The Perfect Daily Routine Every Man Should Do (Bible Based)

How you spend your days will be how you spent your life.

You don’t have to try to waste your life. It will just happen all by itself. A meaningful life, however, will only be produced through intentionality. Success is never an accident.

Never rely on luck. Luck is really just those moments where preparedness and opportunity collided. God will give you open doors, but you have to be ready to walk through them.

Therefore, we can’t prioritize our schedules. Rather, we have to schedule our priorities. If you don’t choose the way you will live your life, others will choose for you. You won’t be living. You’ll get used. You’ll get lived by others. Instead of doing what you planned, you will do what life is telling you to do. You will constantly be trying to put out fires, all the while feeling like you’re accomplishing nothing.

Scripture will transform your life if you let it shape your daily habits in these 12 ways.

1. Follow a Righteous Routine

You can’t reinvent the wheel every morning. Whether we like it or not, much of our life is spent on autopilot.

You might have some days where you dream big and work on your grand vision. But day in and day out, you can’t get up every morning and say, “How will I live a meaningful life today?”

Instead, you have to form a righteous routine that you follow every day. Notice the use of the word “custom” the Scriptures used to describe Jesus’s habits:

• Luke 4:16, “And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.”
• Luke 22:39-40, “And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

So, step one is to pick important habits you will practice daily. Unless you’re taking a rest day, which is biblical too, never start your day without a plan.

2. Start Early

In Scripture, there is an emphasis on getting your day started early.

• Mark 1:35, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”
• Proverbs 31:15, “She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.”
• Psalm 143:8, “Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.”

Not only that, but the Scriptures also emphasize that evil people usually stay up late (1 Thessalonians 5:7-8, Proverbs 4:16). Even in the secular world, most successful people are early risers, and most mischief occurs at night (bars, nightclubs, partying, etc.).

Why is the morning so valuable? First, it sets the tone for the rest of your day. While you might naturally be more of a night owl, the fact remains that most of your interactions with people have already occurred by evening. If you want to be useful at work, engaged with the people you love, and useful in the ministries God has for you that day, you need to protect your mornings.

Hopping on your phone as soon as your eyes open is a sure way to set a terrible tone for your day. You’re telling your body to seek comfort rather than work.

3. Never Hit the Snooze Button

Whatever you need to do to get up on time, do it! Personally, I put my alarm clock across the room. If I can just roll over and turn it off, I’m too tempted to lie there, and then I can easily fall back asleep. When I get fully out of bed, it’s way harder to crawl back in and be lazy.

Proverbs 6:9-11, “How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”

4. Pray

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing . . .”

Some men feel like they’re too busy to pray. The truth is, you’re too busy not to pray. Your day is filled with too many important things not to pause in the morning and spend time in God’s presence.

If you’re just praying when a need arises, you’re setting yourself up for a wasted life. When prayer becomes your habit, you will bear much fruit for Jesus (John 15:5).

5. Study the Scriptures

While prayer is essential, the Scriptures are just as essential. You need to connect with God personally, but you must also connect with God correctly. Our God is holy. We need to know the truth about him.

Not only that, the Scriptures provide us with countless principles the Spirit will apply to our lives. You don’t have to figure this life out. The Scriptures can do that for you. If you become wise through the Bible, it will bless every part of your life (James 1:25).

Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

6. Take Care of Your Body

As Christians, sometimes we focus so much on the internal man that we forget about the vessel in which we are living.

But notice what Paul said, “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).

Physical health is all about daily habits. Doing something really healthy doesn’t matter. You need to do healthy things every day. Therefore, you have to plan your meals for the day. Don’t just wing it. You have to schedule your workouts. Get them done before work if you can. And if you can’t, do it right after work if possible. The longer you wait in the day to exercise, the less likely you are to do it.

While godliness is more important than being in great physical shape, Scripture also highlights the value of caring for your body (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 Timothy 4:8).

7. Multiply Your Resources

Man’s work was cursed at the fall (Genesis 3). But work itself is not a curse. It was given to us before sin entered the picture (Genesis 2). Therefore, while you should have at least one day of rest, as a man, you must spend a lot of time working.

What is work? Work is when we seek to multiply our resources. Whether you work with your hands, invest, or have created passive income, as a man, every day should involve intentional focus on meeting the material needs of yourself and those under your care.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, “. . . aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.”
• Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

8. Take Breaks

Sometimes we get so driven that we end up driving ourselves into the ground. God didn’t make us to work non-stop. You have to take wise breaks. Not only do you need a Sabbath day, but you also need little pockets of rest built into each day.

If you don’t take wise breaks, you’ll end up taking unwise breaks. Instead of stepping away from the stress, getting some food, going on a walk, or getting fresh air and sunlight through a scheduled break, you’ll end up scrolling on your phone or eating sugary treats when you should be doing something productive that benefits your income.

Mark 6:31, “And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”

9. Prioritize Your People

What you do is really important. But why you do it is even more important. If you don’t have people you’re working for, work becomes meaningless.

Scripture isn’t just a book about moral living. Rather, Scripture is really a book about love – how God has loved us, how we can love God, and how we can love other people.

Therefore, just as you have to prioritize your walk with God through prayer and Scripture every day, you also need to prioritize your most important relationships with people. If you just wing it and try to fit your people in the margins of your life, they will feel neglected, and your bond will weaken.

While you are called to serve in life and ministry, always remember that life without love is truly the most meaningless life of all. If you don’t have love, you have nothing! (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

10. Encourage Rather than Complain

You can either be a complainer or an encourager. You can’t do both at the same time.

Complaining is toxic. It puts a magnifying glass on your problems and fuels your annoyance. Problem-solving is useful. But problem-solving only addresses the problem to find a solution. Complaining is just about whining, being the victim, and giving in to negativity. It makes you more unhappy and makes people want to avoid you.

However, the more gratitude and encouragement you can express every day, the happier you will be and more people will like you.

Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

11. Decompress

While you need to live a disciplined life as a man, to stay energized, you also have to create space for restful spontaneity. You need to plan moments where there is no plan. A man will feel truly wealthy in life if he can say to himself, “What do I want to do right now?”

However, moments like this will only be relaxing when you know you’ve already taken care of your business today. If you prioritize your hobbies over more important things, they will end up producing more anxiety in your life in the long run.

1 Timothy 6:17, “As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.”

12. Prioritize Your Sleep

To get up early and give your best to God, you have to first go to bed early. God has made us dependent creatures. Like little babies, our bodies are literally designed to shut down. We are incapable of constantly expelling energy.

If you’re sleep-deprived, it’s highly unlikely you’ll have a productive day. And if most of your days are unproductive, you will not be able to live a productive life. Going to sleep is an act of surrender, trusting that God will take care of you and give you what you need.

Psalm 127:1-2, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.”