
Ask HN: What is your morning routine? - andyreed
When do you wake up and what do you do to start your day?
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jugjug
I go to the park nearby for two to three hours the first thing in the morning,
where I exercise [1] and meditate. It's been three months. It has changed my
life: I get a boost of highest-quality time every morning. I sleep better, I
move better, I am in mostly great mood all day because of such a start. I had
troubles keeping a habit of exercise and meditation and the switch to this
morning routine solved it greatly.

The first 28 days of forming the habit were a bit of a struggle, but together
with my wife, we supported each other and eventually went through the whole
month. After that I cannot imagine my morning without at least an hour in the
park.

The time of waking up varies and depends on the morning temperature and amount
of light. In summer we woke at 5-6am (it was warm and light), now it's ~7am
(it's getting colder and darker outside).

The book The Willpower instinct [2] influenced me a lot regarding willpower in
the morning.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJDz7qHBGQg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJDz7qHBGQg)

[2] [https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-
Works...](https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-Works-
Matters/dp/1583335080?tag=duckduckgo-d-20)

~~~
CameronBarre
Yeah it gets way harder to wake up 'early' as the sun starts coming out later.
Especially in the PNW when it's straight gray outside in the morning during
those seasons.

How do you manage 3 hours at the park?

~~~
jugjug
What do you mean by "manage"?

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CameronBarre
Wake up between 5:30 and 7:30, it's harder to wake up on the earlier end when
the sun starts coming up later.

I might read a bit while my other half gets ready to walk to get coffee,
currently reading "The Worldy Philosophers" on a first generation surface pro.

This whole time my phone is muted, laptop closed.

Now it's hopefully between 7:30 and 8:30 and I have coffee, also I've been
experimenting with nicotine gum as a mental stimulant, but I'm not insane - I
don't chew the gum and drink my coffee at the same time, it would ruin the
coffee.

Depending on what sort of day it is I will either not work and do whatever I
want, currently learning about economics, or I will work - most days I work.

If I am working I work a minimum of 5 hours and try to be done by 3PM, but as
of this week I'm going to try to keep my hours around 8 on the days I'm
working for at least a couple of months.

Usually I try to begin my work day with Slack notifications snoozed for the
first two hours, because 90% of my responsibility is communication at the
moment, so distractions are the norm for me if I don't keep them in check.

Someone else mentioned LISP, when I am writing code it's Clojure :)

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seanrrwilkins
7 AM: wake up, no alarm most days thank to one very persistent and hungry cat
that likes to jump on my head or scratch doors to make noise.

7:02, feed the cats.

7:15, make a cup of coffee at home and have a light breakfast of yogurt, fruit
and granola.

7:15-8: is breakfast, coffee and listening to The Daily and UpFirst podcasts

8-10: writing. I need to get writing done in the AM while I'm fresh and other
distractions don't leak in.

10-11: shower and work email check-in, get rolling on projects and client
check-ins.

11-3: deep client work and/or business development, depending on deadlines.

~~~
CameronBarre
One time we managed to trick our cat for about a month by using a combination
of scheduling our brown noise generator to go off and scheduling some holiday
lights to come on at the same time, for a noiseless alarm.

Cat would still be sleeping when we woke up and didn't remember she was
supposed to be starving to death.

Trick your cat every chance you get, really.

~~~
seanrrwilkins
Hahah. We’ve used lightly electrified mat a couple times. Now if we put it at
the door the cat just sits quietly across the hall. Don’t even need to turn it
on now.

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codingdave
Wake up at 4 AM. Go directly to my home office and code until 6 AM. Have
breakfast with family. Code until 8:30 AM. Sends kids to school. Go on walk
with wife, then get showered and dressed for the day, then start all the work
that requires communication with everyone else.

It gets me 4 hours of quiet coding in before anyone else is even online and
talking, and makes the rest of the work day relaxing because I've usually
already accomplished my goals for the day by 9 AM.

~~~
usaphp
What time do you go to sleep?

~~~
codingdave
Around 8 PM. I know both my waking and sleeping times seem crazy early to some
people, but it works for me.

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zer0sand0nes
I have either of the 3:

1\. Wake up super early (5:45), get a workout in, eat some breakfast. Cuddle.
Shower. Drive to work around 9:30.

2\. Wake up around 7, read something positive. Eat some breakfast. Head to
work around 9:30.

3\. Wake up at 9, shower. Head to work at 9:30.

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muffa
Usually: 07:00 - Alarm goes off 07:15 - If I exercised the night before I go
get dressed(Got very little hair on my head, benefit: No more morning hair)
07:30 - Leave for work

I stopped eating breakfast, I just drink coffee when I feel hungry until lunch
around 11:30, doing this I actually feel more energetic.

2-3 times a week I head to the gym before heading to work, this actually is
the best routine, you get to work all pumped up, full of energy and your brain
feels like it is running on steroids!

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raptorraver
My kids wake us up around 6.30 - 7.00. Wake, make some coffee, give breakfast
to the kids, bring coffee to my wife who is still in bed, hurry the older kid
to eat, dress up and not to look social media while doing those things, dress
my younger kid and prepare him for the kindergarten while he does everything
to make us late (2,5 yo), walk to the kindergarten (10 minutes walk), then
walk to the office (25 minutes). No productivity tips here ;)

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wreath
Wake up somewhere between 6:30AM and 7AM w/o an alarm clock. Bathroom trip,
weight myself while the water is boiling in the kettle for my hand-brewed
coffee. Depending on the day of the week, I had to the gym for strength
training. Come home for a shower and a quick breakfast before I head to the
office at around 10AM.

~~~
2rsf
> weight myself

every day ?

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theflyinghorse
7:15 - wake up

7:45 - stop cuddling my cat and reading reddit and attempt to get up

8:15 - actually get up

8:20 - shower/brush teeth, try to decide if I messed up my beard lines

8:30 - leave for work

Now, I want to change that to something more productive and add some solo jiu-
jitsu and mobility work in the morning.

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cfj
04:30 AM: Wake up, realize I don't have to get up for another 75 minutes

05:45 AM: Wake up, get out of bed

05:48 AM: Try to find a pair of running socks without holes in them

05:50 AM: Put on running clothes

06:00 AM: Start my run

07:00 AM: Finish my run

07:10 AM: Shower, shave and all that stuff

07:30 AM: Practise piano

07:55 AM: Leave apartment to catch my train

08:00 AM: Hop on train

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gls2ro
05:30 AM - wake up & press button to make coffee

05:35 AM - open laptop and browse TODO list + important communication to be
done

06:00 AM - finished coffee

06:05 AM - shower and change of clothes

06:30 AM - work for ~2 hours on side projects

08:30 AM - family wakes up and we start daily activities

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laurieg
Get up around 7.30am.

Practice the piano for 30 minutes.

Quick shower and a shave and then out of the house to get on with my work day.

I started skipping breakfast a while back for diet purposes but I was
surprised by how much simpler it made my mornings.

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kevinherron
M/W/F: Wake up 4:30, coffee, bathroom, gym by 5:30, office by 8:00.

T/Th: Wake up naturally between 4:30 and 5:30, coffee, breakfast, email,
forums, run 5k or 10k at ~7:00, transition into working from home.

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qzx_pierri
Wake up. Take a big gulp of water from my bedside table. Toilet. Wash face.
Brush teeth. Journal. Stretch for 15 minutes. Get dressed. Walk to class. (Eat
an apple while walking to class)

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cm2012
Wake up 11, work until 5 or 6, repeat.

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Weryj
Wake up. Toilet. Weight Self. Shower. Get Dressed. Eat. Walk to work.

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freediver
wake up and stretch 6am

watch netflix to 7am (halt and catch fire currently)

respond to email to 8am

get kids to school by 9am

do stuff to warm up brain to noon (chess or axis&allies)

idle brain, lunch, then cappuccino and tiramisu to 1pm

be very productive to 6pm

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laken
Wake up at 7AM or so, shower, dress, drive 1hr to work.

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glua
Wake up

Check plans in Calendar

Take a shower

Take a breakfast

Prepare meals for office (healthy lifestyle :-) )

Pack & go to the office

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rasengan
Wake up.

Review calendar.

Check messages and emails.

Workout 5 days per week including cardio and HIIT.

Shower.

Take pills.

Work day starts.

~~~
luckman212
What pills?

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natalyarostova
Wake up at 1:30AM. I then do deep coding (Lisp, obviously) for 15 hours. At
this point my kids are getting home from school, and I spend 8 hours with them
and my wife engaging in wholesome physical activities, finishing off with some
exercise and a healthy meal (I only eat one meal a day for IF). Then following
this I spend 7 hours carefully studying the latest CS theory, and software. I
end with working on my ML side project (I'm making a custom neural network in
Rust that automates my day job).

~~~
srijanshetty
I do the same but I also mix it up by running 10 miles every other day during
which I reflect on the emptiness of the cosmos and our purpose as a tiny speck
of imbued with consciousness but without an essence.

~~~
natalyarostova
I really admire your effort, I've always been a slacker.

