Morning routine, what and why

I started building my morning routine before I took the 30-day Stoic challenge. The challenge added to it. In my year-end retrospective, I wrote about how I’d gotten there.

Since the first of the year, I’ve improved my routine and also the way I manage it. I use Google Keep to keep track.

The night before

My morning routine starts the night. I have a checklist that I run through, so everything’s ready when I wake up.

Due to a magic keep feature, the checklist repeats every day at 8 PM.

Here’s the list. The annotations say why I do each thing:

• Heat bed [so I can fall right to sleep]

• Modafinil [put out, so it’s handy next morning]

• Vasoline [keep CPAP from drying nostrils, also ready for next day]

• Underwear, shirt, shoes [Ready for next day]

• Coffee [Ready for next day]

• Meditate [Better sleep, more insight]

• Brush [Of course]

• Pick music [I’ll play this in my shower in the AM-2 to 5 minutes long]

• Charge phone [So it’s handy when I get up and charged]

• Feet [Athlete’s foot, a constant challenge]

• Ready for bed [Pajamas, and phone]

I have a phone with a vibrating alarm, set for 5:30

Lights out around 10;00 or 11:00. I usually wake up once or twice to pee.

And then, at 5:30

On Waking

At 5:30 my vibrating alarm goes off, and keep delivers this list to my phone.

I want to bounce out of bed and get going, but it’s usually more like a stagger.

Here’s the list:

• Take modafinil [Which has been left out]

• Cold shower [Playing the music I picked the prior night through water-resistant Bluetooth earbuds. 2 to 5 minutes, depending on mood and music]

• Brush my teeth

• Pee

• Weigh myself [Same time every day, same empty bladder]

• Dress

• Athlete’s foot,

• Clean up [because I make messes, and have to remember]

I’m done between 5:45 and 6:00 depending on how focused I am.

I’d like to do it in 15 minutes, then get it down to 5 + shower duration

After waking

At 5:45 Keep will have delivered me this list. I’ve set it up with links (motivated by writing this post) so that so I can go down the list, clicking links to other apps or pagers and then going back and completing this list.

• Check calendar [Link to calendar]

• Check todos [Link to Keep ToDo label group]

• Gratitude [Hangout message to God to say thanks!]

• Affirmations [Link to Keep Affirmations note]

• Say hello [Hangouts to say hello to a couple of people]

• Nag JL [WhatsApp to Nag my friend to write his book]

• Meditate

My morning meditation is in two parts. I listen to a 10 minutes Sam Harris guided meditation, and then do a longer, timed meditation Culadasa style.I emerge, clear-headed and ready to seize the day.

Seize the day

The next list takes care of my body

• Burpees

• Walk [up and down the driveway twice]

  • Shave [while I’m walking]

• Plan the day [Back to my todo list and make one for the day]

• Set alarms [to check in and make sure I have not gone to sleep.

How it works

I’m rock solid on the first three lists, inconsistent, but getting better on the last one.I’m still working on a reliable way to keep myself on task during the day, but I think I may have figured out what I need.To be continued.

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