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There is a certain type of video that is always lurking on the YouTube home page. It is the infamous ‘morning routine’, a perfectly stylised video which glorifies waking up at an early hour to achieve peak productivity.

You know the one. Opens with instrumental music and the title ‘productive morning routine’, all in lower case. Girl wakes up in her white sheeted double bed to make herself a smoothie, miraculously turning on her blender without waking anyone up. B-roll of the smoothie next to a minimalist bullet journal spread. She goes for a run clad in her sage green workout set and for some reason, it is light outside at 6am. With the least red face, she comes back from her run to complete her ten-step skincare routine, and only after writing down what she is grateful for, she is ready to start her day.

These videos often cop hate online for being considerably unrealistic. Sure, these videos are motivational in their own weird way, because we would love our days to start like this, but it does not really work with many of our lifestyles. They make mornings look like an exciting new start, when for most students, it is a chaotic rush before a busy day. Here I am, struggling to get out of bed at 6 when my cat loudly wakes me up, rushing to shower and get ready whilst I eat my bland piece of toast, and I am supposed to somehow find time to complete a gratitude log?

I am not dissing these videos because ideally, I wish my mornings looked this way too. It is more that for students who study and work, this is quite unobtainable. But how can we make our mornings a little better?

For me, I have learnt the importance of planning my mornings the night before. It stops me from dwelling over my outfit in the morning, and means that I can pack my bag without forgetting something important. Also, I have been attempting to switch out my non-exciting piece of toast to cereal and fruit to make eating breakfast less of a chore. Most importantly, I am working on getting more sleep each night so that my mornings can be a tiny bit more productive.

With that in mind, I have come to terms with the fact that I prefer to exercise later in the day, I like to write my to-do lists on the bus because there is absolutely no time beforehand, and I will never, never say no to a sleep-in when I can. Don’t watch these videos and think your life must be that way. Rather, try and make your morning work more efficiently for you.