Your Morning Routine

Kermit said:
7.00am Woke up, fell out of bed
7.05am Dragged a comb across my head
7.10am Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
7.30am And looking up, I noticed I was late
7.31am Found my coat and grabbed my hat
7.45am Made the bus in seconds flat
7.48am Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
7.50am And somebody spoke and I went into a dream
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A Beatles fan :)

Pre-Covid
6:20 am Get up and have breakfast. Two Weetabix and a glass of orange juice.
6:25 am Have a shower and get dressed.
6:40 am Leave for work.
7:00 am Arrive at work and boot up the laptop.
7:05 am Put the coffee machine on in the kitchen
7:10 am Start reading emails and the day's task ahead.
7:30 am Have another and final cup of coffee, work until 12:00 noon.

Post-Covid
6:45 am Get up and switch the laptop on.
6:45 am Start reading emails.
7:00 am Have a shower and get dressed.
7:10 am Start the day's tasks.
8:30 am Go downstairs and make breakfast. Two Weetabix, coffee, and a glass of orange juice.
8:35 am Eat breakfast while working.
9:30 am Have another and final cup of coffee and work until 12:00 noon.
 
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Interesting reading people's responses. It's not surprising and kinda expected, but so many people use stimulates in the morning habitually. I was the same for most of my adult life until I realised the need for stimulates in the morning, was because I was taking stimulates.

Humans are very capable of waking up naturally without added chemicals. It's also not naturally for us to force various pathways/hormones each morning with chemicals.

Rroff said:
if I don't have that genuine reason it simply doesn't work.
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This touches on an important point about building a good morning routine. Like all habits it does take time for them to stick. The things I do in the morning I know set me up for the day and I wake up eager to get stuck in. I can see a lot of mornings here that lack things to positively set you up for the day, most are just stumbling/meandering through the mornings and this doesn't create the right mindset for the rest of the day. People need a purpose and fire in them to get up in the morning, this is the power doing things in the morning above those things that are essential.
 
LiE said:
Interesting reading people's responses. It's not surprising and kinda expected, but so many people use stimulates in the morning habitually. I was the same for most of my adult life until I realised the need for stimulates in the morning, was because I was taking stimulates.

Humans are very capable of waking up naturally without added chemicals. It's also not naturally for us to force various pathways/hormones each morning with chemicals.
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I gave up tea and coffee a couple of years ago. I did it initially because I moved and was without a coffee machine and was too tight to go to coffee shops (plus a lot of them are mediocre at best), and realised that I actually didn't really miss it. I can't say that I've noticed any material improvement in my sleeping habits though.

Nicotine on the other hand... I don't smoke cigarettes any more, but I still haven't come across a better incentive to get out of bed than a morning smoke.
 
LiE said:
Interesting reading people's responses. It's not surprising and kinda expected, but so many people use stimulates in the morning habitually. I was the same for most of my adult life until I realised the need for stimulates in the morning, was because I was taking stimulates.
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I don't drink coffee to wake me up, I just enjoy the taste and prefer it to tea etc. I only have one or two cups a day, any more than that and it starts to have a negative effect where I can't fall asleep until after midnight.

There are people at work who go through 5 cups a day, they must be vibrating and constantly on edge :D
 
6am – Wife's alarm goes off, roll over and go back to sleep.
7am – Wife leaves for work, drink a pint of water, catch up on the headlines/OcUK.
7.10am – Get up, toilet and brush teeth.
7.20am – Get dressed and wake up the small child.
7.30am – Get the small child dressed, clean teeth etc.
7.50am – Bundle small child into the car.
8am – Drop small child off at nursery.
8.15am – Back home, kettle on have breakfast, read more OcUK.
8.30am – Start work.

All of that assumes the small child actually sleeps until 7.25ish.

I've done the whole 'wake up at 5am and do a 5k run in the cold/wet/dark, then come home and have a cold shower' routine. It certainly invigorates you but I couldn't sustain it, certainly not now with a little one.
 
LiE said:
Switch to decaf for a bit and see how your mornings go ;)
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This, was a massive tea drinker but if I didn't get a cuppa I'd get what I can only describe as a fuzzy head feeling, so gave up on the tea, however I switched to coffee as I was working long hours and I just felt more and more tired without coffee so finally went coffee free as well.

Now I only drink decaf for the taste and I feel a lot better as a result, get up easily, sleep easily and I'm hardly tired during the day even if busy at work.

Caffeine is bad mkkayy
 
alchal said:
Caffeine is bad mkkayy
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+1

I mean, why do you think it's in a lot of soda drinks? It's cheap and gives you a bit of a perk, perfect for creating an addictive product = $$$. Coca Cola doesn't have to contain caffeine. These companies don't care about the negative effects of essentially pushing a drug.

Some people are lucky enough (I guess) to have the gene that means caffeine doesn't really effect them. However the majority of people don't and are either in denial about it's affects, or are full on dependant on it to simply function.

This was a good video:
 
LiE said:
I've been going through a bit of a self improvement phase over the last few months and recently made a big effort to sort my mornings out, because quite frankly they were rubbish.

It started back in mid December when I decided to get off the stimulates aka caffeine to allow my body to properly rest and function once again in the morning. It took a while but now I can wake up 6.45am and hop straight out of bed and feel fresh. Previous I would mash the snooze button, eventually drag myself out of bed and make a coffee. I stumbled through my mornings with only one purpose -- to some how wake up before I started work at 9am.

Now that I could function in the morning I began to incorporate more things to set me up for the day. Here's my morning routine now and honestly it has such a positive effect on my whole day.

- Wake up 6.45 - 7.00am
- Breakfast at 7.30am - big bowl of protein porridge with berries, walnuts and chia seeds.
- Scottish Shower - the idea here is to go for a lukewarm shower and finish off with cold water. Feels amazing and has many benefits. Straight up cold showers are better but I figured this is more sustainable long term.
- Meditation - working my way through headspace courses. Having finished basics 1-3 I'm now starting pro.
- Workout 10am

After doing these things every morning I feel so focused and prepared for the day. It's such a contrast to my old way of waking up. I'd be very interested to hear what others do and what they have found sets them up properly for the day.

"If you win the morning, you win the day" - Tim Ferriss.​
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Scottish shower?

Do you have to eat a deep fried mars bar whilst showering to qualify?
 
It would be interesting if people put their ages on this. I have a hypothesis that mornings get easier the further away from your teenage years you get. I am late 40s

Weekdays.
6.00 AM - Get up, go for a run
6.45 AM - Shower
7.00 AM.- Make Coffee and Porridge.
7.45 AM - Make more Coffee, read news
8.00 AM - Start work

Weekends
7.00 AM - Get up, Shower
7.20 AM - Make Coffee and Porridge
7.30 AM - Start the Blissful hour before every other git in the house gets up and ruins my peace and quiet.
 
I am almost 44. I have also recently changed my weekend mornings to stop laying around in bed until 11, so now I try to be up and out both days by 8.30 at the latest. I drive to Tesco on Saturday, park up then go for a 6-7 mile walk before doing some shopping then going home knowing the rest of the day I can be lazy :). Sunday is similar but I usually go to Welling at the moment, again do a 6-7 mile walk then pop into Morrisons for anything I didn't get in Tesco, then go home again knowing I can afford to be lazy the rest of the day again.

Im sure once Lockdown is over and I can actually do things on these days I'll change, but at the moment it is working for me (in Jan I walked 230 miles or so in total doing these morning walks and lunchtime walks).
 
pepp77 said:
I am almost 44. I have also recently changed my weekend mornings to stop laying around in bed until 11, so now I try to be up and out both days by 8.30 at the latest. I drive to Tesco on Saturday, park up then go for a 6-7 mile walk before doing some shopping then going home knowing the rest of the day I can be lazy :). Sunday is similar but I usually go to Welling at the moment, again do a 6-7 mile walk then pop into Morrisons for anything I didn't get in Tesco, then go home again knowing I can afford to be lazy the rest of the day again.

Im sure once Lockdown is over and I can actually do things on these days I'll change, but at the moment it is working for me (in Jan I walked 230 miles or so in total doing these morning walks and lunchtime walks).
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6 or 7 miles??
Where do you end up, dartford/ greenwich if the other way maybe?
 
Bassmansam said:
6 or 7 miles??
Where do you end up, dartford/ greenwich if the other way maybe?
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Tesco is Woolwich, so I walk to Blackheath via Woolwich common, then down into Charlton and along the Thames back to Woolwich Arsenal, then back up to Tesco. From Welling I normally walk down into Danson, then along the side of the A2 to Bexleyheath, then head back to Crooks log and go around the back of Welling to where Lidl is before looping back to the front of Morrisons where I usually park. I have been working through the Wheel of Time audio books on the walks.
 
pepp77 said:
Tesco is Woolwich, so I walk to Blackheath via Woolwich common, then down into Charlton and along the Thames back to Woolwich Arsenal, then back up to Tesco. From Welling I normally walk down into Danson, then along the side of the A2 to Bexleyheath, then head back to Crooks log and go around the back of Welling to where Lidl is before looping back to the front of Morrisons where I usually park. I have been working through the Wheel of Time audio books on the walks.
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Very nice, puts my daily 1 mile walk to shame lol. I just do it to get out of the house and get a bit of excercise. Weird to see all those areas i know so well written about on here. I live in upper belvedere at the moment but lived in Blackfen most of my life.
 
6:45 Get up
6:50 Shower / Get dressed
7:00 Get son ready for nursery
7:30 Drink a coffee
7:45 Send boy and wife out the door
7:50 Log onto laptop, start work

Having to sort the boy out can be a right drag especially if the wife is starting work early. However, WFH is pretty great as I save at least 60 mins travel which really adds up over the weeks and months.
 
Royal Fleet said:
It would be interesting if people put their ages on this. I have a hypothesis that mornings get easier the further away from your teenage years you get. I am late 40s
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Interesting theory, have you read Why We Sleep ?? It supports your hypothesis.
 
6.35am - Alarm goes off
6.50am - Get out of bed
6.50am - 7.30am - Wee, brush teeth, wash face, take dump if needed, get ready for work, check phone, etc
7.30am - Leave for work
7.45am - Arrive at work, get coffee (or tea) from vending machine
8am - Start work
 
LiE said:
Interesting reading people's responses. It's not surprising and kinda expected, but so many people use stimulates in the morning habitually. I was the same for most of my adult life until I realised the need for stimulates in the morning, was because I was taking stimulates.

Humans are very capable of waking up naturally without added chemicals. It's also not naturally for us to force various pathways/hormones each morning with chemicals.
Click to expand...

I did no caffeine for 4-5 months and genuinely saw no benefit. If anything, I felt more tired the whole time frustratingly. I'm sure if you were on 6 espresso shots a day then it may be more noticeable but I don't think 5-6 cups of tea over the course of a day was giving me much of a caffeine boost anyway.

My routine definitely needs sorting out though. It was done with military precision pre lockdown when we had to all be out of the house by 8am but the motivation has long gone since lockdown.

There has to be something in the early bird / night owl hypothesis. I've always struggled to go to bed pre 11pm and waking up before 7am is like trying to come out of a coma. My wife on the other hand seems to have as much energy at 7am as any other time of the day.
 
Fortunate to work for a very flexible employer, where there is no set time to logon or logoff within reason. Some people send emails at all sorts of crazy hours during this pandemic.

Sadly I am not one who jumps out of bed, decides to run around the block, shower in ice cold.

I so wish I could. I sit and watch Rocky and always promise myself that one day I *will* be one of those types, super buff and run through my market town screaming Dragooooo :o

Anyway, typical routine:

7:40 Alarm and make a cuppa.
7:50 Review emails - plan my day which dictates my next move...
  1. Zoom calls - shower, shave and scramble for something to wear.
  2. No Zoom calls - breathe a sigh of relief and sit in my grunge and shower later. :)
8:15 Second cup of tea (I am amazed at how many coffee drinkers there are) I thought coffee first thing was a US thing! I like coffee but unless I am traveling I will always go for a cuppa. Drink tea during the morning, water in the afternoon.

Precovid: Alarm 4:45am, cuppa, shower, grumble, catch train, commute, start work 7:40. Apart from waking up, the commute never bothered me, only train cancelations and delays drive me nuts.
 
Pre Covid

05.45 - Alarm goes off / get up
Feed the cats
Empty dishwasher
Pack youngest daughter's packed lunch box
Tea and / of coffee while checking emails on phone
Grab quick breakfast
6.15 - take Mrs a brew / waker her up
Shaved / wash / dressed
6.30 - wake kids up and say goodbye / leave for work
6.30 - 7.15 ish drive to work
7.15 - 7.30 ish start work

Now (since last March)

06.45 - Alarm goes off / get up
Feed the cats
Empty dishwasher
Make breakfast / check emails on phone
Assess calendar to see if need to shave / shower / wear something semi formal or just shorts and Tshirt
7.00 - take Mrs a brew / waker her up
Sit in kitchen finishing off breakfast - having more coffee and browsing news / interwebs
7.30 - wake kids up
Lesuirely brew / chat with kids
Let the chickens out / collect eggs
8.00 - check emails again / turn on surface and appear online
8.10 - get appropriately dressed for the day
8.20 - stroll to study / mancave (about 10 seconds)
Start work
 
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