For the last three weeks my alarm has been ringing at 4:30 AM. It used to be 5:30AM before. I started going back to the Gym after the long pandemic break and that comes with a small drive and so I needed to get some extra time.

Here is what happens when my Alarm rings at 4:30 AM.

I start with a long snooze game that I play on my phone in the morning. I reach the Gym at around 5:30AM. From the time the Alarm sounds to picking the weights it takes one whole hour. That is quite long and I need to find a way to reduce this time.

I listen to Podcasts or Audio books during at the Gym and allows me to catch up on news and some interesting conversations to start the day. I have a simple workout schedule I downloaded from the internet for the 5 days M-F and have Sat and Sun as my rest days. I spend 45 minutes in the Gym and I am back home by 6:30AM.

Once home I multitask a few things. I get my Coffee pot ready. I get the Dog food for our German Shepherd Pitbull (Shepitt) mix Ginger. She needs some in her bowl and some in a toy. If I miss the toy she will sit there waiting for it. And I get Lunch packed for me and my son who started doing it from yesterday.

I switch on the coffee maker and take Ginger for a walk and I am back before 7AM to a hot freshly brewed coffee. I make Breakfast for all three of us. It has been the same thing for over 3 years. One egg which each of us can have with their own choice of carb Bread, Bagel, Previous day Roti, what ever is there.

As I eat, I also share my day’s content on social media, I also answer to a few comments on my page. I am done with my shower, get ready and fill a travel mug with coffee by 7:45AM. By then my Son is also ready and we hit the road. Drop him at school and I am in office by 8:30AM

The good thing is I don’t have a long commute. I also have some flexibility reaching the office. My first meeting is at 9:30 AM which gives me a solid 1 hour to get prepared for my work ahead that day.

This might look hectic but it is not really. It is a routine and I have absolutely no decisions to make. What to do in the Gym, What to make for Breakfast, What to Listen on podcasts… No single decision to make. Even what lunch to have is not a decision I have to make.

When we remove any sort of decision making from our morning routine things get easy. We don’t need to add a decision fatigue into our lives. One decision less helps life to be minimal and simpler.

Usually Monday is the worst day to wake up for me as Sat and Sun I sleep till 7:00 AM. It takes only two days for me to fall out of my 4:30AM routine. The solution may be to wake up at 4:30AM even on Saturday and Sunday. But that would mean giving up on my weekend vices. 

I read a quote the other day “Get routines in place and much of the daily grind will simply fall into place.”

Categories: Random Thoughts

Tags: morning rituals, morning routine