I used to be a mess in the mornings. I'd wake up at 5AM and just lay in bed and fuck around on my phone or IPad until 7, take a shower, get dressed, and leave for work. I quickly realized that I was miserable throughout the day and needed to change it up. I put myself on a somewhat rigid schedule for the morning and my day goes a lot better. 5:30 - Wake up and have a sip of water from the bottle I keep on my nightstand. 5:35 - Splash warm water on my face, throw contacts in, pee. 5:45 - Head to the gym or run or both 6:30-6:45 - Get home, shower, feed the cat, eat a banana or some other fruit, slug some coffee, maybe do an oil pull if I have enough time (I know, I know. But I love it). 7:00 - Leave for work 7:10 - Get to work and fuck around on the internet and TiB for 30 minutes when I should be reading market news, catching up on emails, etc. Focus: What's your daily routine like (morning or in general)? Anything that you've done that's changed your day for the better that you'd recommend to others? Alt Focus: Breakfast. What's your go-to?
Focus: 6:00 - Alarm #1 goes off. Hit snooze. Continue every 9 minutes until... 6:30 - Alarm #2 goes off. Drag ass out of bed. 6:31-6:54 - Get dressed, brush teeth, etc. 6:55 - Leave for work. 7:00 - Arrive at work, without a second to spare. I really need to start waking up earlier. Alt. Focus: I've started bringing yogurt and granola to work with me. I usually eat it after all the trucks have left and everything is calmed down, so probably 9 or so. I used to send money with our air driver when he went to Casey's to fuel and I'd have him bring me biscuits and gravy or a breakfast sandwich. I've saved money and lost 5 pounds in the two weeks since I've started bringing my own breakfast in. God forbid I actually wake up with a few extra minutes to eat breakfast at home. I'm ridiculous.
I have a bunch of sleep problems - getting to sleep and waking up are both problems for me. Also, I'm a full time student, so I don't have a fixed time to be up in the morning - it varies from day to day. For me, my routine when I have a class or a thing to get too goes Alarm 1 goes off, I sleep through it. A minute later, alarm 2 goes off, I snore louder. A minute later, alarm three goes off, I hit snooze on the lot. A minute later, alarm 4 goes off. I hit snooze. Alarms 5 through 8 go off following roughly this sequence. Alarm 9 and alarm 1 go off. Somewhere between this point, and half an hour, I either get out of bed, or decide I didn't need to up this early anyway, turn off all my alarms, set some new ones for half an hour or 45 minutes, and go back to sleep. At some point, i stumble out of bed, grunt at whoever happens to home at the time, or to myself if nobody is home, use the bathroom, have a shower, shave my head, grumble about hating everyone, take whatever current cocktail of vitamins and stimulants my doctor has currently decided is a good idea. I struggle with food and mornings - and honestly food in the day time in general - if I do manage food, it's usually porridge with some dried fruit and honey. I then usually arrive either 5 minutes late, or 30 minutes early for whatever I'm going too. I'm so fucking disorganized.
Mornings for me now involve waking up around 8, reading the news, then reading the financials, and sobbing inconsolably until I find the energy to work out. Watch the market some more where I get a false sense of hope, then go back to crying . I think I've found a healthy balance. My schedule when I worked retail: 3-3:30 A.M.: Wake up on my own, occasionally the alarm had a chance to go off. 3:30-4:00: Read the news, leave snarky rep points. 4:00: Shower, dress 4:20: Eat, brush teeth, finish news 4:38: Leave for work 5:00: Open door for my employees 5:05: Delegate work, cry in the warehouse I'd sooner wear my O-ring out in the alleys on Collins Avenue than go back to that bullshit. I dropped over 20 pounds, had a perpetual headache, and eventually got to the point where I was waking up every couple hours freaking out the alarm didn't work. Breakfast: Soup, pasta, Granola and yogurt, whatever is leftover really. I hate breakfast for breakfast. Sausages, pancakes, no way. That's a bomb waiting to go off. Cereal is too damn sugary, plus it doesn't stay with you once you start blasting hot fiber sharts all over the office.
On work days, here's my routine: 4:00 - Wake up. 4:05 - Walk dogs. 4:30 - Go to gym and erg. 5:10 - Shit, shower, shave. 5:30 - Get dressed, get all my stuff, and head out the door. 6:00 - Start my shift. Seriously, getting up and doing shit is the best way to wake up. The dogs are basically my alarm, as they get mad if I'm in bed and they have to shit. Rowing wakes me the fuck up; I could be running off of two hours of sleep, and I'll be good for most of the day thanks to that infernal machine.
I hate mornings* both because I'm usually tired and grumpy from a bad/short night's sleep and because routine simultaneously depresses and comforts me. There's always a moment when I'm going through my morning routine where I think "I did the exact same thing yesterday and the day before that and I will do the exact same thing tomorrow and the day after that, forever" and I get bummed out. I go to sleep around when the people who have posted so far are waking up. I wake up with an alarm at noon or 2, depending on when I have work, and usually snooze once. Then I pee, brush my teeth, and wash my face. I feed the cat, who has been weaving between my legs as I'm walking this whole time and has probably cause me to almost faceplant at least once. Then I check my email, Facebook, and here. I inevitably spend way too much time doing this than I should. Then I make dinner to bring to work with me. While it's cooking, I try to either eat my lunchbreakfast or prepare something to bring with me to eat on the train or at work, but more often than not I forget or run out of time or don't have anything, so I end up buying something later. I am horrible at this meal. I never know what to eat or what I'm even in the mood for, but it usually ends up being a breakfast sandwich or a bagel or a muffin or fruit just because that's what's easily accessible, with iced coffee or iced tea. Then I (try to) catch one of three trains that will either get me to work early, right on time, or a few minutes late but not late enough to be a problem. I'll either read, listen to music or podcasts, or nap on my commute. Repeat. *"morning" is a strong word
I work 2nd shift so mornings are no longer an issue for me, and it's fucking awesome Wake up around 11 Head to work around 2 Get home around midnight, catch up on TiB, have a few beers, in bed by 3 or 4.
I'm an early riser. 5 a.m. - Get up, start coffee. 5:15 - drink cup of coffee. 5:30 - review my calendar for the day. 5:45 - respond to emails. 6:00 - walk the dog 6:30 - feed dog/get water/food for cats/clean cat box. 6:40 - go to gym 7:30 - get back from gym, shower 8:00 - practice guitar 9:00 - clean, get errands finished 10:00 - first walk. Breakfast: usually I pass. Pro Morning Tip: If you don't want to lose time - don't turn the tv on. My tv is usually off until 5:00 p.m. This prevents me from sitting on the couch and pissing time away.
Fuck mornings. Fuck them right in the ass without lube. I've had to be up at 5:00 am on a lot of days for the last year and I am super glad to be done with that shit. Flat_Rate's schedule would suit me perfectly and I plan on looking for second shift work now that I'm done with school. Usual morning routine is wake up, make tea - I can't drink coffee since my gall bladder came out - browse the internet for a few minutes, take a dump, shower, dress, make another cup of tea to go, and be on my way at around 6:15. But now that I'm done with school, I wake up when I want for now, though it's basically the same routine without the early rising and travel.
I really envy you people that can get up early enough to go to the gym in the morning. I've tried it a few times and just can't get myself to do it regularly. I like my sleep way too much. That being said my morning still stays pretty regimented for the most part. 6:30am - Wake up, chug a big glass of water and put in my contacts if I didn't pass out somewhere with them in. 6:35am - Shower, try to find 2 minutes when my girlfriend isn't hogging the mirror so I can brush my teeth, get dressed. 6:50am - Go into my daughters room, turn on the lights and pull the blankets off the bed. Ignore immediate whining that ensues. 6:55am - Make coffee, pack lunch for the day for myself and the little demon spawn. Take daily pro-biotic to make sure I stay 'regular'. Let dog outside and challenge her to morning poop-off to assert dominance. 7:10am - Tell girlfriend there's a big pile of poop in the yard that she needs to clean. Explain to daughter that she cannot have milk and orange slices for breakfast as it's disgusting. 7:15am - Give daughter milk and orange slices to exorcise the banshee that how now inhabited my kitchen. Look confused when she proclaims it as 'delicious'. 7:20am - Play a round of "dress the raging howler monkey" while reminding myself that assaulting a 2 year old is against the law. 7:25am - Contemplate a life in prison where I would be in quiet isolation 23 hours a day. Remind myself I don't particularly enjoy being someone's bitch. 7:30am - Load daughter and assembled caravan of stuffed animals that apparently cannot be separated for more than 5 minutes into car. 7:45am - Drop daughter and aforementioned caravan off at sitter's. 8:00am - Arrive at work and spend the next 8 hours looking like I'm busy working whist actually spending all day on TiB, Reddit, ESPN and YouTube. Alt-Focus: Every Sunday I make up a dozen egg-muffins. They're essentially mini quiches. I take 8 eggs and whatever leftover veggies I have lying around, mix everything up, pour it into a muffin pan, pop into the oven for 20 minutes and then done. Each morning I just grab a couple muffins, a few slices of ham or turkey, throw some Franks RedHot on top and pop in the microwave for 30 seconds. Quick easy and pretty filling.
I sometimes make breakfast for the week. Ill whip up a batch of eggs, some lean breakfast sausage or chorizo, mix it up with some mexican cheese, slather in Franks or Sriracha, wrap up in some whole wheat wraps and freeze them. Take em out, wrap in a paper towel, and microwave for 2.5 minutes. My usual go-to fruit is a banana. I dont enjoy berries because I dont like tart flavors in the morning or like peeling shit like an orange. Boom.
I dont hate mornings as much as I'm such a night owl that they don't align nicely. I fell asleep randomly at 1030 a few weeks ago, woke up at 630, cleaned my kitchen, did some pullups and mini workout stuff in my apartment, and made it to work 30-45 min earlier than normal. It was nice but just so out of my normal routine it felt weird. I usually get a second wind around 930-10, way earlier than I'm thinking about going to bed, so I'm not falling asleep when I'm tired earlier. Any thoughts I've entertained of waking up at 6-630 on a regular basis are dismissed when I realize that it will still be dark in the winter and fuck that noise. I try to align my wakeup alarm with sunrise in the winter months. My normal routine: 7:30-Wake up, stare at the ceiling for a few min 7:35-7:50-Brush teeth, shower, flex in mirror, make my genitals look like an elephant for my own amusement 7:50-8: Get dressed, primp, fix hair 8-8:15: Putz around, maybe make breakfast, stand on my balcony and image what it would be like if I drank coffee 8:15: Leave for work 8:15-8:45: Hate how my commute takes 30 min despite living 2 miles from work because of awkward office location and shitty public transportation 8:45:Arrive at work and settle in for a good hour of doing nothing but catching up on news and messageboards.
Focus: 5:40am: First alarm goes off, hit snooze. 5:45am: Hit snooze 5:50am: If I'm feeling motivated, get up and take dog for a walk. If not, hit snooze. 5:55am: Hit snooze if I'm not walking the dog. 6:00am: Second alarm goes off in case I accidentally turn off the first alarm. Basically I hit snooze until the last possible minute. 6:15am: Wake up, pee, start my coffee, feed the dog, do some yoga to get the blood flowing 6:30am: Shower 6:50am: Get out of the shower, figure out what to wear and get ready for work. 7:20am: Eat breakfast, read the paper, pour my thermos of coffee, get my lunch together, and take the dog out 7:30am: Out the door 8:15am: At work and waste time on the internet until about 9:30-10am when I actually start doing work. Alt. Focus: Usually I'll have a bowl of cereal for breakfast or some strawberries and whipped cream. If I'm running a bit late because I can't figure out what to wear, I'll make an english muffin to go. I need a routine in the morning. The second it gets thrown off, my whole day goes downhill. This morning, I had to take my car to the garage and I was running late. I then got to work and have been dicking around on the internet until about now. And I'm still not really doing any work.
My schedule is highly variable based on meetings, travel, workload, etc. But in General: I get out of bed and immediately pee and take my cholesterol pills. If its a "normal" day, I make lunch for me, my wife and the little Missanthropic, then get the kid some breakfast. Then shave, and hit the shower, dress etc. It is during this time that all of the shit I have ahead of me pops into my head, one after another. By the time I'm ready to leave the house I only want to go back to bed. Alt focus: What I tell myself I'll have for breakfast the night before: oatmeal, pineapple, bananas, maybe some berries, perhaps cheerios or bran flakes. What I actually have 9/10 times: An egg sandwich, sometimes with bacon or taylor ham, or a bagel with butter or cream cheese.
My weekday morning schedule's pretty consistent: 5:00-5:15 - wake up on my own because I've always woken up that early my entire life 5:15-7:05 - lay in bed and drift in and out of light sleep 7:05 - alarm goes off, get up 7:05-7:15 - eat breakfast 7:15-7:30 - shave, brush teeth, shit, shower 7:30-7:35 - get dressed 7:35-7:55 - drive to work Alt-Focus: My breakfast consists of two scrambled eggs.
Everyone's schedules make me feel like a lazy slob. This is my schedule for the school year: 7:00- Alarm 1 goes off. Get out of bed if I woke up before the alarm. Lay in bed another minute if I am just waking up. Go outside and have a smoke. Drink a cup of coffee because my mother wakes up before me and makes the coffee. 7:05- Second alarm that I always set in case the first one doesn't work goes off while I am downstairs having a smoke. I tell myself I should get rid of the second alarm, but I never do it. 7:10- Brush my teeth, consider doing something with my hair but never doing it. Occasionally putting on mascara so I don't feel like a complete slob. Put on the first outfit I see that is acceptable for substitute teaching. 7:30- Pack a lunch consisting of granola, yogurt, and a green tea. Get in the car, punch the address of the school into Waze even if I know how to get there because I have an incurable need to be Waze Royalty before my sister who has to drive an hour and a half to work every day and will probably win this competition she does not know she is in. Have a second/ third smoke because I will not have another until the end of the school day. 7:45- Arrive at work and pray to God the teacher actually left a lesson plan that won't come off as bullshit.
This has been pretty much my routine for the last few weeks: 6:15 - wake up in a panic thinking I'm late for work. See alarm clock sitting next to me, check it twice to make sure I'm not actually late for work. 6:30 - alarm goes off. Hit snooze for absolutely no reason other than habit, but get out of bed anyway. 6:30-7:30 - shower, get cleaned up, get dressed for work, pack lunch. I do this at a very leisurely pace. 7:30-8:00 - catch a bit of the news, see what the world is up to. 8:00 - Realize I should have left ten minutes ago, grab my shit and hit the road. 8:30 - Roll in to work (unless we're flooded, in which case negate all of this, roll out of bed at 8:28 and turn on laptop). My breakfast used to be 2 cups of coffee. Nowadays it's cereal and tea.
Wow, some motivated people we have here, the only time I get up early is to fish or hunt. Mon- Wed 9-10 am wake up with no alarm, shower and go to my office 10am -11am check retirement account, all credit card transactions and bank accounts 11am-1pm work on any files I have going and waste time on the internet 1pm-3pm go to the fishing store I do work for and sit around and talk shit and possibly eat lunch depending on what they have 3pm-5ish work on reels or waste more time on the internet 5 drive the 5 minutes home The days I bartend 11am-2pm go to the office to waste time on the internet 2-3pm go home eat some pasta and take a nap 5pm wake up and shower and go to work 6pm-2am yell at drunk people, serve warm beer to non-tippers, talk shit 2am-3am clean up drive home 3am-4am drink wine and watch tv 4am sleep rinse repeat. Alt. Focus I am not a breakfast person, I have tried stocking the fridge at my office with breakfast stuff and I just don't eat it, yogurt and granola is good for about 2 days and then it gets boring, I get coffee once in a while as there is a starbucks 50 yards from my office.