A new routine

I have recently made some changes to my daily routine.

While during COVID I had got into the habit of rising around 8am, slowing waking up with a coffee and some breakfast and sitting down at my desk to get to work on my PhD at around 9, I have made a change. Rather than waiting all day to go to the gym or for a walk or bike ride in the late afternoon, I am now – pretty much every week day – going to the gym before I get started on working for the day.

I have made this change for a few reasons. First, I am able to get out of bed much earlier because I have found something that helps me fall asleep more readily in the night. With this sleeping aid, I set my alarm for 6:50 every weekday, wake up and look at my phone for about 10 minutes and then migrate to the couch to watch the news and have a coffee until about 8.

At 8, I get ready and drive to my local gym in Unley which is only about 5 minutes drive away. By the time I get there and started at around 8:30 it is pretty dead which is nice – I’m not a huge fan of sharing the gym spaces for reasons of both general social embarrassment and, now, disease control.

I workout for about 30-45 minutes, and am home, showered, changed and ready to work by around 9:45-10am.

While I recognise this is a luxury I have (to start work a bit later) due to the self-directed nature of a PhD, I could probably cut my time easing into the day on the couch if necessary to get going a bit earlier if I had to.

This routine has benefitted me in a few ways. As I understand it, it is good to get up and exercising early, as it kickstarts your metabolism for the day. Along those lines, I always find myself with more energy after exercising, and I am noticeably more productive in those morning hours than I was under my previous routine.

Also, by getting exercise out of the way early, I can then look forward to the day without the notion of having to go to the gym at the end of it hanging over my head. In this sense, it does me good in that it probably also increases the chances that I will exercise on any given day, which become more remote as the day goes on!

I know everyone has their different routine, but I am finding this one is working for me really well. If you find your mornings a bit unproductive work-wise or low-energy, maybe give it a go!