My daily routine

Saturday October 30, 2021

Especially since reading Daily Rituals, I've thought about how people structure their days. This year I've been working on my routines, especially mornings. Here's how it's looking.

6:00-6:30 — Spaced repetition review with Anki

I review about a hundred cards per day in the Anki app. I got into this about a year ago, and I think I'm going to stick with it. It's pretty common to recommend daily physical exercise, and I think of this as being a similar practice for knowledge and memory.

6:30-7:00 — Writing in journal aka “Morning pages”

This is a Julia Cameron thing I picked up from Andy Hunt's book. It's pretty good. I don't always write a full three pages, but I make a point to always write something.

7:00-7:30 — Physical exercise

I alternate running about three miles outside and doing a 21-minute “Smart Workout” with the J&J 7-Minute Workout app in the basement. Running allows podcast listening.

Then I try to shower and everything by eight.

Food and drink

During the week, my breakfast and lunch have gotten pretty consistent.

• Breakfast: Granola with a little whole milk Greek yogurt
• Lunch: Turkey and Swiss sandwich on whole grain bread with mustard

Also in a typical day I drink two to four 8.4-ounce cans of Red Bull Sugar Free.

“Dailies”

There are a number of little things I try to do every day. They can change, and aren't always super strict. Here are some examples:

• Read today's entry from Tolstoy's Calendar of Wisdom
• Copy one of my old book posts into Goodreads and Amazon reviews
• Post a picture of my algae tank on Instagram
• Greet someone I wasn't otherwise planning to talk to today
• Do a lesson and reviews on Execute Program
• Come up with one new idea based on a random word

Some of these I track in a spreadsheet.

Evening — Read a book

I try to read a chapter, or an hour, or at least something that isn't screaming at me from a screen. This is usually a paper book because I like them, but the main characteristic of this reading is that it's deliberate rather than reactive. I record what I've read in my journal.

I'm not perfect in following all of this, but recently I've been getting more consistent, and I like it. One way I think about this is that it raises the floor for how much I do in a day. Even if I do nothing else, if I do these things I've done something to be happy about. And of course these things have benefits that help me do other things too. Always room to learn and improve more too!

The routines here are the least important parts of my days; I hope they support the things I value and don't conflict with them.

I'm very fortunate to be largely free to choose how I spend so much time; I owe so much to Erica in particular for supporting me and making our family's life better every day.