Ask HN: What's your morning routine? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What's your morning routine?

23 pointsjonbischke27 comments

Even if you don't adhere to it perfectly, what do you find gives you the best start to the day? Could be exercise, reading, etc. The more specific, the better.

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Wake up stressed about traffic and revenue, toilet, coffee, pet the cats, start up rusty old Dell, add another 0 to the revenue chart on the wall, minor bump on the traffic chart, post self-deprecating comments on HN, THEN get down to work so I don't wake up to another zero tomorrow.

As I live in the Netherlands, a lot of interesting stuff that happens online during the day in the US, happens in the night for us. While my GF is taking a shower and dressing, I'm usually still in bed checking Twitter, Reeder and Reddit for what happend during my sleep.

Then I'm off to the shower (no shower means waking up takes longer) and will sometimes have breakfast with my GF. Most of the time however, I just drink something and leave home for my one hour commute to Amsterdam (by train), during which I read up on online stuff (or continue reading a book) on my iPad.

I usually show up at work somewhere between 8.30 and 9.30 am. Once my laptop is hooked up to my screen and everything is ready for work, I grab a glass of fresh tea and a cracker with cheese, and I'm off hacking :-).

Additionally, I work from home two days of the week. The routine is a lot simpler then: after having checked the latest news from my bed, I jump into my clothes and start hacking right away. Shower and breakfast occur somewhere between 11am and 2pm. For some reason I'm awake and ready to hack much faster when I'm working from home. Does that sound familiar to anyone?

TL;DR: quite a lengthy routine on the days I commute. When working from home going from bed to hacking takes me ~2 minutes

I wake up, sometimes get my laptop and read something while I am in bed. Sometimes I get up to read. I check my FB, email, and then HN, BBC, Economist etc. which takes about an hour or so normally. I eat some cereal while doing that - must of the time Honey Bunches of Oats.

Then I get to work brainstorming, emailing, brainstorming, speaking with my programmer, brainstorming, and then lunch. In the afternoon/evening I usually go to the gym or sometimes play soccer at lunch.

This is a really cute feed - I watch a 20 or so page power point I designed that visualizes my perfect life and also has all the steps I need to do and jobs I am working on. I created from the saying 'You become what you think about most of the time' so I've tried to immerse myself n this vision. I've been doing this for about 6 months and it gets me positive and inspired for each day.

Then I nerd out on the internet for ages.

Interesting that most people seem to work from home! and none of you shave (or do hair/makeup!) which leads me to believe you all have giant beards!

Coffee, WSJ&HN, Bathroom, Emails, More Coffee, then off to work. If I wake up with my gf, then love replaces coffee. Endorphins > Caffeine.

3 days a week it is: wake up at 7, eat müsli, drink coffee, read HN for 30-45min or clean up the kitchen then bike 40min to work (used to be an hour), shower there, stretch, more coffee The other two I work at home and will try to work first thing in the morning until my wife and daughter get up, then make breakfast for them or play with the little one. After breakfast I continue working

Wake up, gmail, thefeelgood.com (music), HN, code 1h, breakfast, code 3h, lunch out with friends. I dont drink coffee, i dont smoke, try to stay healthy.

And what energizes me is that i love what i work on. The simplest, easiest and best motivator. Otherwise lots of contacts with lots of friends, Sports, games and sex (when circumstances allow) keep me in good mood and happy.

Pro tip: drinking a glass of water within 10 minutes of waking up will cause a bowel movement. No better way to start off the day.

Coffee, HN, more coffee, Reddit, grapefruit, cereal and then a 20 mile bike ride into work.

I'm from the Netherlands so my rountine is; Wake up, check mail and HN/reddit/businessinsider/TC/Mashable, shower, make sandwiches for lunch, get on the tram. Upon arriving boot up pc, respond to work mails, grab coffee and the day starts.

Wake up, shower, make sandwiches for lunch, grab bike and ride to work (this is the Netherlands after all, you get funny looks for walking), arrive at work and grab a coffee and a water, catch up on HN, Twitter, Reader, commence working.

How many of you go do some exercise or workout as a part of your morning routine? I have been thinking of doing this, but I have heard people saying it's more beneficial to do this in the evenings.

For the majority of people, the hurdle is getting exercise regardless of time of day. I think once you get past that, everything else comes down to personal preference and priorities.

I second that. Started convict conditioning a month ago and I don't have a rigid schedule for training. But I will train every other day regardless of what happens on that day. This can mean I will do it at midnight but usually I do it earlier taking a break from work. It is a great way to channel procrastination into something useful.

My morning routine looks like this:

Wake up, surf HN, eat breakfast (if TWR, exercise), shower, get dressed, make lunch, go to work.

I'm working on doing exercise every day of the workweek, but it's a start. I never want to when I come home because I just want to relax, maybe make dinner or something, and work on a side project.

Fridays look like this: Wake up, shower, get dressed, go to work. It's free bagel Friday :)

I do, but only incidentally. I have to walk the dog every morning (its more my GF's dog, but she goes to school early so I volunteer to do day walks). I'll just say that I put on about 20 pounds when I started working from home, and since I got that dog, its all burned away and then some.

HN, Coffee, Cigarettes, and a shower with orange scented shampoo.

Do you drink coffee and smoke cigarettes? Do they affect you similarly, and does the effect amplify if you do both? (not having smoked before, I'm genuinely curious)

I dunno really. The smoking is constant fuel through the day (disgusting, I know, but it's programmed into my brain) while the coffee (with lots of sugar) gives me a kick when I start to feel blah.

Wake up. Eat oatmeal or cereal + tall glass of water + piece of fruit. Quick 5K jog. Shower. Catch up on stuff (email, HN, twitter). Work.

milk + cornflakes, instant coffee, HN, mails, HN, stats, Facebook, HN, playing some music

I have still to find one, a good one which includes going to the gym

Driving. Even when I work from home, I make sure I drive.

Care to explain why?

It serves 3 purposes:

- forces me to dress / shower / maintain a modicum of hygiene

- gets the heart pumping (at high speeds :)

- with the top down (or all windows open) at higher speeds you feel quite a bit cooler than if you stood in the outside air (in the summer). And in the winter, car blows warm air across the neck, so your head doesn't freeze

wake, make some tea, read flipboard/zite, go workout for an hour, come home shower, and head to work.

I get up, get dressed, and immediately go to work. Then at work I get coffee as I restart the computer (it has docking issues).

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