While I was doing my weekly hunts on Reddit for this weekend's Reddit Roundup, I came across the top performing post on r/productivity which caught my eye:

"a simple life hack that changed my morning routine forever"

🤨

Hmmmm...

"Simple... life hack?"

"Changed my morning routine forever...?"

There's no way this could be true, and I usually don't give these kind of posts much thought.

But this one got nearly 4,000 upvotes so I reckoned it was worth at least checking out.

When I read what the full post, I knew I should have trusted my gut:

🫤

Honestly, good on you, and you do you.

It probably would work really well if everyone tried the same thing but this is exactly where the concept of a morning 'routine' falls apart.

What I've learned from experimenting with my own morning routines is that progressive tasks are much more effective than consecutive tasks.

Let me explain:

Progressive tasks, especially in the groggiest parts of the morning, should meet your next most important human basic needs.

When I wake up, I start with a shower to wake myself up. That’s when I notice how thirsty I am, so I then drink at least 500ml of water. Once I’m rehydrated and more alert, I do my morning journaling. After that, my mind feels clear enough to write and send my daily email.

All of this works in a 'flow' process that builds on top of one another, and I don't really need to engage too much effort to move from one thing to the next.

The real efforts start to kick in AFTER I send out my daily email, in which I either do my workout or start my work day - but this changes every day depending on how I feel so they're not part of my morning 'routine'.

Basically, the most brain-dead morning routine is the one that takes the least effort to sustain.

Now, that Redditor's routine isn't wrong, and it could be very right for them. But, they're basically suggesting you start off with doing something physical, which, in my experience is one of the hardest things to do in a normal hour of the day let alone when you've just woken up.

Morning routines are awesome, but they're only as awesome as how they make you feel, and they should not become a chore.

The top comment for that post, which got 900+ upvotes, basically said something similar:

See!! Basic human needs!

And the next top comment just summed it up better:

🤣

Until tomorrow then!

Nicholas Ng