The daily habits of a 24-year-old design student.
2019 is over and it was a great year. I can’t wait to see what 2020 has to offer. But the last year also brought a lot of changes. Especially in my daily routines and my mindset.
In this article, I would like to talk about my daily habits and what benefits they are offering to me.
Starting the day right
I’m definitely not the first you hear this from.
but…
Start your day right! Your morning routine sets the tone of your whole day.
But keep in mind, that what works for me, probably don’t work for every other human being. Everyone is unique and so our routines are.
So what do I do in the first hour of my day?
First of all, I avoid my smartphone, news or other streams from the outside world. The first hour of the day is reserved for me. I get up between 7 a.m and 8 a.m, but I can’t resist the snooze button. I know that is poison, but it feels too good to hit this button.
Then I walk into the kitchen and drink 2 glasses of water. The human body dehydrates a lot at night, so it is important to refill. After that, I am making coffee. But do not drink it instantly.
I go back into my room and do some yoga practices. I don’t have a fixed duration for that, sometimes I do 5 minutes, on other days I do up to 45 minutes. It depends on how am I feeling and how much time I have left.
My yoga session is the most important part of the morning. Doing it right, it stretches every part of your body and wakes you up.
The benefits of yoga I recognized so far:
- Less tired over the day.
- More open for discussions
- Decreased stress level
- Clearer mind
- No more back pain
- Better sleep
After finishing my yoga practice, I do some push-ups and afterward, I head back to the kitchen to drink my coffee. The next part is showering, brushing my teeth and skincare and getting ready for the outside world.
Doing skincare is also a new habit I started in 2019. There are no benefits to see right now, but I am sure in 10 years, there will.
Being flexible over the day
The only thing that is the same every day is my morning routine. After that, it gets tricky. Besides my design studies, I run a YouTube channel and I have a few photo gigs. My courses are different each day and each week, so I have to plan everything around my studies.
I reserve a timeslot from 9 a.m to 5 p.m for university or work. Depending on my university schedule.
If the university doesn’t start before 10 a.m, I try to get done the most important work in the first three hours of the day. Because in the morning we are the most productive. Our head is clear and we are recharged to get a lot of work done, which affords a lot of mental energy.
The habits I do during the day
- No caffeine after 3 p.m
- Run (30–60 minutes)
- Reading
- Listening to a podcast
- Taking 10.000 steps
I try to plan my week on every Sunday and fine-tune every day, the night before.
Time for the things that really matter
Livestreaming is a big thing on my YouTube channel, so I try to stream every day from 5:30 p.m to 7 p.m. I love to stream and interact with my followers on a real-time basis.
I don’t plan my time after the stream, but I have a few habits that are guiding me. After the stream, I cook or get something to eat. When I am recharged, I meet friends or my roommates. If nobody hast time, I go for a walk.
Preparing for sleep
Due to the fact, that I love spending time with my friends and being out, my bedtime isn’t that strict. Nevertheless, I try to get to bed between 11 p.m. and 12 p.m. So I can get up to 7 or 8 hours of sleep every night.
So let’s say I am at home, not out, and nobody wants to talk to me.
I set all my devices to “Do Not Disturb” at 10 p.m, and also the screen turns into night mode, so I get reminded to don’t use it anymore.
After that, I brush my teeth and get cozy.
The last thing I do is to watch a few episodes of a “No Brainer” series on Netflix. That helps me to calm down my mind.
This was my daily schedule in 2019, but there is a lot I want to change and add in 2020.
I also have one question for you:
What is the most important habit, you do on a day to day basis?
Thanks for reading,
Daniel
