Today, I wanted to deviate away from the coding posts for a little bit and talk about something a bit more generalized, but equally important. I’m writing this without an outline or anything, so forgive me if I ramble. The purpose of this post is just to declare what my plans are in regards to my daily routine while at App Academy, which isn’t at all too different from what my schedule was at work while coding on the side.

About 2-3 months ago, when I got accepted into App Academy, I decided that I needed to make a change to my daily schedule. That was when I really reinforced my decision to start waking up earlier, especially since I wanted to start getting things done. I had wanted to start keeping a blog and updating it frequently. I wanted to keep up my morning workouts. I wanted to start keeping a journal and really planning out my day since this was what countless successful people were doing. I wanted to start a strong morning routine.

This whole concept of a solid morning routine really came about when I read “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. In his book, he really built on why it was important to start your day an hour earlier than what you’re normally used to so that you can fit in important habits and activities that could rocket your success. From meditation, to journaling, to exercise, he recommended that the early hours of the morning were the best hours recenter yourself and to create an attack plan for the day.

I knew I wanted to vastly revamp my schedule and have everything be a routine by the time I started App Academy, so I started waking up earlier and earlier each week. I started off at 7 AM, and when I was able to wake up at 7 AM every weekday without missing a day for a week, I set my alarm clock back by 15 minutes. I continued this week to week until I finally got to waking up at 5 AM on the daily without missing a day, and have since kept that habit. I made working out a priority in the morning as the first thing I would do after waking up, which was followed by journaling and planning out my day. This resulted in an increase in productivity not only in my side projects, but at my full time job as well.

So my goal for the next three months is to consistently wake up at 5 AM and continue this routine of working out, journaling and planning out my day, and hopefully pick up daily blogging about what I learn. I also want to use the early hours to refresh and refocus myself to prepare for the day’s lectures and projects.

I live approximately 20 minutes’ bike ride away from App Academy, and while that in of itself is a great workout in the morning and night, I’ll be stopping by a gym, probably by 5:30 AM to start my workout. I’ll finish up my workout and shower by 7 AM and head into a/A 5 minutes away and start my day. Or maybe even the Philz two blocks away from a/A…. I really love Philz haha. Journal, plan my day, although there’s not really much to plan, and get some work done before 9 AM when class starts. Although class would end at 6 PM, I intend to stay at the school until around 9 or 10 PM to complete homework and to review the next day’s readings and lectures. I think staying at the school will really help keep me focused, whereas heading back home would potentially tempt me to head to bed or to relax the rest of the night after finishing up homework. Be in bed by 11 PM and repeat!

As for meal preps to make sure I stay on track and even make a physical transformation as well as mental while in a/A, I have my girlfriend who’s helping me meal prep on the weekend (absolutely grateful for her), so every Saturday, I’d go home to pick it up and probably recharge my mental batteries. My meals are pretty structured, and given my height and weight, my maintenance calories are around 2400 – 2500 kcal. All my meals throughout the day account for 1900 – 2000 kcals. Hopefully at ~500 kcal deficit with biking and daily strength workouts I’ll be able to hit my 3 month goal of dropping below 15% body fat if not lower. For reference, I’m somewhere between 20-25% body fat presently.

The pretty much summarizes my goals and intents for a daily routine for the next three months! I’ll keep you guys updated as the days roll on.