Daily things I find useful
I don’t have anything that I can call a daily routine, or more correctly, what I would have called daily routines did not stick after some period of disruption.
For a while, I installed an SRS app and learned Japanese vocabulary for 30 minutes every day. I lasted about 3 months, until exam season arrived and the review piled up. In retrospect, I thought it was quite dry, and maybe I shouldn’t have tried to optimize out the fun.
My daily sleep schedule has never been consistent since secondary school — my bedtime, as of university, ranges from 11 p.m to 3 a.m. On an assignment where I had been procrastinating, I would rush out a 3-week long assignment in 3 days, and ended up pulling all nighters, or hit submit at near midnight, with my blood full of adrenaline and preworkout caffeine (don’t drink preworkout for the caffeine like I did please.), and stayed shaking until 5 a.m. Once in a while, I would be inspired by a YouTube video, and tried to wake up at 5-6 a.m to exercise. It usually last about 3 days, as my sleeping hours slowly drift later and later, and eventually back to the usual.
Other aspects of my schedule were, and are, similar. My workouts, diet and sleep are only consistent when I pay attention directly to them. That said, so far there are a couple things that are so directly effective that I do not mind picking them up daily at all. This list will be updated as I find more.
- In the morning, wash my eyes, nose and gargle with saltwater. 1 teaspoon of salt in a rice bowl or cup. My mom insisted on me trying it out, said she learned it from her driving instructor. It was refreshing, much better for the eyes than usual water, I assume because the pH is the same as our tears.
- Skipping, or rope jump. 10-15 minutes is pretty easy and accessible to get me sweating, and can extend to 30-45 if I don’t feel like going to the gym. Takes a couple sessions of sore calves before it clicks. Pretty fun, and I can swap to boxer jumps too. I heard Bruce Lee trained daily with jumping rope on one feet. Not sure if that is real, but I find that after a session I do feel more focused and released.
- [To be continued]