I settle at my office desk at 9am and smugly look at my colleagues wiping sleep from their eyes. What they don’t know is that between the hours of 4.45am and 8.30am this morning, I went to the gym, meditated, meal-prepped my lunches, worked on my side hustle, wrote in my gratitude journal and read a chapter of a self-help book. I even listened to a productivity podcast on my commute. I’m fulfilled, energised and comfortably in the swing of my day.
My mornings are typically lazy, but not today, because I’m testing the viral “five-to-nine” routine, which sees corporate Gen Z-ers document themselves – either before work from 5am to 9am or after work from 5pm to 9pm – performing an action-packed step-by-step wellness programme made up of exercise, personal growth work, meal-prepping, skincare and side-hustling. These routines are regimented and seem strenuous, but they have a huge appeal: the five-to-nine video style has been replicated by thousands of creators online, with the hashtag #5to9routine having 35 million views on TikTok alone. Under this tag, you’ll find thousands of Gen Z workers showing how they reclaim their time – and their personalities – back from their corporate jobs.
