Ask HN: What's your morning routine?

In the morning if my face is a little puffy I'll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now.

After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub.

Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older.

Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.

My actual morning routine: spoon with girlfriend until she gets up, fall asleep on girlfriend's side of bed, get up, stumble to desk, waste hours on internet...then I get around to the bike ride and shower in the afternoon.

Alarm goes off at 3:55am. I get up. First 30 mins are for tea and daily habits, which include reviewing short-term and long-term goals, reading Bible, journaling, spaced repetition flashcards (mnemosyne-proj.org), etc. Then I usually work for 45-60 mins until the gym opens, then head out for lifting and/or swimming. Home by 6:30 - 7am for breakfast and back to work. By noon, I've typically finished 6 hours of work and have completed most or all of my daily habits.

A few keys for me: * Get to bed at a good time (I go to bed at 9-930, with 15-30 mins of reading beforehand) * Exercise is vital * Keep same schedule every day (weekends too if you can) * Eat well * Avoid checking email before 10am or so (check 2x a day)

  Wake up.
  Snooze.
  Snooze.
  Snuggle w/ wife.
  Snooze.
  Snooze.
  ...
  Realize what time it is.
  Snooze.
  Wake up again, realizing what time it is.
  Race to class / internets / bathroom.

I frequently find myself less productive without a routine and continue to plan to start one. I am also horrible at major task shifting. As in give me some free weeks just to concentrate on just one focus, student or startup and I can be crazy productive. Give me both of them at the same time and I will find a way to waste half my time in limbo.

0701: baby sees daddy's face, smiles and makes trademark happy noises. Wow, my day rocks!

0702: change and feed baby. Dress baby for the day.

0730: shower, teeth, dressed (or go back to sleep and wait for baby to wake me again.)

0800: breakfast and check facebook, HN, other online forums

0830: take stock of tasks for the day. Prioritize and schedule. Start actually doin' stuff.

I like to start the work day with "lighter" stuff. Anyone who says start your day with your "most important task" is full of crap. My brain takes time to get off the ground and into the zone, so I'll try to schedule more low threshold work (UI design, documentation, etc.) for the morning and write code later in the day.

On a bad day: Alarm at 6, reset alarm for 7, snooze, alarm at 7, skip the gym (I tell myself that I'll go after work), shower, shave, brush teeth, drive to work, grab overpriced breakfast (blueberry muffin and a flat white), at my desk by 8:45.

Start my work day by putting out a fire. This morning it was the announcement overnight that the New Zealand government is putting GST up to 15% in the latest budget.

In conclusion, there are good days and bad days. My level of discipline and self control when the alarm first goes off tends to determine how the whole morning will play out.

By 10AM I'm fine :) What did the skeleton say when he walked into the bar? Gimme a beer and a mop.

- 06:10: Decide that you can sleep a bit longer and set the alarm to 06:30

- 06:30: Turn on PC and think "I'll spend 10 minutes reading news while I wake up properly"

- 07:00: Find out that I have spent too long and run to the shower

- 07:20: Get out of shower. Think "Tomorrow I will not think so much about programming in the shower and save time"

- 07:25: Breakfast is made and I watch news/weather on the TV while eating.

- 07:40: Prepare my clothes for ironing

- 07:42: Brush teeth / shave while waiting for iron to heat

- 07:55: Bus leaves

- 08:30: Arrive at work, thinking about how much time I have wasted this morning

  Wake
  Email/internet 
  Put on a pot of coffee and some toast in the toaster
  Email/internet 
  Eat breakfast, then get a second cup of coffee to...
  Email/internet 
  Turn on shower so water starts heating up
  Email/internet 
  Take shower, emerge wrapped in towel and...
  Email/internet 
  Get dressed
  Email/internet 
  Get together stuff I need to take
  Email/internet 
  Leave house

I wake up and go straight to the kitchen to drink a glass of water. I go back to the room, make up the bed, tidy up my work desk (Clear Desk, Clear Mind -- this is absolutely essential for me), check e-mail, have breakfast (always something simple and light) and then I either go for a 30-minute walk or a 30-minute gym session. When I get back, usually around 10:30am, I'm usually ready to work. I try to get through the top of my todo list by mid-afternoon. Losing focus is very easy. In really important days (e.g., "I either deliver this or I lose the job"), I take Modafinil with my breakfast, which really gives me premium performance. But Modafinil only works for me if I take it only on occasion (4-6 times a month). I've been searching for the perfect morning routine and I've been doing this one since february. It really helped me boost my life in several ways. I manage to work and deliver shit in time (well, almost), I manage to make and try new things, and I've lost 24 pounds since I started going to the gym.

The categories and best of on the right side are great.

Now unless I have work/deadlines I need to do then I'm often just going through my emails & schedule. I find my brain is a bit "thick" in the morning! So any good procrastinating is hopefully wasted here (on HN, Stackoverflow, online Chess etc) and strangely it does help sharpen the mind (a little!)

I then go for 30-60 minute walk and when back make and eat lunch. This happens early so from 12.30pm I'm ready for work and my brain is in far clearer state for coding.

This ritual is something I've now pretty much kept to for last 7 years.

    1. Alarm goes off at 4:55am

    2. Sit down at my desk with a sharpie and big sketch pad for 10-30 minutes. There
       are no real objectives, I just put what I'm thinking down on paper, may it be
       doodles, a brief todo list, ideas, concepts, etc.

    3. Shower/teeth + dressed

    4. Grab some light breakfast, check email/twitter, and read HN/GReader/etc.
       (it's ~9:30pm PST at this point, so still active, but within hours everything
       dies down, so I dont waste as much time procrastinating.)

    5. Start work at ~6am

- 6:30 am get up and go for 20 minute a run - Make myself some breakfast - Wake up my wife/3 daughters, and get them all breakfast - Make school lunches x 3 - Ride to work - Check HN / Email + Work ;)

I love weekends where I don't have to make school lunches.

Wake up at 6:30 am, hop into the shower, make breakfast for us (me/girlfriend) .. Eat breakfast with girlfriend, usually we have a laptop with the news to see what's up, check the weather, etc and discuss whatever.

Then, drive girlfriend to work and then head to work. In summer, I usually biked to work and she drove but in the winter that's how it is.

In one week when I move to Toronto it'll be almost the same except we won't be driving and hopefully waking up a bit later (7'ish probably) as the girlfriend won't be working at her current place anymore. :)

* Wake up at sometime between 7am and 8am (no alarm clocks)

* Turn on the shower to the hottest setting (but don't hop in)

* Bring laptop into the bathroom, catch up on work emails (client time zone is 2 hrs ahead) and web news (HN/reddit/engadget) while the bathroom is turning into a steam room.

* Shut down the laptop when there's enough steam that my touchpad no longer works due to wet fingers.

* Reduce the shower temp, shower, brush teeth, dress.

* Walk to the coffee shop. Grab either a coffee/muffin or a fruit smoothie (depending on how my stomach feels after reading work emails).

* Walk to the office.

I only got 2 more days of high school though.

  0630 Alarm, out of bed, shave and shower, dress, etc.
     Somewhere in here read all my email

  0715 Sit down to breakfast with the family
     Do whatever tedious house work things need to be done 
     such as loading the washing machine

  0745 Walk to the bus stop and get on the bus 
     Here I'll have 30-40 minutes alone so I can read,
     listen to podcasts, or write

  0900 At work

And that is my daily routine.

7-9am Wake up to feed baby

9am Try to eat breakfast, drink, coffee, brush teeth, read Google reader

10am Start to work (if baby allows)

My flatmate is shifting from working freelance to 9-5 and is worried about getting to work at 9am as that's been an issue in the past. Caffeine makes him feel like carp.

I suggested Modafinil.

reality: Snooze several times. Lie in bed and check twitter or rss feeds on iPhone or iPad. Get out of bed and look at a few sites on a real computer, craigslist, github, reddit, hacker news. Realize I've taken too long, shower and get ready and out the door. Then get a coffee and banana chocolate chip cake at starbucks or a strawberry cream cheese muffin from the grocery store on the way to work, or shortly after arriving at work.

Try to remember what day of the week it is

Check my email from phone

Realize what time it is

Reply to chats and quick urgent stuff from cofounders through meebo iPhone app

Get out of bed and get ready for the day

Then who knows. Work, play, eat, meetings. It's different every day.

- Complain about how early and cold it is

- Turn on computer

- Shower/shave/brush teeth

- Get dressed

- Prepare lunch

- Breakfast/coffee while browsing

- Feed cat

- Work (/read HN)

Later in the afternoon: - Shower - Get food - Beers with friends

Hot/Cold shower

Meditate

Supplements (Adrenal, Vitamins)

Breakfast (Apple, Green tea)

Mnemosyne (Spaced repetition)

HN/RSS (My one admitted weakness)

Work

7.45 feed baby

8.00 dress, brush teeth etc.

8.15 leave for bus

reset alarm

wake up

start some bacon

cigarette

make some eggs, put on a kettle

eat eggs and bacon

start brewing tea

shower/shave

drink tea, browse internet, time permitting

run to catch train to school

- Wake up

- Contacts/teeth

- Walk the dog

- Feed the dog

- Shower

- Eat breakfast / make coffee

- Head to work

- Read daily sites / email / begin working

#2 Get the kid out of the door

#3 Email and rss

# 4 Breakfast

Sip coffee, start catching up on tickets/news/etc, and the day begins.