(Part 2)
My Morning Routine is an website we have referred to once or twice on this site. It describes itself as
… a retired independent online magazine that published a brand new, inspiring morning routine every Wednesday between December 2012 and July 2019.
It’s unfortunate that they aren’t publishing new interviews this year, or even updates to existing one. It’d be interesting to see how people’s routines changed in the new work-from-home world in 2020. What would it say about those whose routines had not changed much?
Their last published routine in July 2019 featured this:
I view the first few hours of the day as “free,” unclaimed time. If I don’t use it deliberately, I’ll squander it on email or Twitter or the news or some other mindless timesuck that doesn’t make me feel good. Plus, I’ve learned that my focus is better in the morning than it is later in the day; I want to make good use of that time.
This resonated with me, because even last year it revealed an awareness of the need to claim time for yourself, however you then choose to spend it.
We had discussed the question of how in my post about stretching out time:
We can choose to restart an interest of ours. Re-engage with communities and groups we’ve fallen out of touch with. Start a new hobby we’ve always liked but didn’t know if it’d stick. Pursue our physical and mental well-being. Join a local cause. Whatever it looks like for each of us. And do it for no reason than because we can.
The writer Shawn Blanc takes it to an extreme by scheduling every minute of his life (or at least he did, in 2016):
I used to think a schedule meant I’d never get to have fun. Because if you’re scheduling your time then you should only put Super Duper Important things on your schedule.
Well, I do only schedule Super Duper Important things. I just have a smarter definition of Super Duper Important.
Did you know I schedule time to watch Netflix? I schedule time for a mid-day nap if I want. Time to read for an hour and a half in the middle of the afternoon. Time to take my wife out for dinner once a week. Time to go running at the gym. Time to play trains with my kids. Time to have lunch with a friend. Time to help my wife with dinner. Time to write for as long as I can handle in the morning.
In fact, by scheduling every minute of my day, I help make sure I do all the things I want to do — for work and for play.
(Part 4 follows tomorrow)