Summary

A widowed mother has established a disciplined morning routine starting at 4 a.m. to manage her responsibilities and pursue her goals while maintaining quality time with her family.

Abstract

The author describes a morning routine that emerged from the necessity of managing her household and work responsibilities after becoming a single parent. She wakes up at 4 a.m., tends to the home, enjoys quiet time, writes for Medium and her blog, and completes a 15-minute task before preparing for her job. Despite the early hour and the challenges of her situation, she finds comfort and productivity in this routine, which allows her to progress towards her goals and cherish evenings with her children.

Opinions

The author acknowledges that waking up at 4 a.m. is unpleasant but effective for her circumstances.
She values the quiet morning hours for personal growth, reflection, and writing.
The author prioritizes her goals over personal comfort, viewing her routine as a sacrifice for long-term benefits.
She emphasizes the importance of being adaptable and honest about what works in establishing a routine.
The author cherishes her job and family time, which are non-negotiable parts of her day.
She believes in giving her best effort each day rather than striving for perfection.

I Get Up At 4 A.M. It’s Awful But It Works

The routine and some advice

Ever since my husband died, my plate has been fuller than full.

Given the change in what I have to do without a second set of hands around here, my routine happened by accident.

Getting up at 4 a.m. sucks but it’s working so I’m keeping it.

The routine:

4:00: Wake up, curse winter and the cold, and weigh my options for just staying under the covers. Lose my argument with myself. Get up, check the woodstove, and load it back up.

Put coffee on. Feed and water the animals, get my snuggles in with the dogs while it brews, and let the cuddles reset my mind from the negative one I crawled out of bed with.

4:30–5:30: My time to drink my coffee, have quiet, read on Medium, and learn something new along with taking some time to visualize where I plan on being a year from now.

5:30: Quiet is over. Turn the music on and up.

5:30–6:30: Write for Medium

6:30–7:30: Write for my blog

7:30: The 15-minute “get it done” moment. I take 15 minutes and tackle something. It might be doing as many of the dishes as I can, getting some sweeping done, bringing wood in, taking the dogs out to play ball and get exercise…you get the point.

7:45: Get ready for work.

8:20: Leave for the 9–5.

“Nothing about that sounds fun, why do you keep doing it?”

My goals are bigger than whether or not I’m comfortable.

Therefore, I will continue this routine.

I love my job so leaving that is not an option, and now that I’m a single parent too, this is what works and it is what it is.

There’s also comfort in knowing that by the time I get to my job, the work towards my bigger goals has been completed.

I’m not willing to give up my time in the evenings. By the time I get home at 5:30ish, I want to get dinner and sit down with the boys and have our time together.

The hours between 5:30 p.m. and 9:00 (when I go to bed) go by fast and a lot can happen between animals, house stuff, mail, bills, unexpected phone calls, realizing there’s a trip to the store needed, my son wants to tell me all about the new planet facts he’s learned — there’s always something and that’s okay.

I just know it’s not conducive to being able to work uninterrupted.

My biggest advice for getting a routine is to be willing to admit what works and what doesn’t.

Then work with what you have.

We don’t have to be perfect. Let’s just lay our heads down at night knowing we gave it our best.