It's 9AM
The worst part about getting into a routine…
Is the habit of it.
I know that a routine for me is the best way to hack something.
Take writing.
I work off a laptop on my lap sometimes.
At least, that’s my new routine.
I set an alarm in my head to wake up at 4:50 AM, turn on the coffee pot and fire up the laptop.
From 5 to 6, I write sitting on the couch.
No TV.
No Radio.
Just the noise in my head and the click of the keys.
I’ve done this since shifting to days and it is how I occupy most weekday mornings before heading into the drudgery of “work.”
The reason behind setting up a routine is so my brain gets into mode faster.
I did it with running back in my long distance days.
First thing after work when I got home was go for a run.
Unless it was raining because who likes to run in the rain!
I think a routine is the most underated hack because a lot of people miss out on the ability to turn their Focus on and off one task.
But my routine has to shift because of other people in the house.
I worked at the bar for the longest time.
The bar in the house, not the bar downtown, though I have an idea in my head that I could be productive there.
No, I would stand at the bar and work on the computer, and I got a lot done that way.
Wrote entire novels standing, looking into the kitchen washed in light from one side and a view of the door from the other.
Then I started standing at work for twelve hour stretches and decided my feet needed a break, so I moved to a desk.
Plus when someone else is working from home, they liked the whole stand at the bar set up I created, so they crept in.
First it was their laptop beside mine, then it was their notepad creeping into my space and pushing me further down.
Which evolved into a request to “move your stuff” so “I can work.”
So I moved.
To the desk in the spare bedroom.
Where I set up a new routine, got my brain tuned in so that the act of sitting at the desk was the catalyst and off we went.
Which lasted for another six or eight months, until the game system went in, and then it was another question of creep.
This time for #10 who wanted to game while I worked on the computer.
A good idea.
Bad execution.
He plays online with friends and they are loud.
It is not conducive to thought or hacking.
Plus, it’s fun to watch their play on the big screen.
A distraction.
Which helped me set up this new routine that’s been going strong since February.
No doubt this one will get shifted too.
I could blame the puppers, who like to get up with me, then realize it’s too early and scratch at the bedroom door to sleep ‘til seven like everyone else.
And 5AM is working for 9AM for now, though summer schedules often get a little out of whack because routine becomes un-routine.
I’ll have to hack on the fly.
Not a bad habit to have.
Do you have a good routine that turns your on switch?
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For me, it’s 5am, and it’s the gym. If I can get myself to the gym on auto pilot, the rest of the day will happen. Days that I don’t turn into amorphous bouts of time where shit feels like it’s happening -to- me.