My Morning Routine: Ginger Zee writes what she's thankful for on her shower door every morning
You might be surprised to know that early riser Ginger Zee's morning does not wind down after "Good Morning America" wraps every day.
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So how does ABC News' chief meteorologist and a mother of two tackle each morning as it comes? By staying focused on each task at hand.
"I've learned that mornings are too frenetic to be balanced," Zee recently shared in an interview with Real Simple magazine. "Instead I try to be focused. I focus on each task in front of me and do the best I can at it."
Read about each step in Ginger's morning and the reasons behind them in her own words.
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1. I wake up before 4 a.m.
I try to wake up by 4 a.m., so a little before would be ideal. If I'm sleeping in, it's like 4:05. That's an exciting morning.
[It] never gets easier by the way. People ask that all the time, "Do you get used to it?" No.
Have I ever overslept? Absolutely. At this job, maybe twice. At previous jobs, I've missed entire shows. Setting multiple alarms is my biggest piece of advice [to avoid oversleeping].
2. I take a shower and write what I'm thankful for.
First, and this is really unique, I take a shower ... OK, that part's not unique, but what I do in the shower is I think about what I'm grateful for and what I want to focus in on for the day.
It's steamy, you're in the shower, it's kind of a meditative moment anyway, so I take that time to write what I'm grateful for on the shower door. I draw two little footprints with the heel of my hand and my finger, and I write the kids' initials because, of course, I'm grateful for them every day.
I'll write the word of what I'm grateful for because it's such a nice way to start your morning and it's such a grounded way to get going on your day. On the opposite door, I write a goal or something I want to focus on.
3. I wash and moisturize my face.
Then I wash and moisturize my face. I try to keep myself ageless.
When I get out of the shower, my husband makes fun of me, because I still apparently have makeup everywhere, because we wear so much makeup, I can't possibly have taken off the two layers of makeup from "GMA" and "World News Tonight" the day before.
After I cleanse, I get in there with some hydrating moisturizer under my eye and moisturizer all over. I'm trying to be better.
4. I check my emails in the car.
So lucky that I get to ride in a car [on my way to work]. That's a great time to check emails, get prepared, see what happened since I've been sleeping and just catch up on the world.
Obviously, weather is my passion, so what website am I going to open first? I open up computer modeling websites or the National Weather Service to see where they actually added warnings to where I already knew warnings were going to pop up.
5. I meditate to prepare for the day.
After the whole email deal, though, I need meditation, so that's when I kind of set my intention for the day.
That's when I take in a lot of deep breaths. It might sound a little strange, but I think about green and blue like I think about positive, cool, calm colors coming in when I inhale, and red and all of the negativity or anything bad exhaling.
Usually, I open my eyes, and especially when I see "TRL," and that was like the epitome of cool ... I'm in New York City!
It hits me again every single morning, so I think that helps to ground me and remind me no matter how wild it's about to get, this is really, really cool that you get to be here every single morning.
6. I check in with my meteorology team.
As soon as I walk up those stairs, my first thing I do is check in with the other meteorologists.
I didn't know if you knew this: we have three meteorologists that work for you every morning that are looking all over the globe for the biggest weather picture, the biggest weather headlines and anything we need all of you to know to keep all of you safe.
7. I get ready for the show with my eye patches.
This is probably the most critical part of my morning: I need my eye patches. It's like drinking water or coffee in the morning.
My makeup artist Lisa contends that they have changed my skin. I think I've gotten a lot of other people hooked on them, ahem, Dan Harris.
8. I do my Facebook Live hit.
Every morning, if you're not aware of this -- you should be watching -- we do a Facebook Live hit before the show to kind of give you a tease of what's coming up and you just get some behind-the-scenes fun.
I will always love weather, but I get a chance to do more on social than I end up doing on the show a lot of times, so Facebook Live is my way to connect with everybody. The "GMA" fans are so strong.
It's a conversation. It's also getting a pulse of what people want here, and what they like and what they don't like, so I love checking the comments and seeing what people have said.
9. I check in on my boys.
Once the show has started, I've done a couple of hits, I FaceTime with the boys or ask for pictures and videos because I can't get through the show without seeing my kids.
I think one of my favorite parts of being a mom is seeing them when they wake up. It's often when they're sweetest, when they've had the most rest.
My son -- he's 3 -- often tells us what he dreamed about and it's adorable. That's where he's so talkative and has a lot of stories to tell, so I miss that, and I think that's one of the big trades of having a job and not being able to take them to school, and not being able to be there for the beginning of their day, which sets their intentions.
It gives me a little less guilt if it gives me a chance to be a part of that.
10. I workout.
When we're done with "GMA" it just doesn't stop there. 9 a.m. just doesn't hit and then we're gone.
Often we'll have meetings, shoots, and if I don't have those and I'm even able to go home and have lunch with one of the kids, I'll do that, but I also love to work out.
Whether it's weights, bike, cycle, [running], these are my options because then I have to go to "World News."
That's my time to do a little self-care because if I don't take care of me, I'm not gonna be able to wake up at 4 a.m. tomorrow.
