5am Morning Routine
I recently started a new job (yay!). However, since I’m on the west coast and most of the folks I work with are in India and east coast, I have 6am meetings almost every workday. It’s definitely been an adjustment, affecting all parts of my life including my boyfriend who I live with. Wanted to share with you my 5am morning workday routine and what my sleep schedule looks like on the weekends.
5am- Wake up via my trusty alarm. Thankfully I’m a morning person and not a snoozer so I immediately get up when I hear the alarm go off.
5:10- I go to the bathroom, take out my retainer, brush my teeth, and wash my face. In the past year, I developed a skincare routine of mostly K-beauty products thanks to Costco (i.e. got a K-beauty gift set from Costco). After I use a cleanser, I apply toner, eye cream, essence, and moisturizer. In general, I’m trying to take better care of myself so I added applying sunscreen to my face and neck as part of my morning routine. After my skincare routine, I change into my workout clothes.
5:20- I have become an avid reader in 2022 as it’s been my go-to when I’m bored and trying to avoid screen time. I read a handful of pages of whatever book I’m reading from the library. I’ve been into cozy mysteries for fiction and minimalism for nonfiction.
5:30- I increased the number of email newsletters I subscribe to so I can get a more well-rounded update on what’s going on in the world. Besides my NYT and Skimms newsletters, I also subscribe to a newsletter related to my work industry and Robinhood Snacks. Although it can be overwhelming at times to see so many unread email newsletters at 5:30am, I find it helps me stay informed at a high level.
5:45- I squeeze in a 10min yoga video. Usually I stick to more low-key stretching videos since I don’t want to get too sweaty. I don’t have enough time to take a shower so I prefer to keep the workout light. I also tend to be very stiff in the morning so it helps to stretch. Yoga in the morning has been a great way to check in with my body.
5:50- After yoga, I use Headspace for a quick meditation to focus and see where I’m at emotionally and mentally. The other day, I caught myself being very anxious during meditation. I was freaking out about forgetting to inform someone about a meeting. I reminded myself that I have time to inform the person about the meeting and I’m catastrophizing the situation. By acknowledging what I can do and how I can fix it, it helped me calm down so I was more at ease when I got to my desk.
5:55- Change into “normal clothes”, which is typically high waisted straight leg jeans and a t-shirt. I sometimes have fun with my hair by using clips. I put on some earrings and a necklace. After getting ready, I write in my journal.
6am- Time to work! I’m typically in meetings from 6–7am and have a break at 7am. I use the break to make and eat breakfast with my boyfriend as he wakes up right before 7am and heads out to commute around 7:15am.
On weekdays, I kickoff my bedtime routine at 8pm so I’m in bed by 9. For a while on the weekends, I was playing around with how to approach my bedtime and morning alarm. I wanted to give myself the flexibility of staying up a bit later and sleeping in without ruining my sleep schedule. One of my friends shifts his usually sleep schedule by an hour for the weekend. I tried that out, and I’m a fan. The latest I can stay up to on the weekends is 10pm, which rarely happens as I’m usually tired by 9:30pm. When I first started the new job, I tried to allow myself to wake up naturally on the weekdays, but I found myself being paranoid about sleeping in. I recently added a 6am weekend alarm, and it’s going well. I able to find that sweet spot of sleeping in where I feel well rested. Overall I’m surprised that I’ve found a good sleep schedule that works for me so quickly.
