My Morning Routine

Building a good morning routine is the most common advice I’ve heard from successful people. It's how you begin every day and is really the only part of the day that you can be in complete control of. Ed Mylett always preaches that you either control your day or your day controls you – I can confirm the validity of that as someone that spent many years without a set routine.

When I moved out of San Francisco in early 2019 and began working remotely I knew there was a chance that I'd develop bad habits. I made a commitment to myself that I was going to build and maintain a good morning routine to prevent that from happening. I started listening to a lot of podcasts on the subject and read books like Atomic Habits, Think and Grow Rich, and Make Your Bed to steal ideas from some of the most successful people on the planet.

Below is a breakdown of how I start every day – the result of two years of trial and error as I attempt to figure out what works best for me:

5:30-5:45 Make my bed:

I don’t set an alarm so my wake-up time varies day-to-day but I wake up naturally between 5:30 and 5:45. The very first thing I do is make my bed. My dad gave me the book Make Your Bed (link) and it quickly became the first part of my routine. It’s extremely simple, it takes no more than 15 seconds to do, and it allows me to start the day by accomplishing a task in the first minute I’m awake.

5:45-6 Brush teeth and drink water:

I hate the feeling of morning breath – I try to get rid of it as soon as possible so it doesn’t distract me for the rest of the morning. After I brush my teeth, I chug a full water bottle. Every night I make sure I fill up my 32 oz. bottle and leave it on my desk so I see it right when I walk back from the bathroom and don’t forget to do it. I was doing some research on the best ways to stay healthy and found down a rabbit hole reading about how drinking enough water and staying hydrated is the best thing to do (link). It helps everything from strengthening your immune system to improving your skin. I try to drink as much water as possible every day and this helps me get that started early.

6-7 Meditate:

After I drink the water I set my timer for an hour and I sit in complete silence. This is something I started doing back in October after listening to Naval Ravikant on Tim Ferriss’ podcast (link). I was introduced to meditation 5 years ago through apps like Calm and Headspace but it never really stuck. I would always question myself if I was “doing it right” and often times felt worse after the meditation. Naval introduced me to this form of meditation where all you do is sit still for a long period of time in complete silence – the simplicity of it along with the challenge intrigued me enough to try it.

The idea is to let your mind wander freely and allow yourself to process everything that’s going on in your life. The first half-hour is all over the place where I’m thinking about what happened the day before, what I need to do the rest of the day, and random thoughts about a friend I haven’t talked to in a while. Then after all of those thoughts happen, my mind naturally settles into a more calm state – something I never accomplished when meditating with the apps.

I know an hour seems like a long time to sit and do nothing but Naval’s theory is that you need to do it for longer than you think to achieve the equivalent of a “runner's high” which takes 30-40 minutes. The first few times I tried this method it was a battle to make it through the entire hour as I am not someone who does well at sitting still. The fact that it is so difficult for me is why I wanted to try it and now it’s become by far my favorite hour of the day. It’s probably the most impactful part of my morning routine and something I’ve encouraged many friends to try as well.

7-7:15 Talk to myself:

Right after I finish meditating, I crack open my journal and write about whatever stuck with me during the meditation. It’s a random combination of reminders of things I need to do later, ideas for my business, or reflections on my life. I also make a point of declaring my purpose of the day – a few words that give me a focus and direction to carry me through the day.

I then get changed to exercise and while I do that, I recite my money statement aloud to myself. This is something I stole from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich (link) where you say how much money I’m going to make by a certain age. I also quickly run through the Four Agreements from Don Miguel Ruiz’s book (link) which is one of my favorite books. My money statement is all about the amount of wealth I want to accumulate so the Four Agreements right after serves as a reminder of how I want to act as a human being while I chase those dreams.

7:15-8:15 Wake my body up:

My morning exercises consist of mostly stretching and loosening up my body. I use a trigger-pointer ball and foam roller to loosen up my body – I’m not very flexible so that’s a major focus of the exercise. While doing so I run through the mindset practice that I stole from Ed Mylett’s book (link). This consists of saying what I’m happy about, excited for, proud of, grateful for, committed to, and who in my life I love. It’s a bit of an expansion on a traditional gratitude practice which I’ve found really helps ground me and put me in a good headspace for the rest of the day.

After the stretches are done there’s a handful of physical therapy exercises that I do to help with my chronic back pain. Then I always finish with 200 pushups – something my dad and brother also do every day since the start of quarantine. 

My dad actually has been a big proponent of doing push-ups every day for many years now – he would always say that it’s his cheat code to make sure he never regresses physically. There’s obviously a lot more to staying in shape besides push-ups but it helps ensure that we're doing something to get stronger every day.

8:15-8:30 Cold Shower:

After my workout, I reward myself with a cold shower. I say “reward ” sarcastically because I hate cold showers and it’s probably my least favorite part of the morning. There’s a lot of studies done on the benefits of cold showers but what got me to finally commit to it was seeing this tweet from Tom Bilyeu (link). 

Cold showers suck no matter how many times you’ve taken one but the fact that it sucks is why it's so powerful to do every day. As Tom says, the more comfortable you can get with doing things that suck the more resilient you become in all areas of your life.

8:30-9 Drink coffee and check phone:

I get dressed and head downstairs to make myself some coffee. My roommates and I do pour-over so it takes some time to brew and I use that time to check my phone and clear out all of my notifications. I use my phone for timing my meditation and listening to music when I work out but I make a point to not open any texts, emails, or social media apps until after I shower and get dressed.

The negative effects of looking at your phone in the morning are well documented but I do it primarily so I don’t get distracted. I’ve found that has really helped reduce my anxiety in the mornings and learn that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t respond to someone immediately. 

9-9:30 Plan out my day:

I sit down at my desk with my cup of coffee and I start to map out my to-do list. I use my calendar religiously so I have a good idea of what my day is going to consist of but I use this list to identify the most important 2-5 things I need to do that day. I picked this up from reading Tim Ferriss’ book The 4-Hour Work Week (link) where he stresses the importance of prioritization. The barometer for making it on this list is pretty strict, I ask myself “if this is the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day?” 

I write these on an index card that I can put in my pocket and pull out periodically throughout the day. I’ve found that it’s very easy to get distracted and spend time doing things that give you the feeling of productivity but aren’t mission-critical like checking emails or making multiple to-do lists. This has been extremely helpful in keeping me focused on what’s really important for myself and my business.

9:30 The work day officially begins.

There you have it, that’s how I start every day. I wanted to share this because I find myself often getting embarrassed when I tell people about my routine. Spending the first four hours of your day doing all of these is not a very normal thing but I’m starting to embrace how crazy and different it makes me.

As I’ve ventured into the world of entrepreneurship, I’ve found myself leaning on my routine more than ever before. There is so much uncertainty with countless highs and lows baked into every day that it can be exhausting. My routine has helped to ground me and ensure that I spend the beginning of each day doing things that make me feel good and put me in a position to succeed. 

I’d love to hear what your routines consist of and how different practices have helped you so please do share your thoughts and feedback!