Edit: The following is more reflective of my morning routine in 2019/2020.

6:30am

• Wake up, spend 2 minutes checking texts and weather on phone

7am

• Go for a morning run of 3-6 miles or do 30 mins of stationary bike/elliptical at the gym (alternating days to reduce impact)

8-8:30am

• Shower, get dressed
• Prepare lunch (usually a sandwich, banana, apple and a pack of trail mix)

8:55am

• Arrive at WeWork and attempt to snag my table next to the window (it's the best seat on the floor)

9-9:30am

• Check personal and work emails
• Review Google calendar events for the day

Unless traveling, I've been fairly consistent with this routine during the week.

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The rest of the post is rather outdated now but read on if you so desire.

As far as productivity hacks go, I've found that having a consistent morning routine helps keep me focused throughout the day. During a typical weekday, my morning looks something like this:

6:30am

• Wake up, spend 10 minutes checking texts, weather, news on phone
• Take any medication I may need to

7-8am

• Eat a banana or Gu gel pack (caffeinated kind)
• Go for a morning run (3-6 miles) or quick workout

9-9:30am

• Shower, get dressed
• Make or procure coffee

9:30-10am

• Check personal and work emails
• Review Google calendar events for the day
• Possibly eat something (usually only if I've done a longer run)

10am

• Head to a coffee shop or WFH

I should stress that this is what an average morning looks like. I definitely have off days (or weeks) where I wake up late, miss my runs/workouts, or procrastinate in any number of ways.

What I'd like to improve

Other than being more consistent with my morning routines, I'd like to make the following adjustments over the next couple of months:

• Wake up an hour earlier (a one hour shift in this routine would be amazing)
• Dedicate at least 10 minutes for meditation / self-reflection
• Make morning hydration part of my routine (ideally 0.5L in the AM)

Why I wrote this post

I came across an interesting project recently called 200WordsADay. It's an online blogging/journaling platform of sorts that encourages you to write at least 200 words a day. I think it's a brilliant idea and would like to try something like that here on my own site.

I'm also writing under the assumption that making more of my thoughts and habits public will a) help me stay accountable and b) further refine my thoughts.