Thanks to lockdown I finally found it

Pre-lockdown, I had been trying for several months and countless times to find a perfect daily routine that worked for my special situational context. I failed every single time.

I am a full-time worker, freelance, dad, writer, blogger, and husband therefore I can’t afford to lose even one minute. If so, I will never, ever get it back.

In that regard, I need to devote quality time to my son, wife, family, work and also spend my time wisely on my side-hustle projects wisely.

To accomplish that, I started out to try which routines fit best for me, and all of my duties. In other words, I needed to find what time worked better for which task, then optimize that time.

The only constraint about all that was to avoid falling into the burnout. Since I know it because I got into it a few years back, I am scared of it.

Thanks to lockdown I have finally been able to find the perfect routine that works for me, so it could work for you too.

A brief of my circumstances

Eight years ago, I moved from the East to the capital looking for challenges, and with high expectations to find better opportunities.

Back then, my wife was my girlfriend. For different reasons, which I will talk about it in another piece, we have been living in a long-distance relationship for several years, sadly.

I travel every single weekend from the capital to the east to stay at home with her and now my son too. The most beautiful treasure in this world.

I am telling part of that story just to put you into context how my daily routine was before, and how is now during the lockdown. Also to show you how the lockdown turned me from single into a real-life of married.

With that in mind, let me tell you about my daily routine before the lockdown.

The daily routine before lockdown

As I mentioned in the first passages, I’ve been consistently looking for ways to optimize my time doing the right tasks at the right time so I get things done effectively.

I had become a night-owl back then. I enjoyed arriving home, cooking the dinner, then getting rest a little bit, and finally around 10 pm I started to code something fun. I use to go to bed after midnight.

As a result of that, the odds to get up early were scarce or null. I woke up around 8 am because I needed to commute for around 30 minutes due to my shift started at 9 am by then.

Nonetheless, I did the workout sometimes. There was no consistency at all. They were random workouts.

During the lockdown

Once lockdown started a new lifestyle and challenges started with. I started to live a real married relationship. This meant more dedication and attention to my wife and son.

The time I had while living as a single in the capital had gone. Being conscious of it I started thinking about it so I created a new schedule on Google calendar to see how I will spend my hours during the week and weekends.

I knew it. I needed to find a perfect routine that worked while taking care of my mind and body health, work-life balance, and family time.

Therefore, experimenting was my closest friend at the time.

Turning from a night-owl into an early bird

Before lockdown, I failed miserably trying to wake up early. I failed every time.

As a strategy, I tried to go early to bed but it didn’t work too. I gave up. I knew it was impossible to achieve it.

I saw a chance while in lockdown, so I decided to try it one more time. I have never thought I would be able to turn from a night-owl into an early bird. Though there was a little hope since when I was in university I was an early bird.

To be exact, on April 27 this new routine got started. It was the first day. The previous night I helped my son get to sleep. He slept around 9 pm, and then, my wife and I went to bed around 10 pm.

I had serious doubts if I would be capable of waking up at 5 am. I failed. However, I woke up at 6 am, nothing bad to be the first try. Definitely I had won so I celebrated my small win.

From then until now, I’ve been successfully waking up around 5– 6 am. The most important fact is it’s now in autopilot, automatic and effortlessly and I feel full recharge and focused during the morning. So I did. Now I am an early bird like old times when I was so young.

A perfect and powerful morning routine

Once I was turned into an early bird I was one step forward of the rest of the world. Whilst they were sleeping I could have my day done since I had at my disposal roughly three or four hours more than them. Plus the right mindset to face the hardest things.

Losing myself into reading

Now I like to lose myself into reading. I devote about 20 minutes to reading, just after I’ve prepared my cup of coffee, around 5 am. I have the luck to hear the birdsong.

I read about self-improvement, productivity, or anything related to achieving anything in life, which in turn strengthens my focus and mindset.

Writing like a crazy

Writing is the most powerful thing and a treasure I have the luck; I have found out. I never thought I could become a writer.

I devote around one hour every single day. No matter if it’s Monday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I just get up and after reading for a while I start to write like crazy.

I enjoy every word and phrase and how they are connected and how those connections create meaning, which in turn it becomes something inspirational, helpful, or as part of advice either for myself or someone else.

Getting in Shape

Your body is your temple. If you make it feel good. It will give you the same.

Roughly one and a half months after the lockdown had started I had gained more than 12 pounds. I realized it, when I watched a video I recorded dancing with my son.

My son and I usually at the end of my 9–7 shift we danced a little bit. I didn’t do that as a way to get in shape, not so seriously, certainly, it helped a little bit to get out stress but my eating habits were so bad at that time.

However, since I had more hours in the morning before to start my full-time job I started to workout. I workout for almost 30–45 minutes while I am listening to an episode of the Impact Theory. So powerful!

Sharpen skills — Going even deeper

The final 30 minutes of those powerful hours in the morning are dedicated to continuous learning.

The aim is to sharpen my devs skills understanding all things behind the scenes. In other words, my focus is to go from the roots to leaves, not the other way around.

I am obsessed with learning about web programming, best practice, clean code, system design on the React, React Native, Javascript ecosystem as well as self-improvement.

Coding, daily stand up meeting, coding, and researching

Anything else apart from those four hours in the morning is just an extra bonus to my life.

By doing things I really enjoy I feel fulfilled and there’s a feeling like I get things out the door and get my day done in just a few hours.

In that sense, I am more than prepared to start my full-time job with more enthusiasm, motivation, and the right mindset.

So I can start to check my Jira tickets, and see how to fix the client’s problems. Furthermore, I am prepared to have the usual daily stand up meeting, then code, research, check Stack Overflow, and repeat this process throughout the day until 7 pm.

Closing thoughts

The lockdown gave me new chances to experiment. Every single person has a similar routine but it is never equal. Everyone has different situational cases, responsibilities, tasks, burdens, and problems.

The aim of this is just to share how lockdown helped me to find out a better routine and how it can help you too.

To summarize in sentences I would say.

Thanks to lockdown:

I have refined and optimized my daily routine.

I have been testing which daily routine works better for me.

I have been taking advantage to get in shape

I have discovered the power of becoming an owl-nighter into an early bird.

I have found more clarity about who I am and who I want to become.

What are your thoughts?

Share yours!

Thanks for reading. I hope this post turns out to be helpful for you. Live Your Life On Purpose.