Wordsley, Stourbridge: 8 degrees, and with a beautiful blue sky, but with the threat of rain.
It’s the new year, and although it’s only the first week, it’s essential to start off on the right foot with the right habits and routine.
For some reason, I’m having trouble getting up early, as I’m used to doing in Brazil. I’m not sure whether it’s the time difference, the cold, or the fact that it’s only getting light late in the morning here in the winter.
I arrived in England at the end of November, almost winter, so it was already a short day. However, this cannot nor should not deter me from having a full day of work and activity. I have noticed that here, people tend to start closing businesses early because it gets dark so early; by 4:00 p.m., it is already dark.
It isn’t easy to be 100% productive when you begin to switch off so early. Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but it seems to be the case. What I am getting to do properly is to exercise immediately after getting up. I haven’t yet done exercise outdoors, as is common in Brazil, but I am getting to do a series of effective exercises in the back living room before going out for an early walk.
I have never been fond of running, so that doesn’t enter the equation, but a good walk of at least 7,000 steps before starting work is beneficial.
The ideal for everyday is 10,000; today, I completed 11,000 steps before arriving home, and by late evening, I had done almost 16,000 steps. For a workday, I think it’s very good, just like it was in Rio before I came to England.
The third part of my health routine is to make a daily entry in my journal. In the past, when I started keeping a journal, I would sometimes go two or three days without making an entry, and then I would have to catch up over the next few days.
I have learned to write every day, the importance of it and preferably in pleasurable or different places, not necessarily just at home.
Initially, in Copacabana, I would write at home at my work desk, which served as my home office. In Botafogo, I would go to the Portuguese bakery near where I lived and arrive early every day, when it opened at 6:00 a.m., to have two coffees and journal. Sometimes, but rarely, I would also journal at the park with Perola.
In England, I have found a nice little coffee shop/café on the green where, after walking, I can stop off on the way home and write while having a tea, and then a coffee. It is unimaginable for me nowadays to go a day without writing in my journal. With the amount of quality time and attention I’ve spent on journaling, I believe that my writing skills are slowly improving.
Fourthly, would be to sequentially take an entry from my journal and turn it into a blog post. Again, my blogging skills are improving, considering I’ve only been doing it for less than six months.
I think I’m doing reasonably well. This year, I want to invest significantly more time and effort into my blog to improve it and hopefully get it monetised.
A natural extension of the blog will be the vlog, transforming my blog content into a YouTube channel to also have it eventually monetised. I have been wanting to do this for quite some time, but a lot has happened over the last 12 months, and exactly knowing how I would like to transform it into audio and visual content has been a challenge for me.
I think I now have a clear idea for it, so it is just a question of investing my time and energy into it and learning. I don’t expect it to be right the first time, or immediately. I think it will take time to get the right content in the right way, but it is more important to begin.
And fifthly is to give classes. I am financially dependent on the classes to pay my bills, and until other possible incomes have been realised and monetised, I have to give classes, as they are my financial backbone.
My primary goal this year is to improve my blog, establish a YouTube channel, monetise them, and earn sufficient income to increase my financial independence, allowing me to explore alternative forms of income and potentially return to England, or at least spend more time there.
So, my morning routine is:
- Get up early.
- Do exercise and walk.
- Make a journal entry.
- Publish a blog post and a video on YouTube.
- Give classes to the best of my ability.
Today, I’ve just done all of this: got up early, exercised, took a good walk, wrote a blog post, and given classes, and I feel good.
In bed by midnight.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
