My Youth friendly Work From Home routine..

It’s been more than a year since Sri Lanka got Covid-19. Most of the jobs have been switched to work from home. Somewhat a luxury but now not so swanky as it was. Going to work at the office made me feel energetic as I got to collaborate more with my colleagues. Not only that, but also it made me productive and disciplined as well. I’m already missing lunch outs, after work hangouts and all the fun filled activities. But, life needs to be saved and that’s why working from home has been mandated.

Home is cozy as it always is. However, working from home for a long period of time can be boring and depressing. Too much of comfort can make us lazy and mentally confined. The worst case is, we become unfit, unhealthy and finally look like a half baked potato.

I’ve been a huge apostle of wisdom literature for a good number of years. The lessons I learned from maestros helped me to streamline my life and raise my self standards. Robin Sharma’s quote “Ultra productive producers focus less on using their will power and a lot more on building routines” touched me. So I defined a few good habits and ingrained them into my day to day life. A routine which is flexible to the ones in their 20s. Here we go.

1. Waking up between 3.30 -3.45 am: The hardest to practice but the key to the rest. Don’t keep your alarm within your reach. Keep it somewhere distant where you have to wake up, walk a few steps and pick up. I used an old type of alarm clock when practicing the habit and it was effective as the noise was painfully loud. Remember the rule, do not use your mobile phone right after waking up.
2. From wake up time to 4.20 am: I splash water on my face, directly go to my table and continuously journal until my next alarm rings at 4.20 am. I jot down my worries, my day plans and what’s happening with my life to make my own self clear. This habit has helped me to brainstorm my own decisions and next moves. (Buzz me if you really need to know the way you can harness the magic of life). The Rule #1 is, write something in a language you need to improve. For me, it’s English. And practice being disciplined to keep your phone away or in airplane mode.
3. Between 4.20 am to 4.30 am : I prepare my tea. Sometimes my mom does that for me. If Mom is awake, I go and have a good morning chat with her to connect with her while she is making the tea. One point to highlight, preparing a cup of fresh milk is fast and easy as we don’t have to wait until water boils. Just heat up milk and drink.
4. 4.30 am to 5 am: I study or read while drinking my tea. Reading is a pleasure to me as I get to expand my knowledge and develop myself. I either read a textbook to prepare myself for an upcoming exam or read a self help book. But not anything in my native language. But during this time, I might pick up the phone to find the meaning of a new word to search for something related to the book I read.
5. 5 am: My favorite hour. I ain’t a savage and don’t need to waste my GBs of night data. Between 5 to 5.15 am, I normally work on my laptop. Either I check my emails, write a few lines of a blog post or browse and download movies to watch later. But I wrap the spell sharply by 5.15 am as I already have something lined up.
6. Sharply at 5.15 am I dress up for the workout. If it’s raining, I do my home workout which includes an ab workout, 100 Pushups, 30 squats and 20 lunges. But if it’s not raining, I go for a walk for 3–4 miles and return home around 6.20 am. Then I do 60 push ups or 60 lunges. This turns the clock into 6.35am mostly. I’m reluctant to skip my workout under any circumstance as my workout pumps me to run the rest of the day. And make sure you walk on the lane facing the vehicles coming to you.
7. Right after the workout, it’s all about household chaos. We don’t have servants at home so the chores are sp between Mother, father, sister and myself. I mostly sweep the garden & house and pick flowers for my mom to offer to Buddha. Not only that, I support my mother cooking as well with simple stuff like scraping coconut, dish washing etc until 7.20 am.
8. Then I have a shower and freshen up for the day. Cold showers in the morning fortify my immunity and make me ready for the daytime hustle and this may turn my clock into 7.45 am the time I have a small rest with my phone checking messages, scrolling down Twitter and Google News.
9. My breakfast will mostly be ready by 8.00 am. So I have it freely and sit for the work.
10. Between 8.15 am to 8.30 am, I get ready for the daily stand up meetings and have a chat with my teammates if there is anything special to be done by myself.
11. From 8.30 am to 6.00 pm is totally allocated for the Office work and there is no routine around that. I prioritize my daily tasks and work accordingly. 6.00 pm is not a constant point where I stop working but it’s a flag on my mind.
12. Mostly after 6.00 pm, I have a shower and be online on social media. I visit Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. This will be continued until around 7.30–8.00 pm but not at a stretch. I’d love to spend time with my family. So I am a bit clingy with my Mother and Father during that time as they are also busy during the day time. Mostly either my Father and I or my Mother and I prepare dinner. It’s actually fun, learning and engaging.
13. Normally I have my dinner between 8.00–8.20 pm. Then again be a bit online chatting with my friends and go to sleep between 8.30–9.00 pm. I rarely wake up late after 9 pm.

To be honest, I know this is no fun at all. But it has made my work easy, decision making convenient and set me free. Nevertheless, I spend my weekend quite differently. Morning routine stays the same but the day time is fully free and I line up things based on the priorities. The best thing about routines is I see where I can improve my own self. I get the feeling that I’m doing wrong whenever I veer from the routine and that makes it easy to correct myself.

It takes 21 days to make a habit and it takes 66 days to form a lifestyle. Keep going. Your life is all yours. Be selfish. Be a bit narcissistic. Your life is your responsibility.