Morning Routine As A Cardiology Fellow

I’m going to take you on my busy morning routine as a cardiology fellow. Currently, I’m in the first year of my three-year cardiology fellowship, and…I’m also a new dad. Even with a busy schedule, I still try my best to have a morning routine.

Let’s get into it!

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Normally, I try to wake up between 4:30 AM to 5:00 AM. My entire routine is dependent on what time my daughter wakes up for her next feed. With that being said, the first thing I do each morning is make the baby bottle, as well as start my stretching routine while keeping an eye on the baby monitor.

I can already see that my daughter is starting to swarm around and potentially wake up, so I have to keep on moving. By the time I finished my stretching routine, I realized that she had fallen back asleep, at least for now. 

I rushed to get into my workout for the morning. I grabbed my headphones and water bottle from the office and walked to the next room, the garage gym. This has to be one of my favorite investments in the new house.

Since time is so precious, driving 10 to 15 minutes to and from the gym is simply not an option. Now, I can just get my workouts in the comfort of my own home.

My wife and I take turns or shifts for my daughter and I have the morning slots to feed, which means my workout can stop at any time if my daughter chooses to wake up.

I have to make sure that when I do get a workout, they’re efficient and effective. My workout routine is usually two supersets of two to three exercises. Today will be a combo of squats and pull-ups, followed by another superset of dips, abs, and jump rope.

While it would be easy to claim that I could use an extra hour of sleep, I’m a big believer that if I’m going to be in a field taking care of others, I have to start with myself first.

By the time I’m done with my workout and my breathing, within 15 to 20 minutes, I am gassed and I got that work in. After the workout, it is already 5:15 AM and my baby is somehow still sleeping like a baby. Time to move on to the next part of my routine and hit the shower.

While the water’s heating up, I use the time to track my progress and numbers like my weight. After a nice and well-needed warm shower, I start getting ready.

Next, I move on to making some coffee for myself. I often put my favorite cups and mugs on the higher shelves. My wife is only 5’3″ and she doesn’t have much use for these higher shelves, so I try to put my favorite things there first.

By now, I’ve realized that my daughter is not intending to wake up, so I go ahead and put that baby bottle back into the fridge since she decided to be an angel and remain asleep.

While the coffee is brewing, I will then spend about 10 to 15 minutes doing a combination of praying, meditating, and reading. This is a nice time for me to just be grateful for another day and all my blessings.

By now, the time reads 6:00 AM and I’m done with my stretching, workout, shower, and prayer session. Finally, time to enjoy that cup of coffee!

One of those things I’m terrible at is keeping up with my water intake. I’ve been recently forcing myself to take a nice gulp of water with my morning coffee. This combo helps delay my first meal of the day, so if the hospital is really busy when I walk in, hunger won’t get in my way.

By now it is 6:15 AM. This doesn’t always happen, but I have the opportunity to get some work done in the office. Today, I realized that the office is a complete mess, so I decided to take 5 to 10 minutes to clean up. After the cleaning session, it looks much better.

One of the most important things that I have in my office is this massager that I’ve attached to my office chair. I use this for about 15 to 20 minutes while working in my office, and it works amazingly great.

Here’s the link in case you’re interested:

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Today, I spent time writing emails for our upcoming newsletter. If you’re interested. here’s the link to our Free Success Handbook with 60+ tips.

Once my emails are done, I then transitioned to some academic responsibilities I have for my fellowship. As part of being a cardiology fellow, one of our responsibilities is presenting at various conferences.

Today, I’m presenting a talk on pulmonary insufficiency or pulmonary regurgitation from a case that I saw during my echo rotation. This talk is almost done, and I spent about 10 to 15 minutes adding some final touches and references.

Now, the clock is reading 7:00 AM which means time to finish the rest of the coffee as well as get ready to leave for work. Remarkably, my daughter is still asleep. Usually, this doesn’t happen, but I’m going to try to stay quiet and finish getting ready. I grab a clean pair of scrubs for the day and get them on.

I then start getting ready to leave and do my little routine, including leaving a small note for my wife. It’s usually a quote or a joke, and I also do a lot of puns. It’s just a part of our routine to make sure that we know we’re thinking of each other despite having a busy life, and now, a daughter.

Next, I’ll quickly unload the dishwasher and try to clean the counters, making it two fewer tasks that my wife has to do while being home all day with our daughter.

By this point, Kobe, our dog is wide awake, so I let him do his business outside while I gather the rest of my stuff. He’s such a picky eater, so when he’s eating, I have to stand there and watch him finish. If you’re a dog owner, you understand.

By the time that little routine is done, it is now 7:30 AM and time to leave for work. The last part of my morning routine is my actual commute, which is about 35 minutes for most days. I try to use this time to listen to podcasts and books about medicine or cardiology just to get into the mode for the rest of the day.

Hopefully, you enjoyed this morning routine. If you want to know more about my life as a cardiology fellow, let me know in the comments section.

If you’re interested in any of our free resources, including how to study better, as well as our 60+ tips that I wish I got on my first day of med school, check out the free resources linked down below:

As always, my friends, thank you so much for following me on my journey. Hopefully, I was a little help to you guys on yours.

If you enjoyed this article, then I’m sure you’ll love these other articles:

• How To Become A Cardiologist
• Top 10 Happiest Medical Specialties
• Best Littmann Stethoscope For Medical Students
• Intern Vs. Resident Vs. Fellow [What’s The Difference?]
• Pros And Cons Of Being A Hospitalist
• Top 5 Medical Specialties In Highest Demand
• How I Optimized My Life As A Medical Student

Until the next one, my friend…