My Daily Routine as a Model

The Instagram version of a model’s daily routine in India is breakfast smoothies, gym selfies, and a vague “creative day” tag. The real version is closer to a small business being run by one woman in joggers between cabs. Here is mine — the actual one, on a normal Tuesday in Chandigarh with no shoot scheduled and a working week ahead.

5:45am — wake up

I am not a hero. I am simply someone whose face has to look rested for a job. Eight hours of sleep is a non-negotiable, which means lights out the previous night by ten. The phone is in another room — a single small habit that has changed both my mornings and my mental health.

6:00am — water, sunlight, no phone

Warm water with a slice of lemon. Curtains open. Ten minutes on the balcony. No screen. The city wakes up — kids waiting for school buses in Sector 22, the kulfi vendor walking towards Sector 17, the parakeets fighting on the neem tree. It sounds romantic. It is mostly logistical — the brain needs natural light early to set the day’s hormone rhythm.

6:30am — workout

Five days a week. The split rotates: lower body strength, Pilates, cardio + glutes, yoga, upper body strength. Forty-five minutes is the sweet spot. More than that and I am tired before noon; less than that and the body forgets it is a working tool.

7:30am — shower and skincare

Double cleanse, vitamin C serum, moisturiser, sunscreen. I do not skip sunscreen even on cold winter mornings in Chandigarh. The single biggest investment a working female model can make in her career is daily SPF. Everything else is optional.

8:00am — breakfast

Protein-led, never skipped. Eggs and toast, or paneer bhurji with one roti, or oats with seeds and a spoon of yoghurt. One cup of coffee, never more.

8:30am — admin hour

The first focused work block of the day. Emails to brands, replies to my agency, follow-ups on three open auditions, invoice for last week’s shoot. I learnt this the hard way: if you don’t run the admin in the first hour, the day eats it.

9:30am — content or self-tape block

Two days a week, this slot is a self-tape day for an audition. Two days a week, it’s a personal content shoot — photos for Instagram, a Reel, or a piece for this blog. One day a week, I let it be free.

Audition self-tapes are sacred in my routine. I get them out of the way before lunch. The brain works at a higher level before noon, and casting briefs deserve that level.

11:30am — meeting hour

Calls with my agent, occasional brand briefs over Zoom, a styling discussion with a photographer for an upcoming shoot. I keep this slot strictly to phone or video — no in-person commitments before lunch.

12:30pm — lunch

Real food. Dal, sabzi, one roti, salad. Or rice with grilled chicken on training-heavy days. I sit down to eat. I do not eat at my desk. The fifteen minutes of being a person and not a project matter.

1:30pm — afternoon admin / craft

Either a craft slot — reading scripts, posture practice, accent work — or an external task: visiting a tailor, a stylist’s studio, the dermatologist, the MUA whose hands I trust most. Chandigarh’s small footprint means most of these are 15-minute drives.

3:30pm — coffee, walking, podcast

An hour-long walk around Sukhna Lake or Leisure Valley. A podcast about anything that is not modelling — usually history, business, or psychology. The brain needs to leave its industry every day. Otherwise the work eats the rest of the life.

5:00pm — second focus block

One serious task. Often this is a writing slot — a blog draft, captions for the upcoming week, notes for an interview. Sometimes a deep audition prep for an in-person call later that week. One ninety-minute focus block. No phone. No music with words.

7:00pm — dinner with family

This is the slot I protect harder than any meeting. Dinner at home, no phone at the table, an hour of normal conversation about absolutely nothing professional. My mother updates me on family news. I update her on which sweater she gave me last winter that finally needs replacing.

8:00pm — quiet hour

Reading, a single TV show with a friend, a phone call to someone outside the industry. The day is clearly winding down. Notifications get muted. The phone goes to its bedside dock.

9:30pm — skincare and stretching

Cleanse, niacinamide serum, moisturiser, lip balm. Twenty minutes of slow stretching. The body that worked at 6:30am needs the gentleness now.

10:00pm — lights out

The phone is across the room. The book, if I am still awake, is by hand. Most nights I am asleep within fifteen minutes.

The principle behind the routine

It looks rigid on paper. In reality, the structure is the freedom. A predictable routine means I can absorb the unpredictable parts of this work — the 4am call times, the 14-hour shoot days, the last-minute travel — without breaking the system underneath.

For any aspiring female model in India reading this — please remember, the daily routine is not a performance. It is the quiet machine that keeps the visible career running. Build it slowly, protect it fiercely, and let it grow with you.