
Ask HN: What is your morning routine? - xfax
What does your morning look like from the time you wake up to the time you get to work?<p>How do you transition your mental mode from personal&#x2F;family obligations to work? What do you do in the first 30 minutes of getting to work?
======
digitalsushi
Alarm goes off at 6. I hit snooze 12 times until it's about 7. I half doze,
half ruminate on why I can't just get out of bed at 6. The hour I steal from
myself gives me immeasurable pleasure. Around 7 I make it down into the
bathroom, where I check political news for about a half hour. I ruminate on
how unhealthy my eating habits are. I take a shower, and get out of the house
by 8. On the ride in, I try to use positive thinking to set the tone for the
day, but I generally fail and focus on negative thoughts. I obsess about
whether living and working on the Internet have caused a reverse personal
renaissance. Often I grab a high carb, high fat bagel and cream cheese, and
large coffee.

Once I'm in, I log onto here for a half hour, check reddit, and try to force
myself to "feel motivated". I hop onto Lync, and the underlings tell me about
drama from their mid 20s lives. I get jealous of them and all the experiences
they could be having, but they're locked up in the same corporation I am. We
do fake smiles and get lots of coffee. I do agile meetings and track my own
progress in a little web app. Once per week, a chart is mailed based off
metrics I self assigned, to my manager and the director.

By 11am I start to decide if I am going to write any code for that day. If I
haven't started, I get overwhelmed. Lately I have panic attacks, but I have a
new doctor who tells me to stop eating carbs and drinking coffee. I lie to her
and tell her I am, and then get those items on the way back from the
appointment as a reward.

Tell me I'm not as alone as that felt

~~~
temp246810
Fwiw coffee makes an enormous difference for me anxiety wise.

The initial boost in energy and mild euphoria is not worth an evening full of
anxiety and irritability for me personally.

Yes, that's my experience in the evening even if I have coffee at 8am.

Anyway just sharing in case anyone is struggling and looking for something to
tweak.

~~~
TurboHaskal
Take theanine with your coffee. A ratio of 2:1 theanine to caffeine does
wonders.

~~~
temp246810
Thanks for the tip, I'll look into it and give it a shot.

That said, it's nice not relying on coffee everyday for a boost, though there
are at least a couple days a week where I could really use it, esp after a
night of unpleasant sleep.

------
masonic
06:00 - woke up

06:05 - got out of bed

06:10 - dragged a comb across my head

06:15 - Found my way downstairs

06:20 - drank a cup

06:30 - looking up, I noticed I was late

06:32 - found my coat, and grabbed my hat

06:33 - made the bus in seconds flat

...

16:30 - Found my way upstairs and had a smoke

16:50 - Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

~~~
bbcbasic
Have to catch an early train Got to be to work by nine And if I had an air-o-
plane I still couldn't make it on time

'Cause it takes me sho long Just to figure out what I'm gonna wear Blame it on
the train But the boss is already there

~~~
masonic
A lot of people don't realize who wrote that song; the original album credit
said just "Christopher".

~~~
bbcbasic
Wow Prince yet again

------
bdnelson
06:00 - Alarm (wife is up at 5:40)

06:05 - Coffee. Check email/slack/rollbar/etc for anything urgent.

06:15 - Local news for weather/traffic, HN and national/world news check.

06:30 - Shave, shower

06:55 - Eat breakfast with my wife.

07:10 - We leave for work and I drop my wife off at her office.

I listen to my daily podcasts in the car. My drive to the local office is 15
minutes so on those days I finish my podcasts at my desk. The head office is 1
hour away, so I can finish them all on the drive.

I try to finish all communication tasks and all error/task/planning triage at
the start of the day. The rest of the day is for coding and whatever meetings
I have to attend. I try to break my coding into 1-1.5 hour chunks so that
meetings don't hurt my flow as much. My calendar is pretty free since we are a
small team and try to respect each other's time.

Lunch time (other than time spent eating) is spent either in meetings or in
meditation/on a walk.

Back home at 5:30 after picking my wife up and we fix and eat dinner together.
We'll both do some work in the evenings if we need to, but not every night.
Usually just enough to finish off what was in progress at the end of the day.

We are in bed by 9:00, reading until lights out at 10.

For me the set schedule helps me transition my mental mode between work and
family times. And since we usually commute together, my wife and I are on the
same schedule. It helps keep us from being in 2 different modes at the same
time.

------
SubuSS
\- Wake up at 430-5 (Used to use an alarm, now it is a natural thing. I am
also asleep by 930pm and usually catch a couple of naps over the weekend).

\- Take my dog out, hit the restroom, have breakfast

\- Train on my bike for 1-1.5 hours

\- Try real hard to catch my bus at 735. I usually miss nowadays, So I hitch a
ride with my wife at 845 to the bus stop.

\- reach by 915 or so. Coffee and coding. I try to get some coding done in one
block in the morning and one more in evening.

\- lunch at 1130 - HN at this time, and when am waiting for meetings etc.

\- ride back home by 630 or so. I reach by 730 or so.

\- couple of hours with the fam

RE transition: I have tried many 'methods' and clocks etc. but nothing beats
intrinsic motivation: I try to work towards that. (Having goals that matter,
finding real work that I love etc). I ride and train hard on my bike because I
want to. I work because I want to. There are days / weeks when I get into a
slump when there is lower productivity, but C'est la vie. Trying hard to be
productive is usually a drain / anxiety inducing thing for me anyway - so I
have just come to accept the cycles in my life :)

~~~
wry_discontent
Do you find going to bed at 930pm hurts your social life?

That is by far the largest thing keeping me from the "early to bed, early to
rise" lifestyle. I like going out with people, or generally engaging with
others at night.

~~~
lostlogin
I'm going to pick that the answer is no, as having kids and sorting them out
has the effect (on me and others I know) of hindering night time socialising
and at the same time stopping you from wanting to go out at night.

------
mrmondo
07:00 - Philips Hue lights slowly turn on until bright at 07:10

07:10 - iPhone alarm goes off

07:12 - Bedside alarm goes off to make sure I actually got up

07:14 - Shave, long, hot shower

07:40 - Leave for work (either walk to the train station or drive), eat a
Banana on the way

08:15 - Arrive at work, make a coffee and fill water bottle

08:20 - Team lead of a small ops / systems engineers, some management style
work, lots of puppet coding, keeping an eye on monitoring and tickets, assist
my team and developers with any peer review / issues / discussions

10:00 - Sometimes get a morning snack / coffee

12:00 - Lunch, avoid carbs and try to stick to high protein, low sugar foods
when possible.

12:15 - Back to work any time between 12:15 and 13:00

Any time between 15:00 and 18:00 - leave work

Any time between 17:00 and 20:30 - Order dinner from UberEats, maybe have a
wine or two

Most evenings - Catch up on comedy shows, read books

Some evenings - Perform out of hours scheduled work or finish things I was on
a roll with remotely from home, go to gigs, catch up with friends over dinner
etc...

------
tboyd47
I like to have a cup of coffee and watch some TV comedy when I get up. It
never hurts to start your day off (or end it) in a light-hearted mood. I
especially try to pick work- or office-related humor. For a while I was
watching The Office, and now I'm onto The IT Crowd.

------
timbernard
It took me time and reflections for building a decent morning routine, I think
the best way was to realize what tended to ruin my day just after waking up:
checking social media, checking emails, browsing the internet ...

In other words, filling my head with too much different data and information.
That was exhausting me and 99% of the time, it was not worth it.

I believe it is important for me to start the day by _focusing on one thing_ ,
whatever it is, whether it's a project, a dream or learning new things.
Usually, I take advantage of this time to read great books to reflect upon.

------
mod
I'm a remote worker (developer) with what is probably a terrible morning
routine, but I'll mention it here for balance.

I wake up roughly 10 minutes before start-time at work. I roll out of bed, put
on some clothes, and use the bathroom before I stagger out to the living room.

Out there I pour myself a drink and typically move my laptop to my recliner
instead of my desk. I find it warmer and far more comfortable in the mornings.

My first 30 minutes at work varies based on things like whether or not anyone
has requested something from me (we work from a few time zones), how defined
my current task is, and what state I left things in the night before. I
usually start in on a development task within a few minutes.

------
jordif
For me the morning route give me the power and focus for all the day, so it's
very important.

I wake up at 5:30 and I meditate for 5-10 minutes. After that I eat, I check
the Slack to see if I have any important request from the team during the day
(we are in three different timezones, Spain, Japan, SF). I prioritize and add
to the calendar my day tasks (if I have to do a task, it means that is
important and it has to be schedule in a proper time to put focus on it).

After that I do sport from 7 to 8. Sometimes I go to the gym for some cardio
exercise and another times just for a 30-45min run.

I arrive to the office at 08:15.

------
jaugernauts
Eh, most responses are idealistic here. I am not sure how many are speaking
truth.

I work for one of the FANG. Workload is 60 hrs per week.

8:30 am- get up and get ready

9-30 am- start for office

10 am- in office

12-15 pm- lunch. No eating at desk

1-15 pm- tea

5-30 pm - leave office

6- 7-30 pm- go to a coffee shop and see any girl is worth talking.lol. I am
single.

8 pm - Gym

9-30 - Dinner

9-30 pm to 11 pm - again work

11 pm - midnight - reddit/hn

Midnight - 2 am - Can't sleep.

Looks like I am forever single and no women likes me.

That's life.

~~~
kdamken
Sad way to look at things. Have you ever had luck with women? Are you in
shape? I'm guessing you might be because you go to the gym. If not, work on
packing on some muscle.

Then, focus on having fun, interesting hobbies and going out and meeting
people. Build an interesting life first and it will be easier to find someone
to share it with.

------
r00fus
My best days have me getting out of bed in the wee hours for a brisk ride or
run. A close second is knowing that I've penciled in some exercise time later
in the day.

Once I've showered, I usually get the kids to school then either head back to
the home office or head to work.

My morning is infested with quick email/slack replies to urgent issues on my
iPhone to answer questions, coordinate and get meetings setup for when my day
actually starts.

I block out my calendar from 7-8AM and only accept the most urgent
calls/meetings begrudgingly.

I can often join a meeting in co-pilot mode (someone else is driving and just
needs my inputs) while on my commute.

All of this is powered by wrapup activity the night before (30m @ 9 or 10PM)
so I've set expectations for the next day - if that doesn't happen, I'm a bit
more stressed in the morning.

------
patrickgordon
Context: 27 y/o, fiance, no dependants

4:45 - alarm goes off, start getting ready

5:05 - go down to garage and prep bike

5:10 - meet those that I am riding with

5:15 to 7.15 - Ride and then coffee(s)

7:30 get home and shower and take already prepared bag

8:00 take train to work

===

On the days where I do not ride it is essentially the same but replaced with
gym.

Cycling changed my life; would not be the person I am today without it.

------
TurboHaskal
Wake up at five something, take a piss, shower and dress yourself.

No time for breakfast, throw intra and post-workout shakes into the bag and
head to the gym with SO.

After training, we may sit down to eat something in a bakery depending on the
time.

Go to work. Upon arriving fetch some decaff and prepare that stupid daily
meeting. Middle manager crack.

Lunch break. Walk in the park for one hour while drinking a litre of milk,
phoning relatives and listening to podcasts.

I get paid for browsing HN.

After work it's all me and SO time. We love cooking elaborated dinners and
gossiping about our colleagues.

Videogames and technical books are the only computer related things I still
do. I despise them so much I had to buy a PlayStation for gaming as touching a
keyboard makes me anxious.

GitHub is your resume now.

------
piratemad
Alarm at 6:30 snooze couple times, stare at the ceiling and having a 3 minutes
existential crisis, drink water (amazing for waking up your brain and body)
shower, dress leave for coffee . Take the bus to college while reading news
and HN.. Day starts

------
bsvalley
\- When I first open my eyes on the morning I usually get most of my
intellectual work done from my bed. I call it half sleepy / half awake. This
is when my brain is at %200. Sometimes I resolve yesterday's issues or get new
ideas. It's amazing how fast and clear my brain is, right when I wake up. It
only lasts for 5 minutes unfortunately. I try to take notes because everything
disappears pretty quickly.

\- Then I pull out my phone and check out my emails + news. It's usually 7am
so the west coast is still sleeping.

\- Then the food routine kicks off. Shower, breakfast, water, coffee then more
water.

\- Check out my emails again, it's about 8:30am. Now the day really starts.

------
thisisforyou
-Alarm goes off at 5:30. Hit snooze once.

-Alarm goes off at 5:35. Depending on how sleepy I am I may lay in bed for 1-10 minutes, usually petting the cat.

-Put on clothes in dark.

-Get out of bed, fill up a large jar of water and sit in living room. One pillow behind back, one pillow on lap, laptop on lap pillow.

-Put computer on airplane mode, open word doc of current novel manuscript.

-Write at least 500 words in manuscript (generally finish by 6:15).

-Get back in bed until partner's alarm goes off at 6:35.

-Get up, put on hot water. Eat cereal and read Harper's.

-Off to work at 7am.

-Spend first 30-45 minutes at work reading HN, ArsTechnica.

~~~
CommieBobDole
What do you do with the large jar of water?

~~~
coldtea
Obviously drink it. It's one of the best health advice to drink a couple
glasses of water when you wake up.

~~~
CommieBobDole
I agree it's a good idea to drink water in the morning, it just seemed funny
that filling it was mentioned and then nothing more.

I guess I expected it to show up in the final step, like Chekhov's Gun.

------
ponyous
I currently live with a really good friend of mine who is studying, therefore
I prefer to do personal things in the morning. It's not only because of him,
but I find myself much more productive in the morning as well.

06:30-06:45 - Alarm goes off + max 1 snooze. After that I prepare a cup of tea
and sometimes a breakfast

06:45-07:45 - I look into my personal projects and todo list, try to sort out
as much stuff as possible.

06:45-08:00 - Prepare for work and take a shower

08:00-08:15 - Leave home

------
austinjp
Alarm 7:15. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Make espresso, add some milk,
drink in bed while reading Facebook. Resolve to quit Facebook and contact
friends directly instead. Shower. Pack rucksack, get dressed. Cycle to work,
between 15 and 45 minutes depending on location. Check emails and flag those I
should action that day. Change out of cycling clothes. Do something
productive, then duck out for coffee and buttered toast at 10:30am.

------
chrisbennet
Wake up naturally, no alarm clock. 7ish in winter, 6ish in summer.

Shower and think about the work days problems.

Drive to work, picking breakfast up on way. In the summer, I bike to work a
few days a week.

Work on mentally challenging stuff and try to ignore email until lunch.

Eat lunch in my office (takeout) or go out to lunch with a friend.

After lunch, read email, write clients back, sometimes take a nap.

Then work until dinner time and go home.

(I'm a software developer, consultant/contractor.)

------
magic_beans
I wake up around 5am, have a cup of English breakfast, and read the news or
whatever code I'm interested in at the moment. From 7am - 8am I work out, then
head into work all happy and full of endorphins, prepare second cup of tea,
and write a list of three specific micro-tasks I want to accomplish that day.

I usually fizzle out by 3pm, so I like to tackle my most complex tasks before
then!

------
AznHisoka
I typically don't need an alarm and wake up anywhere from 6:30 AM - 7:30 AM
without a problem.

Sometimes I'm impatiently waiting for the sun to rise so I can get up.

Been doing a quick 5 minute meditation, then go to brush my teeth. If I'm
lazy, I might browse online on my smartphone.

Eat breakfast at 8, send my daughter to nursery if needed, and then head to
work by 9 AM.

------
rvpolyak
When I was working I would be up at 3:40am head to the gym, workout for an
hour, home by 5:10am shower, make breakfast for the husband and myself. Eat,
read and journal then out the door to head to the office. Work until 5:00pm.
Home by 6:30pm cook, read and write in bed not later then 9:30pm.

Now up at 5:30am gym, home, job search, read and write.

------
tomhardman0
\- Alarm 6am

\- Grab my bag (prepared the night before) and cycle to the gym for 630

\- Gym 630 -> 730

\- Cycle to work for 815

\- Drink loads of water and eat breakfast

\- Shower and get to my desk for 9

\- Work, read, and tick off things on my todo list until my colleagues arrive
(anytime until 10am)

I find if I skip the gym I can be in a terrible mood. Seems like I don't even
consider riding my bike exercise anymore, just transport!

Always in bed by 10-11pm.

EDIT: Formatting.

------
bbcbasic
Woke up, fell out of bed.

Dragged a comb across my head.

Found my way downstairs and drank a cup.

And looking up I noticed I was late.

Found my coat and grabbed my hat.

Made the bus in seconds flat.

Found my way upstairs and had a smoke.

Somebody spoke and I went into a dream.

------
NetStrikeForce
Wake up, go downstairs, make coffee and toasts, play with my son for 20-30
minutes, shower, clothes, work.

That usually happens between 9am and 10.30am.

Lunch at 11.30am :-)

------
niccl
usually wake around 8:00. breakfast in bed with partner. shower, stagger in to
office. Take morning ritalin. check morning cartoons (xkcd smbc, frazz), read
HN (18 minutes noprocrast). Check sites for jobs (_still_ no Python contracts.
It's been nearly a year). Start work on whatever little job there is, or on my
never ending side project. snack more than I should. Eat a couple of apples.
Wish there were some interesting paid work in the offing, or even some
interesting lighting work (the live music scene here is almost as dead as the
Python contract market). Try to understand the next new bit of technology for
the side project: currently how to write a mobile app and how to structure
code for embedded ARM devices and port code from AVR to that.

