Friday 27 February 2015

My Morning Routine

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Ever since we moved back to Manchester, I have gotten into the habit of not cringing when the alarm goes off. For a start, it's two hours later than what it used to be in Peterborough. I will not miss that 5am beeping. The bags under my eyes are breathing a sigh of relief and are hopefully disappearing slowly but surely.

Waking up is now something I'm happy to do and I've been honing my morning routine over the last three months to give me the get up and go that I need to tackle the day. As I live so close to work I could actually get away with setting the alarm for 8, even 8.30 if I was feeling daring. This is what I used to do in London when I lived the same distance from my job. But there was something about that which was leaving me unsatisfied with the rest of the day.

Flashback to 2011 before I started this blog. I worked at New Look which was varying shifts starting from 7am to 5pm. This wreaked havoc with my body. It didn't help that I stayed up late and woke up just before I would need to leave for my shift, no matter what time it started - even 5pm. This is something I advise against as it leaves you feel like you're on the never ending treadmill of work, eat, sleep. Just horrible.

Even though I'm now on a schedule (9-5 baby) I cannot get away with that same attitude of just waking up to get ready for work and go. So from the week that I begun my new job, I started waking up at 7.30am. This gave me time to shower, have a leisurely breakfast and read some blogs for about 50 minutes before getting ready to leave for work. Nice. This combined with me making sure I'm in bed by 10.30 has been such a life changer. No feeling guilty if I happen to stay up a little later because as long as I'm asleep by midnight, I get at least 7 hours sleep.

But recently, especially since getting the kittens, I decided that I could get so much more done if I got up at 7am. That would give me an hour and 20 minutes of free time before having to go to work. Think of the things I could get done in that time. Reading about morning routines of successful people tends to be full of meditation and yoga but I think it's about finding what works for you. Maybe I could use my wii fit (after wiping the 3 years of dust off it) or schedule some blog posts or tidy the house. Do the things I'm too tired (lazy) to do when I get home.

I find that I'm the kind of person who gets most motivated when I'm unable to do what I want. Ideal isn't it? Finding myself thinking about things I could blog about while I'm at work is my worst attribute. So many yellow post-its are floating inside my bag. And then I lose my motivation by the time I put my key in my front door. So if I get up a bit earlier than I can get through all the things that I feel like doing during the day. Morning appears to be a time when I feel like getting things done - yep, I was surprised too.

So I'm going to continue this little experiment of mine and see what I can get done when I wake up early in the morning. Are you with me?

What's your morning routine?

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