I find shaming and quite frankly unhelpful. An example of this is calling type 9s ‘lazy.’ Here’s how we can use this process with our type nines.
The path of discipline:
“I watch more TV than I would like to.”
that means I’m lazy.
I should wake up at 5am tomorrow and work out.
If I were driven that’s what I would do.
Hits snooze and misses work out.
“I’m so lazy.”
The path of curiosity:
“I watch more TV than I would like to.”
Why do I watch TV?
I’m too tired to do anything else?
Why am I so tired?
I spent all day thinking about what others needed and trying to make them happy.
What would it feel like if tomorrow I did my best to not give all of my energy away to other people?
Doing something consistently “day in and day out” can be hard. Where did you get your motivation from? What do you use to motivate you now?
I think it’s important to make clear that each of the habits I have built into my current morning routine were added one at a time over the course of years. I started journaling at age 9. I started reading every morning at 34. Each of these are easier the longer I’ve been practicing. That being said, more than consistency I value listening to myself. What does my heart, mind and body need today and are these the things that will provide that? Generally, they are. However, if I needed something different that day I think it’s more valuable to show myself the freedom to self-nourish than to follow a list of tasks I decided I would need months ago. Creating a loving relationship to my heart, mind and body has allowed me to see my consistency and sometimes my spontaneity both as part of a daily commitment to that relationship rather than a set of rules I have to follow.
What other resources would you suggest to our readers?
If you are a creative who wants to create more, I highly encourage you read The Artist’s Way. It’s a 12 week program that invites you into a loving relationship to your creative process. It’s beautiful for anyone who struggles to prioritize the projects and activities that matter to them.
Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
I firmly believe that the enneagram offers us so much insight into why we struggle to express compassion to ourselves and to others. If we think of the enneagram as nine unique pressures that we carry. Nine standards of what it means to be a good person in the world then we are more so able to see why people behave the way they do and why they expect what they expect of others. In fact, what we often limit in ourselves is directly related to what we limit in other people. When we are able to look at ourselves and release the character we thought we had to play ( perfect, helpful, successful, individual, informed, prepared, happy, strong, easy to get along with ) we can give more compassion and freedom to ourselves and that inevitably overflows into how we interact with others.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
I am always impressed by the impeccable integrity of Brene’ Brown. The way she continues to show up, listen and speak up about the things that matter. At the same time as pursuing her own research and writing. The world asks so much of women and she is doing everything with grace while reminding us that we don’t have to.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Join me on Instagram at instagram.com/sarajanecase
Listen to my podcast Enneagram & Coffee at www.apple.co/egram
Pre-order my new book at: https://www.amazon.com/Enneagram-Letters-Poetic-Exploration-Thought/dp/1524875694
Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success.
Author Sarajane Case On The Morning Routines and Habits Of Highly Successful People was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.