The daily grind: Armeena Khan

The exceptionally beautiful and remarkable actress, Armeena Khan, shares a page with us from her official diary. The multi-faceted beauty takes us all the way to the UK to show us how she spends her day: not when she’s working on a shoot, but on her property investment company!

5 am:

I wake up without an alarm and feel refreshed. I should be, after all, considering I fell asleep by half past nine last night! I drink a glass of hot water and sole salt. My morning ritual is very important to me because I try and focus on getting the first hour right and it’s taken me years to get to this point. After that, it’s easy. I try to get a little meditation in or go for a walk. But today, it’s too cold so instead I get straight to work. The next few hours are gold for me because right now I am fresh and focused and get my best work done. But in order to do so I have to avoid phone calls, surfing the net or watching television. I make sure I do not turn on any electronic devices yet. I start reading scripts for an hour before turning my attention to writing.



7 am:

I pause for a breakfast of salmon, porridge, eggs and a cup of herbal tea. This will fuel me for the rest of the morning. I avoid bread, jams and sweet stuff as this just makes me feel heavy. I get back to my reading and writing. Once I have gone through the scripts, I switch to reviewing some business reports. In addition to my acting, I run a property investment company in the UK.

9 am:

The phone and laptop are now switched on. I browse through the missed calls and emails for 45 minutes before grabbing a bottle of water and a snack of nuts and fresh berries with me as I lock my front door.

10 am:

It’s bright and sunny today, despite the cold. So I decide to take an almost empty train to my office where I have a couple of meetings scheduled. It’s great that I can live this side of my life in England in relative privacy, doing ‘normal’ stuff.

12 noon:

The meetings last a little longer than I planned. I decide to get some lunch. I walk over to a quaint little indie café. I look at the menu and ask for a prawn and avocado salad with steamed spinach and sweet potato. I turn my phone off so I can enjoy the background chatter of the café.

1 pm:

The beautiful day makes me change my mind about going home. Instead I stop at another coffee shop and make my phone calls from there.  I order a chai latte. The first person I call is my manager, who I haven’t spoken to in 12 hours. I discuss this morning’s scripts and project dates with him. He makes me laugh with the overnight gossip and asks me to contact some directors and producers to discuss the projects we both like the look of.



2 pm:

After talking to two producers and a director, I am left feeling really interested in one of the projects so I ask my manager to negotiate the details. I like to keep my followers on Instagram engaged so I take a selfie and give them a snapshot of my day. My social media team has emailed me with a request from a local school that wants me to deliver a short speech about women’s empowerment. I also have a marriage proposal from a guy in West Africa. I say yes to the talk, respectfully decline the marriage proposal and wish a little girl happy birthday on Facebook.

4 pm:

It’s starts to rain outside but I escape by walking home. I really need to take an umbrella with me. I nap for a half hour, before heading to the gym. A cup of black coffee and 45 minutes later, I am in the gym doing 15 minutes of HIIT cardio followed by squats, lunges and leg presses before finishing off with arms and abs. I normally prefer outdoor activities such as mountain walking or jogging in the park but the cold British winter leaves me with just the gym.



6 pm:

I am home. I shower and eat the last meal of my day. Tonight it’s grilled chicken breast with steamed broccoli, kale and french beans. I season it with a knob of butter and some pepper. I try not to eat past 7pm as the metabolism slows down after this point, so the workout will be wasted. After dinner I do some chores and settle down for the rest of the evening.

7 pm:

I make myself a cup of tea, and listen to an audiobook, The Cuckoo’s Calling, a sleuth novel by J K Rowling.

8 pm:

I respond to my messages and browse online for half an hour. After, I make a quick call to my mum and a friend.



9 pm:

I turn on the TV and flick through the channels before realising there is nothing but repeats and game shows. I turn it off and instead take a sheet of paper and make a rough draft for tomorrow. After all they do say, ‘tomorrow belongs to those who plan today’.