January 23, 2024 • 40 mins
Today's episode is all about morning routines, which is fitting since Sarah loves mornings and one of Laura's bestsellers is What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast!
Sarah and Laura share their own AM routines in detail, from wakeup alarm to the start of the work day, plus variations on weekends and other scenarios. Then, they discuss some strategies for common morning challenges such as an early-waking baby, too little time for a workout, or super-early Zoom meetings.
In the Q&A, they answer a listener question on transitions - how to handle the long transition times that inevitably occur with multiple young kids?
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Laura Vandercamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
and speaker.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And this is Sarah Hartunger. I'm a mother of three,
a practicing physician and blogger. On the side, we are
two working parents who love our careers and our families.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome to best of both worlds.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Here we talk about how real women manage work, family,
and time for fun. From figuring out childcare to mapping
out long term career goals. We want you to get
the most out of life.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. This
episode is airing in late January of twenty twenty four,
and we are going to be talking about mornings, morning routines,
how mornings look, things we've thought about over the years
for making mornings better. This is a perennial favorite topic.
If you came to me randomly, like any of my books,
(00:53):
probably the most likely one you read is called What
the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, which turns out
to be my most clickable time I Ever, there's something
about mornings, basically because they are useful to many people.
If you work a full time job, particularly if you
need to commute somewhere if you have a family, mornings
are generally going to be your best bet for any
(01:14):
serious personal pursuits because you're most likely going to be
tired after work. You have your family responsibilities after work,
Whereas if you know you get up in the morning,
you can do those things before the day starts, and
then they are done. You don't have to find a
time for them later. So this is how people really
put me time into their days, right, Sarah, I mean
how the some of the morning routine literature out there
(01:37):
is a little bit nutty, Yes, yes it is. I
mean I love mornings. I love this topic.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I love morning routine, so I'm super excited to talk
about them. But when I hear morning routines, I actually
tend to have like two images come to mind. One
is like some like dude bro that wakes up at
four am to do three hours of like he wouldn't
brand it a self care because that doesn't sound manly.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Enough self care.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, but like work, hardcore exercise, special smoothies, cold plunge
like whatever to make yourself hardcore with no mention of
any kind of like family members or other responsibilities, or
like a woman at home presumably childless because again, no
one's interrupting her doing a fifteen step hair and makeup
routine before she starts her day. We're not going to
talk about it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
It's a lot of steps. Seems like your morning could
last a while if you're doing that. So, yeah, our
mornings don't look like either of those. Uh, don't worry.
We're not no cold plunges over here, Sarah. You're not
cut into cold plunges, are you.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
No. I think I'm closer to that dude bro than
I am to the woman, but unlike him, no cold plunges.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And I really enjoy.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Most of the aspects of my morning routine, and I
definitely have aspects that involve helping others as well, not
just me.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So we're going to share a little bit about what
our mornings look like, and then we're going to talk
about some common pitfalls that can happen if you're trying
to build a morning routine, and maybe troubleshoot a few
of those. So if you've been pondering altering morning routine
or creating a morning routine, maybe there will be something
helpful in this episode for you. So we're gonna start
(03:06):
with Sarah because she is like the Queen of the
morning routine. So it's varied a little bit over the years.
But what is it looking like these days? Sarah.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I'm gonna give you a play by play because I
enjoy episodes where people don't just talk in generalities, but
specific So we're going to give that to you today,
both Laura and IY. So on weekdays, I get up
at around four forty five. Sometimes it's a little earlier,
sometimes it's a little later, depending on what my kind
of workout plan is that day, but four forty five
on average. I always set my coffee up the night before,
(03:37):
so when my alarm goes off, I know I can
walk to the kitchen and I have my freshly brewed
pot ready for me. Then I drink coffee and eat
something with carbs. Learn this from Megan Featherston, a sports
dietitian and who was on this podcast and who I
took her marathon nutrition training course. So usually two sheets
of gram crackers while reading nonfiction with my coffee, and
(03:59):
I all so spend Usually I kind of read until
around five fifteen ish and then I start setting up
my planner page for the day, which is when I
really plan out my day. I think about like what
tasks I want to do, you know, what my priorities are,
how tightly scheduled I am. I just kind of like
do a whole run through and I write things out
as I do that. Then I do five or ten
minutes of headspace, which is my preferred meditation app Usually
(04:21):
I do a very quick email check, like I just
want to see if anything blew up, and if it didn't,
then I'm done. And then by five fifty I head
out the door to do whatever workout, which I do
plan in advance, so like in my planner it'll say
you're running this much, or you're doing arms or whatever.
So usually I just run because my runs tend to
(04:42):
be on the longer side and I have to be
done by around seven. But sometimes I'll do like a
shorter run and like twenty minute strength or something like that.
So five point fifty and I did this today, out
the door home by seven, so I can fit in
like eight miles six six to eight miles in that timeframe.
I get home, some water, make sure everyone has woken up.
(05:03):
I used to kind of ask my husband to do this,
but I have to some extent just give it up
and I will make sure everyone's a week so ideally
they are starting breakfast, but sometimes I'm just getting them
up and I will then jump in the shower and
then have my husband kind of take over while I shower.
I love to listen to Up first while I'm in
the shower.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
That's my main news source of the day.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
And then I do a very abbreviated hair and makeup.
I mean, I've timed myself it's like seven minutes total,
so I'm not aiming for looking amazing. I'm just aiming
for looking presentable, and that's what I get in that
five to seven minute period. So by seven twenty I'm
out and I tell everybody we need to be done
with breakfast. I wish I could say I did it
in like a.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Zen calm way.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That's often not how it is, but working on it.
Actually the last this is a new year, in the
last few days have been better, and I start putting
stuff by the door, so I know that in order
to get out the door, we need like all the
stuff at the door, and that means like the lunches.
So like I start getting the lunches with the ice packs.
I just start putting paraphernalia by the door that relates
to leaving. And then I help Genevieve get dressed, and I
(06:04):
make sure the other two are doing what they need
to do, and then I kind of pack my work bag,
and by seven thirty five we are getting in the car.
I drive Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Josh drives Thursdays.
So this is, you know, our kind of our default
is that I'm doing it. I get everybody in the car,
and then by seven forty we start driving. Notice that
getting in the car and start driving are not the same.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Minute.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There are three kids, they have all their stuff, they
have to decide where they're sitting. The kids have to
choose their music for the morning. Yeah, there's a key
stuff that happens. So you got to know that that
transition times happen. And then I eat breakfast while I'm driving.
So I used to try to fit in breakfast at home,
but it really doesn't fit in with all that other
stuff I mentioned. So I'll eat like a protein bar
(06:47):
like a rise bar or a cliff Builder bar in
the car, and then follow that by some other supplemental
thing like a yogurt. Once I get to work, so
kind of have that figured out to not take the
time at home. Then comes my drop off, so drive
the kids to school by seven fifty five to eight.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I get there.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Our school is really small and the classrooms are like
separate buildings, so I actually we walk all three together.
We dropped Genevieve off, then we drop Cameron off, then
I drop well, I don't really drop in a ball off.
She kind of like walks to her area where the
middle schoolers are, and then I go to my car.
I drive to work about eight fifteen and then about
eight thirty five Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I get there and
then usually there's like five minutes to spare before my
(07:23):
first patient is roomed. So it usually works out. And
I am lucky in that my commute is not super short.
I mean, I'm leaving at seven thirty five, and I
do a drop off, and I don't get there till
eight thirty five.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
But it's pretty predictable.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Back when I was driving, like on I ninety five,
it was like you never knew if it was going
to be thirty five minutes or an hour and a half.
But now it's pretty easy, so I don't need a
ton of buffer or anything like that. There are variations
on this theme. So on Tuesdays I do basically the
same thing, but instead of driving to my office where
I see patients, I just drive home and then set
(07:57):
up my kind of creative job. I don't usually work
out later on Tuesdays because I usually just need to
get started. Thursday is the one day that, depending on
what I have on my plates, sometimes I'll sleep in
because he is driving the kids and I could work
out when he leaves, but honestly, that doesn't happen all
that often because I often have something like a recording
that I have to get to, so that doesn't work out.
(08:17):
And then finally weekends, so I do get up early
on Saturdays, usually five, so that I can start running
by six, a little bit later in the winter because
there's not a need to start my runs so early,
and the kids are usually asleep until seven or eight,
and then my husband will like run after I get back,
and then we can have a more leisurely morning after that.
(08:38):
And then Sunday I just kind of sleep in until
the kids are up, which is usually seven or eightish.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And you almost always build in an hour before you
start running.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Okay, you need toffee digestion, like planning. I don't know,
I just I can't. I know there's some people who
are just bound out the door, but I usually really
prefer to have about an hour. Yeah, and then I'll
just say bedtime is part of my morning routine because
I get up really early, and there's no way that
I would be happily following this morning schedule without a
(09:08):
fairly early bedtime.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Most nights. I'm not saying every night. I don't want
to be rigid.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I want to be able to stay up till midnight
on New Year's Eve, which we did, But most nights,
I'm like settling into my bed by even before nine
sometimes and I'll read for a little bit and then
I fall asleep. And almost never am I up past
ten on a weekday because I want to get up early.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think we need to make a quote card with
what you just say said there that bedtimes are part
of my morning routine, right, that is any point, And
I think a lot of people don't realize that. But
bedtime is part of the morning routine. So it doesn't
work if you don't go to bed. Whatever number of
hours of sleep you need so she's going to bed
(09:54):
nine forty five if she's up four to forty five
to get seven hours of sleep. I mean, that's just math, right.
I mean, you can try to make it different, but
the numbers are what they are. They are what they are.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And I just talked a lot, but I'm pretty passionate
about my morning routine, not that everyone needs to follow it,
but that everyone should spend time crafting the routine that
works for them, because you know, I get a lot
of pleasure out of my my morning and it is
my me time.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely. Yeah, mine doesn't look like that for various reasons.
But I mean, so I've set my alarm for six
thirty usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and that is
seven and a half hours after my bedtime, which is
eleven PM. So six thirty, I'm up. I make sure
(10:41):
Jasper is up, then I go shower, get down to
the kitchen. I make coffee for both of us, Jasper
and me at that point, and usually make him a
peanut butter sandwich. And he comes down while I'm out
of the shower getting dressed. My husband has gotten in
the shower. He comes down and walks the dog while
(11:03):
Jasper's finishing his breakfast. The two of them are out
the door at seven to drive Jasper to school, because
the bus does come, but it comes a lot earlier
and we're not that far from the school, and so
in the interest of nobody needing to wake up before
six point thirty, we have decided to drive him. And
next year he'll be driving himself, so all good, and
(11:24):
school'll be later, so all sorts of things will be
changing in the future. I generally get Sam and Ruth
up around between six fifty five and seven, so it
sort of just as the others are going out the door,
supervise them getting ready, sometimes make them breakfast like pancakes
or eggs or something like that. Hopefully my husband is
(11:45):
back if he's working at home by the time that
they need to get down, because I want to drive
them down to the end of down to our bus stop,
which is it's at the end of our property, but
it's like we're down along hill, so it's takes them
a long time to get there if they're walking, like
winding around on the driveway. So usually someone just gets
them in the car basically drives them down to the
(12:05):
end of the driveway. And back, but the little boys
are still sleeping and we're still in our driveway, so
figure it's okay. Then, you know, come back. Little boys
are usually waking up somewhere between seven thirty and eight.
Get them breakfast. You know, our nanny is starts work
at eight. Sometimes she comes a little bit earlier, and
then I start a little bit earlier, or you know,
(12:27):
if Michael's with the kids or whatever, And I tend
to begin my day with some of these morning things
that some people might do earlier. But you know, my
job is my business, so I can do whatever I want.
But I do tend to start with some of the
interruptible stuff too at the beginning of it, Like because
the little boys, the odds of one of them calling
(12:47):
for me desperately between eight and eight forty is pretty high, Henry.
It's very much a mommy's kid, and so sometimes it's
like he'll scream and I'm buckling him in the car seat.
So anyway, that's the reality. I'll do interruptible stuff, but
I often will do my various morning rituals that I
(13:08):
do have, like writing my sonnet, my two lines in
the sonnet, doing my back exercises, I'm often now listening
to my bock during all of this, because i'm, you know,
at the moment working through the cantatas and some of
the organ pieces. So the backdrop to all of this
is a kantata from Bach or an organ sonata. I've
been listening to a lot of those, and then I
(13:30):
generally start my focused work at around eight thirty five
or eight forty, when they are all out the door,
the house is quiet, and my goal is to do
whatever the big focus project is of the day from
eight forty to ten ten fifteen or so, when I
take a quick break and do something else. So that
is what my mornings look like. I've been experimenting on
(13:52):
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sam and Ruth have jazz band, and
so they need to leave in the seven o'clock run
with Michael and Jasper, and he drops Jasper offit school
and then takes them over to the middle school. And
I've been getting up. I've been setting my alarm for
six twenty two, getting my running clothes on, making sure
(14:12):
the kids are all up at six thirty, then heading
up to our treadmill. Ideally be running at six thirty five,
so you can see there's a little bit of a
difference here. Sarah needs an hour, I'm I don't know,
I decide to just do it. I'm also not running
as fast, so maybe maybe she needs a little bit
more time to prepare for Them's that or as far
(14:33):
or as far? So, yeah, I can, and I could
stop in the middle too if I'm on my treadmill,
because I'm there and the idea is like, just run
two miles like as quick as I can, like ideally
get them in in like twenty minutes or something, because
the treadmill is so incredibly boring that I want to
get off of it as quickly as I can. And
you kind of have to ramp up the first one,
so it's like the first mile it'll be like ten thirty,
(14:57):
So then that means I'm trying to do the next
one in nine thirty, so it goes a little faster.
It's like a progressive speed workout. And then run downstairs
at six fifty five, six fifty seven, make sure everyone
truly got up is going, you know, And sometimes one
of the kids has rolled back over and gone back
to bed. Sometimes my husband has slept through his alarm,
(15:18):
so it's really all, you know, a troubleshooting kind of
thing at that point. But normally they get out the
door and then I've done my exercise for the morning,
and I think two quick miles on the treadmill is fine.
If I do that twice a week, do a long
run on Saturday, and work out with my trainer on Monday,
I'm have hit some sort of baseline. It's okay, I
should do more, sure, but that's good, awesome. Wait is
(15:40):
that end? Well, there's variations. I mean, oh wait, what
about weekends? Well, weekends, I mean, so you know that, Yes,
the weekends do count. Saturday and Sunday. I'm usually up
around seven thirty. I would say that seven thirty on
Sunday so I can get ready for church because Jasper
and I have a nine o'clock rehearsal for choir, and
(16:02):
I just find it. I like to have enough time
that I'm not rushed, and I'm normally up by then anyway,
because I my bedtime could be midnight and wake up
at seven thirty because I'm not going into the weekend
usually with sleep deprivation, because I've been pretty rigid about
being in bed by eleven during the week to wake
up at six thirty, So then if I'm up till
eleven thirty, then I'm usually waking up between seven and
(16:24):
seven thirty on my own. Anyway, once a month I
run with a friend. We need to be at the
trail at about seven fifteen on Saturday mornings, so then
I get up at six thirty on those mornings and
try to be in bed again, you know, eleven eleven
thirty on Friday nights to make that happen. But yeah,
Saturday morning, if I'm running on my own, I don't
need to be quite as early. I'll usually run eight
(16:45):
o'clock or so and go till nine, nine thirty, whatever
happens to be the only other. Obviously, all of this
has to change if my husband is traveling or if
I am traveling and we needed to alter the morning
routine to work with one adult home. So generally what
(17:06):
happens is, if it's a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we get
jazzper up a tiny bit earlier, like five minutes earlier.
Leave five minutes earlier, because then you can run to
the high school, come back. Sam and Ruth are with
the little guys, so I'm there's a fourteen year old
and a twelve year old in charge of the little ones,
and so they are not going to leave unless you're back.
(17:28):
So that's fine. If for some reason I was delayed,
then I would just drive them all to school at
that point, and on the jazz band mornings, I get
all five of them up, get them in the car
at seven o'clock so can get them out the door.
And the little boys don't have to be ready, right,
they just have to be in the car. So I'll
get them in their pajamas in the car with whatever
(17:51):
bribes were necessary. Like there's a normally Alex can't use
his iPad in the morning, but if I have to
drag him to the high school into jazz band, then
he gets his iPad.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And so I feel like that would be a good
opportunity for like donuts on the way home or something.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Donuts or something. Yeah, I don't know, but yeah, that's
the different version of it. And Michael has done that
too when I've been gone. So neither of us are
huge fans of the other party traveling on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
but it's inevitable, so we make it work. Let's take
a quick ad break and then we will be back
with more troubleshooting on mornings. So we are back talking
(18:38):
all things morning routines. So, Sarah, you had a list
of some common struggles and because I know people shared
a lot of these with you over the years when
you have talked about your morning routines, what are some
things that can go wrong? Yes, so probably one of
the most common.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And I live this, so I get it is that
someone will say I am desperate to do morning stuff,
like I just wake up and I want to do
these things, but every time I leave my room, the
baby somehow knows and wakes up. It's really really hard.
So my ideas are I mean, well, first of all,
I understand, and there are modifications you may have to make.
(19:15):
I mean, I couldn't have done all these things when
my kids were little and I was waking up to
feed them because I would have just been too tired anyway,
So your time may come and that's not probably going
to be very comforting, but maybe a tiny bit comforting.
But from a practical standpoint, troubleshooting what is waking them
up might be worthwhile. I'm not saying anything will work magic,
(19:36):
but white noise can help if you could move some
of your routine to your own room. I've heard about
moms doing that or even having like a way to
like brutee in their room, if that's far enough from
the baby's room that they don't you know, the baby
will hear the vibrations of walking, but if you're not
leaving your room, they may not hear that. Also, just
like doing kind of a sound audit in general. We
actually realized after many years of using espresso that it
(19:56):
was waking up our kids, and we switched to drip
coffee and I actually like it better and we've never
gone back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
But it was loud. It was too loud.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
So there may be something you can do about the noise.
Discussing with your partner, if there's days you could trade
off the first wake up shift, maybe even saying like
just one day a week, I want to not wake
up with the baby. And if you're nursing, maybe the
plan is that you do want to do that, if
you want to like feed the baby first, but then
(20:25):
hand the baby over immediately after the feeding is done
and just kind of not be in charge of the
baby so that you get Tuesday mornings or whatever morning
you want, and then gradually figuring out if you can
do kind of more of a split. And then finally,
a very popular option that I think does work for
some people is to just give up on having time
at home in the morning, but to try to reclaim
(20:46):
some minutes for yourself at the beginning of your work day.
And depending on what type of work you do, that
might mean having to get to work a little bit easier,
which can have two full benefits because sometimes that means
beating traffic, which I meean your commute is less, which
means then you actually end up with like more time,
like you've bought yourself some time, and then you can
get in those desired habits at your workplace if you
(21:06):
work outside of your home and as opposed to like
working from home because it's not going to work as well.
Then but like you're getting to your office, but you're
not starting right away with your first meeting or whatever,
You're actually gonna do your habits that you wanted to do,
or even if you didn't want to start the day earlier,
potentially if you did have a lunch break that you
could play with, shorten that lunch break, but take some
(21:27):
time in the morning before you start with your regular work.
So that would be kind of a way of best
of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I guess, yeah, yeah, I just having flashbacks of all
the mornings Alex is up. I wasn't trying to get
up early to do anything in the morning. He'd just
be up like he used to wake up at like
five point forty five every morning for unknown reasons. And yeah,
as soon as he was interested in videos, that was
very exciting because then whatever adult was up with him
could like read at least or something while he was watching. God,
there's this horrible Chuck video. He ride the truck, the
(21:58):
little Chuck truck. I don't know, anyway, he was into it.
That's glad when he was lessened to it. So yeah,
that just sympathies there. But the good news again is
like kids do get older, and if you are sort
of average family with two children who are about two
to three years apart, you are only spending five years
(22:21):
or so with children under the age of two, and
you're probably in the thick of it, which is why
you're listening to this podcast. But it will end and
then you will have more control over your mornings or
you know, you can do crazy things like have five
children spread out over many, many years and then you're
always dealing with it. But maybe you don't wake up
all that early as it is, So yeah, pick what
(22:43):
you want. So there could be oh, go ahead, No,
I have to say. The other thing is people like, well,
wait it work. It takes too long to work out
in the morning, or maybe they're like you and they
need an hour to go and they're like, I can't
stomach the thought of waking up an hour even earlier
than the workout. So what are some things you can
do with that?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, So definitely thinking about which workouts are going to
fit your current season. And there is a reason that
I did not run any long distance type races for
a decade, like didn't fit my lifestyle, and so know
that things may change. At home workouts are super popular
with parents of young kids for a reason. That might
be the peloton bike, it might be you know videos,
(23:21):
there's so many different YouTube creators that make really efficient
workout sessions you can do at home at weights or cardio,
and I do feel like during those stages like perfect
is the enemy of the good, you can do fifteen
to twenty minutes two or three times a week, and
maybe a couple of those can be weekends, and that
still is going to count. That is still activity. Your
body feels it and probably will bring you at least
(23:43):
some benefit more than doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
If exercise is something you want in your life. Yeah,
and you don't have to do the same thing every day,
like a morning routine does not have to be the
same every single day. It isn't for either of us.
And because life changes day to day. Is sort of
think of the whole week, and are there a couple
times you can do a workout during the course of
the week, Then that would be great three times a
week as a habit, as we often say around here.
(24:07):
And you know the reason. Yeah, we got a treadmill
so we can do in home workouts when it's dark
and cold out in the morning, for instance. But I
think if I was telling myself, well, what's even the
point of exercising from six thirty five to six fifty
five and I didn't do it, well, then that's a
couple miles less per week that I would run. So
since I'm saying, well that's time I can use, let
(24:28):
me use it. You know, I get something in and
something is is definitely better than nothing awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Well, another common problem is that you have two parents,
maybe they both work, but there's no clearly defined ownership
of the morning, or a person is a single parent
or solo parenting during the week.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
This is tough.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I think the ownership really does bear a conversation, maybe
not a desired conversation on the part of someone who
might not be doing as much as the other partner,
but still an important one to have. And maybe the
answer is, hey, this person just is not a morning person.
They're going to help out in other ways, but at
least it's kind of clearly delineated. And I do feel
like two people like sort of taking charge can end
(25:16):
up being like harder for both people than one person,
like clearly owning I do breakfast, I get the kids dressed,
you know, I get the kids do xyz before this happens,
and then you take over, like I think sometimes and
this is not about tit for tat, It's just about
making sure each person's needs are met and that people
kind of know kind of what their role is. You
(25:37):
would have that discussion in a professional situation, and I
think it's worthwhile to have at home as well.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, and there might be some other solution too. I mean,
some daycare is open relatively early. So if you have
a situation where your daycare opens at seven, but you
don't usually start work till nine, I mean, the option
would exist. Like you know, if you wanted to take
two mornings a week and bring the kid to daycare
(26:03):
at seven and then go do a long run and
shower and then get to work at nine. I mean
that could work, right, Like, that is an option and
is there, and you're probably paying the same tuition regardless
of what hours you're using, and so that's something that
you could potentially do if you have a situation where
you know your partner's traveling during the week or you're
on your own or something like that. Obviously, the in
(26:26):
home thing is is great. You know, if you can
get a there's always you know, people are selling treadmills
all the time because they thought they were going to
run and then they used it for hanging their clothes on.
So that might be something to look into. Putting one
in your basement so that you could get up and
run if you can't leave the house because you're the
only adult. There definitely something to think about. I would
(26:46):
also point out if you have a partner who is
traveling a lot for work, they are getting mourning solo
time by default on the days they are gone, so
it is absolutely fine for you to have it on
the days that they are home, and that can just
be part of the understanding and I don't think anyone
needs to feel like guilty or like they're asking for
something huge with that trade off. Now, some people have
(27:11):
to work very early, so morning routines when that happens.
I mean, this has been more of a thing now
as people are working in different locations, right, I mean,
I know you're hearing from people with like five am zooms, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
People, I mean they may have to like call into
the London office in the London office as they're meeting
at nine am, which puts you at like four am
or something, you know, crazy. Obviously depends on the job,
but there are people doing that kind of thing. I
think that's where the bedtime is part of your morning's
conversation really comes into play, because you cannot plan on
doing that and like also going to bed at ten
o'clock and watch or like midnight and watching a bunch
(27:45):
of shows, like if it's just never going to work,
So do that math, think about when your night needs
to start, and then also make sure that it's fair
from a work perspective. I mean, again, obviously every position
is different, and not every position is going to be like, oh,
you work an eight hour day and that's what we
expect you. But at the same time, if you have
a five am meeting, hopefully that you're not expected to
(28:06):
then be on meetings until solidly until five pm or
seven pm or something like that, because that is a
lot of hours. And so kind of just really thinking
about the proportions of your week and making sure that
they are reasonable, or looking for another job because I mean,
I wouldn't want to do fourteen hours a day of Zoom,
and probably most people don't.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah, again, this is a situation where you think one
hundred and sixty eight hours, not twenty four. Like, if
you have zooms at five am and six pm on Tuesday,
maybe that means that you should block off Wednesday afternoon
and decide that that's comp time. It's not that you're
getting away with anything, it's that you have put in
(28:50):
a longer day Tuesday, and now you're going to put
in a shorter day on Wednesday, or you're going to
come in later on Wednesday morning and you're going to
do whatever morning routine you would have done on Tuesday
on Wednesday and take that time for your own purposes.
And like, again, you don't have to do the same
routine every single day. I was talking with a group
of consultants once with a speech and somebody was like, well,
(29:12):
I'm trying to build a morning routine that I do
every single day, and I'm like, yeah, good luck with that.
I know, you are on a plane at six am
on like Tuesday, and then you're on a train on
Thursday somewhere in the morning, and then you know, it's
just the time. It doesn't have to look like that.
And if you think that you're gonna do something at
the same time every single morning, at the same time,
and you are in that sort of job, it's just
(29:33):
you're gonna be very frustrated and you're gonna feel like
you're failing. And you're not failing. It's that you set
yourself up to do something that doesn't fit with the
life you have. But you could definitely have what you
might think of as a morning checklist, like over the
course of the morning, I am going to do these
three things. That's what I think of my stuff. I mean,
I write my sonnets, I you know, listen to my bock,
I do my back exercises. Now, those are the three
(29:53):
things I do in the morning. And sometimes it happens
by seven am. Sometimes it happens by ten am. Sometimes
it happens by noon. Right, it's still mostly happening in
the morning. Sometimes I do my morning routine night because
I haven't gotten to it yet. I think it's better
to think about what would you like to include it
in your life? Where can you include it? Now, for
(30:13):
many people, that is going to wind up being mornings,
because if you have a full time job and you
commute and you have a family, that is the time
you generally can have for yourself. But it doesn't have
to be and so you know, there's nothing magical about mornings.
It's just that it tends to be the time that
works for a lot of people. So quick bonus, Sarah,
breakfast favorites. What are you eating for breakfast or your
(30:35):
kids eating for breakfast these days?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
By glamorous breakfast, But you're eating your graham crackers and yogurt.
That's the breakfast of champions around a protein bar. Yet
at a protein bar do so for the kids. So
one thing I like to do is to like buy
a bake good on Sunday so Monday's more fun. It
gets them out of bed. Usually it's like Trader Joe's
banana bread whatever. We always have smoothie stuff on hand.
(30:57):
They like to make them themselves so they can decide
what goes in there. We have lately been embracing it's
been cold, I mean our version of cold, like it
was fifties this morning. I've been buying the Kodiak oatmeal
that has like a little bit of extra protein and
they have a chocolate chip flavor that's been extremely popular
in this household. Also, if you add peanut butter to that,
you have made Reese's oatmeal. It's really delicious. And we
(31:19):
also have like a default which is like if I'm
just we're in a super I'm like, you're eating cereal.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Pick your cereal. End of story. So those are our
main breakfast options. That is fine well, as mentioned, Jasper
has a peanut butter sandwich and coffee salm, and Ruth
will have one of a couple different things, you know,
one morning a week, I might make them an egg sandwich.
I might do pancakes one morning a week, because it
turns out pancakes are very very fast. If you make
them from a mix, you just put water in the mix,
(31:45):
or I guess some people do milk and then turn
on the pan, put them on, flip them. You know
it's done in a few minutes. But they might have
cereal or toast or toast or bagel. Breakfast is actually
free in our school district, so that's always an option
too if they get there on the bus where Jasper
gets there a little bit early too. You can just
pick up a breakfast, and even if you don't really
(32:07):
need all of it because you had some breakfast at home,
you can use some of the items as a snack
later because it tends to be more portable type things,
because that's how districts often do breakfast. Alex will have
cheerios plus cheese or yogurt, and Henry's been all over
the map. He'll sometimes have the pancakes too, but he
likes things like smoked salmon, yogurt, cheerios, and me, I
(32:31):
eat two fried eggs plus something, so some days that's
some like carb product. Some days it's fruit, some days
it's nothing because I just eat the two fried eggs.
But yeah, that's my breakfast of champions.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Here. I feel like Henry might might be your most
adventurous eater.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I don't know. I mean, I see signs both directions,
but you know, so far he's willing to try different things.
So questions Sarah, uh the question this week? How do
you manage transitions effectively, such as when your nanny arrives,
Like so you're not spending fifteen to twenty minutes getting
everyone up to speed on what's going on in the day,
or going from the insanity of bedtime antics to sitting
(33:13):
down with a book or getting kids in the car
or a kid activity when you have things like swimsuits
or ice skates, unloading or loading all the kids in
the vehicle. This person has three kids under the age
of five, and she feels like transitions are eating up
a bunch of her life. What do you are there
ways to minimize it, Sarah? What do you think? Yes
(33:34):
and no?
Speaker 3 (33:35):
You know, interestingly, some of the things you mentioned, I'm like, yep,
takes a long time, and then others I'm like, hmm,
I never spent a lot of.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Time doing that.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
So the one that I never did do that might
be streamlinable would be the nanny communication stuff. And I
think there's probably a lot you could communicate by just
having stuff like on a whiteboard, like if you just
need to show like who ate, who still needs what like,
it might be quicker to just be doing that as
the morning's unfolding, so she can just see that when
she gets here, or send a quick text. The longer
(34:03):
you've had a nanny, the less of a transition time.
And I also feel like the less time you have
for that nanny transition, the less time you'll spend. So
our nanni used to I mean, we no longer have
childcare calm in the morning, we don't need that. I
drive the kids to school. But back when our Nanni
would come and I had to drive there was I
had to leave, like basically within two minutes of her
getting there or I was gonna be late for work.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I had to get on the.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Highway, And I think by necessity it was a very
short transition. So I think that one may be one
worth delving into first streamlining, But a lot of those
other things, the bedtime antics, the you mentioned putting on
ice skates. Yeah, that stuff is like I mean, skis
don't even get me started, Like you just have to
I think accept some of that, Like bedtime is never
(34:46):
gonna be quick because it takes kids like their nervous
systems have to wind down, and so having a routine
that's three minutes work probably won't even work. Like there
is value in that longer routine because as they go,
as you go through each of the steps, it's probably
gonna kind of slow we rub them down into the
feeling like bedtime, kind of like adults aren't going to
be able to just snap straight in into bedtime for
(35:06):
things like ice skating. I think just thinking of it
as like listen, when you have three kids under five,
part of life is just like getting through each day,
and an activity like ice skating isn't about like, wow,
we're gonna have so much fun ice skating because you're
not like they're too young, like it's gonna be terrible.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I mean, well in my experience, but putting.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
The skates on is part of the activity, and if
that makes the activity two hours instead of an hour,
then great, You've like done more activities for that day,
like I think you're winning and not losing, and so
reframing it might be helpful because young kid life is
not efficient and that's okay. As I said, how long
do you really want to skate or swim with your toddlers?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean you just have to build those transitions.
And I mean I was sort of this has always
been a thing because it's possible that one parent in
our family may decide that because the why is twenty
minutes away, and your swim class starts in twenty minutes,
that's the time you leave. It's like, no, that is
not the time you leave. It takes ten minutes to
get everyone into swimsuits. Ice skating was worse too, I
(36:08):
mean even with older children. I mean mine weren't under five,
but for whatever reason, they couldn't lace up their own skates,
you know, into ages where it felt like people should
be able to lace up their own skates. So just
sort of have to accept that there is the time
to get there. There is the time to park, there
is the time to walk into the thing. There is
the time to get the equipment on and then get
(36:30):
into the pool or the ice skating rink or whatever
it is, and all of those things are not zero,
and if you think there's zero, you're going to be
running late everywhere and frustrated and frustrated. So build it
in as the time to Yeah, but then I mean
sometimes I think we can also make our transitions longer
(36:53):
with our own things. I mean, so not kids are
what they are, right, and there's ways you can have
routines and can streamline and keep everything you know in
packed by the door, like always have the diaper bag packed.
Like if you take something out, you put it right
back in, or if something's out, you restock it. Make
sure the activity stuff is always in a bag and
the bag is always by the door. But with your
(37:13):
own stuff, like I think often we can have transitions
fill the time that is available. And a part of
the transition problem is not knowing exactly what you want
to do. And so you know, people get their kids
down and then it's like you're puttering around the house
for another thirty minutes until you're like, oh, yeah, this
is what I want to do for the night. So
(37:33):
don't do that. Think about it when you're thinking about
your day, Like if I have leisure time tonight, I
would like to do X, and maybe it's that your
favorite show comes on at ten, Great, you're going to
watch that. Or maybe it's that you and your husband
are going to have a late dinner together. Or maybe
it's that you have a book that you are reading
and you want to read thirty pages in it tonight. Okay,
(37:54):
that's or you're doing a puzzle or you're going to
call a frint. But if you know what your leisure
time is, then and as soon as the kids are down,
you can dive into it right instead of losing that
time puttering around the house and sort of trying to
figure out what you're going to do. And so the
transition disappears. It wasn't needing to be a huge transition
(38:14):
Anyway's just because the mental transition took a while because
you weren't sure exactly what you intended to do. So
I'll just throw that out there as an idea.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Also, we should link to our entire episode we did
on transitions because we did transition.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yes, exactly, all right. Love of the Week, Sarah, what's
your favorite thing this week?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh my god, I'm going to do morning themed loves
of the week. The sunrise on my runs, which especially
is during the like right now, because once the time changes,
it's going to be dark again, and I'm going to
be sad. But right now it's awesome. And my auto
timed coffee, oh the best.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
It's the best. I love our coffee maker. We've got
this like one that's built into the wall and it's
like a fancy one, so you can just put your
cup under it and press the number of ounces you
want as long as you're refilling the beans. That's it's
like it makes your coffee for you. I don't know.
It's like you order a coffee and it's there and
it tastes really good. I don't know. I liked it
frush from beans, like it grinds the beans and then
(39:08):
does it. But I'll go here with winter sunsets, so
sort of the opposite of sunrise. We have some cool
sunrises around here, but you can't see them so well
from our house because we have like a lot of
big trees and houses toward the east, but the west
is pretty open, and so especially in the winter, there's
this hill and the trees are bare, and so you
can see the sun setting and I mean, too bad
(39:29):
it's happening at four thirty pm.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
But you can see that it's happening at four thirty pm.
You're there, right, I'm looking.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Out my office window as opposed to like running around
getting people to bet or something. I guess that's true. Yeah,
so it's a I can see it in the winter,
and so I really try to pause and appreciate given
that it will then be dark for like the next
sixteen hours. Love. All right, Well, this has been best
of both worlds. We've been talking morning routines, troubleshoe, various
(40:00):
issues that can go wrong, and is attempting to make
a morning routine. We will be back next week with
more on making work and life fit together. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com
or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you can.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has
been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join us
next time for more on making work and life work together.
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is Laura Vandercamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
and speaker.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And this is Sarah Hartunger. I'm a mother of three,
a practicing physician and blogger. On the side, we are
two working parents who love our careers and our families.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Welcome to best of both worlds.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Here we talk about how real women manage work, family,
and time for fun. From figuring out childcare to mapping
out long term career goals. We want you to get
the most out of life.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura. This
episode is airing in late January of twenty twenty four,
and we are going to be talking about mornings, morning routines,
how mornings look, things we've thought about over the years
for making mornings better. This is a perennial favorite topic.
If you came to me randomly, like any of my books,
(00:53):
probably the most likely one you read is called What
the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, which turns out
to be my most clickable time I Ever, there's something
about mornings, basically because they are useful to many people.
If you work a full time job, particularly if you
need to commute somewhere if you have a family, mornings
are generally going to be your best bet for any
(01:14):
serious personal pursuits because you're most likely going to be
tired after work. You have your family responsibilities after work,
Whereas if you know you get up in the morning,
you can do those things before the day starts, and
then they are done. You don't have to find a
time for them later. So this is how people really
put me time into their days, right, Sarah, I mean
how the some of the morning routine literature out there
(01:37):
is a little bit nutty, Yes, yes it is. I
mean I love mornings. I love this topic.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
I love morning routine, so I'm super excited to talk
about them. But when I hear morning routines, I actually
tend to have like two images come to mind. One
is like some like dude bro that wakes up at
four am to do three hours of like he wouldn't
brand it a self care because that doesn't sound manly.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Enough self care.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, but like work, hardcore exercise, special smoothies, cold plunge
like whatever to make yourself hardcore with no mention of
any kind of like family members or other responsibilities, or
like a woman at home presumably childless because again, no
one's interrupting her doing a fifteen step hair and makeup
routine before she starts her day. We're not going to
talk about it.
Speaker 1 (02:18):
It's a lot of steps. Seems like your morning could
last a while if you're doing that. So, yeah, our
mornings don't look like either of those. Uh, don't worry.
We're not no cold plunges over here, Sarah. You're not
cut into cold plunges, are you.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
No. I think I'm closer to that dude bro than
I am to the woman, but unlike him, no cold plunges.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
And I really enjoy.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Most of the aspects of my morning routine, and I
definitely have aspects that involve helping others as well, not
just me.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
So we're going to share a little bit about what
our mornings look like, and then we're going to talk
about some common pitfalls that can happen if you're trying
to build a morning routine, and maybe troubleshoot a few
of those. So if you've been pondering altering morning routine
or creating a morning routine, maybe there will be something
helpful in this episode for you. So we're gonna start
(03:06):
with Sarah because she is like the Queen of the
morning routine. So it's varied a little bit over the years.
But what is it looking like these days? Sarah.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I'm gonna give you a play by play because I
enjoy episodes where people don't just talk in generalities, but
specific So we're going to give that to you today,
both Laura and IY. So on weekdays, I get up
at around four forty five. Sometimes it's a little earlier,
sometimes it's a little later, depending on what my kind
of workout plan is that day, but four forty five
on average. I always set my coffee up the night before,
(03:37):
so when my alarm goes off, I know I can
walk to the kitchen and I have my freshly brewed
pot ready for me. Then I drink coffee and eat
something with carbs. Learn this from Megan Featherston, a sports
dietitian and who was on this podcast and who I
took her marathon nutrition training course. So usually two sheets
of gram crackers while reading nonfiction with my coffee, and
(03:59):
I all so spend Usually I kind of read until
around five fifteen ish and then I start setting up
my planner page for the day, which is when I
really plan out my day. I think about like what
tasks I want to do, you know, what my priorities are,
how tightly scheduled I am. I just kind of like
do a whole run through and I write things out
as I do that. Then I do five or ten
minutes of headspace, which is my preferred meditation app Usually
(04:21):
I do a very quick email check, like I just
want to see if anything blew up, and if it didn't,
then I'm done. And then by five fifty I head
out the door to do whatever workout, which I do
plan in advance, so like in my planner it'll say
you're running this much, or you're doing arms or whatever.
So usually I just run because my runs tend to
(04:42):
be on the longer side and I have to be
done by around seven. But sometimes I'll do like a
shorter run and like twenty minute strength or something like that.
So five point fifty and I did this today, out
the door home by seven, so I can fit in
like eight miles six six to eight miles in that timeframe.
I get home, some water, make sure everyone has woken up.
(05:03):
I used to kind of ask my husband to do this,
but I have to some extent just give it up
and I will make sure everyone's a week so ideally
they are starting breakfast, but sometimes I'm just getting them
up and I will then jump in the shower and
then have my husband kind of take over while I shower.
I love to listen to Up first while I'm in
the shower.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
That's my main news source of the day.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
And then I do a very abbreviated hair and makeup.
I mean, I've timed myself it's like seven minutes total,
so I'm not aiming for looking amazing. I'm just aiming
for looking presentable, and that's what I get in that
five to seven minute period. So by seven twenty I'm
out and I tell everybody we need to be done
with breakfast. I wish I could say I did it
in like a.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Zen calm way.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
That's often not how it is, but working on it.
Actually the last this is a new year, in the
last few days have been better, and I start putting
stuff by the door, so I know that in order
to get out the door, we need like all the
stuff at the door, and that means like the lunches.
So like I start getting the lunches with the ice packs.
I just start putting paraphernalia by the door that relates
to leaving. And then I help Genevieve get dressed, and I
(06:04):
make sure the other two are doing what they need
to do, and then I kind of pack my work bag,
and by seven thirty five we are getting in the car.
I drive Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Josh drives Thursdays.
So this is, you know, our kind of our default
is that I'm doing it. I get everybody in the car,
and then by seven forty we start driving. Notice that
getting in the car and start driving are not the same.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Minute.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
There are three kids, they have all their stuff, they
have to decide where they're sitting. The kids have to
choose their music for the morning. Yeah, there's a key
stuff that happens. So you got to know that that
transition times happen. And then I eat breakfast while I'm driving.
So I used to try to fit in breakfast at home,
but it really doesn't fit in with all that other
stuff I mentioned. So I'll eat like a protein bar
(06:47):
like a rise bar or a cliff Builder bar in
the car, and then follow that by some other supplemental
thing like a yogurt. Once I get to work, so
kind of have that figured out to not take the
time at home. Then comes my drop off, so drive
the kids to school by seven fifty five to eight.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
I get there.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
Our school is really small and the classrooms are like
separate buildings, so I actually we walk all three together.
We dropped Genevieve off, then we drop Cameron off, then
I drop well, I don't really drop in a ball off.
She kind of like walks to her area where the
middle schoolers are, and then I go to my car.
I drive to work about eight fifteen and then about
eight thirty five Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I get there and
then usually there's like five minutes to spare before my
(07:23):
first patient is roomed. So it usually works out. And
I am lucky in that my commute is not super short.
I mean, I'm leaving at seven thirty five, and I
do a drop off, and I don't get there till
eight thirty five.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
But it's pretty predictable.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Back when I was driving, like on I ninety five,
it was like you never knew if it was going
to be thirty five minutes or an hour and a half.
But now it's pretty easy, so I don't need a
ton of buffer or anything like that. There are variations
on this theme. So on Tuesdays I do basically the
same thing, but instead of driving to my office where
I see patients, I just drive home and then set
(07:57):
up my kind of creative job. I don't usually work
out later on Tuesdays because I usually just need to
get started. Thursday is the one day that, depending on
what I have on my plates, sometimes I'll sleep in
because he is driving the kids and I could work
out when he leaves, but honestly, that doesn't happen all
that often because I often have something like a recording
that I have to get to, so that doesn't work out.
(08:17):
And then finally weekends, so I do get up early
on Saturdays, usually five, so that I can start running
by six, a little bit later in the winter because
there's not a need to start my runs so early,
and the kids are usually asleep until seven or eight,
and then my husband will like run after I get back,
and then we can have a more leisurely morning after that.
(08:38):
And then Sunday I just kind of sleep in until
the kids are up, which is usually seven or eightish.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And you almost always build in an hour before you
start running.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Okay, you need toffee digestion, like planning. I don't know,
I just I can't. I know there's some people who
are just bound out the door, but I usually really
prefer to have about an hour. Yeah, and then I'll
just say bedtime is part of my morning routine because
I get up really early, and there's no way that
I would be happily following this morning schedule without a
(09:08):
fairly early bedtime.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
Most nights. I'm not saying every night. I don't want
to be rigid.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
I want to be able to stay up till midnight
on New Year's Eve, which we did, But most nights,
I'm like settling into my bed by even before nine
sometimes and I'll read for a little bit and then
I fall asleep. And almost never am I up past
ten on a weekday because I want to get up early.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
I think we need to make a quote card with
what you just say said there that bedtimes are part
of my morning routine, right, that is any point, And
I think a lot of people don't realize that. But
bedtime is part of the morning routine. So it doesn't
work if you don't go to bed. Whatever number of
hours of sleep you need so she's going to bed
(09:54):
nine forty five if she's up four to forty five
to get seven hours of sleep. I mean, that's just math, right.
I mean, you can try to make it different, but
the numbers are what they are. They are what they are.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And I just talked a lot, but I'm pretty passionate
about my morning routine, not that everyone needs to follow it,
but that everyone should spend time crafting the routine that
works for them, because you know, I get a lot
of pleasure out of my my morning and it is
my me time.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Absolutely. Yeah, mine doesn't look like that for various reasons.
But I mean, so I've set my alarm for six
thirty usually on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and that is
seven and a half hours after my bedtime, which is
eleven PM. So six thirty, I'm up. I make sure
(10:41):
Jasper is up, then I go shower, get down to
the kitchen. I make coffee for both of us, Jasper
and me at that point, and usually make him a
peanut butter sandwich. And he comes down while I'm out
of the shower getting dressed. My husband has gotten in
the shower. He comes down and walks the dog while
(11:03):
Jasper's finishing his breakfast. The two of them are out
the door at seven to drive Jasper to school, because
the bus does come, but it comes a lot earlier
and we're not that far from the school, and so
in the interest of nobody needing to wake up before
six point thirty, we have decided to drive him. And
next year he'll be driving himself, so all good, and
(11:24):
school'll be later, so all sorts of things will be
changing in the future. I generally get Sam and Ruth
up around between six fifty five and seven, so it
sort of just as the others are going out the door,
supervise them getting ready, sometimes make them breakfast like pancakes
or eggs or something like that. Hopefully my husband is
(11:45):
back if he's working at home by the time that
they need to get down, because I want to drive
them down to the end of down to our bus stop,
which is it's at the end of our property, but
it's like we're down along hill, so it's takes them
a long time to get there if they're walking, like
winding around on the driveway. So usually someone just gets
them in the car basically drives them down to the
(12:05):
end of the driveway. And back, but the little boys
are still sleeping and we're still in our driveway, so
figure it's okay. Then, you know, come back. Little boys
are usually waking up somewhere between seven thirty and eight.
Get them breakfast. You know, our nanny is starts work
at eight. Sometimes she comes a little bit earlier, and
then I start a little bit earlier, or you know,
(12:27):
if Michael's with the kids or whatever, And I tend
to begin my day with some of these morning things
that some people might do earlier. But you know, my
job is my business, so I can do whatever I want.
But I do tend to start with some of the
interruptible stuff too at the beginning of it, Like because
the little boys, the odds of one of them calling
(12:47):
for me desperately between eight and eight forty is pretty high, Henry.
It's very much a mommy's kid, and so sometimes it's
like he'll scream and I'm buckling him in the car seat.
So anyway, that's the reality. I'll do interruptible stuff, but
I often will do my various morning rituals that I
(13:08):
do have, like writing my sonnet, my two lines in
the sonnet, doing my back exercises, I'm often now listening
to my bock during all of this, because i'm, you know,
at the moment working through the cantatas and some of
the organ pieces. So the backdrop to all of this
is a kantata from Bach or an organ sonata. I've
been listening to a lot of those, and then I
(13:30):
generally start my focused work at around eight thirty five
or eight forty, when they are all out the door,
the house is quiet, and my goal is to do
whatever the big focus project is of the day from
eight forty to ten ten fifteen or so, when I
take a quick break and do something else. So that
is what my mornings look like. I've been experimenting on
(13:52):
Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sam and Ruth have jazz band, and
so they need to leave in the seven o'clock run
with Michael and Jasper, and he drops Jasper offit school
and then takes them over to the middle school. And
I've been getting up. I've been setting my alarm for
six twenty two, getting my running clothes on, making sure
(14:12):
the kids are all up at six thirty, then heading
up to our treadmill. Ideally be running at six thirty five,
so you can see there's a little bit of a
difference here. Sarah needs an hour, I'm I don't know,
I decide to just do it. I'm also not running
as fast, so maybe maybe she needs a little bit
more time to prepare for Them's that or as far
(14:33):
or as far? So, yeah, I can, and I could
stop in the middle too if I'm on my treadmill,
because I'm there and the idea is like, just run
two miles like as quick as I can, like ideally
get them in in like twenty minutes or something, because
the treadmill is so incredibly boring that I want to
get off of it as quickly as I can. And
you kind of have to ramp up the first one,
so it's like the first mile it'll be like ten thirty,
(14:57):
So then that means I'm trying to do the next
one in nine thirty, so it goes a little faster.
It's like a progressive speed workout. And then run downstairs
at six fifty five, six fifty seven, make sure everyone
truly got up is going, you know, And sometimes one
of the kids has rolled back over and gone back
to bed. Sometimes my husband has slept through his alarm,
(15:18):
so it's really all, you know, a troubleshooting kind of
thing at that point. But normally they get out the
door and then I've done my exercise for the morning,
and I think two quick miles on the treadmill is fine.
If I do that twice a week, do a long
run on Saturday, and work out with my trainer on Monday,
I'm have hit some sort of baseline. It's okay, I
should do more, sure, but that's good, awesome. Wait is
(15:40):
that end? Well, there's variations. I mean, oh wait, what
about weekends? Well, weekends, I mean, so you know that, Yes,
the weekends do count. Saturday and Sunday. I'm usually up
around seven thirty. I would say that seven thirty on
Sunday so I can get ready for church because Jasper
and I have a nine o'clock rehearsal for choir, and
(16:02):
I just find it. I like to have enough time
that I'm not rushed, and I'm normally up by then anyway,
because I my bedtime could be midnight and wake up
at seven thirty because I'm not going into the weekend
usually with sleep deprivation, because I've been pretty rigid about
being in bed by eleven during the week to wake
up at six thirty, So then if I'm up till
eleven thirty, then I'm usually waking up between seven and
(16:24):
seven thirty on my own. Anyway, once a month I
run with a friend. We need to be at the
trail at about seven fifteen on Saturday mornings, so then
I get up at six thirty on those mornings and
try to be in bed again, you know, eleven eleven
thirty on Friday nights to make that happen. But yeah,
Saturday morning, if I'm running on my own, I don't
need to be quite as early. I'll usually run eight
(16:45):
o'clock or so and go till nine, nine thirty, whatever
happens to be the only other. Obviously, all of this
has to change if my husband is traveling or if
I am traveling and we needed to alter the morning
routine to work with one adult home. So generally what
(17:06):
happens is, if it's a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we get
jazzper up a tiny bit earlier, like five minutes earlier.
Leave five minutes earlier, because then you can run to
the high school, come back. Sam and Ruth are with
the little guys, so I'm there's a fourteen year old
and a twelve year old in charge of the little ones,
and so they are not going to leave unless you're back.
(17:28):
So that's fine. If for some reason I was delayed,
then I would just drive them all to school at
that point, and on the jazz band mornings, I get
all five of them up, get them in the car
at seven o'clock so can get them out the door.
And the little boys don't have to be ready, right,
they just have to be in the car. So I'll
get them in their pajamas in the car with whatever
(17:51):
bribes were necessary. Like there's a normally Alex can't use
his iPad in the morning, but if I have to
drag him to the high school into jazz band, then
he gets his iPad.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
And so I feel like that would be a good
opportunity for like donuts on the way home or something.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Donuts or something. Yeah, I don't know, but yeah, that's
the different version of it. And Michael has done that
too when I've been gone. So neither of us are
huge fans of the other party traveling on Tuesdays and Thursdays,
but it's inevitable, so we make it work. Let's take
a quick ad break and then we will be back
with more troubleshooting on mornings. So we are back talking
(18:38):
all things morning routines. So, Sarah, you had a list
of some common struggles and because I know people shared
a lot of these with you over the years when
you have talked about your morning routines, what are some
things that can go wrong? Yes, so probably one of
the most common.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
And I live this, so I get it is that
someone will say I am desperate to do morning stuff,
like I just wake up and I want to do
these things, but every time I leave my room, the
baby somehow knows and wakes up. It's really really hard.
So my ideas are I mean, well, first of all,
I understand, and there are modifications you may have to make.
(19:15):
I mean, I couldn't have done all these things when
my kids were little and I was waking up to
feed them because I would have just been too tired anyway,
So your time may come and that's not probably going
to be very comforting, but maybe a tiny bit comforting.
But from a practical standpoint, troubleshooting what is waking them
up might be worthwhile. I'm not saying anything will work magic,
(19:36):
but white noise can help if you could move some
of your routine to your own room. I've heard about
moms doing that or even having like a way to
like brutee in their room, if that's far enough from
the baby's room that they don't you know, the baby
will hear the vibrations of walking, but if you're not
leaving your room, they may not hear that. Also, just
like doing kind of a sound audit in general. We
actually realized after many years of using espresso that it
(19:56):
was waking up our kids, and we switched to drip
coffee and I actually like it better and we've never
gone back.
Speaker 1 (20:02):
But it was loud. It was too loud.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
So there may be something you can do about the noise.
Discussing with your partner, if there's days you could trade
off the first wake up shift, maybe even saying like
just one day a week, I want to not wake
up with the baby. And if you're nursing, maybe the
plan is that you do want to do that, if
you want to like feed the baby first, but then
(20:25):
hand the baby over immediately after the feeding is done
and just kind of not be in charge of the
baby so that you get Tuesday mornings or whatever morning
you want, and then gradually figuring out if you can
do kind of more of a split. And then finally,
a very popular option that I think does work for
some people is to just give up on having time
at home in the morning, but to try to reclaim
(20:46):
some minutes for yourself at the beginning of your work day.
And depending on what type of work you do, that
might mean having to get to work a little bit easier,
which can have two full benefits because sometimes that means
beating traffic, which I meean your commute is less, which
means then you actually end up with like more time,
like you've bought yourself some time, and then you can
get in those desired habits at your workplace if you
(21:06):
work outside of your home and as opposed to like
working from home because it's not going to work as well.
Then but like you're getting to your office, but you're
not starting right away with your first meeting or whatever,
You're actually gonna do your habits that you wanted to do,
or even if you didn't want to start the day earlier,
potentially if you did have a lunch break that you
could play with, shorten that lunch break, but take some
(21:27):
time in the morning before you start with your regular work.
So that would be kind of a way of best
of both worlds.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
I guess, yeah, yeah, I just having flashbacks of all
the mornings Alex is up. I wasn't trying to get
up early to do anything in the morning. He'd just
be up like he used to wake up at like
five point forty five every morning for unknown reasons. And yeah,
as soon as he was interested in videos, that was
very exciting because then whatever adult was up with him
could like read at least or something while he was watching. God,
there's this horrible Chuck video. He ride the truck, the
(21:58):
little Chuck truck. I don't know, anyway, he was into it.
That's glad when he was lessened to it. So yeah,
that just sympathies there. But the good news again is
like kids do get older, and if you are sort
of average family with two children who are about two
to three years apart, you are only spending five years
(22:21):
or so with children under the age of two, and
you're probably in the thick of it, which is why
you're listening to this podcast. But it will end and
then you will have more control over your mornings or
you know, you can do crazy things like have five
children spread out over many, many years and then you're
always dealing with it. But maybe you don't wake up
all that early as it is, So yeah, pick what
(22:43):
you want. So there could be oh, go ahead, No,
I have to say. The other thing is people like, well,
wait it work. It takes too long to work out
in the morning, or maybe they're like you and they
need an hour to go and they're like, I can't
stomach the thought of waking up an hour even earlier
than the workout. So what are some things you can
do with that?
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, So definitely thinking about which workouts are going to
fit your current season. And there is a reason that
I did not run any long distance type races for
a decade, like didn't fit my lifestyle, and so know
that things may change. At home workouts are super popular
with parents of young kids for a reason. That might
be the peloton bike, it might be you know videos,
(23:21):
there's so many different YouTube creators that make really efficient
workout sessions you can do at home at weights or cardio,
and I do feel like during those stages like perfect
is the enemy of the good, you can do fifteen
to twenty minutes two or three times a week, and
maybe a couple of those can be weekends, and that
still is going to count. That is still activity. Your
body feels it and probably will bring you at least
(23:43):
some benefit more than doing nothing.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
If exercise is something you want in your life. Yeah,
and you don't have to do the same thing every day,
like a morning routine does not have to be the
same every single day. It isn't for either of us.
And because life changes day to day. Is sort of
think of the whole week, and are there a couple
times you can do a workout during the course of
the week, Then that would be great three times a
week as a habit, as we often say around here.
(24:07):
And you know the reason. Yeah, we got a treadmill
so we can do in home workouts when it's dark
and cold out in the morning, for instance. But I
think if I was telling myself, well, what's even the
point of exercising from six thirty five to six fifty
five and I didn't do it, well, then that's a
couple miles less per week that I would run. So
since I'm saying, well that's time I can use, let
(24:28):
me use it. You know, I get something in and
something is is definitely better than nothing awesome.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
Well, another common problem is that you have two parents,
maybe they both work, but there's no clearly defined ownership
of the morning, or a person is a single parent
or solo parenting during the week.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
This is tough.
Speaker 3 (24:53):
I think the ownership really does bear a conversation, maybe
not a desired conversation on the part of someone who
might not be doing as much as the other partner,
but still an important one to have. And maybe the
answer is, hey, this person just is not a morning person.
They're going to help out in other ways, but at
least it's kind of clearly delineated. And I do feel
like two people like sort of taking charge can end
(25:16):
up being like harder for both people than one person,
like clearly owning I do breakfast, I get the kids dressed,
you know, I get the kids do xyz before this happens,
and then you take over, like I think sometimes and
this is not about tit for tat, It's just about
making sure each person's needs are met and that people
kind of know kind of what their role is. You
(25:37):
would have that discussion in a professional situation, and I
think it's worthwhile to have at home as well.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
Yeah, and there might be some other solution too. I mean,
some daycare is open relatively early. So if you have
a situation where your daycare opens at seven, but you
don't usually start work till nine, I mean, the option
would exist. Like you know, if you wanted to take
two mornings a week and bring the kid to daycare
(26:03):
at seven and then go do a long run and
shower and then get to work at nine. I mean
that could work, right, Like, that is an option and
is there, and you're probably paying the same tuition regardless
of what hours you're using, and so that's something that
you could potentially do if you have a situation where
you know your partner's traveling during the week or you're
on your own or something like that. Obviously, the in
(26:26):
home thing is is great. You know, if you can
get a there's always you know, people are selling treadmills
all the time because they thought they were going to
run and then they used it for hanging their clothes on.
So that might be something to look into. Putting one
in your basement so that you could get up and
run if you can't leave the house because you're the
only adult. There definitely something to think about. I would
(26:46):
also point out if you have a partner who is
traveling a lot for work, they are getting mourning solo
time by default on the days they are gone, so
it is absolutely fine for you to have it on
the days that they are home, and that can just
be part of the understanding and I don't think anyone
needs to feel like guilty or like they're asking for
something huge with that trade off. Now, some people have
(27:11):
to work very early, so morning routines when that happens.
I mean, this has been more of a thing now
as people are working in different locations, right, I mean,
I know you're hearing from people with like five am zooms, right, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
People, I mean they may have to like call into
the London office in the London office as they're meeting
at nine am, which puts you at like four am
or something, you know, crazy. Obviously depends on the job,
but there are people doing that kind of thing. I
think that's where the bedtime is part of your morning's
conversation really comes into play, because you cannot plan on
doing that and like also going to bed at ten
o'clock and watch or like midnight and watching a bunch
(27:45):
of shows, like if it's just never going to work,
So do that math, think about when your night needs
to start, and then also make sure that it's fair
from a work perspective. I mean, again, obviously every position
is different, and not every position is going to be like, oh,
you work an eight hour day and that's what we
expect you. But at the same time, if you have
a five am meeting, hopefully that you're not expected to
(28:06):
then be on meetings until solidly until five pm or
seven pm or something like that, because that is a
lot of hours. And so kind of just really thinking
about the proportions of your week and making sure that
they are reasonable, or looking for another job because I mean,
I wouldn't want to do fourteen hours a day of Zoom,
and probably most people don't.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
Yeah, again, this is a situation where you think one
hundred and sixty eight hours, not twenty four. Like, if
you have zooms at five am and six pm on Tuesday,
maybe that means that you should block off Wednesday afternoon
and decide that that's comp time. It's not that you're
getting away with anything, it's that you have put in
(28:50):
a longer day Tuesday, and now you're going to put
in a shorter day on Wednesday, or you're going to
come in later on Wednesday morning and you're going to
do whatever morning routine you would have done on Tuesday
on Wednesday and take that time for your own purposes.
And like, again, you don't have to do the same
routine every single day. I was talking with a group
of consultants once with a speech and somebody was like, well,
(29:12):
I'm trying to build a morning routine that I do
every single day, and I'm like, yeah, good luck with that.
I know, you are on a plane at six am
on like Tuesday, and then you're on a train on
Thursday somewhere in the morning, and then you know, it's
just the time. It doesn't have to look like that.
And if you think that you're gonna do something at
the same time every single morning, at the same time,
and you are in that sort of job, it's just
(29:33):
you're gonna be very frustrated and you're gonna feel like
you're failing. And you're not failing. It's that you set
yourself up to do something that doesn't fit with the
life you have. But you could definitely have what you
might think of as a morning checklist, like over the
course of the morning, I am going to do these
three things. That's what I think of my stuff. I mean,
I write my sonnets, I you know, listen to my bock,
I do my back exercises. Now, those are the three
(29:53):
things I do in the morning. And sometimes it happens
by seven am. Sometimes it happens by ten am. Sometimes
it happens by noon. Right, it's still mostly happening in
the morning. Sometimes I do my morning routine night because
I haven't gotten to it yet. I think it's better
to think about what would you like to include it
in your life? Where can you include it? Now, for
(30:13):
many people, that is going to wind up being mornings,
because if you have a full time job and you
commute and you have a family, that is the time
you generally can have for yourself. But it doesn't have
to be and so you know, there's nothing magical about mornings.
It's just that it tends to be the time that
works for a lot of people. So quick bonus, Sarah,
breakfast favorites. What are you eating for breakfast or your
(30:35):
kids eating for breakfast these days?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
By glamorous breakfast, But you're eating your graham crackers and yogurt.
That's the breakfast of champions around a protein bar. Yet
at a protein bar do so for the kids. So
one thing I like to do is to like buy
a bake good on Sunday so Monday's more fun. It
gets them out of bed. Usually it's like Trader Joe's
banana bread whatever. We always have smoothie stuff on hand.
(30:57):
They like to make them themselves so they can decide
what goes in there. We have lately been embracing it's
been cold, I mean our version of cold, like it
was fifties this morning. I've been buying the Kodiak oatmeal
that has like a little bit of extra protein and
they have a chocolate chip flavor that's been extremely popular
in this household. Also, if you add peanut butter to that,
you have made Reese's oatmeal. It's really delicious. And we
(31:19):
also have like a default which is like if I'm
just we're in a super I'm like, you're eating cereal.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
Pick your cereal. End of story. So those are our
main breakfast options. That is fine well, as mentioned, Jasper
has a peanut butter sandwich and coffee salm, and Ruth
will have one of a couple different things, you know,
one morning a week, I might make them an egg sandwich.
I might do pancakes one morning a week, because it
turns out pancakes are very very fast. If you make
them from a mix, you just put water in the mix,
(31:45):
or I guess some people do milk and then turn
on the pan, put them on, flip them. You know
it's done in a few minutes. But they might have
cereal or toast or toast or bagel. Breakfast is actually
free in our school district, so that's always an option
too if they get there on the bus where Jasper
gets there a little bit early too. You can just
pick up a breakfast, and even if you don't really
(32:07):
need all of it because you had some breakfast at home,
you can use some of the items as a snack
later because it tends to be more portable type things,
because that's how districts often do breakfast. Alex will have
cheerios plus cheese or yogurt, and Henry's been all over
the map. He'll sometimes have the pancakes too, but he
likes things like smoked salmon, yogurt, cheerios, and me, I
(32:31):
eat two fried eggs plus something, so some days that's
some like carb product. Some days it's fruit, some days
it's nothing because I just eat the two fried eggs.
But yeah, that's my breakfast of champions.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
Here. I feel like Henry might might be your most
adventurous eater.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
I don't know. I mean, I see signs both directions,
but you know, so far he's willing to try different things.
So questions Sarah, uh the question this week? How do
you manage transitions effectively, such as when your nanny arrives,
Like so you're not spending fifteen to twenty minutes getting
everyone up to speed on what's going on in the day,
or going from the insanity of bedtime antics to sitting
(33:13):
down with a book or getting kids in the car
or a kid activity when you have things like swimsuits
or ice skates, unloading or loading all the kids in
the vehicle. This person has three kids under the age
of five, and she feels like transitions are eating up
a bunch of her life. What do you are there
ways to minimize it, Sarah? What do you think? Yes
(33:34):
and no?
Speaker 3 (33:35):
You know, interestingly, some of the things you mentioned, I'm like, yep,
takes a long time, and then others I'm like, hmm,
I never spent a lot of.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
Time doing that.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
So the one that I never did do that might
be streamlinable would be the nanny communication stuff. And I
think there's probably a lot you could communicate by just
having stuff like on a whiteboard, like if you just
need to show like who ate, who still needs what like,
it might be quicker to just be doing that as
the morning's unfolding, so she can just see that when
she gets here, or send a quick text. The longer
(34:03):
you've had a nanny, the less of a transition time.
And I also feel like the less time you have
for that nanny transition, the less time you'll spend. So
our nanni used to I mean, we no longer have
childcare calm in the morning, we don't need that. I
drive the kids to school. But back when our Nanni
would come and I had to drive there was I
had to leave, like basically within two minutes of her
getting there or I was gonna be late for work.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I had to get on the.
Speaker 3 (34:23):
Highway, And I think by necessity it was a very
short transition. So I think that one may be one
worth delving into first streamlining, But a lot of those
other things, the bedtime antics, the you mentioned putting on
ice skates. Yeah, that stuff is like I mean, skis
don't even get me started, Like you just have to
I think accept some of that, Like bedtime is never
(34:46):
gonna be quick because it takes kids like their nervous
systems have to wind down, and so having a routine
that's three minutes work probably won't even work. Like there
is value in that longer routine because as they go,
as you go through each of the steps, it's probably
gonna kind of slow we rub them down into the
feeling like bedtime, kind of like adults aren't going to
be able to just snap straight in into bedtime for
(35:06):
things like ice skating. I think just thinking of it
as like listen, when you have three kids under five,
part of life is just like getting through each day,
and an activity like ice skating isn't about like, wow,
we're gonna have so much fun ice skating because you're
not like they're too young, like it's gonna be terrible.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
I mean, well in my experience, but putting.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
The skates on is part of the activity, and if
that makes the activity two hours instead of an hour,
then great, You've like done more activities for that day,
like I think you're winning and not losing, and so
reframing it might be helpful because young kid life is
not efficient and that's okay. As I said, how long
do you really want to skate or swim with your toddlers?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean you just have to build those transitions.
And I mean I was sort of this has always
been a thing because it's possible that one parent in
our family may decide that because the why is twenty
minutes away, and your swim class starts in twenty minutes,
that's the time you leave. It's like, no, that is
not the time you leave. It takes ten minutes to
get everyone into swimsuits. Ice skating was worse too, I
(36:08):
mean even with older children. I mean mine weren't under five,
but for whatever reason, they couldn't lace up their own skates,
you know, into ages where it felt like people should
be able to lace up their own skates. So just
sort of have to accept that there is the time
to get there. There is the time to park, there
is the time to walk into the thing. There is
the time to get the equipment on and then get
(36:30):
into the pool or the ice skating rink or whatever
it is, and all of those things are not zero,
and if you think there's zero, you're going to be
running late everywhere and frustrated and frustrated. So build it
in as the time to Yeah, but then I mean
sometimes I think we can also make our transitions longer
(36:53):
with our own things. I mean, so not kids are
what they are, right, and there's ways you can have
routines and can streamline and keep everything you know in
packed by the door, like always have the diaper bag packed.
Like if you take something out, you put it right
back in, or if something's out, you restock it. Make
sure the activity stuff is always in a bag and
the bag is always by the door. But with your
(37:13):
own stuff, like I think often we can have transitions
fill the time that is available. And a part of
the transition problem is not knowing exactly what you want
to do. And so you know, people get their kids
down and then it's like you're puttering around the house
for another thirty minutes until you're like, oh, yeah, this
is what I want to do for the night. So
(37:33):
don't do that. Think about it when you're thinking about
your day, Like if I have leisure time tonight, I
would like to do X, and maybe it's that your
favorite show comes on at ten, Great, you're going to
watch that. Or maybe it's that you and your husband
are going to have a late dinner together. Or maybe
it's that you have a book that you are reading
and you want to read thirty pages in it tonight. Okay,
(37:54):
that's or you're doing a puzzle or you're going to
call a frint. But if you know what your leisure
time is, then and as soon as the kids are down,
you can dive into it right instead of losing that
time puttering around the house and sort of trying to
figure out what you're going to do. And so the
transition disappears. It wasn't needing to be a huge transition
(38:14):
Anyway's just because the mental transition took a while because
you weren't sure exactly what you intended to do. So
I'll just throw that out there as an idea.
Speaker 3 (38:22):
Also, we should link to our entire episode we did
on transitions because we did transition.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Yes, exactly, all right. Love of the Week, Sarah, what's
your favorite thing this week?
Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh my god, I'm going to do morning themed loves
of the week. The sunrise on my runs, which especially
is during the like right now, because once the time changes,
it's going to be dark again, and I'm going to
be sad. But right now it's awesome. And my auto
timed coffee, oh the best.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
It's the best. I love our coffee maker. We've got
this like one that's built into the wall and it's
like a fancy one, so you can just put your
cup under it and press the number of ounces you
want as long as you're refilling the beans. That's it's
like it makes your coffee for you. I don't know.
It's like you order a coffee and it's there and
it tastes really good. I don't know. I liked it
frush from beans, like it grinds the beans and then
(39:08):
does it. But I'll go here with winter sunsets, so
sort of the opposite of sunrise. We have some cool
sunrises around here, but you can't see them so well
from our house because we have like a lot of
big trees and houses toward the east, but the west
is pretty open, and so especially in the winter, there's
this hill and the trees are bare, and so you
can see the sun setting and I mean, too bad
(39:29):
it's happening at four thirty pm.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
But you can see that it's happening at four thirty pm.
You're there, right, I'm looking.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Out my office window as opposed to like running around
getting people to bet or something. I guess that's true. Yeah,
so it's a I can see it in the winter,
and so I really try to pause and appreciate given
that it will then be dark for like the next
sixteen hours. Love. All right, Well, this has been best
of both worlds. We've been talking morning routines, troubleshoe, various
(40:00):
issues that can go wrong, and is attempting to make
a morning routine. We will be back next week with
more on making work and life fit together. Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (40:10):
You can find me Sarah at the shoebox dot com
or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram, and you can.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This has
been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join us
next time for more on making work and life work together.
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