On morning routines

I’ve been toying with and fine-tuning my morning routine quite some over the past months. The ultimate goal is simple: I want to be energized, ready to dive into the day, and with as little friction and time-loss as possible.

The first routine I had consisted of waking up at 7am sharp, getting ready, taking breakfast as fast as possible and then head out to university. I like being in my office by 8am, and this one made me arrive between 7:55 and 8:10.

Then, I thought I had a better idea. I’d skip breakfast at home, rush out as fast as possible and then eat in at my desk while reading my mails. The disadvantage is that I found myself chewing through my breakfast way longer than when I eat at home, and that I couldn’t really make the shift from reading mails to getting into research. However, on some days I was in as early as 7:40.

Now, I’ve changed it all over again, and so far enjoying it. Since I now practice sports every evening, I can be a little faster in the morning by leaving the shower for the evening. With my sleep cycle alarm clock, I now wake up at a moment during 6:50 and 7:15 that corresponds to an up in my sleep cycle pattern – it basically wakes me up at a moment when I think I’m half awake, quite a pleasant way to wake up I must say. All I need to do then is get dressed, and head to the kitchen. I am back into a slow breakfast, with a cup of coffee (my coffee at home just tastes better than the Douwe Egberts from the machine at the university), but at the same time I use my smartphone to already throw out some unwanted mails, catch up on blogs and social media. If I need to cook up a long reply for an email, I use the time on my bike to think about it. And I still try to be in by 8am (or between 8:00 and 8:15). The advantage of this method is that I can get started with research right away, or if necessary, reply an email for which I already know what to write, which saves me time as well.

At the moment I arrive to my office, I exactly know what to get started with for the day. Typically, I write a sticky note to myself at the end of the day to remind myself where I had left and what to start with the next day. When I’m working in a document, I write a quick note to myself and my train of thought in italic, so I know in the morning exactly what to continue with.

How do you make sure you get your day started off in the right way?