Letter 1: Morning Routines

Do you have a morning routine or a procrastination routine?

If you want to be successful, you need to have a morning routine or some structure at least.

But what does that mean? Well, it's not what all influencers repeatedly show you with their unrealistic "productive" morning routines on Tiktok/IG.

Every person has a different morning routine that works for them.

So, if you're looking to create a morning routine of your own, where should you start?

In today's letter, we'll look at morning routines and hopefully, you'll be inspired to make your own.

Tim Ferriss

  • Wakes and makes his bed (<3 minutes)
  • Meditates (10 to 20 minutes)
  • Does 5 to 10 reps of something to "state prime" and wake up
  • He drinks tea
  • He journals for 5 to 10 minutes

Tom Bilyeu

  • Wakes up
  • Works out
  • Medidates/Thinkitates
  • Reads
  • Creates his "most important things" list
  • Ignore emails until he's done 5-7 hours of work.

Elon Musk

  • Wakes up at 7,
  • Takes a hot shower
  • Enjoys a cup of coffee
  • Usually skips breakfast
  • Goes straight to work.

As you can see, their routines are all different and they are massively successful.

There's no one right way to start your day off right.

The most important thing is finding a morning routine that works for you and helps you prepare to face the day ahead.

But there's one thing you must be careful of.

What's that?

Using your morning routine as procrastination.

Look, we see it everywhere. Youtubers, tiktokers and influencers pretending that having a 20-step morning routine will somehow make us millionaires.

Why do we listen to them? Because it makes us feel like we are doing something worthy.

Hey, if that guy's doing it and he's a millionaire, surely I will be too, right?

Not necessarily.

In reality, we are distracting ourselves from doing the exact thing that will make us succeed: putting in the work!

I've tried the classic "self-made entrepreneur" 10-step morning routine that usually consists of the following:

  • Wake up at 5 am
  • Take a cold shower
  • Affirmations
  • Morning journalling
  • Practicing gratitude
  • Read 1 chapter of a book
  • Meditate for 30 minutes
  • Write the goals for the day
  • Stretch, workout, yoga, run

The list NEVER ends! And it seems there's a new cool thing to add every year.

This is an example of a shiny "routine" syndrome.

Look, I'm not bashing morning routines. Everyone should have one... but does it need so many steps?

I don't think so. Those are all very good practices that I do/have done throughout the day, but less is more.

In this age of constant self-optimization, we've turned our mornings into to-do lists, but we forget to ask a crucial question: what for?

Are we doing all of this for the sake of doing it or because we want to achieve something?

Here's where we have it all wrong.

Your morning routine isn't a list of tasks, it's a warm-up for your day.

The point is not to force yourself into cramming all those tasks in the little time you have in the morning only to feel completely zapped when it's time to work but to prepare yourself to tackle the day.

So take a moment and think about your current morning routine.

Are you overdoing it? Do you really need all those steps?

Or, do you need to build your own morning routine?

If you recall, the successful people above, wake up early and do a few key things before they start working and looking at their emails. They don't bury themselves in a 20-step morning routine.

Pick the few activities that are important to you and get you ready to tackle the day.

Whatever it is, it's for you.

Here's what my typical morning routine looks like now:

  • Wake up at 6
  • Drink a cup of water (it's right on my nightstand to make it easier)
  • Do 10 burpees and 15 pike pulses
  • Chill with my girlfriend over a cup of coffee (these little things count)
  • Meditate for 10 minutes
  • Start the day/work

That's it! Sometimes, I'll switch things up a little depending on what's happening, but these are the core.

It's easy. It works, and I can do this anywhere. Whether I am at or away from home.

Have a nice day, today!

Your friend,

David