🌅 Startup & Shutdown Routines

Hey there! Welcome back to The Flow by Flocus. If you’re new around here, welcome! 👋 You can catch up on our previous editions right here.

This week: It’s all about startup and shutdown routines — what they are, why you should try them, and how to get started. All in 5 minutes. Let’s jump in!

😌 What Are Startup & Shutdown Routines?

You probably already follow mini “rituals” when starting and ending your deep work sessions.

These are called startup and shutdown routines. (We mentioned them briefly in our newsletter on environment design — one of our most popular editions!)

⚡ Your startup routine might include making a hot beverage, throwing on your favorite playlist, and logging in to your laptop.

💤 A shutdown routine is, of course, what you do when you end working or studying — like checking emails one last time before signing off.

Startup and shutdown routines can help you:

• Eliminate time-wasters

• Understand what helps you work best

• Get in the right mindset for deep work

• Set clear boundaries between work and personal time

🌅 How to Create Your Startup & Shutdown Routines

Startup and shutdown routines have been super helpful for our team at Flocus — here are some tried and tested tips for creating your own!

✍️ Write down your routines

Outlining your routines can help you follow them more consistently. Write down every step, no matter how seemingly small, like opening your notebook or turning on your laptop. By having a clear, written guide, you’ll reduce decision fatigue, and might even identify inefficiencies to make improvements.

Even if it’s rough, start jotting down bullets in a notebook or app like Notion, Google Docs, or even just Notes.

🧪 Experiment

Try different routines to find what works best for your brain, body, and focus. You may also naturally have different startup and shutdown routines depending on the day or situation.

🤸‍♀️ Be flexible

Even if your workdays are exactly the same, being flexible can keep you agile in case something unexpected comes up.

📇 Personalize your routines

Customizing your routines with your needs and preferences in mind will naturally make them more effective. Start by discovering your new favorite task management app, or incorporating elements from beloved frameworks like the Eisenhower Matrix.

🍉 Make it fun!

Working and studying aren’t exactly meant to be fun. But adding things you enjoy to your startup and shutdown routines can boost your motivation and excitement. Throw on your favorite playlist as you get started, or reward yourself during your shutdown routine for a session well done.

Real quick: If you’ve been trying to improve your sleep and energy levels, check out the Hatch Restore 2. You may have already seen it in GRWM TikToks!

It’s an all-in-one bedside sleep companion — with a gentle sunrise alarm that follows your natural rhythm, ambient sleep noises, warm bedside light, and minimalist design. 

All designed to improve your sleep for more energized and productive days.

With a 30-night trial, you can try it out and see if it’s the right fit for you.

Thanks for checking out Hatch — which supports our small team and keeps The Flow free for everyone!

🪅 Flocus Picks

A curated list of things worth sharing.

• How to Make Productivity More Fun (YouTube) — Productivity mogul Ali Abdaal covers some creative ways to make your deep work sessions more enjoyable.

• How to Start Studying (YouTube) — Sola walks you through how to start studying when you’re distracted, unmotivated, or behind on your to-do list.

• Medieval & Fantasy Lofi Playlist (Spotify) — We’ve been loving the cozy gamercore vibes of this chill playlist lately!

🖥️ Flocus: All-in-One Dashboard

Make Flocus a part of your startup and shutdown routines! Complete with personalized greetings to start and end your day, motivational quotes, a custom focus timer, beautiful backgrounds, and more — we’re building the ultimate aesthetic productivity tool for you.

We recently dropped a new update with two new timer modes (countdown and stopwatch), new themes, new concentration sounds, and extra dashboard tweaks — check them out! Just hard refresh your Flocus tab to get the update.

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Startup and shutdown routines are super helpful for switching into work or study mode.

Try them this week to make your workdays more fun and interesting!

Until next Sunday,

Flocus Team