How you start your day…different routines of professional men and women

Ready, get set go…and we’re all up and awake to take on a new day. How we start our day matters, whether we’re a homemaker, a professional or a freelancer – starting our day on the right note that makes us click makes all the difference.

We spoke to a few professionals across the country who shared with us how they start their day. It is quite interesting to note the different ways in which people choose to begin their days. For some it is that perfect cup of green tea, for some a walk, while for others pranayama. Read on…

Even though Dr Urmilala Sarkar (56), an Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies, School of Arts and Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi is not a morning person, she’s managed to form a routine for her self.  “Morning walks are my favourite time for myself, but not all days I’m able to allow myself that luxury. Some mornings I need to start working on the laptop as soon as I am up to prepare for my classes or to meet a deadline. I do have my green tea though and sit in my balcony for a while and there are days that I go for a 5 km walk along the JNU main ring road”, shares Dr. Urmilala Sarkar.

45-year-old Palakkad based entrepreneur Priya Menon starts her day with 3- 5 minutes of meditation and deep breathing exercises followed by a few rounds of Surya Namaskar. She tells us, “Until sometime back, I was hooked onto my regular cup of hot coffee, but these days I have switched over to half a litre of plain water which is helping me combat sluggishness. I then get out for some fresh air by watering the plants in the garden which also has a larger benefit of calming me and making me happy and energetic the whole day followed by reading the newspaper and checking emails comes only after that.” Office hours are mostly spent sitting in front of the computer where Priya consciously tries to take short breaks whenever possible. Back from office, her schedule includes a brisk evening walk for an hour and apart from the regular household chores, she finds time for reading and writing too. She ends the day with 10 minutes of meditation and 7 – 8 hours of sleep to recharge her for the next day.

Back in Mumbai, 36-yearold Sales Professional Amit Khanna usually starts his day with an early morning walk followed by a glass of milk, reading the newspaper, having breakfast and leaving for office by 8:30am. He adds, “Now a days due to so much traffic I do not take the car as driving has become painful, so I usually take a taxi to office in Powai which takes me about an hour and a half to reach. Once I reach office by 10 am I start by noting the tasks for the day and then prioritising them so that I can complete all my work and be more effective.” Whenever he’s in office Amit tries and take a 5 min break after every 45 minutes to stretch and unwind and he wraps up his work by 6:30pm to head back home.

Once home by 8pm, family time begins for Amit as he freshens up to spend time with his four-month-old son and to enjoy a cup of tea. “Post 9 pm we usually watch couple of serials, news and have dinner by 10:30 pm and sleep by 11 pm.”

Here’s another interesting way on how Pune based 43-year-old Zubair Poonawalla, Founder & CEO Out Reach PR starts his day, “I usually start my day at 5:30 am thrice a week with cycling until 6:45am where I go around Pune till the Race Course which normally takes me around 1 hour to and fro. Then as soon as I get back home, I shower and have breakfast and start checking emails from home itself till around 8:30am.” It is around this time Zubair tries to finish off planning his activities for the day, browses through his to-do list, plans his meetings and appointments before reaching his office by 10am.

His office begins with morning meetings and then a briefing to his manager. He further adds, “Once all done, I read the newspapers in office and if there are no meetings scheduled until 2 pm I leave to go home for lunch. I also go for a media round thrice a week, meet journalists and editors, while the other three days I assign to meet clients and plan on the next agenda. I head back home by 5:30 pm and spend time with the family.”

We also spoke to 48-year-old Venki (T K Venkitachalam) an Illustrator/ Designer from Cochin on how he starts and winds up his day and here’s what he shared with us, “After I wake up at 6pm and have my coffee or green tea, I go to Changampuzha Park (a scenic park in Cochin) for a 30-­40 minute walk. I love that place for its greenery and I am a member of the walkers club as well where I get to meet all my health conscious friends.” After a round of walking Venki practices some simple yoga under a tree and deep breathing such as kapalbhati, Anulom Vilom and Pranayama and as soon as he reaches home he gets his son Dhrupad ready for school and starts the day by 9 am. “Almost everyday I start my day with a short discourse of Osho, Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev or Sister B K Shivani on YouTube. "They have improved my awareness about myself, made my mind sharp,” shares Venki.

He firmly believes that everyone should forget the world for sometime and scan through their thoughts everyday to refresh their mind to make it less cluttered. He has quit his online chatting and that has reduced his need for social media and unnecessary phone conversations. Now his effort is to enjoy whatever work he does and devote equal attention to big and small projects. Some days before going for lunch Venki practices some pranayama from his office and after lunch he picks up his son from school and returns to office. Venki’s work continues until 7 pm or on some days 8 pm.

These examples of professionals from across the country on how they choose to start and wind down their day help us in understanding how they achieve their work and home life balance.

By Tanya Munshi

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