How my Routine Affects my Success

I get many questions from people wanting to know the “secret to success.” In their minds, there’s some magic ritual or built-in quality that immediately separates the successful from everyone else. There’s a huge flaw in that thinking. There’s no difference in genetic makeup between those who excel and those who don’t. You can’t pick out future entrepreneurs at birth. I’ve found that the best predictors of success are discipline, willingness to learn, and vision. For me personally, adherence to a regular routine with a little wiggle room for incidentals helps to keep me focused and on-point. I’ve written down the schedule for a typical day in my life to illustrate this point.

5 AM: Wake up. I’ll typically get out of bed anywhere between 5–7, but mostly I rise with the sun.

6 AM: Go to the gym. I try to workout at least 5 times a week. Exercise keeps the mind sharp and (obviously) the body healthy.

7 AM: Typically, I’ll grab a smoothie after my workout for the protein. Then I’ll shower, change, groom, and I’m ready for the day.

8 AM-12/1 PM: My morning-to-noon schedule is regular in its chaos. I’ll be fielding calls from any given Sungrade department (marketing/sales/recruiting etc), chopping it up with other executives, and just generally putting out fires. From 8–1, I’m straight booked.

1–5 PM: This is where I’ll eat my first meal of the day. I don’t have breakfast because I find that eating early in the day slows me down and can make me lethargic. I’ll usually order food and eat it while in a meeting or working so as to not waste any time. The earliest I’ll finish any day is 5, but it’s not surprising to find me working past then.

5 PM-Bed: After work, provided I’m not on-call or working from home, I’ll read, listen to a podcast, maybe meditate and be asleep early enough to get a good night’s rest. Whether or not I eat dinner depends on the day.

There you have it. A day in the life of Zain Jan. As you can see, there’s nothing particularly unique or revolutionary about my day-to-day. You could wake up tomorrow, copy me exactly, and still find yourself in a stagnant position. The time I set my alarms is not what determines my success. Rather, more than anything it’s a matter of attitude. The mindset of the entrepreneur and the employee is very different. If you’re an entrepreneur, you work for every single person in the company. The company’s failings and successes are your own, and its growth is yours. I would love if every person I employee came to work with my mindset, but I know that’s not realistic. While this approach is effective and has helped me with much of my success, it’s not without its responsibilities. If Sungrade is in trouble, failing, or under performing in any way, you will not catch me on vacation. Taking hands-on responsibility for the performance of your company could mean working two straight weeks of 20-hour days. It could mean sleepless nights trying to troubleshoot and problem solve. The willingness to work in that space and accept that onus is a defining characteristic of the successful.