Ask HN: What do you do to jump start your brain in the morning?
Mornings are by far the most challenging time for me to be productive. I sit at my desk fighting through my brain fog trying to find something I can focus on.
If I'm "lucky" something has gone wrong that needs my immediate attention [1], the small kick of adrenaline is usually enough to get my brain to wake up and I can continue being productive. By this I mean, solve problems, implement solutions, do the non-routine part of my job that I enjoy.
But having stuff break is not a sustainable method of waking up. If everything runs smoothly it can take an hour or two before the fogs clear. Even walking the dogs in the Scandinavian winter wakes me up sufficiently. I do of course use this time in some manners, read HN/reddit/blogs, write emails, meetings.. But I don't do any "real work", at least it feels that way.
So finally my to question
What do you do to jump start your brain in the morning?
[1] Bosses boss-boss decided that 24/7 oncall is too expensive so 8-17 it is.
131 comments
[ 6.3 ms ] story [ 200 ms ] threadLooks like part border collie, but can't really tell.
But I do know that my dog can happily go 1.5-2 hours, especially in cold weather. And trying to keep up with that will wake anyone up.
These days I feel so groggy in the morning that there's just no chance. After 3 cups of coffee I might feel sort of okay and awake by 11am.
My brain feels amazing after them. The trick is having the motivation to do them. I guess any type of exercise will do.
Hummingbirds literally zoom over to check me out. I did make a hummingbird feeder hat to wear during the pandemic though it's nowhere as cool as this dude's: https://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/double-feeder-hummi...
Then after yoga and a little meditation with the breath app from my apple watch I walk the dog, make a banana protein smoothie for breakfast and have a coffee while doing a few rounds of Duolingo. Then jump into morning calls.
Agree with Dr. Dshiv that having a full glass of water is great too!
Before going through your usual morning routine, start and finish the smallest possible unit of work which still requires you to go through the motions. E.g. if you're a software engineer, find a super small improvement/task/bug, do the work, and open a PR.
After, allow yourself to do whatever you feel like. Might be that you will go back to your present routine, but there is a good chance that you'll be "warmed up" and ready for more work.
I’ve found that the best thing I can do to consistently be ‘on’ right at 4 is to set my bedtime, not my awake time. I’m always in bed at 8 whether I think I’ll need 8 hours of sleep or not - this has allowed me to more consistently get something done right away outside of whenever the baby’s got me busy.
I find my body gets into a natural rythm. And 8 hours of solid sleep makes my mornings so much more productive.
Love how customisable the notification settings are now, that's an Apple win
For everyone else, train your body to sleep and wake at the same times. I'm a bit out of whack right now, but my best routine was when I could barely keep my eyes open at XPM at night and wake up on my own at XAM in the morning. It was like clockwork. I could tell you what time it was by my internal clock. Also helpful was going to sleep AND waking up in the dark. Sunlight streaming into your sleeping area is also like an alarm clock.
Don't do things which will mess with your sleep. If you're going to drink alcohol, don't do it during the week. I stopped eating after 6. Disconnected from screens an hour before sleep time. I was also on a sort of keto diet (loads of veggies, small portions of organ meat and fish, fat from coconut oil.
I have never experienced such mental clarity than I did during this time. It seemed like a switch got flipped one day about 3 weeks into this routine. I had this persistent feeling like I had drank 2 cups of coffee, but without the weird jittery feeling.
Plus, since I'm not eating after 8 and I still eat breakfast (with other kid) at 8, I'm in this sort of accidental intermittent fasting mode. I wonder how much that is contributing.
I had my day split for 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work, 8 hours with the baby. This allowed both my wife and I to get 8 hours of sleep every day once my son was on formula.
I was sleeping better and my work was more focused, and the boy (and my marriage) is still alive and happy. It worked so well, that it took me months for my body to shift away from that schedule when we moved on to more "normal" hours.
Since the start of the pandemic, my morning have become all about easing in to things. I wake up, read a bit, maybe dick around on duolingo, followed by some light exercise. Then breakfast and work. Before the pandemic, I would wake up, hit the shower, have breakfast on the way to work. The slower morning routine is definitely better for me.
When I wake up, my brain is immediately on — feels like a light bulb.
I think this is partially because my life is otherwise not very stimulating (due to COVID and dead-of-winter) but also because I go to bed early.
Every night asleep between 10-1030. Wake up around 530. Last meal was at 6pm (and no snacks after). No caffeine so my default is the same state I enjoy all day.
Morning run after I drop the older kid off at school, sometimes defer to lunch (depends on how icy it is outside). This is every week day. Settle down for work shortly after that. Work through most of the day, breaking up as I need. Sometimes will catch up in the evening after kids are in bed but I try not to as it can lead to burnout
I feel I get sufficient rest while giving decent inputs to my brain, so it doesn’t have that morning grog.
Isn’t that biological ? I’m not a morning person and I do generally have a hard time to get up… except if it’s my 4yo calling from its bedroom. When it happens, I feel like i’m waked by an instant shoot of adrenaline.
The must list has things I need to do to avoid increased stress and hassle down the line. Todoist then has my SHOULD list which would add up to the ideal day
From there the day's mostly just a checklist that needs ticking off. Easy mode if I'm feeling a bit naff, ideal list if I'm in a productive mood. It might be that psychology of choice but so far it seems to motivate me enough to know there's an easier option available
As long as the handwritten list gets done I'll be less stressed the next day and find it easier to start tomorrow. Bonus: being a written list you can rip it up when done and release some tension if they were painful tasks :)
I'm not a morning person so I do boring repetitive tasks in the morning while waiting for coffee to kick in - data entry, customer tickets, adminwork, invoices - then switch to code and systems stuff after lunch
I find that regular exercise help a lot in general.
I decided to leave my phone outside the bedroom and never taking it (no exceptions) and go to bed regularly at the same time, after a few days by body adapted and I'm having wonderful sleep again, to the point I can remember my dreams again.
All the numbness that I used to have in the mornings is gone, also I don't take any coffee or tea.
- Light to medium exercise in the morning. I try to hit the sweetspot where I come home from the gym tired, but not exhausted. A shower, breakfast and coffee jolt me back up and get me in the zone.
- Doing short mindfulness meditation immediately before work. It's nice on its own, but I think the real value is in creating negative space between pre-work chores and work.
I suck at sticking to routine, but this has worked out pretty well so far.
But I already finish up all these tasks during routine family phone calls to my mother and my mother in law. :P