Simplify Your Morning Routine
About a few months ago, I was that person running around in the morning, trying to get ready as quickly as possible so that I could get to work early. Once there, I was getting a jump in my workday before starting a real full-time job, too nervous of being late for an arrival or being late to stop for a cup of coffee.
I have always followed the rules, and as we know, one of the rules of majority is never to be late or unprepared for work so as not to work sub-optimal. Arriving at 9:03 am without reading the news of the day or thinking about three new presentations, you might as well start looking for a new job. As someone who deals with productivity and efficiency on the site, it is especially important for me to always do my best.
But here’s a secret that many have discovered before me: there is a better way to live. Nobody cares if you’re early every day. I’m not sure exactly when it hit me, but over the past few months I have more or less turned down all the advice on what you “should” do in the morning, as I mentioned in our video on our site. updates of the year . Call it productivity overload, but instead of wasting all my mental energy every morning, I relax into my days.
In many ways, this is the least revolutionary thing I could do. However, in this period of optimization and rampant life hacks , it looks like a border riot. Instead of setting my alarm at 5 a.m. to type in the morning pages, fire up 5,000, and cook a three course dinner before arriving early for a full day, I’m just chilling.
Adopting a custom routine
I don’t mean that I’m meditating or doing any other type of “self-care” that has really just become extra work, another item to cross off the to-do list. This usually means that I:
- I sleep an hour later than I did before, even three months ago, getting out of bed around 7:30 AM.
- Take your time wandering around the apartment making French coffee and listening to NPR reports or podcasts.
- Try not to look at my watch, but instead be ready in your spare time, making sure I feel comfortable in my clothes and don’t skimp on skincare. I can clean my apartment if he needs it.
- Sit on my couch with my coffee and just listen to what I’m playing for a few minutes if I’m ready by 8:30 am or so. I don’t really read or check my email or Slack at this time; I just relax before going out the door.
As I said, this non-standard routine is not innovative, but it has markedly improved my mood nonetheless. Here I want to warn you: I live alone, I have no children, I work at work at a certain time. It gives me the freedom to structure my days the way I want. Why didn’t I take advantage of this earlier?
I’m not entirely sure when it became habitual for me to rush, come everywhere early and focus only on work and everything else that I needed to do on a given day, but realizing that no, I really didn’t need to live like that, it wasn’t less than a revelation (another revelation: I realized that I could just remove something from my to-do list that had been on it for several months, and it didn’t matter). It turns out that when you have no stress in the morning and even enjoyable, you have a much better working day.
No optimization required
There are, of course, exceptions. Sometimes I have very tight deadlines, so I work from home before I pack up and go to the office, or I take work early so I can turn in everything on time. Sometimes 7:30 turns into 7:45 turns into 7:55 and I need to rush. And there are still times when my head tells me that I need to “go, go, go!” and I remind myself to take a deep breath and relax. But in general, I follow the same routine.
This does not mean that I still have no performance or optimization problems (it is impossible not to ). I am constantly making and updating to-do lists, trying to learn new skills to “get better,” and thinking about the next task I need to accomplish. But while I’m working to get rid of this inner chatter, giving myself an hour or so in the morning to stop worrying and get ready for the world, ironically, has been the biggest productivity boost of all. I feel better during the work day, so I do more. This productivity of the working day gives me more energy after work, and I can work out, go to the movies, to the museum or whatever. When I was in a rush all day, I literally didn’t have much energy by the end of the day.
But this is just a side effect, not a goal. The goal is to feel better and enjoy life more. Take a little time before doing most of the day for unknowns in the rest of the world. It is a clearing of the mental clutter that can occupy our minds so much of the day, and in one hour or so just not be – without optimization is necessary.