Do You Have a Morning Ritual / Winding Down Process?

Ryuzaki

Ryuzaki

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Ever since I've gone full time in I.M., I've lacked serious discipline in one area: establishing a sleep schedule.

I know the two thoughts that sabotages me:
  1. I've been forced to wake up by someone else my entire life, starting from kindergarten through my mid-20's. Time to enjoy freedom from that tyranny.
  2. I've hated sleeping in till the last minute then scrambling to get ready for class, work, appointments, etc. So now I don't jump right at anything in the morning.
I'm not convinced #2 is a bad thing, but combine it with #1 and I'm losing a lot of productive hours.

Typically, I'll push it till the last minute, working till even 4 AM, then justify chilling for an hour to Reddit & Netflix, etc. Then I'll end up in bed listening to a sci-fi short story. I start trying to cram in "my time" way after the fact, when I should have a cut off time and a winding down process. This only pushes my waking up time further back. I also end up snoozing a ton like an idiot.

I've toyed with sleeping too much, from over-sleeping, under-sleeping, polyphasic sleeping, etc. How about just sleeping a solid 6 or 7 hours at the same time every night and getting up and busting some ass? When I don't get enough done each day, that makes it even harder to fall asleep because I'll be planning, mapping, anticipating, and agonizing over productivity.

It's a problem that has to stop, which is why I'm up 6-8 hours earlier than normal after forcing myself to sleep last night with melatonin and valerian root. Enough is enough, I had my years of undisciplined sleep. My revenge against the establishment has turned into ridiculousness. I've got to start saving some will-power for this most fundamental aspect of productivity.

What do you guys do to help establish a healthy sleeping and waking rhythm?

For instance, last night, I set three alarm clocks to go off at the same time in three other rooms so I'd have to get up and walk around to cut them off, ending in the kitchen next to the coffee that's had 10 minutes to brew on a timer. At that point, all I have to do is grab a cup and the supplements I've set out, and slam it all. That ensures I feel wakefulness soon... sabotaging my snoozing efforts.

I'm a huge fan of morning showers, but I'm finding that they don't help me. I'm not into cold showers, and snuggly warm showers turn me into a standing zombie in the bathroom. I'm going to move my bathing routine into a night time wind-down process.

Beyond this, I'd like to set up my personal enjoyment / enrichment time. Waking up and enjoying my caffeine and nicotine while reading, taking care of the dog and cat leisurely, and shifting to the computer for BuSo and checking out the RSS reader, etc. I want to set time limits to these things too, which I've realized is a large failure of mine that quickly spirals out of control.

This means I want to be in the gym and back before a certain time so I can start working. In the gym I listen to business audiobooks, do cardio and weight lifting. This is still "me time."

I also would like to have a cut-off time for business oriented activities in the evening. I'm a grinder and can go and go, but I find that my efficiency starts to slack off. I've tried a lot of remedies such as switching tasks often, micro-breaks, etc. But the reality is that if I can score 2 or 3 hours to be an introvert every evening, I can plow through the next day like a madman. I don't take weekends though.

I'm thinking that I stop work, do the entertainment for a couple hours, then meditate, and then have a strict "lights out and in bed" time, with no electronics, and that loops right into the morning process.

This whole post rambles... What are you guys doing about this issue, if it's even an issue for you?
 
I'm a complete early bird so mornings for me aren't too much of an issue but my routine is:

06:00 - Wake/shower
06:15 - Breakfast, check news review my day
6:30 - meditate (not always but I'm getting better at this)
6:40 - final morning ablutions
6:50 - head out to work

In summer I get up a little earlier and do a short run but in the winter... not so much.
 
Ever since getting into this IM stuff, this has been my biggest problem. For example today was just hell, tired the whole day, headaches etc.

I'm going to go back to what I did before.

Wake up, have a shake, hit the gym. Come home and be ready to kill the day.
 
I just saw Charles Ngo post this a week or so back. This guy makes bank...so I'd imagine he's doing something right with his daily rituals.

Charles Ngo's Daily Rituals
 
4:30-Get up

4:30-4:45-Check out the internet

4:45-5:30 work out, pray/meditate. 7 days a week. Began years ago when I got sober because just talking to a god or anything helped me get out of the hell that used to be my life. Been a long time since I wanted a line or a beer but I still stick to it.
*Depending on the day: I do a combination of weights, either heavier or light, yoga and some type of abs.Twice a week I skip the workout and run a 5K. More than that if I'm training for a race.
*Read my affirmations that are constantly being updated and mutated.
*5 good minutes of music and attempt complete silence in my head. I have been doing this for about 15 years and I still can't make 5 minutes of nothing in my mind.

5:30-drive across town, on the way I stop and get some sugar like a gross honey bun or something. I always have these sugar cravings but I keep them in check usually. From there I take on my day.
 
6:45 - Get Up - Throw on music ( sets the tone for the day - something upbeat like Kygo or something with a message like G-Eazy)
7:30 - Read twitter and blogs (Industry and Personal)
8:00 - Mon-Fri I am working at the agency - Sat Sun I get on my shit ASAP.
 
Ive slowly been finding my rhythm with waking and sleeping routines.

In the mornings I've tried leaving my phone across the room, setting something to have to get out of bed to deal with etc etc. what I've realized is none of that shit works. For me I've got to be committed mentally the night before to getting up and DECIDE I will. Not "6am sounds ok..." But physically KNOW I will drag my ass out of bed at that first alarm. A big part of this is setting a realistic alarm time. I'm not super structured, I'll wake up anywhere from 6-730 but when I set my alarm the night before, it's a time that I know I can be close to based on how I am feeling that night and what time it is.

All that being said, sometimes I wake up and know I need more rest, so I do. I think the only real trouble is when I hit the snooze 10 times (literally). If I'm going to sleep another hour, i switch on a new alarm for an hour later.

At night what I am finding is that just resting my brain is super important. Each night I focus on spending a couple hours doing relaxing things like reading, cooking or exercising without thinking about my projects.

I'm basing this just on what I've read in your posts, but it sounds like you're heavy on the pills/supplements. Personally I drink coffee and take multi vitamins and that's it. Not passing judgement on your decisions, but I've found outside substances to only end up messing with my routines.

Hopefully my ramblings help.
 
I don't have set times for anything anymore, instead what works best for me is setting a time I'll be up.

So usually at the moment it's 7:45AM...

I then have a small list of tasks broken into blocks, so first thing I have breakfast, check e-mail etc. Then I'll do my motivational stuff, have some water... Last thing in the morning I do before starting work is shower and brush my teeth.

I find breaking things down like this serves two purposes;

1. I'm not limited by time constraints, if something takes me a bit longer I still get it done without feeling like I've failed.

2. Instead of having X separate tasks I actually have 3 main tasks with their own sub-tasks which has increased the percentage of days where I do it all without fail. The main point being it only feels like you have to do 3 things opposed to 10 or however many.


As for what to do in the mornings I think that it depends on the person, but things that get your productivity moving in a forward direction are generally what to shoot for.
 
RomesFall said:
I don't have set times for anything anymore, instead what works best for me is setting a time I'll be up.

So usually at the moment it's 7:45AM...

I then have a small list of tasks broken into blocks, so first thing I have breakfast, check e-mail etc. Then I'll do my motivational stuff, have some water... Last thing in the morning I do before starting work is shower and brush my teeth.

I find breaking things down like this serves two purposes;

1. I'm not limited by time constraints, if something takes me a bit longer I still get it done without feeling like I've failed.

2. Instead of having X separate tasks I actually have 3 main tasks with their own sub-tasks which has increased the percentage of days where I do it all without fail. The main point being it only feels like you have to do 3 things opposed to 10 or however many.


As for what to do in the mornings I think that it depends on the person, but things that get your productivity moving in a forward direction are generally what to shoot for.
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Do you not find checking emails a little bit of a bad way to start the day????? That is not getting anything done other than responding to other peoples shit. I reserve email for the end of the day when I am feeling least productive.
 
Stephen said:
Do you not find checking emails a little bit of a bad way to start the day????? That is not getting anything done other than responding to other peoples shit. I reserve email for the end of the day when I am feeling least productive.
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I check them, I don't respond. Sometimes I browse on here or Reddit. It's just something to do while I eat breakfast :smile:
 
I'm big into this shit. I've spent years studying morning / evening / work rituals of heavy thinkers and people with prodigious artistic output. I've modeled my life around these guys.

I've spent the past 5-6 years doing 5-10 full on projects a year, in the form of a startup factory. Work life balance and healthy tech relationships are very important to what I do.

This is the only time I'll ever drop a link to a current project in public, but I've got a 'thing' on exactly this shit here: Busy to Death - if any of you guys want to rap on a podcast with me on this shit, I'd gladly have you.

To answer the question:

  • 7 am wakeup
  • Meditate
  • Breakfast (same thing every day, methodical and meditative)
  • Journal / make a list of the shit I want to do
  • Email
  • Skype chats
  • Do the shit I want to do.
  • Lunch
  • Vidya games
  • Email
  • Make notes on today, plan tomorrow.
  • Dinner
  • Fuck around, read, vidya, watch movies, enjoy substances
  • Bed

Ninja edit: And yeah, I'm a pleb and I pull out the iphone constantly when I'm queued up or taking a dump or whatever. I have a lot of people / partners / lovers / haters to chat with.
 
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Since I see everyone's list including breakfast, I'd like to say that skipping breakfast is the best change I've made to my daily routine. Intermittent Fasting is pretty legit especially with productivity because you basically save time with breakfast cooking and cleaning, not to mention that it seems to help a ton with focus. And it helps with staying lean as well (hard to eat too many calories in a 7 or 8 hour eating window).

My productivity protocol is basically-

Wake up
Meditate
Head to library (read something on the subway typically)

Work with Black coffee + L-theanine + brain.fm

Eat around 4-6 hours after I wake up. Typically that 4-6 hour period is very very productive in terms of mental focus.
 
Island said:
Work with Black coffee + L-theanine + brain.fm
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Ayyyy I do the brain.fm thing too. Still waiting on an iOS app.

I've experimented with IF (now on keto) and several nootropics. I know black coffee + theanine (tea) of course, but also played with the *cetams and weird shit too. Always fun to experiment.
 
dresden said:
Ayyyy I do the brain.fm thing too. Still waiting on an iOS app.

I've experimented with IF (now on keto) and several nootropics. I know black coffee + theanine (tea) of course, but also played with the *cetams and weird shit too. Always fun to experiment.
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Hmm I don't think I could do keto. Low carbs piss me off and leads to worse productivity. Plus I enjoy carbs.

What benefits are you getting from Keto? Seems like it is difficult to stick as compared to something like Intermittent Fasting. (Best thing about IF is its actually pretty easy once you get used to it)
 
Once you get switched over to ketosis - I actually feel better now than on anything else. If you're keto adapted, you're running on dem ketones... and it really has this crazy nootropic effect. More energy, no lethargy after eating, and all of that. And I sleep like a fucking bear. It takes a week or two (drink broth like tea and slam your food with lo-salt) to get through the keto flu.

It might help that I'm also dropping weight (I can almost say I'm not a fatass anymore) like crazy.

IF was destroying my blood sugar levels and leaving me with nasty acid reflux.
 
I know I should sleep more but I am getting by. Sometimes I sleep in but rarely.

I wake up just before 5:30 AM which is my alarm. I rarely hear my alarm unless I slept too late or had marathon sex before bed. I wake up right before the alarm goes off mostly.

Grab Tooth Brush, Heat water for instant coffee ( I am not a coffee person, so I only take instant coffee to wake me up and as a pre workout of sorts). Coffee and Facebook. Facebook or any entertainment on facebook wakes me up. Soon as I finish coffee I shit. Grab a Banana, Dress and grab Gymbag. Hit the Gym.

Pretty much everyday except Sunday. Planning to switch to three day Gym and rest of days just a 30 minute walk, so I can get some work done in the morning. Earlier, I used to work in the morning and Gym later.
 
Island said:
Work with Black coffee + L-theanine + brain.fm

Eat around 4-6 hours after I wake up. Typically that 4-6 hour period is very very productive in terms of mental focus.
Click to expand...

I've recently found waking up, coffee and no food gives me that first productive boost from 7-11 or so. Really works.
 
I need to try L-Theanine. I looked at half a dozen drug stores last week and couldn't find it anywhere, even at supplement stores, so I'll have to grab some from BB.com.

Coffee + 1tbsp butter + 1tbsp MCT oil (coconut oil) is magic for my focus. If I'm mostly just at the desk working, this will get me through the whole day until dinner sometimes, save for a handful of mixed nuts.

I've started looking into keto. Heard of it, but never dug too deep in the past. I might give that a try.
 
Work. Eat. Sleep. +Time with the dog.

The only time I've used in alarm clock in the past year was for traveling so I didn't miss my flight.

I go to bed when my body can't handle it anymore. Mentally, I'm capable of working 2x longer, but it's just not possible being a human and all...

At this point I've learned one key thing:

Factor 8 hours of sleep in. You have 16 hours to work before the mind starts to weaken a bit.

Anything done for enjoyment is break time. Gun range, grocery shopping, Skype, forums, etc. All happens naturally while working. I don't set a schedule, I just know my limits because I try to keep that down to an absolute minimum.

Some days it's 100% non-stop work; balancing between giving it my all and burning out.

I don't keep track of the days, like Wed, Friday, etc. I only care about the #'s (15, 3, 30, etc) so I can monitor growth and keep myself in check over the month. ie. I've got 7 days left to grow 15% this month. Even then it's never "emergency grind mode", every fucking day is emergency grind mode.

Time is not even a consideration day to day, aside from nourishment. The time tells me when my meal need to be eaten. Otherwise I'd skip every meal till dinner time and get stomach sick and mentally slip up.

30 min to bed I'll surf around online. Anything to get my mind off my work. Otherwise I won't be able to sleep.

My mind constantly pushes me to keep working. It's a battle of physical vs mental.

I don't a need a life guide, method, organizational planner.

I just need to keep fucking working every second of the day.

I know what my goals are and what I need to do to reach them.

Even if I don't have a guaranteed confirmation.

The only promise I need is the one I make to myself.
 
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