After an exhausting semester, I had my last exam about two weeks ago. Now I have two weeks’ holiday before my next semester starts in the mid of September. It is the final semester before I’m going to start with my master thesis.

During these two weeks, I wanted to work on myself, since the last few months were quite stressful. Because of the coronavirus, I had to attend remote lectures via zoom, study at home, and I had to prepare for the exams at home. I only got out on weekends and was studying all day, even almost all weekend. It all started at the beginning of the semester when ETH switched to distance learning and closed its buildings. At the beginning of August, when the examination phase began, students were again allowed to come to ETH to take the exams and also for studying. I then studied at ETH for about three weeks, and on the very first day back at university I realized how much more productive I am when I study at ETH instead of at home.

Nevertheless, I think that the exams went well. As I mentioned before, I have two weeks off in which I want to work on myself. That’s why on the first Monday, I started doing sports for about half an hour. During the week, I increased it to one hour in the morning and about 30 more minutes throughout the day. I have already done it for seven days in a row. I definitely want to keep this habit during the semester. I still have to figure out how I can best do it without sacrificing sleep, but I am confident that I can maintain this habit.

Morning Routine

I have built a productive morning routine that looks like this

• Get up and make my bed.
• Go to the bathroom.
• Do 1 hour of sports while listening to a podcast or audiobook.
• Come down for 5 minutes.
• Take a cold shower (as cold as possible).
• Meditate for 10-20 minutes.
• Grab a cup of coffee/tea and start journaling for about 10-15 minutes.
  • This also includes a brain dump, i.e., just write down everything that comes to your mind.

After doing this routine, I can start my day refreshed and with a clear mind.

Journaling/Planning

To work not only on my physical health but also on my mental health, I have just started to journal and plan my days/weeks. My main reasons for writing a journal and planning my days are to achieve mental clarity, to practice gratitude, and to be more focused during the day.

Since I just started journaling and planning my day and week, I can’t tell you much about it. But so far, it feels good. I think planning my day the evening of the previous day leads to less procrastination the next day because I know exactly what I want to achieve that day.

I will write another blog post with my experience regarding journaling, planning, and how my morning routine evolved when university starts again.

Have a great week and remember:

Be kind. Be patient, practice self-love. Provide value and be grateful. Don't change people. Care about what you can control. Have zero expectations. Don't overthink life.
You are GREAT.
Begin NOW.

If you want to reach the ultimate meaning of life happiness. Track the past. Organize the present. Design the future

https://www.amazon.com/Bullet-Journal-Method-Present-Design/dp/0525533338