The One Thing That Changes Everything
-The perfect morning routine
Happy Thanksgiving from Think. Read. Write. Repeat. For subscribers in the 46 countries that aren’t America, Happy Thursday!
Today and every day is a great opportunity to consider the things you have to be thankful for. If you are reading this, please know that I am incredibly thankful for you, and your decision to join the tribe dedicated to “Getting better at getting better.”
If you enjoy this post, please click the heart at the bottom, leave a comment, and share it with a friend. As always, thanks for being a part of the T.R.W.R. Tribe.
Also, in a slight change, the monthly wrap-up Walking Point email will now come on the Sunday following the last Thursday email rather than the final Sunday of the month. This means that the November Walking Point will arrive on Sunday 3 December.
Think.
Last week we talked about developing your personal battle rhythm and scheduling and prioritizing the important while eliminating the unimportant. Or, to continue with our metaphor from two weeks ago- Ignoring the alligators that don’t threaten the progress of your boat.
I believe that the morning routine is critical to establishing a productive battle rhythm. Win the morning, win the day.
The perfect morning routine looks like this:
4:30 am— Wake up, then:
Make your bed.
Drink 24 oz of distilled water
Perform 30 Minutes of meditation,
45 minutes of Vinyasa Yoga.
Drink a soy protein shake, followed by a bulletproof coffee.
Read for 30 Minutes
Gratitude journal
Strength train for 60 minutes
Run 5 miles
Train Brazilian Jujitsu for 2 hours
Get 20 Minutes of sauna time
Cold plunge in 49-degree water for 6 minutes
Walk the dog at a zone 2 pace for 2 miles.
Call your mother.
Drink three raw eggs.
Get a massage
Finally, shower, put on jeans and a black turtleneck, and be ready to give a motivational speech to your shareholders by midafternoon.
Ok, that’s obviously not going to work for those of us with jobs and responsibilities, and without shareholders or limitless disposable income.
But lately, morning routines have become a craze. Google it and you will get nearly 2.5 million results.
The optimized morning routines of the rich and successful are full of Instagram worthy moments of hemp smoothies and reflexology sessions that they credit with kickstarting their day.
It is easy to assume that if it works for them it could work for us.
Our morning routines can also lull us into a false sense of accomplishment.
In a recent 2% post, (One of my favorite substacks)
said that:“It doesn’t matter what your big goal is. How do you know you’re doing the right things to reach it? For example, how do you know your parenting will lead to good kids? How do you know your business decisions will create the largest profits? You can’t. You never will. And that uncertainty is uncomfortable.
Morning routines are different. They provide clear outcomes and “little wins.” We either meditated for 20 minutes or didn’t. We got in the cold plunge while drinking the green smoothie or didn’t.
These little wins feel good.”
They might feel good, but they are useless if we are winning at a game we don’t care about.
We also have a limited well of discipline and mental toughness to draw from. Draining the well before lunch to ensure we fill out our gratitude journal is not in our best interest.
So, what we can do:
Start your morning routine the night before— Prep what you can prep before you go to bed to ease the morning. If your gym clothes are laid out, you are more likely to use them.
Track your morning routine. Ask of each event, “Why am I doing this?” and “Is it working?” There is nothing wrong with borrowing from the morning routines of those you admire, but you have to constantly assess. Swap events in and out, and move them around until you find a battle rhythm that works for you and lets you accomplish the important things that will move you closer to your goals.
Make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.
We’ll talk more about this soon.
Read. Let Me Die Learning
Zachary has been posting daily for almost a month about the lessons learned on his journey to live a more sustainable life. Check him out.
Write.
This week’s writing prompt is a little different. I’m suggesting that you spend the next week taking notes on your morning routine. What is consistent, and what is not? Of the things you do daily, which are helping, and which are hurting? After a week of tracking your morning routine, you should be able to pinpoint one habit to break and one to double down on.
I’d love to hear what you find out.
Repeat.
Words of wisdom from those who said it best.
This week’s quote comes from Vince Lombardi
"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence."
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See you next Thursday!
“Ignoring the alligators that don’t threaten the progress of your boat.” This is now on my wall! Sooo good! And truthfully, I can think of a few people that fit this criteria, 😂
I loved this, John. Great message. Fantastic questions: Ask of each event, “Why am I doing this?” and “Is it working?”