Why I Woke Up Every Day At 9:00 am Even Though I Was Unemployed
April of 2020 was brutal. Like most of us, I thought there would be no end in sight. I was depressed, I was angry, and I was suffocating under the confines of having to stay home.
But I set my alarm for 9:00 am
I don’t know when I started to do this. I already had a few alarms set prior to the pandemic and must have been one of them.
I think the first reason why I had an alarm for 9 am was this concept of “delayed capitalism” or “phantom productivity,” if you don’t want to be all political with. I just made this up but I promise you it's fantastic and someone most definitely has a word for it right now.
But I know you know what I’m talking about. We all did this during the pandemic.
It was the idea that we had to keep moving.
We had to keep ourselves busy because now we have all this time! Why not start a new side hustle, while we grab our sus sourdough starter, after our coding class but not before we have to make some more masks.
We quickly became instilled with the idea that while our capitalist society was put on pause, we had to be doing something else, anything else, to not feel like we were wasting the time that has suddenly been given to us.
And so we kept working.
But that idea really hurt some people.
While there should be no shame in taking breaks (and I believe that you should), it is simply not feasible for everyone.
I know it impacted me.
I started to make an agenda, just as I was doing before, but honestly with just words of tasks that I could do to seem more fulfilled.
So that’s why I woke up at 9:00 am at first. I was driven by this phantom productivity to do meaningless things just to brag at the end of three months (because let’s be honest, we all thought it would end then), of the slew of bucket list items I did.
But in reality, I hated it. I hated dragging myself out of bed. I would spend an hour on Tik Tok at least before even debating to leave the bed. It was terrible.
Routine > Productivity
The second reason why I had and chose to keep my 9:00 am was for this important reason: I needed a routine.
Now 9:00 am is still quite early. And I have realized that although I am a “morning person” physically, I am not mentally. I need to “warm-up” until I’m at full capacity. But I know that I can handle it. So my 9:00 am does not have to physically be your 9:00 am but I want you to wake up.
I want you to wake up at a consistent hour (hopefully during the day) every day. You do that to have a routine.
I wanted to have a routine because that is what I needed to survive.
I chose 9:00 am because that was the time I needed to fulfill what I seemed like a “okay you did this thing that means you survived today good job.” I was doing enough for me.
You do what is enough for you
Mine wasn’t crazy.
9:00 am — Wake up
9:30 am — Starting getting dressed for workout/finish tik tok videos (I shaved it down to a half-hour, its called growth)
10:00 am — Workout
11:00 am — Eat Breakfast/ Small downtime on Youtube
12:00 pm — Check emails
1:00–3:00 pm — Apply to Jobs, follow-ups, networking, etc
4:00–6:00 pm — Reading (perhaps a quick nap so as to not fall asleep)
6:00 pm — Din Din
7:00 pm — Blog
8:00 pm -Lights Out— Downtime
That is how my day has relatively looked for the last 16 months. And I have loved it.
There were plenty of times that I slept in. I would “take the weekend off” but of course your natural circadian rhythm probably won’t let you go past that long. But otherwise, I did this because I felt like this was the best for me to feel sane. Having that routine was my lifeline.
At the end of the day, it is your choice. But if you need just some sort of anchor while having to battle so many demons, start small.
Start with noon
Start with 11 am
Start with 10 am
But do it because you are able to and do it because you want to. Once you start here, anything is possible. You have the whole day to live as you want to live by.
*Not everyone is in the same mental space nor has the same mental health. I am not a doctor. Remember you are good enough. If you got out of bed, great, I’m proud of you. Be proud of yourself. You do you boo. This is what worked for me, do what works for you at this time in your life.
