how to wake up at 5am as a night owl

Hey everyone, it's Lynn again and by some miracle I have become a morning person. I did not just get up at 5am for this video. I've been getting up between the hours of 5 and 7 pretty much every day and I think it's because I've been craving routine. Specifically routines that center things that I want to do and not just productivity and consistency. The truth is my week and life is filled with highs and lows and getting up at a set time every day doesn't make me a happier, healthier person. But rather with the longer days and the warmer weather, I've been motivated to get up early so I can practice the habits that bring me a lot of joy. It's the best time to do it in the morning before I start work. Plus I have a cat who pesters me until I get out of bed. I definitely like having the first few hours of the day to myself and set habits like making my bed and journaling all really help. So here are some of the things that I do throughout the day and the week that keep me a First off, I'd like to address a tweet that a viewer sent me. I'm not on Twitter but apparently someone tweeted this about me listening to Supertuna in college to get up in the mornings. I don't really do that anymore but music can always be part of you starting your day. Anyways, I consider breakfast one of the more important meals of the day, both the food and my first cup of coffee. And the best way to make sure that you get your breakfast is to prepare it in advance. The easiest thing for me is to bake a bunch of sweet potatoes and keep them in the fridge and plus you can get your fiber intake. It depends on the day but sometimes I'll work out in the mornings rather than the evenings and it helps me get energized. I just do enough workouts so I can put my carry-on luggage in the overhead bin and not have to ask for help. That's honestly my routine and plus I can see the sunrise while I walk on a treadmill. And after putting on my fit and doing my makeup, I like to journal. It's very therapeutic and sometimes I write one paragraph. Other days, I write multiple pages which was today. I had a lot on my mind, a lot of things I had read and I wanted to process and then I make a late morning snack and get ready to work. Usually, I'm in my office by 8 30 but by nature of filming everything, it is now 9 20. And before I start looking at my emails and actually responding to them, I like to do a Vietnamese lesson on Rosetta Stone. It's part of my everyday routine. I just got back from Vietnam and I'm so glad that I did my lessons before going because I went to Hanoi. I don't know as much of the northern slang and dialect and vocab but I picked up on a lot of that because of Rosetta Stone. A good example is that growing up, my family to say yes, we said yeah or dong, like correct. But in the north, to be polite, you say vung. And I did not know vung existed until I started taking Rosetta Stone lessons. I like that Rosetta Stone has given me the structure but also it's very flexible. I have a lot of freedom of where and when I do my lesson plan. And in case you don't know, Rosetta Stone is an immersive language learning app that uses pictures, audio, and native pronunciation tools to focus on context-based learning. They combine multiple learning styles to create dynamic immersion in their lesson plans, which is the most intuitive way to learn. And still, one of my favorite language learning features is the true accent voice recognition. It compares what I say to real native speakers and it gives me real-time feedback so I can improve and learn. It's never too late to learn a language, y'all. And especially if you are a heritage speaker like me, now is the time to start. So if you'd like, Rosetta Stone is offering a lifetime subscription for 60% off that includes all 25 languages. For life, you can access it with the link in the description box. Thank you to Rosetta Stone for partnering with me with this video. Y'all are the best. Alright, I just finished my lessons for today. In terms of work, I have a lot of editing to do today. I have a meeting with my manager later in the afternoon and I also have a post going live. I need to make a thumbnail for that and all that jazz. Yesterday was tax day so I paid all my taxes and that also signifies that it's Q2 now. I think for the first time in a long time when I was in South Korea and Vietnam, I did little to no work. I'm not kidding. I'm kind of behind now but it was so good to be on an actual vacation and not be checking my phone or editing something and spending hours behind the computer. I just got to hang out with my friends and be very present but now it's time to grind. But I've really enjoyed a lot of the work I'm currently doing. I recently illustrated my own starter pack which is inspired by the AI trend which I abhor and I got featured in the New York Times style column which is so cool. I also got to work with Jasmine and took her New York Fashion Week outfits which I shot for her in her home and create starter packs from those. It's so fun to work with friends and people I look up to and it reminds me that I like making stuff with community, with other people. That gives me life. So yeah, cue the time lapses of me sitting behind my laptop right now. I really miss cooking while I was traveling. I had really good food while I was in Asia but I don't know, nothing beats a home-cooked meal and the joy of making it yourself. So I have some marinated chicken thighs. There's four of them and I'm gonna pan fry them. This is a signature garlic recipe. There's a ton of garlic in here. I am a garlic lover through and through and it'll be my meal prep for the next two, three days. Not everyone likes to cook. I do so it gives me energy. Sometimes it does tire me out if there's a ton of dishes but if you don't have time to cook every day or you don't enjoy it, make sure to meal prep. Make things in batches and that store well in the fridge or it can freeze. I make four portions-ish of proteins and carb and then I change out my side dishes for every meal so I don't get too bored. Yay! The next few habits I'm trying to unlearn from college but for now I am not drinking any coffee after lunch. Only tea, only matcha just so I'm not taking more caffeine than I need and then I can't sleep at night and you might be thinking, Lynn, you work remote, you work from home most days, you must work all the time and I actually got that habit from college. I feel like college you're always on, there's always something for you to do so knowing when to clock out and stop my work for the day so I can unwind and do activities for myself, that is so hard to unlearn. I'm a workaholic. Something that's helping is I have tv shows I watch on certain nights, for instance Thursday nights or Abbott Elementary nights and then I've also been watching When Light Gives You Tangerines on Netflix. I also like to watch tv while I'm exercising so if I didn't work out in the morning, I would exercise at this time. I just realized I don't think I own an ice cream scoop. It's gonna be difficult. I'm so excited. Ever since I made the compote, I've been dreaming about how well it would pair with vanilla ice cream. Let's give it a try. Gotta get a blueberry. Of course it's amazing. Of course it is. It's everything I dreamed of. Oh the finer things in life. I'm gonna go back to my kid drama. Bye bye. At the end of my day, I do go to bed really early to get up at 5 or 6. I like to be in bed by 9 30 or 10, fall asleep by 10 30 or 11 and I do have a few more tips and thoughts on routines before we go. The first one being for my folks who menstruate, y'all our menstrual cycle affects our energy levels, how much sleep we gotta get. I highly recommend that if you don't, I just you know use my google calendar to keep track of where you are in your cycle. This changed my life and I wish it was something I learned in school but I didn't. This allows you to have a lot more grace with yourself when you're feeling tired which can be attributed to where you are in your cycle or if you're moody etc. Like I said in the beginning of the video, life is full of highs and lows. Consistency is not always key but it's matching what your body is telling you what it needs, right? Sometimes you're not gonna be a morning person that day and you need the extra few hours of sleep. Put on a cute outfit and this goes for my folks who are going to work or work remote or work hybrid. You're gonna feel a little bit happier about the day when you got something cute on even if you're gonna keep your camera off. And last but certainly not least, go hang out with your friends, your loved ones, your family. Make an effort to see them and show up for them. We don't want to be stuck in catch-up relationships which can happen easily post-grad but the thing is money will come back around but time and memories are so precious. It can be as easy as running errands with your friends or taking that trip that you've always wanted to with your loved ones so make that part of your routine. I'm very grateful for my community in person and to y'all online. I hope that you guys enjoyed the and thank you so much for watching. I will see y'all soon. Bye!