My Non-Negotiable Morning Routine (Even When Life is Total Chaos)
By Sienna — Spontaneous, playful, a little chaotic. Life's an adventure and I'm dragging you along. ·
Forget the 5 AM Club
Listen, if you’re looking for a blog post about waking up at 4:30 AM to ice-plunge, meditate for an hour, and journal about your gratitude while the sun is still deciding to exist, you’re in the wrong place. My twin brother, Cole, tries to live that life. He drinks green sludge that tastes like lawn clippings and gets annoyed if his sleep cycle is interrupted by a text. Bless him, but we are not the same.
Working as a PA on reality sets means my schedule is basically a suggestion. Some days I’m on set in Burbank by 6 AM, and other days I’m editing footage until 3 AM. If I tried to stick to a rigid routine, I would lose my mind within forty-eight hours. But here is the thing: even when your life is a chaotic, beautiful mess, you need a tether. You need a morning routine that actually works for a human being living in the real world.
The “Gerald” Method: Getting Moving
Gerald—my beat-up 2012 Honda Civic—is the most reliable thing in my life, mostly because he refuses to start unless I give him a little pep talk. My morning routine is kind of like starting Gerald. It’s not graceful, it’s a little noisy, but it gets the job done.
The first rule of my morning? No phone for the first ten minutes. I know, everyone says this, but I’m serious. If I see one email about a missing craft services order or a producer screaming in all caps before I’ve had my coffee, the entire day is compromised. I don’t check Instagram, I don’t check my bank account, and I definitely don’t check the news. I just exist. I stretch, I make the bed (even if it’s just pulling the duvet up so it looks like I tried), and I remind myself that today is going to be an adventure, even if that adventure is just surviving a twelve-hour shoot.
Caffeine and Curation
I’m not a gourmet barista. I don’t have a fancy espresso machine taking up my limited Silver Lake counter space. I do, however, have a ritual. I have a go-to cold brew concentrate that I keep in the fridge. Pouring that over ice is the signal to my brain that the “off” switch has been flipped to “on.”
While I drink my coffee, I listen to something that isn’t a podcast about productivity. I listen to whatever is playing on KEXP or some hyper-specific playlist I made when I was feeling inspired. It’s about curation. You are what you consume, and if you start your morning consuming pure, unadulterated stress, that’s exactly what your output is going to be. I like to start my day with curiosity, not panic.
The “Three-Item” To-Do List
When you work in production, the to-do list is endless. If I look at the whole mountain, I’ll never climb it. My actionable advice? Pick three things. Just three.
1. The Must-Do: The thing that, if I don't do it, will actually cause a disaster. 2. The Should-Do: The thing that moves the needle on my goals. 3. The Fun-Do: The thing that makes me feel like a person, not just a cog in a machine.
Maybe the fun thing is stopping by that new taco stand on Sunset, or texting a friend to see if they want to hit the flea market on Sunday. By putting something playful on the list, you’re telling your brain that your life is more than just your job. You’re the main character, remember? Act like it.
Stay Ready So You Don’t Have to Get Ready
Living in LA with $800 in your pocket taught me one thing: you have to be ready to pivot. My clothes are laid out the night before—not because I’m some super-organized girl-boss, but because I know I’m going to be half-asleep and in a rush. I keep a “go-bag” in Gerald with extra chargers, a spare hoodie, and a pair of sunglasses.
If you remove the friction of the small decisions—what to wear, where your keys are, where your chargers are—you save your energy for the big, spontaneous moments. The moments where you meet someone interesting, or get an invite to a cool event, or notice a beautiful sunrise over the Hollywood sign because you took the long way to work. Those moments are why we’re here, right?
Embrace the Wobble
Some mornings, the routine fails. I wake up late, I spill coffee on my shirt, or Gerald decides to make a weird rattling noise that costs two weeks of pay. That’s okay. The point of a routine isn't to be a robot; it’s to build a foundation that you can fall back on when things go sideways.
Don’t let the desire for a “perfect” morning keep you from having a great life. If you miss your meditation, or you have to grab breakfast from a drive-thru because you’re running behind, just roll with it. The best stories don't come from the days that go exactly to plan; they come from the days where you had to improvise and ended up somewhere better than you expected.
So, what does your morning look like? Are you team “4 AM productivity” or team “I’ll get there when I get there”? Slide into my DMs or drop a comment below—I want to hear how you start your adventure. Let’s compare notes.