Every morning I exercise. However, I switch between two running and lifting/stretching. My run routine helps me set my mind for the future, moving forward in my thinking. The weight lifting, sit ups, yoga positions, allow me to cement my ideas. To make them stick with me. For a while now, my routine helps me feel better and put me at a calmer state.
Wake up at the crack of noon, drag my ass out of bed, lay on the dirty floor with my pet pig for a half hour, sluggishly make my way upstairs, eat whatever almost expired food i can find without mold on it, slump down and watch youtube or play games until 4 am the next morning, pass out, repeat again and again and sometimes I bath or brush my teeth if I am expecting company... So thats kinda like exorcising and shit...
My morning routine is intensely purposeful and it gives me a lot of joy. I was never the kind of person who could bear frantic morning scrambles to get out the door, so constructing a routine (with pet care, makeup, breakfast, and of course- coffee) is very soothing. That rejuvenating morning routine definitely puts me in the right mindset to be productive and cooperative at work.
I was immediately reminded of the "my morning routine" lifestyle\beauty videos on youtube when I saw the title, and later, the "what's in my purse" videos. Perhaps the reference was intentional? The editing implied that was the case. Anyways, it makes me wonder if the reason they're so popular in that community is that these girls are often perceived as a sort of small-scale idol. Like we would want to learn something about the process behind orchestrating a creation by a mastermind through their routines, maybe these perfect yet "lived-in" characters of "beauty gurus" make their viewers feel as thought they're unraveling the "secret" to that seemingly perfect person that is supposedly so much like them - But "better"? Maybe it's not just being nosy and curious, but also a form of analyzing?
I love those kind of videos, I think our interest in them comes from curiosity and nosiness, but also 'they seem to have their shit together maybe they're doing something I should be doing' thinking, as if the key to being a successful human being lies in using a clay face mask every morning, or having a specific thing for breakfast.
This is probably one of my favorite videos you've made thus far. The importance of your routine is something I've anecdotally experienced. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had a routine of drinking 32oz of water each morning 15 min before breakfast, between 2nd and 3rd hours, and 15 min before bed. I was lifting and a product I was trying recommended lots of hydration, at least 64 oz a day. I noticed I woke up anticipating the day's work, found it easier to get out of bed in the first place, and enjoyed the tasks of the day much more during this period of having a goal. Years later, I lost this routine and fell back into old, disorganized patterns. Later in college, I got back into my lifting routines and found myself feeling happier and healthier and more likely to not sleep in too much. I did homework more often and all around felt better. Truly a powerful thing the structure of routine can have.
... How do you say coffee? Because, I listen to how he says it, and it sounds like how I say it. Which is also how I would pronounce kah-fee (or, perhaps better, kha-fee, with kha as in KHAAAAAAAAAN!). I grew up in Colorado, USA, so I would have an accent endemic to that region.
At 06:30 AM my phone wakes me up with Keroro's 3rd intro song or some J-Pop from Persona from about 5 meters away from my bed so I'm forced to get up to make it stop. Then I take a shower or skip it to get twenty more minutes of sleep (it may not seem like it does a difference but it does), get the TV on the news channel, get my water for the coffee on the fire, crack two eggs in the frying pan. I then eat the eggs with bread and sometime a banana for breakfast and then sip at my coffee while watching the news until my family is ready to go, I get out of the car once in front of my high school and that's about all for my morning schedule.
One of my favourite episodes. Routines are fascinating; the cognitive value people place on "rituals of life" is one of the most interesting things of the human condition. As someone who has worked with people with autism and other developmental/cognitive delays (and whose spouse is a studying Behaviour Analyst), I've noticed that one of the commonalities of ASD, OCD, and the like is the "upset" that happens when a specific pattern of actions is interrupted in some way. Many cognitively normal people see these behaviours as "uniquely autistic" or whatever, but what I find incredibly interesting is that it really just seems to be an amplified or more noticeable reaction to something that arguably everyone feels. Say, your coffee filter broke and ruined your cup in the morning, or maybe it spilled. You break a lace tying up your shoes, and then miss the bus to work. You notice that your neighbour knocked over your garbage outside, or that someone didn't pick up after their dog on the sidewalk. Tiny, unimportant things that can absolutely ruin your day; slight disruptions in your routine that knock you completely off balance. It's the worst, right!? This emotional value of the daily ritual, which is inherently pedantic, but so important to maintaining the illusion of smooth, worry-free life.
one of my favorite videos you guys have made! i really enjoyed the way it was shot in your house. it was something new. i like it. anyway, i have two typical morning routines. on a weekday (since i'm in high school) it consists of me waking up at 5:35, checking instagram, and turning on the shower. while it's warming up, i'll check the weather or the news. i get in the shower, stand in there for WAY too long, and finally getting dressed. then i have breakfast (normally a bagel or toast) with either tea or orange juice. go back upstairs, brush teeth, unplug charging phone, put on socks and shoes, and go to the bus stop. the weekend routine constists of me waking up whenever i wake up, checking social networks, eating breakfast while either watching daily show/the news/adventure time and then finally taking a shower while listening to loud music. i get dressed and ready, and from there, my day starts...
It's funny, I've been really conscious about my morning routine lately. I've been finding that it gets really sickening and annoying for me to do the same exact thing over and over every morning, but then again perhaps I've been feeling so annoyed because I wake up every weekday at 6:30 and I am most certainly _not_ a morning person (or at least an early morning person). And maybe that in addition to knowing that I'm in my last year of high school and at this point school is just a formality is just making me really impatient for the days when I no longer have to wake up at such an ungodly hour.
Lewa500 I don't know about careFREE... Maybe it's more like my responsibilities and following actions are not as immediately impactful currently as they will become in my future.
As someone who is a morning person, the most interesting part is that I have a specific weekday routine and weekend routine mostly controlled by when I set my alarm and if the dining hall at my college is open for breakfast or brunch. Then, if I'm visiting at home I have a different routine altogether that reaches way back to middle school habits. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I interact with my different environments in different and varying ways which loops back to the having it be "mine" thing, but perhaps relating to making my surroundings ready for a specific task to unfold? If anything the constant throughout my mornings is that it's impossible to sleep in past 9:30 am so I should probably find something to do. Speaking of surroundings, I really dig the vibe of seeing you sit behind a table, sipping coffee and grabbing at your books. Both the records wall and the table give a sense of casualness that makes the videos relatable, but I guess the table brings forth a curious "hey look I'm sitting down with this cool dude telling me interesting things let me also sip at my imaginary beverage with him" that you should totally do more often.
I never have a routine, though as a teenager, that's not too weird. The closest thing to a 'constant' that I have in the mornings is eating porridge, drinking tea, watching stuff on my phone...and then stressing over the fact that I might miss the bus and be late if I don't leave at precisely the right time. Stress personifies my mornings. To have good amount of sleep, I leave only 30 mins to get ready >_
That's a pretty cool idea about routines, and I guess it would be supported by the fact that people have for a very long time held the notion that what routines you do are influenced by your personality to the extent that your personality can be generally discerned by your routines, not only in what routines they are but the level of priority, meticulousness and regularity and so forth. I look forward to seeing the next video for the comment discussion about this!
I think this is also a really fantastic explanation of why artists (especially young artists) obsess over what brushes/paints/canvases their heroes use. Intellectually we know it's very nearly irrelevant, but in learning how our heroes construct their world (and their approach to art) we feel like we gain insight into how we should/could construct ours. Really loved this episode!
Watching PBS Idea Channel has been a part of my morning routine for a couple weeks now. Which is great but I'm running out of videos to watch. So hurry up and make more videos. Please.
The coffeeshop example brought a fun thought to mind. The idea of being or having a regular customer is interesting when thinking about routines as you've described. You say that you go to your coffee shop and see your barista who knows your coffee order, but at the same time the barista goes to his coffee shop and sees his customer whose coffee order he knows. Kinda cool how one person's routine can be multiple people's routines at one time. Having one person's "our thing"(3:30) being more than one person's "our thing" may be another idea worth considering: sharing routines with others as a means of further lessening the friction in our daily lives.
My mornings are never really the same, except for having a banana almost everyday. I rarely do the same thing, I rarely eat/drink the same thing, by my own (unconscious) decision. I kinda feel like this is linked to my depression, the disorder in my mind being conveyed into my behaviour.. I don't know, just a thought
Interesting, I certainly feel more productive when I have a morning ritual but I can ONLY do it when I have something to do it for. As a freelancer there are times when I don't have work and those are the worst for my morning routine, I just can't do the same thing those days because it seems forced.
So, as a high schooler, my morning routine doesn't involve coffee. I mean, really, only the kids who take independent studies first block have time for coffee. However it's interesting how high school has been sort of that routine you talk about. Because my actual waking up/getting ready takes so little time in favor of getting more sleep, my "routine" tends to be going to school, singing for a half hour (my choral director has rehearsals every morning at 7 and my being a soprano does not help), going to class, lunch, etc. in a way that actually resembles being mesmerized. Of course, being in Calculus isn't really mesmerizing, but the overall experience of school is. Walking between classes is a good example. I have my routes memorized and will not change them unless prompted to by some unexpected event (stairwell clog, various pranks, etc). I become mesmerized in the same way you are when drinking your coffee, winding my way through the crowd with a vigilant body and a head in the clouds. In art classes I can pass the entire 80 minutes focused on one action by letting my mind wander. This is sort of a more abstract way of looking at it, but I notice it the most when the semester ends and I suddenly have to find new routes and grow accustomed to new classes. Not only do the days feel longer, I find I have to actually THINK about the route I take and the things I do upon entrance to the classroom rather than just walking that path and doing those things automatically. The 5 minutes between classes are also an opportunity for me to process the information I have been presented and prep myself for the next activity. It makes me think that you can really find routine in anything you want. It can be your morning routine, the path you take to work/school, your lunch break, your post-work/school routing, etc. Any of these things can become as mesmerizing as making coffee.
That is the most hipster way to prepare coffee that I have ever seen. I don't have much of a morning routine. Also, I often wake up at noon. :U A very important thing to me is brushing my hair. I don't feel awake until I do that for some reason. Then I drink and eat. Maybe I will have some tea. Then I get dressed. Or not. Depends on what day it is. Then I go to class every day except the weekend and Tuesday. I shower at night, so I don't even have THAT to do. :U It is nothing special at all. But I am a college student and I don't have time to really set anything because I am not fully in charge of my life yet. What I do is dictated by my class schedule.
UA-cam is part of my morning ritual. Listening to Idea Channel smooth my one hour Thursday morning commute. ...I sometimes wonder how much my experience is different from other Idea Channel-ights since my participation with the show is primarily an auditory experience.
Regarding that sense of ‘mine’ we feel towards objects and towards our routines, I think it is a mistake to understand this sentiment simply as a one of ownership and possession. I am aware that even linguists name ‘my’ and ‘mine’ as a possessive determiner and pronoun respectively, but I wonder if we are misdirected by those possessive names. Yeah, we use them for things that are literally our property, but mine-ness is way more semantically promiscuous than that. We feel 'mine' with a widely genitive flavor and with a kick of personalism. It isn’t my relationship with my routine grants me some ownership over it, but more so that it becomes ‘mine’ through the intimacy of my relationship with it. What’s mine is what I own, within the culture of property and ownership I inhabit, but even more so is what’s mine also that with which I have some significant relationship, however insignificant it may be. Whether it be as begrudged everyday hell; as novel and impassioning experience; as a routine not exciting but still familiar and consistent, etc. That sense of ownership we sometimes feel seems more a secondary effect layered onto our sentiment. I feel ownership over nothing I don’t in some way feel is mine, but I do feel some thing is somehow mine without ever feeling ownership over it.
Well said. Linguistic terminology, I believe, while useful for building a logical way to construct sentences and ideas, can be deceptive when trying to figure out certain experiences we have on deeper levels of cognition. For example, our experience of intimacy with some routine or commonness, something with which we feel intimately familiar in one way or another yet is an abstract and thus cannot technically be possessed. These abstracts exist before the terminology to describe them is "invented" and as we may redefine and better understand these abstracts as we go along, suddenly we might be left with a rather illogical idiom. Perhaps we could use a new word that means something like "of or pertaining to me", suggesting a relationship rather than a one-way possession. For that matter, it doesn't even have to be an abstract for "my/mine" as in definitive of possession to be incorrect: my wife and my friends are hardly little items that I keep on display. Here, again, the word seems to suggest an intimate relationship.
viljamtheninja you could have that empathizes by using nicknames for these relations or have them work with the article "The" like "the bus seat is my usual spot" which also bring up another word "my usual" thing - or "current" thing - idioms - my soul mate would would express the same sense of ownership but this could be another factor which is intimacy - u could say my marriage then shows the relationship rather than make a new word that would take years to be permanent in a langauge and also the culture is a factor but in the end I'm spent since communication would always have to be compromised with a limited amount of time
or Baudrillard, for that matter, maybe. I still think people generally hate him though :::: whilst agreeing with stuff he says. the postmodernists are a weird one people have weird opinions of.
My ritual extends well into the morning commute. It is the time when play some of my favourite music, listen to podcasts, read a newspaper or a chapter of a book.. or just look at the passing scenery that I already know by heart. Even though I'm surrounded by people, I still feel that the experience is all _mine_. It's not until I'm at my desk with my laptop booted and my cup filled with my favorite beverage that I'm willing to spare a thought to others.
Love the look of this episode. While the normal episodes are wonderful and I love the record wall, this was nice to see you out of the 'office'. A few more episodes like this, every now and then, would be great. Thanks Mike and the rest of the group for creating and posting the idea channel. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
It's a lovely thing that you got out of your usual background. It ties in with the subject and it's pretty refreshing too. I particularly enjoyed this episode, I feel like I see more clearly why I'm obsessing about how our (my roomies and I) music room is disposed and filled. We have hard times working and writing music at home and maybe today's episode will help me find a sweet creating routine. Time will tell. Thanks a lot, Mike ! (and whoever is behind the camera)
This is the best justification of a right to property I have seen on UA-cam. This is what political ideologies advocating the abolition of property seem to ignore: objects constitute an essential part of who we are. A person can not always be dependent on what the society chooses to give or take from him. That would be a constant assault to his personality.
I've always been fascinated by this concept of knowing what inhabits peoples' lives. It's like a peek into what has influenced them, what makes them... them and maybe why they're producing the things they do. I love finding out this kind of information about everyone I respect and admire. From my dad to Jon Stewart (shout out to The Daily Show), it doesn't matter if the person's famous or particularly successful - if they interest me enough to make me want to know what makes them tick, i'm sticking around (possibly hanging out around their bookshelf for extended periods of time). Being able to piece cause and effect together like that, like a giant life puzzle, especially when the person in question hasn't considered it themselves, is amazing to me. It gives me ideas about what I can incorporate in my life that could change the way I think and perceive for the better.
Very intriguing, Mike. I watch this channel religiously and love the topics that you and your team weave together. This particular video has become a favorite of mine. You had some very interesting points about one's abstracted, yet personal relationship to the objects and processes that are claimed to compose one's identity. It really cracked my perspective. I now see my bookshelf, covered in sci-fi and fantasy novels, over 70% of which I have yet to read entirely, and they just sit there, serving an entirely different purpose. Instead of being literary windows into another person's imagination, as I am sure they were intended, they are more like badges or trophies for sports that I know or can play but have not entered the competition to earn. I hold on to video games that I do not play anymore, movies that I do not watch, and dragon figurines/statuettes that are bought specifically for me to not do anything with, but rather so that other people see them and identify me WITH them. It seems this is no different that millions of people wearing a team's jersey or brand's logo, though they do not (or cannot) engage in the activity associated with it (football, skateboarding, etc), all just to tap into the prestige of something infinitely more popular than they will ever be. I used to make fun of people for this, but now it appears, to me at least, that all identities are built this way, so I can't be too critical. Hell, if you wanna run with it, everything in existence seems to be built on the foundation of something far more permanent than itself.
Mike, I really liked getting this little peek into your place (assuming this was filmed in your place). I love that quirky blue mug, the neat reindeer bedding, and all those wonderful plants in the dining room. I feel like the place really shows off some of your personality/individuality/style. I'm also not much of a morning person. If I had it my way, I'd never be up before 10am.
My morning routine is something I can control before the unpredictibility of the day begins. My commute might go awry but my hair/dressing/makeup routine is the same; my boss might throw an impossible project at me but my tea will taste just as delicious as every other morning. It's like stretching before exercise: reminding myself that I can make things happen just as I want them to.
I feel like this video got to me at just the right time, as I think about how to turn the next semester into a routine that will allow me to be most productive. I've never had a routine for personal writing before, and I think it will make all the difference. Fantastic video!
I watched this episode back in december when it came out and I didn't have a routine at the time. In fact, up until that point I never had a routine. It seemed to me like every day never really started, like my mind stayed dormant and sleepy all day, unless something were to jolt it out of that state. After a few months of making a concerted effort to find some things that my day can start with, I have a morning routine. Get up, dress in my running clothes, eat a banana, 30 minutes around the block (While listening to a podcast), rest for a minute as I pick my clothes out, shower, dress, make coffee, drink coffee as I read my emails and plan my day, then do whatever the first thing i need to do that day is (usually tidy something) I finally understand what you meant by reducing the friction of taking on the world. Knowing what the first 2 hours of my day are without having to access my stupid sleepy brain make that initial movement extremely easy. Now I merely have to think "Brain what are we going to do today" and my brain would reply "What we do every day, Pinky, try to TAKE OVER THE WO-" wait no...
Finally a topic I can understand, and something out of the ordinary to examine and talk about. Each person does have a unique morning routine than others, and it tells a lot about the person just like a person's interests. Probably similar people with similar interests share some similarities in their morning routine, but it can get really varied because everyone is different. On a different note, it's nice to break away from the typical wall of records to a more natural home environment. The visual shots for this episode were refreshing and well executed. Surely this kind of filming style will return as the hot sauce episode used it, but doing some things differently is really nice for a change.
This is a nice one! Speaking personally, my morning routine depends on how largely I can perceive that others are going to be depending on me to be alert and...responsive to interaction later on that day, haha. I also believe there exists a relationship between the quality of work you do and what drives you to do it. For instance; last summer I got some pretty good writing done when I would just walk to the library every morning with a bottled water and start typing, but I think I've written some of my better work when something (or some one) _broke through_ my monotonous cycle and introduced a little bit of variety. It shifts your perspective in a way that's (more often than not) conducive to more unique work (or at the very least, a unique approach to said work). I love the shift in display you guys worked in here! It was interesting to see Mike's actual morning routine up close and personal. I feel like the information conveyed is a lot easier to analyze and remember when you're seeing it happen (quite unlike the lonely room corner with awesome album covers). Also, this is mostly an aside, but I went through a really traumatic experience recently and seeing Idea Channel in my sub box INSTANTLY improved my day. It felt great to just sit and feel like I was talking to a real person, haha. Thanks.
This episode is beautiful! I love the break from the record wall, I'm not sure about starting without "Here's an Idea", but I love how different this episode is!
Each workday, I wake up around 6:30am, skim through my RSS feed, reading a few articles, do my daily workout, wash up, get dressed and head out to work. I'm not really a morning person, but I do what I have to do to feed the brain and train the body in the morning because there's no time other than the morning for it.
I don't have a morning routine, but I do organize my bookshelves and personalize my books with notes in the margin and bookmarks in strategic locations; I keep ring binders of all of my handwritten notes organized using my own system, even though I rarely do handwritten notes nowadays, my electronic notes are organized the same way plus back up in cloud storage. This discussion has a point, clearly.
I don't have a morning routine so much as I have an evening routine. I feel like my daylight hours aren't owned by me, but by my work and chores and other things that I must do to keep functioning. But at nine o' clock every night, I get to IM with my friends as we talk about our days and roleplay with our characters. That's when I truly get to be myself, and I get to truly own a part of my day.
Loved this episode. Great to switch it around from the usual format, and I love the topic. At work I have an AeroPress, Tonx (now BlueBottle), and the same grinder you use. Not only does the ritual get me into a state to work, it's also a talking point and a sort of identity I have at work. "The guy with the weird coffee ritual in the morning'.
The morning routine in Italy is usually a lot different from the one in the US. I, personally, have 2 different morning routine: The one that I would like to have. The one that I actually have (at least these last weeks). But still, there's no morning routine without a "time for bed" routine, and for the TfB routine, for me, it's the same: The TfB and morning routine that i would like to have are the follows: Computer attached to the TV via HDMI, smartphone with remote control of the computer. 11:30 pm - Shower, cup of chamomile tea, bed, TV series, movies or UA-cam. 12:00 pm - Shutting down PC and TV, Book, falling asleep with my face on it. 08:00 am - Waking up, leaving the bed after 5 minutes (no more or i'll fall asleep again). Opening the window also if it's fucking cold (the winter cold helps me to wake up and i hate the stink of a closed room). Pee, dressing up, fast walk at 8:30 tops (a short walk helps you waking up correctly). Back home, OJ, milk and cereals, coffee (the goddamn real one!!!). Getting some work done, study hard till lunch time. The TfB and morning routine that i actually have instead is this: 2:30 am - Bed with a cup of pop-corn, TV and PC, falling asleep with PC and TV turned on an hour later. 10:00~11:00 am - Waking up, pee, Coffee, toasted homemade bread (at least i have it these days), smartphone. Zero work, zero study... Lunch... Then my fucked up day can begin. And I think that today will be no different, since it's 1:11 am here and i'm still here typing stupid comment under a youtube video.
I quite liked the different setting for this episode, it helped underline the theme, but the variety for its own sake was good too. I'd encourage you to do this again, if you're interested.
So I just want to start by saying that since the last episode, I have watched every episode of over the garden wall. I absolutely adored it. As for my morning routine, I don't have one at the moment, and it is causing a serious sense of disquiet. This is because I'm currently living at a uni house with other uni students, I'm constantly travelling, I don't have a regular lecture pattern and... well honestly I go out a lot. I really subscribe to this idea of routine being mesmerising, and reducing tension. It makes me think of the old adage that most people think of their best ideas on the toilet, or in the shower, because the repetitive, solitary, mindless nature of these actions allows a certain type of tranquility that can encourage relaxed and authentic thought. My current lack of routine is seriously effecting other aspects of my life; my confidence, my productivity, my diet... the list goes on. Incorporating time for self reflection in your every day routine, even if thats just while making coffee, can be massively beneficial practically, physically, mentally and spiritually. You don't know what you have until you've lost it.
I have a lot of thoughts about this episode, but I just want to say first: whenever I hear about famous people(/anyone) and their morning/daily creation or writing rituals I am always so incredibly impressed. I have no where near the level of self control to do the exact same thing every day without some type of "task master" (whether that is class, work, seeing friends, etc. to force me into the day). I am always my least productive when I have to make my own schedule (which I often want to be something like this of wake up, write, take a break, write until wee hours of day; but in my experience doing that while writing my senior honors thesis in college I could only really get myself to do set periods of writing/research if I also had class that day and/or had friends in the library to be with while doing the work). Anyway, since I started living in apartments (in the middle of college) I have had a similar (though not always exactly the same) morning routine. And what seems to be important about it for me is not so much exactly the way I make coffee or what I eat for breakfast (though generally it is the same thing), but the time I give myself to get ready for the day. I am really bad at doing the "morning things" like showering, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting dressed for work in a hurry. I can do them if I really have to, but I hate being in a rush, and my morning routine is built around giving myself time to do all of those things with time to spare. So, I generally get up about 2 hours before I have to leave the house for work and then I do my morning routine (shower/shave, make coffee, make breakfast, eat/drink (while reading news/Twitter), check emails (usually), brush teeth, get dressed for work, leave). But then, I don't really have a "rest of the day" routine, at least not a conscious one. I definitely like this different way of thinking about why I have a morning routine. Not just as a way to give my body time to wake up, but to give my life some consistency so I can do whatever it is I am going to do that day. And I find that if I don't have the morning routine happen I am thrown off during the day, particularly for the first couple of hours. I am much less productive and much less happy. I wonder if this is a natural thing that we (as humans) do as a way for our brains to interpret the world, or if it more "trained." We see and hear other people create "routines" and so we do too. Maybe more interesting (because that previous question seems a bit too much like chicken-and-the-egg), when do routines become codified? And can I change my morning routine in a conscious way at this point?
This episode was a nice change of pace. The editing is always good, but this episode it was phenomenal, and it was nice to step away from the corner. Really good episode. Also what you were talking about was cool too, I guess :P
I enjoyed watching this so much, mostly because "I know that feel" ;) As King calls it, "The ecstasy of perfect recognition." i.e. Coffee and the ritual in the morning of making it is one of the great pleasures of life. I always knew it was the ritual that I enjoyed almost more than the coffee (though my coffee is pretty damn good) and you putting words to that was just wonderful.
I love cereal in the morning. Coffee too, but especially cereal. I almost always start my morning with cereal; even if I have other breakfast foods too, I usually have a little bit of cereal. I have a favourite bowl, a way I go about it. I do find it very calming and pleasant somehow.
Really like this experiment in changing the format. The Comment Corner seems a nice way to end an ep, but framing the subject to an appropriate location is a nice touch.
I have always found people have an intriguing obsession with their morning routines. Whenever I bring them up in conversation, especially when I was in high school and every morning played out similarly, everyone involved in the conversation would feel a necessity to detail their entire morning routine to the whole group. I think this shows a deep, personal connection to those routine, mundane acts, signifying they do represent something much more. I have also seen this need to share something simultaneously so personal and so boring come up when people share class schedules or dreams. Hearing someone else's morning routine, class schedule, or dream can be incredibly boring to listen to, but when we are sharing, it feels like the most important thing to be saying at the moment.
This video was strangely meta for me because YOU are a significant part of my morning routine. At least for the last few months I have spent the morning drinking kefir that I ferment myself (this is the magical process thing of my morning ritual; my coffee making is unremarkable) drink coffee and watch idea channel, ze frank, or vlog brothers/crash course videos. In my daily life I am less intellectually challenged than I would like, so I feel like this is a reflection of that in many ways. I am a special education teacher, so my work, while intellectually stimulating in short spurts where I am planning instruction, is mostly dispassionate and rote implementation of consistent expectations for the building of very rudimentary skills. In my limited time outside of work/being a daddy to a one year old I find these types of media experiences much like a cup of coffee, easily consumable and energizing to my blurry morning brain. They also somewhat assuage my guilt at not doing more intellectually stimulating activities in general. I remember finding the morning routine memes vaguely depressing when I first came across them. I remember being envious of a lot of their schedules. It's funny though, as I am writing about my morning routine I see it in kind of a new light. It makes more sense to me and it actually feels appropriate and good even, particularly in imagining it as a ritual that allows me to be a conduit for my work. So thanks for the perspective!
Every morning my alarm goes off at 6:30, but I usually don't get up for another 20 minutes. I get dressed, grab my lunch and tea that I made the night before, and a cup of yogurt and sit down to browse tumblr until my sister is ready to leave. I then take her to school, and drive myself to work where I sit in the parking lot and read for 20 minutes until it's time to go in. Some days I end up sleeping later, or my sister has to be at school early so it's that time spent reading in my car that is like your making coffee. I turn off the radio and sit in the quiet, reading with no interruptions.
My morning ritual (ideally) is, wake up, lay in bed for a little while blogging, get dressed, Tumblr over breakfast, and either Tumblr some more before getting to work or going to my job. But most mornings, I'm woken by my alarm and rush to get dressed and to job/school. Coffee makes those mornings better. I really like caramel, chocolate and mint, in some combination, in my coffee. You guys should do another one of those multipart videos that you can watch piece by piece or all at once about those animations. That would be AWESOME!! Plus, personally, I prefer longer-ish videos.
My morning routine is waking up, getting everyone else out of my house, making coffee, and waiting for my ride. I also usually watch football highlights, or I have been the last few months. i haven't reached the same level of mesmerism that I achieved in Marching band, but that required 300 hours of doing the same things over and over and over and over and over with very little change. However, while I'm drinking that coffee, my mind is more free than it is all day.
I've walked to work/university for 5 or so years now. I bought a bike so I could get there faster, but while I enjoy riding it on weekends I gave up on riding it to work as I found I missed my morning walk and coffee run too much. I even get up an extra hour early just so I can grab my morning coffee from my favourite shop on the way. It's more expensive both in time and in money, but I feel my head is much clearer for the rest of the day if I take the time out to walk. Tangentially, having a British girlfriend, presumably you've noticed the Brit's cultural peculiarity in having cups of tea every time something happens, good or bad. I feel that this video really hits the nail on the head as to why making a cup of tea is so damn comforting - it's something most of us Brits have done our whole lives, it's always the same system in everyone's house. No matter how terrible a situation is, someone will always suggest to pop the kettle on. Got dumped? Lost your dog? World war three? Someone makes you a cup of tea and suddenly everything isn't so bad anymore.
I used to work at a factory and I think that it's simply that having predictable routines is meditative and calming, as well as knowing something well enough to not really think about it leaves that much more mental energy and time for more (to the person and context in question) important thoughts. I don't think there's more to it than that and it certainly doesn't need to be anything more to it.
Every morning I exercise. However, I switch between two running and lifting/stretching. My run routine helps me set my mind for the future, moving forward in my thinking. The weight lifting, sit ups, yoga positions, allow me to cement my ideas. To make them stick with me. For a while now, my routine helps me feel better and put me at a calmer state.
Wake up at the crack of noon, drag my ass out of bed, lay on the dirty floor with my pet pig for a half hour, sluggishly make my way upstairs, eat whatever almost expired food i can find without mold on it, slump down and watch youtube or play games until 4 am the next morning, pass out, repeat again and again and sometimes I bath or brush my teeth if I am expecting company... So thats kinda like exorcising and shit...
What a fitting profile picture
TM04 Whatever could you mean? I think it looks Dapper.
My morning routine is intensely purposeful and it gives me a lot of joy. I was never the kind of person who could bear frantic morning scrambles to get out the door, so constructing a routine (with pet care, makeup, breakfast, and of course- coffee) is very soothing. That rejuvenating morning routine definitely puts me in the right mindset to be productive and cooperative at work.
I was immediately reminded of the "my morning routine" lifestyle\beauty videos on youtube when I saw the title, and later, the "what's in my purse" videos. Perhaps the reference was intentional? The editing implied that was the case. Anyways, it makes me wonder if the reason they're so popular in that community is that these girls are often perceived as a sort of small-scale idol. Like we would want to learn something about the process behind orchestrating a creation by a mastermind through their routines, maybe these perfect yet "lived-in" characters of "beauty gurus" make their viewers feel as thought they're unraveling the "secret" to that seemingly perfect person that is supposedly so much like them - But "better"? Maybe it's not just being nosy and curious, but also a form of analyzing?
I love those kind of videos, I think our interest in them comes from curiosity and nosiness, but also 'they seem to have their shit together maybe they're doing something I should be doing' thinking, as if the key to being a successful human being lies in using a clay face mask every morning, or having a specific thing for breakfast.
This is probably one of my favorite videos you've made thus far. The importance of your routine is something I've anecdotally experienced. When I was a sophomore in high school, I had a routine of drinking 32oz of water each morning 15 min before breakfast, between 2nd and 3rd hours, and 15 min before bed. I was lifting and a product I was trying recommended lots of hydration, at least 64 oz a day. I noticed I woke up anticipating the day's work, found it easier to get out of bed in the first place, and enjoyed the tasks of the day much more during this period of having a goal. Years later, I lost this routine and fell back into old, disorganized patterns. Later in college, I got back into my lifting routines and found myself feeling happier and healthier and more likely to not sleep in too much. I did homework more often and all around felt better. Truly a powerful thing the structure of routine can have.
I really enjoy the way you say coffee. What even is that accent? Kah-fee
I agree with you and would also like to know what his accent is.
Thought the same...he lives in Brooklyn, but that pronunciation sounds really "Boston" to me.
... How do you say coffee? Because, I listen to how he says it, and it sounds like how I say it. Which is also how I would pronounce kah-fee (or, perhaps better, kha-fee, with kha as in KHAAAAAAAAAN!).
I grew up in Colorado, USA, so I would have an accent endemic to that region.
He said he's from Massachusetts, I remember.
Yeah, too bad he says gif like "jyffe"
At 06:30 AM my phone wakes me up with Keroro's 3rd intro song or some J-Pop from Persona from about 5 meters away from my bed so I'm forced to get up to make it stop. Then I take a shower or skip it to get twenty more minutes of sleep (it may not seem like it does a difference but it does), get the TV on the news channel, get my water for the coffee on the fire, crack two eggs in the frying pan. I then eat the eggs with bread and sometime a banana for breakfast and then sip at my coffee while watching the news until my family is ready to go, I get out of the car once in front of my high school and that's about all for my morning schedule.
One of my favourite episodes. Routines are fascinating; the cognitive value people place on "rituals of life" is one of the most interesting things of the human condition. As someone who has worked with people with autism and other developmental/cognitive delays (and whose spouse is a studying Behaviour Analyst), I've noticed that one of the commonalities of ASD, OCD, and the like is the "upset" that happens when a specific pattern of actions is interrupted in some way. Many cognitively normal people see these behaviours as "uniquely autistic" or whatever, but what I find incredibly interesting is that it really just seems to be an amplified or more noticeable reaction to something that arguably everyone feels.
Say, your coffee filter broke and ruined your cup in the morning, or maybe it spilled. You break a lace tying up your shoes, and then miss the bus to work. You notice that your neighbour knocked over your garbage outside, or that someone didn't pick up after their dog on the sidewalk. Tiny, unimportant things that can absolutely ruin your day; slight disruptions in your routine that knock you completely off balance. It's the worst, right!? This emotional value of the daily ritual, which is inherently pedantic, but so important to maintaining the illusion of smooth, worry-free life.
one of my favorite videos you guys have made! i really enjoyed the way it was shot in your house. it was something new. i like it.
anyway, i have two typical morning routines. on a weekday (since i'm in high school) it consists of me waking up at 5:35, checking instagram, and turning on the shower. while it's warming up, i'll check the weather or the news. i get in the shower, stand in there for WAY too long, and finally getting dressed. then i have breakfast (normally a bagel or toast) with either tea or orange juice. go back upstairs, brush teeth, unplug charging phone, put on socks and shoes, and go to the bus stop.
the weekend routine constists of me waking up whenever i wake up, checking social networks, eating breakfast while either watching daily show/the news/adventure time and then finally taking a shower while listening to loud music. i get dressed and ready, and from there, my day starts...
It's funny, I've been really conscious about my morning routine lately. I've been finding that it gets really sickening and annoying for me to do the same exact thing over and over every morning, but then again perhaps I've been feeling so annoyed because I wake up every weekday at 6:30 and I am most certainly _not_ a morning person (or at least an early morning person). And maybe that in addition to knowing that I'm in my last year of high school and at this point school is just a formality is just making me really impatient for the days when I no longer have to wake up at such an ungodly hour.
Jacy Gouveia Yeah haha high school's pretty tough, but I like it, mostly. I just can't really stand the mornings and the assignments.
Jacy Gouveia Ugh I can't wait
*****
Enjoy your carefree life in high school while you can.
Lewa500 I don't know about careFREE... Maybe it's more like my responsibilities and following actions are not as immediately impactful currently as they will become in my future.
*****
Good awareness. You'll be fine in the future, if you keep a level head.
As someone who is a morning person, the most interesting part is that I have a specific weekday routine and weekend routine mostly controlled by when I set my alarm and if the dining hall at my college is open for breakfast or brunch. Then, if I'm visiting at home I have a different routine altogether that reaches way back to middle school habits. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that I interact with my different environments in different and varying ways which loops back to the having it be "mine" thing, but perhaps relating to making my surroundings ready for a specific task to unfold? If anything the constant throughout my mornings is that it's impossible to sleep in past 9:30 am so I should probably find something to do.
Speaking of surroundings, I really dig the vibe of seeing you sit behind a table, sipping coffee and grabbing at your books. Both the records wall and the table give a sense of casualness that makes the videos relatable, but I guess the table brings forth a curious "hey look I'm sitting down with this cool dude telling me interesting things let me also sip at my imaginary beverage with him" that you should totally do more often.
I never have a routine, though as a teenager, that's not too weird.
The closest thing to a 'constant' that I have in the mornings is eating porridge, drinking tea, watching stuff on my phone...and then stressing over the fact that I might miss the bus and be late if I don't leave at precisely the right time.
Stress personifies my mornings. To have good amount of sleep, I leave only 30 mins to get ready >_
Also ever since I saw this video I've become hounded by Kenco's Coffee vs. Gangs ads on UA-cam.
I don't even like coffee :/
This is just... wonderful. Never stop. I know it's a peculiarity of modern European lifestyle but the particulars of it are magnificent.
That's a pretty cool idea about routines, and I guess it would be supported by the fact that people have for a very long time held the notion that what routines you do are influenced by your personality to the extent that your personality can be generally discerned by your routines, not only in what routines they are but the level of priority, meticulousness and regularity and so forth. I look forward to seeing the next video for the comment discussion about this!
I think this is also a really fantastic explanation of why artists (especially young artists) obsess over what brushes/paints/canvases their heroes use. Intellectually we know it's very nearly irrelevant, but in learning how our heroes construct their world (and their approach to art) we feel like we gain insight into how we should/could construct ours. Really loved this episode!
Watching PBS Idea Channel has been a part of my morning routine for a couple weeks now. Which is great but I'm running out of videos to watch. So hurry up and make more videos. Please.
The coffeeshop example brought a fun thought to mind. The idea of being or having a regular customer is interesting when thinking about routines as you've described. You say that you go to your coffee shop and see your barista who knows your coffee order, but at the same time the barista goes to his coffee shop and sees his customer whose coffee order he knows. Kinda cool how one person's routine can be multiple people's routines at one time. Having one person's "our thing"(3:30) being more than one person's "our thing" may be another idea worth considering: sharing routines with others as a means of further lessening the friction in our daily lives.
My mornings are never really the same, except for having a banana almost everyday. I rarely do the same thing, I rarely eat/drink the same thing, by my own (unconscious) decision. I kinda feel like this is linked to my depression, the disorder in my mind being conveyed into my behaviour.. I don't know, just a thought
I feel the same way, I do long for a routine that is entirely my own but I can never stick to one
It's common advice from psychologists, actually, to set a routine because of the structure it gives.
Interesting, I certainly feel more productive when I have a morning ritual but I can ONLY do it when I have something to do it for.
As a freelancer there are times when I don't have work and those are the worst for my morning routine, I just can't do the same thing those days because it seems forced.
So, as a high schooler, my morning routine doesn't involve coffee. I mean, really, only the kids who take independent studies first block have time for coffee. However it's interesting how high school has been sort of that routine you talk about. Because my actual waking up/getting ready takes so little time in favor of getting more sleep, my "routine" tends to be going to school, singing for a half hour (my choral director has rehearsals every morning at 7 and my being a soprano does not help), going to class, lunch, etc. in a way that actually resembles being mesmerized. Of course, being in Calculus isn't really mesmerizing, but the overall experience of school is. Walking between classes is a good example. I have my routes memorized and will not change them unless prompted to by some unexpected event (stairwell clog, various pranks, etc). I become mesmerized in the same way you are when drinking your coffee, winding my way through the crowd with a vigilant body and a head in the clouds. In art classes I can pass the entire 80 minutes focused on one action by letting my mind wander. This is sort of a more abstract way of looking at it, but I notice it the most when the semester ends and I suddenly have to find new routes and grow accustomed to new classes. Not only do the days feel longer, I find I have to actually THINK about the route I take and the things I do upon entrance to the classroom rather than just walking that path and doing those things automatically. The 5 minutes between classes are also an opportunity for me to process the information I have been presented and prep myself for the next activity. It makes me think that you can really find routine in anything you want. It can be your morning routine, the path you take to work/school, your lunch break, your post-work/school routing, etc. Any of these things can become as mesmerizing as making coffee.
That is the most hipster way to prepare coffee that I have ever seen.
I don't have much of a morning routine. Also, I often wake up at noon. :U
A very important thing to me is brushing my hair. I don't feel awake until I do that for some reason.
Then I drink and eat. Maybe I will have some tea.
Then I get dressed. Or not. Depends on what day it is. Then I go to class every day except the weekend and Tuesday. I shower at night, so I don't even have THAT to do. :U
It is nothing special at all. But I am a college student and I don't have time to really set anything because I am not fully in charge of my life yet. What I do is dictated by my class schedule.
UA-cam is part of my morning ritual. Listening to Idea Channel smooth my one hour Thursday morning commute.
...I sometimes wonder how much my experience is different from other Idea Channel-ights since my participation with the show is primarily an auditory experience.
Nifty new intro.
I don't think that's an actual intro that's going to stay
I love making coffee it's one of my favorite morning wake up steps along with watching the news
Regarding that sense of ‘mine’ we feel towards objects and towards our routines, I think it is a mistake to understand this sentiment simply as a one of ownership and possession. I am aware that even linguists name ‘my’ and ‘mine’ as a possessive determiner and pronoun respectively, but I wonder if we are misdirected by those possessive names. Yeah, we use them for things that are literally our property, but mine-ness is way more semantically promiscuous than that. We feel 'mine' with a widely genitive flavor and with a kick of personalism. It isn’t my relationship with my routine grants me some ownership over it, but more so that it becomes ‘mine’ through the intimacy of my relationship with it.
What’s mine is what I own, within the culture of property and ownership I inhabit, but even more so is what’s mine also that with which I have some significant relationship, however insignificant it may be. Whether it be as begrudged everyday hell; as novel and impassioning experience; as a routine not exciting but still familiar and consistent, etc. That sense of ownership we sometimes feel seems more a secondary effect layered onto our sentiment. I feel ownership over nothing I don’t in some way feel is mine, but I do feel some thing is somehow mine without ever feeling ownership over it.
Well said. Linguistic terminology, I believe, while useful for building a logical way to construct sentences and ideas, can be deceptive when trying to figure out certain experiences we have on deeper levels of cognition. For example, our experience of intimacy with some routine or commonness, something with which we feel intimately familiar in one way or another yet is an abstract and thus cannot technically be possessed. These abstracts exist before the terminology to describe them is "invented" and as we may redefine and better understand these abstracts as we go along, suddenly we might be left with a rather illogical idiom. Perhaps we could use a new word that means something like "of or pertaining to me", suggesting a relationship rather than a one-way possession.
For that matter, it doesn't even have to be an abstract for "my/mine" as in definitive of possession to be incorrect: my wife and my friends are hardly little items that I keep on display. Here, again, the word seems to suggest an intimate relationship.
viljamtheninja you could have that empathizes by using nicknames for these relations or have them work with the article "The" like "the bus seat is my usual spot" which also bring up another word "my usual" thing - or "current" thing - idioms - my soul mate would would express the same sense of ownership but this could be another factor which is intimacy - u could say my marriage then shows the relationship rather than make a new word that would take years to be permanent in a langauge and also the culture is a factor but in the end I'm spent since communication would always have to be compromised with a limited amount of time
The way you say GIF makes me really happy
"I get up. I feed my dog jack. I put on the Daily sho..."...oh god... So much sadness.
haha. same.
+hal I actually perked up when he said The Daily Show, cuz I'm just a fan.
I like that they took the show out of the studio, a change of scenery can be a good thing, a most refreshing of things actually.
I'm so very glad that the popular opinion of Nietzsche is changing. the man was an undeniable genius.
or Baudrillard, for that matter, maybe. I still think people generally hate him though :::: whilst agreeing with stuff he says. the postmodernists are a weird one people have weird opinions of.
My ritual extends well into the morning commute. It is the time when play some of my favourite music, listen to podcasts, read a newspaper or a chapter of a book.. or just look at the passing scenery that I already know by heart. Even though I'm surrounded by people, I still feel that the experience is all _mine_. It's not until I'm at my desk with my laptop booted and my cup filled with my favorite beverage that I'm willing to spare a thought to others.
Love the look of this episode. While the normal episodes are wonderful and I love the record wall, this was nice to see you out of the 'office'. A few more episodes like this, every now and then, would be great. Thanks Mike and the rest of the group for creating and posting the idea channel. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
It's a lovely thing that you got out of your usual background. It ties in with the subject and it's pretty refreshing too. I particularly enjoyed this episode, I feel like I see more clearly why I'm obsessing about how our (my roomies and I) music room is disposed and filled. We have hard times working and writing music at home and maybe today's episode will help me find a sweet creating routine. Time will tell.
Thanks a lot, Mike ! (and whoever is behind the camera)
Hey, Mike, thanks for the look into both your home and your morning. very informative!
I really enjoyed the change in scenery. Loved the topics as well.
This was best episode you've guys ever done. It's so dense, every frame has a special effect.
This is the best justification of a right to property I have seen on UA-cam. This is what political ideologies advocating the abolition of property seem to ignore: objects constitute an essential part of who we are. A person can not always be dependent on what the society chooses to give or take from him. That would be a constant assault to his personality.
I've always been fascinated by this concept of knowing what inhabits peoples' lives. It's like a peek into what has influenced them, what makes them... them and maybe why they're producing the things they do. I love finding out this kind of information about everyone I respect and admire. From my dad to Jon Stewart (shout out to The Daily Show), it doesn't matter if the person's famous or particularly successful - if they interest me enough to make me want to know what makes them tick, i'm sticking around (possibly hanging out around their bookshelf for extended periods of time).
Being able to piece cause and effect together like that, like a giant life puzzle, especially when the person in question hasn't considered it themselves, is amazing to me. It gives me ideas about what I can incorporate in my life that could change the way I think and perceive for the better.
Very intriguing, Mike. I watch this channel religiously and love the topics that you and your team weave together. This particular video has become a favorite of mine. You had some very interesting points about one's abstracted, yet personal relationship to the objects and processes that are claimed to compose one's identity. It really cracked my perspective. I now see my bookshelf, covered in sci-fi and fantasy novels, over 70% of which I have yet to read entirely, and they just sit there, serving an entirely different purpose. Instead of being literary windows into another person's imagination, as I am sure they were intended, they are more like badges or trophies for sports that I know or can play but have not entered the competition to earn. I hold on to video games that I do not play anymore, movies that I do not watch, and dragon figurines/statuettes that are bought specifically for me to not do anything with, but rather so that other people see them and identify me WITH them. It seems this is no different that millions of people wearing a team's jersey or brand's logo, though they do not (or cannot) engage in the activity associated with it (football, skateboarding, etc), all just to tap into the prestige of something infinitely more popular than they will ever be. I used to make fun of people for this, but now it appears, to me at least, that all identities are built this way, so I can't be too critical. Hell, if you wanna run with it, everything in existence seems to be built on the foundation of something far more permanent than itself.
I just like the way he talks. Clearly and quickly
Mike, I really liked getting this little peek into your place (assuming this was filmed in your place). I love that quirky blue mug, the neat reindeer bedding, and all those wonderful plants in the dining room. I feel like the place really shows off some of your personality/individuality/style. I'm also not much of a morning person. If I had it my way, I'd never be up before 10am.
Enjoyed the field trip away from the wall. I love the wall and all, but this format was also very cool!
Loving the new format.
I like the new setup in this episode. You also have a very nice home, lots of lovely greenery.
I like this "Mike around the house" bit. Please make more of these.
My morning routine is something I can control before the unpredictibility of the day begins. My commute might go awry but my hair/dressing/makeup routine is the same; my boss might throw an impossible project at me but my tea will taste just as delicious as every other morning. It's like stretching before exercise: reminding myself that I can make things happen just as I want them to.
Idea Channel is coming back on my birthday! It's like a gift just for me!
I feel like this video got to me at just the right time, as I think about how to turn the next semester into a routine that will allow me to be most productive. I've never had a routine for personal writing before, and I think it will make all the difference.
Fantastic video!
I watched this episode back in december when it came out and I didn't have a routine at the time. In fact, up until that point I never had a routine. It seemed to me like every day never really started, like my mind stayed dormant and sleepy all day, unless something were to jolt it out of that state.
After a few months of making a concerted effort to find some things that my day can start with, I have a morning routine. Get up, dress in my running clothes, eat a banana, 30 minutes around the block (While listening to a podcast), rest for a minute as I pick my clothes out, shower, dress, make coffee, drink coffee as I read my emails and plan my day, then do whatever the first thing i need to do that day is (usually tidy something)
I finally understand what you meant by reducing the friction of taking on the world. Knowing what the first 2 hours of my day are without having to access my stupid sleepy brain make that initial movement extremely easy. Now I merely have to think "Brain what are we going to do today" and my brain would reply "What we do every day, Pinky, try to TAKE OVER THE WO-" wait no...
For one, I totally agree with you.
Secondly, I've the same Adventure Time artbook and it's SUCH a great book!! Love it.
Love the 'format' of this episode, its a nice change in scenery.
Finally a topic I can understand, and something out of the ordinary to examine and talk about. Each person does have a unique morning routine than others, and it tells a lot about the person just like a person's interests. Probably similar people with similar interests share some similarities in their morning routine, but it can get really varied because everyone is different.
On a different note, it's nice to break away from the typical wall of records to a more natural home environment. The visual shots for this episode were refreshing and well executed. Surely this kind of filming style will return as the hot sauce episode used it, but doing some things differently is really nice for a change.
This is a nice one! Speaking personally, my morning routine depends on how largely I can perceive that others are going to be depending on me to be alert and...responsive to interaction later on that day, haha. I also believe there exists a relationship between the quality of work you do and what drives you to do it. For instance; last summer I got some pretty good writing done when I would just walk to the library every morning with a bottled water and start typing, but I think I've written some of my better work when something (or some one) _broke through_ my monotonous cycle and introduced a little bit of variety. It shifts your perspective in a way that's (more often than not) conducive to more unique work (or at the very least, a unique approach to said work).
I love the shift in display you guys worked in here! It was interesting to see Mike's actual morning routine up close and personal. I feel like the information conveyed is a lot easier to analyze and remember when you're seeing it happen (quite unlike the lonely room corner with awesome album covers).
Also, this is mostly an aside, but I went through a really traumatic experience recently and seeing Idea Channel in my sub box INSTANTLY improved my day. It felt great to just sit and feel like I was talking to a real person, haha. Thanks.
I really dig the production value on this, Mike! The extra visual aid really helps to convey the idea.
This episode is beautiful! I love the break from the record wall, I'm not sure about starting without "Here's an Idea", but I love how different this episode is!
Best ep yet. Love seeing you out of the studio.
Each workday, I wake up around 6:30am, skim through my RSS feed, reading a few articles, do my daily workout, wash up, get dressed and head out to work. I'm not really a morning person, but I do what I have to do to feed the brain and train the body in the morning because there's no time other than the morning for it.
I don't have a morning routine, but I do organize my bookshelves and personalize my books with notes in the margin and bookmarks in strategic locations; I keep ring binders of all of my handwritten notes organized using my own system, even though I rarely do handwritten notes nowadays, my electronic notes are organized the same way plus back up in cloud storage. This discussion has a point, clearly.
"If we could make 30-minute long episodes" PLEEEAAASE YES. I want this so much.
I really like how your videos make me think once I've finished watching them. For example "I haven't had enough coffee to make sense of this"
I liked the change of setting this episode. Keepin' things fresh :)
I like this idea, and it makes sense. Your morning routine makes you...
I like this setting more than your usual one.
Nice episode format. Didn't think the old one needed changing, but this one's pretty neat too.
As a java aficionado, you have now gained greater respect from me by brewing coffee from a very good method. Bravo.
I don't have a morning routine so much as I have an evening routine. I feel like my daylight hours aren't owned by me, but by my work and chores and other things that I must do to keep functioning. But at nine o' clock every night, I get to IM with my friends as we talk about our days and roleplay with our characters. That's when I truly get to be myself, and I get to truly own a part of my day.
I love the way you make coffee.
Your album covers are my Idea Channel routine.
I'm really diggin' this new style. Keep it up Mike and Idea Channel team!
This was one of my favourite videos on this channel and interesting.
I like how this video was done not on the same place as always... It gives us some variety, something else to look at, it feels fresh...
that Chemex coffee thing is so great, definitely brings the morning routine up a notch
Loved this episode. Great to switch it around from the usual format, and I love the topic. At work I have an AeroPress, Tonx (now BlueBottle), and the same grinder you use. Not only does the ritual get me into a state to work, it's also a talking point and a sort of identity I have at work. "The guy with the weird coffee ritual in the morning'.
Loved this episode, very interesting
The morning routine in Italy is usually a lot different from the one in the US.
I, personally, have 2 different morning routine:
The one that I would like to have.
The one that I actually have (at least these last weeks).
But still, there's no morning routine without a "time for bed" routine, and for the TfB routine, for me, it's the same:
The TfB and morning routine that i would like to have are the follows:
Computer attached to the TV via HDMI, smartphone with remote control of the computer.
11:30 pm - Shower, cup of chamomile tea, bed, TV series, movies or UA-cam.
12:00 pm - Shutting down PC and TV, Book, falling asleep with my face on it.
08:00 am - Waking up, leaving the bed after 5 minutes (no more or i'll fall asleep again).
Opening the window also if it's fucking cold (the winter cold helps me to wake up and i hate the stink of a closed room).
Pee, dressing up, fast walk at 8:30 tops (a short walk helps you waking up correctly).
Back home, OJ, milk and cereals, coffee (the goddamn real one!!!).
Getting some work done, study hard till lunch time.
The TfB and morning routine that i actually have instead is this:
2:30 am - Bed with a cup of pop-corn, TV and PC, falling asleep with PC and TV turned on an hour later.
10:00~11:00 am - Waking up, pee, Coffee, toasted homemade bread (at least i have it these days), smartphone.
Zero work, zero study... Lunch... Then my fucked up day can begin.
And I think that today will be no different, since it's 1:11 am here and i'm still here typing stupid comment under a youtube video.
I quite liked the different setting for this episode, it helped underline the theme, but the variety for its own sake was good too. I'd encourage you to do this again, if you're interested.
So I just want to start by saying that since the last episode, I have watched every episode of over the garden wall. I absolutely adored it.
As for my morning routine, I don't have one at the moment, and it is causing a serious sense of disquiet. This is because I'm currently living at a uni house with other uni students, I'm constantly travelling, I don't have a regular lecture pattern and... well honestly I go out a lot.
I really subscribe to this idea of routine being mesmerising, and reducing tension. It makes me think of the old adage that most people think of their best ideas on the toilet, or in the shower, because the repetitive, solitary, mindless nature of these actions allows a certain type of tranquility that can encourage relaxed and authentic thought.
My current lack of routine is seriously effecting other aspects of my life; my confidence, my productivity, my diet... the list goes on.
Incorporating time for self reflection in your every day routine, even if thats just while making coffee, can be massively beneficial practically, physically, mentally and spiritually. You don't know what you have until you've lost it.
I really like this new format!
I spent much of this video looking at the cat picture in the background, and then I looked to the right. ADVENTURE TIME. I am pleased.
I really like this new layout. You have a really chill house
I have a lot of thoughts about this episode, but I just want to say first: whenever I hear about famous people(/anyone) and their morning/daily creation or writing rituals I am always so incredibly impressed. I have no where near the level of self control to do the exact same thing every day without some type of "task master" (whether that is class, work, seeing friends, etc. to force me into the day). I am always my least productive when I have to make my own schedule (which I often want to be something like this of wake up, write, take a break, write until wee hours of day; but in my experience doing that while writing my senior honors thesis in college I could only really get myself to do set periods of writing/research if I also had class that day and/or had friends in the library to be with while doing the work).
Anyway, since I started living in apartments (in the middle of college) I have had a similar (though not always exactly the same) morning routine. And what seems to be important about it for me is not so much exactly the way I make coffee or what I eat for breakfast (though generally it is the same thing), but the time I give myself to get ready for the day. I am really bad at doing the "morning things" like showering, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and getting dressed for work in a hurry. I can do them if I really have to, but I hate being in a rush, and my morning routine is built around giving myself time to do all of those things with time to spare. So, I generally get up about 2 hours before I have to leave the house for work and then I do my morning routine (shower/shave, make coffee, make breakfast, eat/drink (while reading news/Twitter), check emails (usually), brush teeth, get dressed for work, leave). But then, I don't really have a "rest of the day" routine, at least not a conscious one.
I definitely like this different way of thinking about why I have a morning routine. Not just as a way to give my body time to wake up, but to give my life some consistency so I can do whatever it is I am going to do that day. And I find that if I don't have the morning routine happen I am thrown off during the day, particularly for the first couple of hours. I am much less productive and much less happy.
I wonder if this is a natural thing that we (as humans) do as a way for our brains to interpret the world, or if it more "trained." We see and hear other people create "routines" and so we do too. Maybe more interesting (because that previous question seems a bit too much like chicken-and-the-egg), when do routines become codified? And can I change my morning routine in a conscious way at this point?
Hahaha watching this in the morning.
Perfect timing.
Loved this episode format, btw!
What an interesting channel! I'm glad I've discovered it, thank you!
This episode was a nice change of pace. The editing is always good, but this episode it was phenomenal, and it was nice to step away from the corner. Really good episode. Also what you were talking about was cool too, I guess :P
I love the use of effects in this video, especially, but all your videos in general.
Nice collection of stomp boxes and hot sauces!
This episode quality seems amazing... Keep up the great job!
I enjoyed watching this so much, mostly because "I know that feel" ;) As King calls it, "The ecstasy of perfect recognition."
i.e. Coffee and the ritual in the morning of making it is one of the great pleasures of life. I always knew it was the ritual that I enjoyed almost more than the coffee (though my coffee is pretty damn good) and you putting words to that was just wonderful.
I love cereal in the morning. Coffee too, but especially cereal. I almost always start my morning with cereal; even if I have other breakfast foods too, I usually have a little bit of cereal. I have a favourite bowl, a way I go about it. I do find it very calming and pleasant somehow.
That's a beautiful live edge wood counter you've got.
"episodes about those [two] things very soon" YES YES
Really like this experiment in changing the format. The Comment Corner seems a nice way to end an ep, but framing the subject to an appropriate location is a nice touch.
I have always found people have an intriguing obsession with their morning routines. Whenever I bring them up in conversation, especially when I was in high school and every morning played out similarly, everyone involved in the conversation would feel a necessity to detail their entire morning routine to the whole group. I think this shows a deep, personal connection to those routine, mundane acts, signifying they do represent something much more. I have also seen this need to share something simultaneously so personal and so boring come up when people share class schedules or dreams. Hearing someone else's morning routine, class schedule, or dream can be incredibly boring to listen to, but when we are sharing, it feels like the most important thing to be saying at the moment.
This video was strangely meta for me because YOU are a significant part of my morning routine. At least for the last few months I have spent the morning drinking kefir that I ferment myself (this is the magical process thing of my morning ritual; my coffee making is unremarkable) drink coffee and watch idea channel, ze frank, or vlog brothers/crash course videos. In my daily life I am less intellectually challenged than I would like, so I feel like this is a reflection of that in many ways. I am a special education teacher, so my work, while intellectually stimulating in short spurts where I am planning instruction, is mostly dispassionate and rote implementation of consistent expectations for the building of very rudimentary skills. In my limited time outside of work/being a daddy to a one year old I find these types of media experiences much like a cup of coffee, easily consumable and energizing to my blurry morning brain. They also somewhat assuage my guilt at not doing more intellectually stimulating activities in general. I remember finding the morning routine memes vaguely depressing when I first came across them. I remember being envious of a lot of their schedules. It's funny though, as I am writing about my morning routine I see it in kind of a new light. It makes more sense to me and it actually feels appropriate and good even, particularly in imagining it as a ritual that allows me to be a conduit for my work. So thanks for the perspective!
Every morning my alarm goes off at 6:30, but I usually don't get up for another 20 minutes. I get dressed, grab my lunch and tea that I made the night before, and a cup of yogurt and sit down to browse tumblr until my sister is ready to leave. I then take her to school, and drive myself to work where I sit in the parking lot and read for 20 minutes until it's time to go in. Some days I end up sleeping later, or my sister has to be at school early so it's that time spent reading in my car that is like your making coffee. I turn off the radio and sit in the quiet, reading with no interruptions.
I liked the set up of this episode. It's a new but not too exciting break from the usual.
My morning ritual (ideally) is, wake up, lay in bed for a little while blogging, get dressed, Tumblr over breakfast, and either Tumblr some more before getting to work or going to my job. But most mornings, I'm woken by my alarm and rush to get dressed and to job/school. Coffee makes those mornings better. I really like caramel, chocolate and mint, in some combination, in my coffee.
You guys should do another one of those multipart videos that you can watch piece by piece or all at once about those animations. That would be AWESOME!! Plus, personally, I prefer longer-ish videos.
I like the structure this episode was made in
My morning routine is waking up, getting everyone else out of my house, making coffee, and waiting for my ride. I also usually watch football highlights, or I have been the last few months. i haven't reached the same level of mesmerism that I achieved in Marching band, but that required 300 hours of doing the same things over and over and over and over and over with very little change. However, while I'm drinking that coffee, my mind is more free than it is all day.
can you make more episodes out of your corner
it feels more alive
this episode was so pleasant to watch :)
I've walked to work/university for 5 or so years now. I bought a bike so I could get there faster, but while I enjoy riding it on weekends I gave up on riding it to work as I found I missed my morning walk and coffee run too much. I even get up an extra hour early just so I can grab my morning coffee from my favourite shop on the way. It's more expensive both in time and in money, but I feel my head is much clearer for the rest of the day if I take the time out to walk.
Tangentially, having a British girlfriend, presumably you've noticed the Brit's cultural peculiarity in having cups of tea every time something happens, good or bad. I feel that this video really hits the nail on the head as to why making a cup of tea is so damn comforting - it's something most of us Brits have done our whole lives, it's always the same system in everyone's house. No matter how terrible a situation is, someone will always suggest to pop the kettle on. Got dumped? Lost your dog? World war three? Someone makes you a cup of tea and suddenly everything isn't so bad anymore.
I used to work at a factory and I think that it's simply that having predictable routines is meditative and calming, as well as knowing something well enough to not really think about it leaves that much more mental energy and time for more (to the person and context in question) important thoughts. I don't think there's more to it than that and it certainly doesn't need to be anything more to it.