Some weeks ago, a lovely reader asked for a post on my morning routine. I almost chocked on my metaphorical tea, as anyone who knows me also knows that I’m not big on mornings nor routines. But if readers inquire, one has to oblige!

Yesterday, I got up 7.30am, took a shower, washed my hair, did my skincare (cleanser, acid toner, serum, other serum, moisturiser), dried and straightened my hair, put on clothes, made up my face (primer, foundation, concealer, mascara, lipgloss), left the house, got back to the house because I had forgotten my money, walked to work while getting a coffee (latte forte) and some chia pudding with fruit, arrived in the office by 9am.

This doesn’t sound too bad, you might think. You could argue that while there was no yoga or morning pages or gratitude ritual or even water with lemon, with the exception of the money incident, this sounds like a morning of a functional member of the society. And you would be right! Unfortunately, yesterday was also the only time in the last three months or so that I have managed to have a morning like that. My weekday mornings are, with very rare exceptions, always hectic and my weekend mornings are usually spent asleep.

I make all the mistakes lifestyle videos on youtube tell you to avoid. I go to bed too late (2am is usual for me); I read exciting things in bed; I bring my phone with me and use it as the alarm; I hit snooze – often multiple times – or if I don’t, simply fall asleep again and wake up an hour later than I should have; I do not leave myself enough time to get ready; I check my e-mails as soon as I open my eyes; I am not calm, I am not grateful, I cannot find my bra. I do not eat at home or have a kale smoothie, I don’t shower, I very rarely put on makeup. The only things you can be absolutely sure I will manage to accomplish every morning is inserting my contact lenses (as I do not see anything without them), brushing my teeth and dressing.

And you know, some of this I’m completely fine with. I really don’t feel I need to do morning pages: my job largely consists of writing, I have the blog, no thank you. I am fine with – althiugh not alays thrilled abiut – showing people my bare face and can do my makeup in the office, if I feel it’s needed for a meeting or event. I tend to shower/take a bath in the evenings (and I don’t do it every day, because I’m lazy but also it’s bad for my dry skin). I don’t feel guilty about checking my phone, as my job requires it and I feel much better once I’ve done it. I am not hungry first thing in the morning, so getting a coffee and a breakfast bowl on the way to the office works really well for me.

That said, I have started to rethink my mornings lately. The reason for the rush is that this strategy has served me relatively well over the years. It has allowed me to maximise my sleeping time, always in ridiculously short supply, and through that, facilitated my late night reading binges that have always been crucial for me – much more than morning yoga or breakfast. I can get ready in 15 minutes and look relatively presentable. My work hasn’t suffered. People make changes when they are strongly motivated to do so and I haven’t been. It is possible, however, that I’m getting there.

Remember when I said I’m not big on mornings nor routines? That is not necessarily as true as I like to think. I can get up earlier, if I want to. These days, I wake up at 7am twice a week, put on my gym clothes, have a bite to eat and get to my personal trainer by 7.50am. I’ve had periods when I’ve needed to be in the office before 8am every single day. And once I have done the difficult work of getting up, I do enjoy early mornings very much and am, in fact, supremely effective during these hours. In the early days of the blog, I did in fact a lot of the writing in the mornings before work.

I have also realised that while I like to think about myself as a creative, spontaneous person (and I am), I actually respond well to routines. I don’t mean I want my days to look the same, but having routines for the more mundane parts of your life frees up mental energy and time for the important stuff. My skincare routine is a case in point: it has become so automatic that I skip it only in very rare cases, usually involving huge amounts of alcohol. It is not something I have to decide to do, I just do it every day. Exercise is another example: once I got into the rhythm of doing it twice a week, I really did not want to miss a single session. Small habits like picking out my clothes in the evening are useful. Exactly because I tend to be so all over the place as a person, some structure – if it doesn’t get too restrictive – helps me.

So I’ve started slowly to move my usual 2-8am sleeping slot (there are much worse nights too) towards something more reasonable, with some success. I’m not doing it in the name of a perfect morning routine, but because I feel my life could use some rejigging. Nothing revolutionary, but better suited to what I actually want. I want to sleep a bit more, I want to have a bit more time in the mornings and I want to use that time a bit more productively. And I think I could really benefit from some lemon water when I wake up. I’m not even joking.

What are your mornings like? Any routines or habits that have been game-changing for you?