I used to think of mornings as something I have to get through before starting my “real day”.
But here in Medellín, I crave them. I sit on my balcony breathing clean air, listening to birds chirping, and sipping on a cup of hot tea as I’m bathed in sunlight.
I architect my mornings carefully to ensure the rest of my day is productive and peaceful. There’s three tactics I use.
#1: Writing
My quest starts with the mind. I don’t utter a single word until at least an hour after waking up. No phone calls, no talking to people.
This lets me gently arouse my mind from a nascent, hazy state to an active one. Caffeine helps with this.
Soon, out of repression, my mind starts bolting like a maniac horse. That’s where writing comes in.
Every morning, I write a page or two in my Leuchtturm1917 notebook. It helps me think with my hands. It also calms my monkey mind.
It’s a simple “brain dump”. I eject any clutter from my mind.
In doing so, I force my brain to think coherently and warm up ahead of the day’s thinking. It feels like the kind of stretching you do before a workout.
(Aside:) It’s paradoxical when I think about how writing both affects and comes from the mind. We often detach these cognitives activities from our mind to describe how they affect it:
- “Meditation gives me peace.”
- “Writing adds clarity to my thinking.”
- “Planning makes my day structured.”
And yet, in all cases, our mind is both the subject and the object. It is its own hall monitor.
#2: Limiting Electronics
I treat my freshly awoken mind like a newborn baby waking up from a nap. I limit its exposure to outside stimuli. For babies, that means other people. For my mind, that means other minds.
A big part of this step is shunning electronic devices until I’ve finished writing. No bombarding notifications, e-mails, texts, photos, or videos coming from other minds.
That first hour is cocooned for my own mind before I expose it to the chaos outside.
Some sub-tactics I use to resist electronic cravings:
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I don’t charge my phone by the bedside.
I keep it across the room. It breaks the common habit of checking my phone while still in bed. -
I use a digital alarm clock to wake up.
It’s one of the best under-$15 purchases I’ve made on Amazon. (It would’ve been the best, but I still can’t get over the electric candle lighter I bought for $10.) -
I set very specific notification settings for messaging apps: no lock screen alerts, no sounds, and no badges.
For all other apps, I’ve either turned off notifications or set the delivery mode to “Scheduled Summary”. I also have friends who’ve set their phones to grayscale mode to make them less enticing to use.
#3: Standardizing breakfasts
I try to make breakfast within an hour of waking up. It’s the same meal every morning: Eggs with spinach and spiced lentils.
- Eggs are protein-rich and keep me satiated.
- Spinach isn’t as tasty as Popeye makes it look, but it’s rich in a bazillion nutrients.
- Lentils are slow to release energy. They keep my blood sugar levels steady.
For a change of pace, I add tomatoes and onions or slice up a sausage on the side. Sometimes, I also add a spoonful of salsa (which, to my complete bewilderment, packs a punchful of flavor for a bargain of < 10 calories).
My breakfast is boring but extremely effective in eliminating mood and energy fluctuations.
I also have one less decision to make in the morning: “What should I eat today?”
That’s all I use. Three simple tactics: writing, limiting electronics, and standardizing breakfasts.
In return, I get the holy grail of productivism: bulletproof mornings.
Written by Aryan Bhasin