Morning Routine and Success

“It’s a pain in the gluties. But you gotta do it. Dying is easy. Living is tough. I hate working out. Hate it. But I like the results.”

– Jack Lalanne (Wall Street Journal, 2007)

I'm old enough to remember The Jack Lalanne show. As a child, I'd wake-up early every Saturday morning, and would watch this (I believe it was on at 6:00 or 6:30, before the cartoons began) and follow his routine for the day.

I also think for a lot of us, we resonate with Jack's above statement. Most of us have a "love-hate" relationship with exercise, and with mornings, in general.

For over 40 years, exercise has been the one great constant in my life. Through the ups and downs, through changes in life, career, location, I have always had this. And even though sometimes dragging myself out of bed to do it may be difficult, I'm always grateful later that I did.

There has been all of this scuttlebutt philosophy on success centered around being part of the "4AM Club." I see blogs and posts on LinkedIn with entrepreneurs saying how this has changed their lives--of course, these are usually also the folks that thrive on avocado ice cream and the Wim Hof Method...none of which I believe are crucial to one's highest and best performing.

I do, however, totally subscribe to the fact that a morning routine is indicative of success in all careers, but most especially entrepreneurship and business.

I wake up at 5AM. In truth, I did try 4AM...it hurt. 5AM works for me; I don't need to go to bed at 8PM to make it work. I do always shut my cell phone off early evening and don't look at it again until my morning routine is finished. This I believe is one of the healthiest activities one can do in our 24-hour society: not make it 24 hours.

Plus, I get up at 5AM because it's my quiet time to be alone with myself and my thoughts.

At 5AM I commence my morning ablutions, prayers/meditating, and journaling. I do both prayers (talking) and mediating (listening), and the journaling happens throughout that first hour; either focused writing on a topic, or stream of consciousness. It's different every morning, and that I find important to one's overall mindfulness and creativity. I'm relatively new to journaling, and I don't know how I got around without it before. It sets the stage for my daily attitude and activities, and helps inform these with gratitude. Plus, it can act as a log or diary for your journey. I find this activity best with a warm beverage, preferably un-caffeinated, but that's me--5AM is too early for coffee. I like roasted dandelion root tea.

At 6AM I hit the gym. By this point, I've been up for an hour, so I'm ready to go. Exercise needs to be something that you enjoy doing. It really doesn't matter what, as long as you are consistent. This is the key to success, in health, business, or anything else. It's consistency.

Don't go all out once in a while...you'll get no benefit and you'll hurt yourself. Do something every day. Just like business--don't spend one 14 hour day on your business and take the next 4 days off with your significant other. You will go nowhere and it will lead to frustration and failure.

"In the game of chess, small moves lead to great victories." (I read this in a book, and don't know who said it; I live my life by this quote)

My exercise routine consists of 5 focused days: 3 days of functional strength training (fundamental, compound moves--no isolation exercises; I don't need to have the most eye-popping biceps--or extensor carpi radialis longus, or obliquus externus abdominis, or any of these other muscles that I have no idea what they do and sound like a catalog of Roman emperors--on the beach). As I get older, I want to be able to move weight in any direction, cleanly and with flexibility. Plus, you never know when I may have to take down a saber tooth tiger with a spear... The other two days are HIIT training (high intensity interval training). On the weekends, I do what I call "recreational exercise" such as walking/hiking, swimming, and yard work (yes, yard work is good exercise; I'm actually one of those who likes shoveling snow for the conditioning benefit).

By 7, I'm finished, have a protein shake for breakfast, and (finally!) a strong cup of coffee.

By 7:30, I turn on my phone and open my emails to start my business day. However, I will not take or make a call before 8AM, because I inherently want to protect everyone's morning--mine and my colleagues' and clients'.

I stop business at 4PM. This protects my health and the time with my wife JoAnn Kalogianis Spaneas and family. I can do this because my morning routine energizes me for the day, and makes me incredibly efficient (and consistent!) with my time and tasks. It also allows me to engage in more creative activities in the late afternoon, like writing music. I have a specific daily routine for business, as well...but that's a topic for another article.

Because my morning is very organized and focused, my business activities are, as well. In real estate (or in any business where one doesn't have a set schedule) one can let things slide, which is the slippery slope to disaster. There is the joke of real estate professionals getting up at "the crack of 10AM"...many do; none that are successful in the long-term. Making one's own schedule is a double-edged sword. If you are disciplined and consistent, you will succeed eventually.

The morning routine is a great way to set yourself up for success by getting in the mindset of schedule and accomplishment.

It's awesome.

Thanks for reading,

Demetrius