Starting the Day With a Recap
Another Plan to Get Out of Bed Before It’s Too Late
The Problem
For the last couple of months, I am having trouble starting my day.
I manage to sleep on time, and the alarm goes off after I’ve had enough sleep.
But I can’t get out of bed until it’s already too late and my phone tells me that the daily meetings have already started.
Initially, I thought it was because of where I was in life. I didn’t enjoy the work.
But it’s been three months since I moved to a project/team that I like.
What is keeping me from getting excited to start my day?
How Did I Get Out of Bed Most of My Life?
On giving some thoughts to this issue, I tried to explore my past life.
For most of it, there was something planned early morning that forced me to start my day.
In school and college, it was early morning classes. Then at work, I had to prepare to reach the office.
Work from home enabled me to start my workday right after waking up.
It does have many downsides, but it is a feasible option.
The Failed Attempts
I wish I had a morning routine that made me start the day — but I could not show up to do something for 21 days to build to any routine.
For the past few days, I am trying to be more aware of how I feel and think during those moments of waking up in the morning and staying in bed. The reasons are one of these two:
1. If I don’t have anything planned already and unless it’s sending a notification telling there will be people waiting for me to join — I am too sleepy to think of anything important that I need to do.
2. On days when I prepared a list of things I need to do — and kept the list right next to my alarm clock so that I don’t miss it — those tasks seemed too much effort right after waking up, and I thought I’ll need some more rest to be ready to work on them.
The Recap Idea
One of the most under-used ideas I have known is the value of a quick recap.
Most of the TV shows start with a quick recap of what happened in the last episode.
Most good teachers I have had spent the first few minutes of class recalling what we learned in the last one.
When studying, it is helpful to start by looking at what you learned in the last session.
Isn’t each day of life similar to a new episode tv series, a new class, a new chapter?
A quick recap is easy on the right-of-sleep brain. It’s a great way to remind yourself where you are.
The Action Plan
I don’t have a common place to keep records of everything I do in a day.
But combining Notion + Evernote + Microsoft office lens should give a good idea of what happened.
Before ending the day and turning off the devices, I can write down a summary of all the things I did during the day.
I can also add quick notes on what and how to continue.
I will be placing this next to my alarm clock — along with a pen.
I hope that my morning self will sit and read this after having a glass of water.
I am not sure what I will do with the pen — but it should make the process more involved.
For the next seven days — I will try this idea and share the results and the final template of the recap-page I ended up with in a new post.
“The breezes at dawn have secrets to tell you
Don’t go back to sleep!
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep!
People are going back and forth
across the doorsill where the two worlds touch,
The door is round and open
Don’t go back to sleep!”
― Rumi
