Where have the last few weeks gone? The last coursework (ever, hopefully!) is done and submitted and now it's hardcore revision time. My brain seems to disagree, it'd rather think about intricate crochet stitches and exciting things to cook, or just fall asleep.
Spending time in the Physics department library with friends who've been finishing their project theses seems to be a good way of getting some good working time in but I need to improve my ability to get up and go in the morning. I always seem to end up in pajama-wearing internet limbo and not make it out of the house for a good few hours, even when I'm supposed to be having coffee with people I get stuck. Oops? Not really "oops" since it happens so much; I must try harder. The old alarm clock on the other side of the room trick does alright when I remember to set it, now I must learn to jump in the shower at the first opportunity and not descend into warm pajama ickiness.
My morning routine tends to go thus: roll out of bed, coffee & some form of bread, start making sandwich while kettle boils, laze around while finishing coffee (I'm incapable of drinking coffee fast), possibly check e-mails while finishing coffee, ... , shower, brush teeth, dress slowly while trying to round up handbag contents, assess weather conditions & add scarves appropriately, finish sandwich & re-fill water, LEAVE.
Obviously I can cut out the internet time (especially now I have the boy's old smartphone to check my e-mail on) and do things like decide what to wear and assemble handbag contents the night before, although I have tried this and not wanted to wear things the next day (or found that vital pieces of clothing are in the wash). I don't really like the idea of sandwiches that have been left in the fridge overnight but it may be a sacrifice I should try for the sake of improved productivity. Making a smaller cup of coffee would lead to less dead time that I'm liable to fill with the internet, but then there are days when I finish my coffee but then feel the need to lie down for a bit and daydream.
Any tips for a more useful morning? What order do you do things in? Why?
I'm interested in the logic in these things - Do you have a very strong order or do you mix things up? Do you find it easy to add new parts to your routine?
I always eat first as I don't like having an empty stomach and know I get all hypoglycemic and sad/angry/useless (the boy once took me to Sainsbury's with no breakfast and I had a self-checkout related meltdown, now he knows girl needs bread to function). My flatmate, on the other hand, will happily go half a day before eating or drinking anything.
I've noticed I've adopted some of the boy's habits too, there is always coffee these days, and he's a great one for making sandwiches. Truth be told I never used to brush my teeth in the morning, it's just a thing my parents didn't do. Now though I feel icky if I don't.
I used to have this problem of not getting started with work in the mornings! I've managed to overcome it by setting StayFocusd (the chrome plugin, there's something similar for Firefox, I think) to block out all the non-work-related sites I regularly read from 9 am - 6 pm every day of the workweek. It's harsh but it works, and it's made my internet consumption less mindless and addictive. For a while I also stopped making a big pot of tea and made myself only a single cup so I wouldn't linger over tea, I imagine the same would work with coffee... and I tend to get up really early (like, 6-ish or 7-ish) and shower either before breakfast or directly afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAhhh. The thing with plugins for me is that I know I can turn them off! I think I'm sadly still used to working when I cannot possibly be doing anything else. Mindless internet use is definitely a problem, it only takes a few clicks to get me to an almost endless stream of content which is like a warm duvet to my sleepy mind. Next thing I know I've read 3254223 blog posts about making bunting and bookmarked 12 recipes. Argh.
DeleteI seem to have done better when I've thought about my process of getting up beforehand, if I know I'm about to grab my towel and take my mug downstairs I'm much less likely to lie down for a bit...
useful mornings are not my forte, other than I wake up far too early and waste far too much time!
ReplyDeleteAhh. Nice to know I'm not alone :)
DeleteI need to eat first thing, too; I get grumpy if my blood sugar's low.
ReplyDeleteI never used to be a morning person but then I moved jobs to one which was much closer to home and started half an hour later; I kept getting up at the same time so now I have an hour of sitting around my flat and reading before I have to do anything. It's lovely. I fully expected my getting up time to slip later and later and later, but having that hour to myself is so nice I've been able to stick to it.
That's really interesting! I found that with lectures starting at midday I never got anything useful done in the morning, and it led to me getting quite miserable over the course of a term.
DeleteOn Wednesday I was going to meet people for coffee at ten but I woke up at 8 and managed to get up in plenty of time and run a couple of errands on my way. Every time I do manage it it feels awesome :)