Routine — Morning

As humans, we are creatures of habit and this can work in our favor. However, it’s crucial that you choose your habits wisely. Humans are creatures of habit. It works in many ways. It's up to you to choose your habits. I will walk you through the wisdom of the web and provide you with behavioral tools and some SOP to be a better self.

Thinking it through (not too much)

Analysis paralysis is as big an adversary as procrastination. Have you felt the urge to do something (i.e., having dopamine) while still finding yourself sketching how to approach that matter better? Instead of action, you find yourself reading about the many ways to optimize the execution,

“One more time management article — and I am going to do that thing.”

I discussed day planning before — yet in this prose, we are discussing a close-ended/bounded predetermined template. executionThe more details there are in your execution, the more resistance you will experience trying to execute. You want your steps to be

• printed out
• time-bound / time stamped
• rational
• short
• clearly defined
• have some degree of optionality

Before I break down each point, here is one crucial step.

A productive morning routine begins with adequate sleep. Without sufficient rest over several days, you will return to your old, wicked ways.

Good sleep starts with going to bed early. Think about how easier it is to go to bed early versus waking up after three hours of sleep and pushing it through. Sleep quality varies a lot based on the time frame. Listen to Andrew Huberman’s episodes on sleep. Measure your sleep. Personal core takeaway — sleeping 22:00–05:00 is not the same as sleeping 00:00–07:00. Until your body gets used to the routine (14–28 days), you must start getting to bed on time — and drive the rest from there. Luckily — it is a positive self-propelling process; pretty fast, you will start feeling alive and energetic, sharper with more dopamine (aka motivated) to keep going. After some months — you will ask yourself two questions.

1. How did I live before?
2. How do others live their lives?

Printed out

Not digital. I love digital, and I manage my second brain using obsidian (zettelkasten method) — yet we all know devices can do alot of damage. The temptation to press on that one notification, check email, and catch up on the “so important” X, will crash you. The dopamine reward pendulum will start — especially in the beginning, you are done before you even start.

Printouts mitigate this behaviour. Paper, better laminated, with 5–7 steps of your morning routine, will do wonders. Can you do it from memory after some months? You could, but that is one more pushback; at some point, steps will disappear, corners will get rounded, and you will get back to — your old, wicked ways.

Time-bound

For the ones working from home or self-employed, the opposite side of that pendulum — and you will reach it — is extending that morning routine way too much.

A personal example, at some point, I was training for 60–90 minutes, meditating for 30–60 minutes, planning my day for 30 more, and some coffee, suddenly I had 3–4 hours of a “routine” — it was fun, but it is no way to manage your time.

Perspective — a concentrated bout of work (Cal Newport) is 90 minutes. Huberman claims that four, even three bouts a day are a stretch. Lex Friedman is probably the only person doing four bouts, and the guy is a machine (single, no children, less points to him. Might be not human even). You should experiment with what works for you; 5-10 percent of your active day is balanced and sustainable. Why 10 percent? Think of a standard workday, 8–10 hours, and compare that to the time allocated for lunch, ~10 percent. Compare that to your TV habits. Compare that to a movie’s length (not the new over-extended ones). Subconsciously, you can come to terms with this duration, it is no sacrifice, at all.

Rational

In the beginning when you start motivated. Well, cramping all your ambitious goals in the morning might work for a couple of days. Unless you are financially independent, with no other obligations, you have some business to attend to. The day-start routine is a tool — not an end goal. Start with a threshold low enough that you won’t have any excuses to do it.

Every

Single

Day

Slacking even once opens up that doomsday gap — where all your future (not motivated) days disappear. Returning to do something is way harder than maintaining it 100% of the time. You heard me 100% of the time.

Funny fact, suppose when you press a button, you get an electric shock 50% of the time or 100%. Which is worse? Based on experiments — 50%. When you know that “this is how it is,” you come to terms with it and have much less resistance than where you have a cognitive restrain or conditioning for an action.

Short and clearly defined

I have dealt with that above but think of each subtask of your routine to be itself - a short one — few minutes for each component. Even if you have a longer one — break it down.

It has to do with the reason why when dealing with life tasks, it is better to break them down — in this case, less resistance, clearer goal, “let’s get over with it” state of mind (don’t get me wrong — you must learn to enjoy the process).

Some degree of optionality

This is the only tricky one here. We are not machines, for the good or the bad. Even Lex and Jocko. We do break down; life happens around us. Have contingency in life in general. In this case — think about what your is alternative (A in PACE). To me, it was taking into account my rebellious nature. When the plan is so strict, I have no say, I revolt, I rebel. Don’t leave any openings.

If you frequently travel, have a backup routine.

You will get sick — have a backup routine.

You will get injured — plan a backup routine.

You have a vacation — do the same routine, no excuses.

Summary

Here is how my routine looks like these days.

4:34 — wakeup

4:35–4:40 — cold shower before brushing teeth. (Plunge is good, but that would create too much friction in the first few minutes of waking time)

the point here is that the shower is before brushing teeth, a wake-up call to all of the body. Doing the shower after gives some negotiation leeway — we do not negotiate.

4:45– 5 minutes of non-stop activity, 1 minute each, no pauses between (thanks to Mike Glover)

• jumping jacks
• pushups
• inclined abs
• burpees
• squats

4:55 — one of — stretching / knees over toes / Indian clubs

5:15 — brew coffee, still not consuming it. (Don’t consume coffee in the first 60–90 minutes of your waking time)

5:20 — meditate.

5:40 — get the coffee from the brewing machine, make your day plan

• goals
• time slots
• constraints

06:00 — Execute, execute, execute

Important (!!!) when the sun comes out — light exposure.

Endnote

Answer to the two questions at the beginning

1. How did I live before? I didn’t. Existing and living are not the same.
2. How do others live their lives? They don’t.