How I Fixed My WFH Morning Routine

“5 minutes for the rest of the day”

This is the trivial yet powerful phrase that for the past few weeks has been getting me out of bed in the morning at a more reasonable time. I’d like to share how I’ve improved my work-from-home routine, which for the longest time has been start upon wake, and the easy steps you can take to do the same. This is not a post about the unreasonable yet frequently seen “grind” and “locked in” mode that is unhealthy, unsustainable and not appropriate for everyone, it’s a realistic way to fix how you approach working from home, if it’s broken for you.

WFH is a blessing and a curse, it makes life infinitely more flexible, but also makes keeping a routine very difficult. It’s not uncommon in this way of working to wake up just before you need to be working, and migrate very slowly from the embrace of your bed to your workstation, or if you’re really in deep, the workstation and your bed are indistinguishable. Waking up in the morning is difficult, even for Roman Emperors nearly 2000 years ago:

“Is this the purpose of my creation, to lie here under the blankets and keep myself warm?” — Meditations, Marcus Aurelius

Life and work in Ancient Rome was markedly different compared to today, yet some things transcend time. But hey, how lucky are we to only be working on our laptops? I just finished reading Why We Sleep and it’s not hard to imagine, given…