Every Youtube ‘Morning Routine’ Video Has These 7 Things
Tags: Culture, Ideas, Self Improvement

The pandemic has gifted me a fairly harmless addiction. It’s called binge-watching youtube videos.

From data science to dance classes, youtube hosts contend about every subject on the planet. Of all the niches I watch, ‘morning routine’ videos seem to be my favorite. Of course, youtube figured that out much before I did. Their recommendation system gifted unnecessary encouragement to watch more. I’ve watched so many ‘morning routine’ videos to date that I can predict every move of the vlogger when I see a new ‘morning routine’ video now.

It all starts with waking up extremely early.

I do believe that waking up early is good in many ways. It makes us healthier and more productive. However, my understanding of the word ‘early morning’ used to be after or at least during the sunrise. 54 % of the morning routine videos have vloggers waking up between 4:30–5:30 am with justifications that are hard to digest. It makes me wonder if they start sleeping extra early or simply avoids a good slumber. While the former might affect their social life, the latter harms health in the long run. But of course, only if they do it daily.

And then the vlogger talks about the importance of hydration following by sharing the recipe of their secret morning drink.

The most common secret drink is fresh lemon in lukewarm water. Variations of this include addition like honey, ginger, and dried saffron. Another common secret is flavored or branded tea/coffee. This would usually include the display of an exquisitely organized tea/coffee bar. The machine, a rack of multiple colorful pods and the “I bought this from” statement are mandatory. Another common secret is water. Yes, water. One bottle full of water right after you wake up is claimed to detoxify your body.

Next comes the morning skincare.

This is one place that it is hard to generalize. Lifestyle vloggers prefer a 3 step skincare while beauty vloggers can go all the way up to 10 steps. Each step is basically waiting for the previous product to dry and applying a new product. Every vlogger will have at least one “you-must-try this” product. Talking like a chemistry teacher is a common trait often seen in this section. It is also one of the places that are ideal for promoting a sponsored product.

Planning your day is the next best thing to do.

Every vlogger has two critical entities that help them with the planning. One is a great place to sit. Usually, it’s a highly organized home-work station or a cozy ‘story-teller’ chair. The second critical entity is a tool to make plans. If the tool is a digital app, the generous vlogger will link it in the video’s description box. If the tool is a special template worksheet designed by the author themself, the downloadable pdf copy will be shared. There is an exception here though. A minority of the vloggers believe that planning should be done the night before and one should only review the plan in the morning.

Then the vlogger executes the first planned task, which is usually a light workout.

From cardio to pilates to yoga, the type of exercise varies. But whatever they do, even if it’s just peaceful meditation, they’ll change into workout clothes and workout hairstyle before they attempt the task. They’ll also mention how long it would be and show you a few clips from the bending and stretching with the good intention of encouraging you to get up from the couch.

Healthy breakfast is, of course, something that one can’t miss.

A morning routine is incomplete without a colorful breakfast and elegant cutlery. Vloggers who opted for the lemon-in-luke-water hydration might also add a caffeine drink to the breakfast menu. The most common items are odd colored smoothies, the avocado-egg-wholemeal-bread trio, and oatmeal with sprinkles of red berries and bananas.

Sales pitches can be spread out in multiple parts of the vlog.

A vlog is incomplete without sales pitches. I find three kinds of sales pitches in them. The first type revolves around sponsored products. It is simple, straightforward, and often accompanied by claims and proofs.

The second type is pitching in the vlogger’s own videos. Past videos are often notified with messages that sound like “I’ve already done X if you haven’t seen it here is the link”. Future video pitches are all about “Comment below if you want me to make a video about Y” or “I like to keep it short, so I’ll talk about Y in the next video”.

The ‘like, share, subscribe, bell-button click’ request is the third type of sales pitch. 90% of the vloggers follow the unwritten rule of ending the video with this request.