Nova Daily - 19 April 2026: Morning Routine (Recap Week 16)

Hi!

In writing yesterday's post, I found that I had more things to discuss. And so this post will cover a topic that is connected with yesterday's. Initially I wanted to write this one, but then I started on the intro for the other one, which became longer and longer. That's a clear sign that they could be written and uploaded separately.

Morning routine

It has come to the attention of some that I often mention my sleep schedule to be suboptimal. I do write about that on several occasions, and I have a good reason for it. Just like I have a reason for writing down anything about my personal life in the way I do it here. I named my blog "Nova's Journey", and as such I aim to chronicle my chess journey. I don't hold back things solely because I've mentioned them more often: recurring problems need to be mentioned over and over again. If a pattern exists that's holding me back, then I need to be aware of it so that I can address and fight it appropriately.

Poor sleep certainly isn't my only self-sabotaging pattern, but it's definitely one of them. I've found that it's not easy to tackle this issue. Going to bed at a set time is difficult because of the irregularity of my schedule: sometimes I have activities outside the house that make me come home past midnight. That means I can't tuck myself in at 10 PM or write habitually at 9.

What I can do is make sure that I have a morning routine. At least that way I'd kickstart the day in a productive way, no matter the time. My current morning routine is a bit of a mix between self-talk and exercise.

The first thing I do when I wake up is to make sure I get out of my bed. There is this line that I copied from one of those AI-generated videos on YouTube with a voice that sounds remarkably akin to Sir Ian McKellen: "You're not born for comfort. You're born for action." It's nice to have Gandalf tell you that every morning, even if it's only in my own head.

After that, I enter the bathroom. Before I take my shower, I spend about half an hour preparing my body for the day. That means physical exercises. I used to do these first-thing-in-the-morning exercises with music on, but I no longer do that. My reason is that I have things to tell myself in the morning. Those things include "Today, I am calm. Today, no-one will be able to disturb my inner peace. People can be the worst, and there is a lot that can go wrong today, but I will be unfazed." By doing this, I start the day rehearsed. But I need mental focus for this, and music gets in the way.

Something else that gets in the way of mental focus is opening my phone and checking social media first thing in the morning. I no longer do: only after having spent a solid time to my mental state of being do I expose my mind to the world. And by that time I've done a workout and spent some time on a productive activity such as reading, writing, or studying some chess. I usually also do my first run of Puzzle Rush before engaging with my DMs or any group chats I'm in.

I love this Epictetus quote:

After this, I've spent a lot of time working on some basic endgame things. I did this course start to finish in just under 2 hours, and then proceeded to play this blitz game:

By so doing, @theeldest1 and I are now sitting at exactly the same blitz rating of 2607. High-five! And let's both kick it up to 2700 and beyond!

The week in chess

Not exactly a bad week, with two of my scores having improved to a new personal best. Although it must be said that both scores improved only by winning a single game.

My blitz rating improved thanks to the win above. I've already shown my rapid win, although its specific opening line is the one line in the Keres variation that I still need to cover in detail. That'll be something for next week.

My current scores:

Rapid rating: 2411 (+6)
Blitz rating: 2607 (+7)
Bullet rating: 2564 (-41)
Survival: 63 (=)
Puzzle Battle: 2209 (=)
Puzzles: 2630 (+12)
Repertoire: 4497 moves (=)