Morning routine that allows you to work on your side gig
When I first started working on Breaking Thirty, I searched for a nice morning routine to adopt so that my blog could fit into my day without leaving me drained.
I discovered that there is a routine for every season of the year and every occasion. Morning spring routine, bed time winter routine, September back-to-school routine, feeling-in-a-rut holiday season routine, daily care routine. This is what hundreds of lifestyle youtubers and bloggers teach us year after year, season after season: that daily routines are great evergreen content for Google SEO. Like Paris, royal weddings, and cellulite. Since I also aspire to become a lifestyle blogger (with a bit more « life » and a bit less « style », just to take the pressure off), I need to optimize my Google SEO as well. So here is my bulletproof autumn morning routine to create space for your side gig and some sweet « me-time ».
Photo by Rawpixel
But… let me start by saying that I love summer. Well, I should be more precise and say: I love summer mornings. I love the pure breeze at the start of the day, the sun getting warmer and warmer, the light-blue sky with no clouds, the smell of the air, the colours of the fields and the sunflowers. There’s nothing better than not completely closing the curtain at night, so that the sunlight can shine into my bedroom and hopefully wake me up at 5:30am. And when the sun does wakes me up (not that often though), that makes me feel so in sync with nature, like a real natural woman. Amen, Aretha Franklin.
For the other ordinary days when the sun doesn’t wake me up and I don’t feel like a sort of fertility goddess, I’ve devised a strategic summer morning routine that allows me to enjoy the weather outside and to work on Breaking Thirty too. I set the alarm at 6:14am. It’s that minute before the « quarter of an hour » that makes the greatest difference and sets you up for incredible success. I slowly get out of my bed and go to the bathroom to pee. This point might seem obvious, but it’s not. I’ve never heard (or read) of a lifestyle youtuber or blogger saying they go to pee after waking up. Not even the myth demystifier and routine freak Tim Ferriss ever reported something like that. Don’t these people pee? Can they all hold it all day long like when you can’t find a gas station on the highway? Do I also have to hold it to be considered a lifestyle blogger and, if yes, for how long?
Photo by Joanna Kosinka
Ok, next: I take my supplements with one glass of water plus drink two glasses of lemon water immediately afterwards. Then I unroll my yoga mat and do ten push-ups. After that I then put on my horrible house clothes and go outside for a walk in the fields to enjoy my beloved summer morning. Luckily I don’t live with my parents anymore. My mum would have thrown away the horrible clothes and prevented me from trying to fit in with what German ladies wear to walk their dogs at that time of the day. Once at home, I pee again, and then, because it takes a triggering habit to stick to another habit, make a cup of matcha tea in order to sit down and meditate for 10-15 minutes. If I’m disciplined enough and not wasting time, I get to my blog at around 7:38am and work on it for one hour, while sipping a jasmine green tea. Yep, different teas for different habits.
Now it’s autumn. Finally I’m free! No need to take the damn walk outside every single day to be consistent with the fact that I identify myself as a “summer morning lover”. No fear of missing out on those precious summer mornings with the stunning summer light. No need to be awakened by an annoyingly early alarm and be kicked out of the bed by a heavy sense of obligation towards the « me-time ».
I can enjoy a much more sustainable autumn morning routine now and let the people who identify themselves as « autumn mornings lovers » deal with the walk. The alarm sets off at 6:21am. Yes babes, it’s that one more minute after « the third of an hour » that makes you feel restored and lowers your stress levels. Try it and see how renewed you feel! I go to the toilet to pee (I still haven’t figured out how to hold it) and drink one glass of water with the supplements plus two glasses of lemon water. I get dressed with the same horrible clothes as the summer, except that I also wear a horrible pink sweatshirt as an extra layer. I unroll the yoga mat to do ten push-ups… and twenty bridges. I brew a cup of matcha tea in order to sit down and meditate for 10-15 minutes. If I am disciplined enough, I get to my blog at around 7:03am and work on it for one hour plus forty precious more minutes that I gain from not taking the walk. And I work while drinking Japanese sencha green tea. Yep, I’ve shaken up my daily routine from the inside out!
