60 Comments

I appreciate the advice to not hustle as much and sleep more. And I briefly tried a no phone till I’m on the train to work and that worked wonders too. I magically left the house on time every day!

However I do want to share any kind of morning routine is 20x harder for women and/or primary caregivers.

On the days I work from home the only thing I get done before 9 is get my kids up, bathed, dressed, fed and off to school. That’s the reality for most parents. And that’s after waking up at 6!

And narratives that share we need to finish our creative work by 9 make parents feel like crap.

I do like the meetings in afternoon which I will surely try

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Agree Perzen. I watch my wife take care of our 6 month old baby and am in awe.

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Loved this! It pretty much covered everything except the magnificent Admiral McRaven point of "Make your bed", earning the first dopamine reward of accomplishing something right away, and kids....they belong under the courageous acts section!

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Yep, love his advice Shire. I wrote about it years ago.

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Good insights. Caffeine, walking, planning the day the night before. The best of course was last. Purpose. Know your why. Your mind will figure out the how. Consciously or not.

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Purpose is always overlooked James.

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100% sir. Especially by Americans- we spend millions on" how to" books. Which are mostly useless until we find and commit to our "why"

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I was going to read this but then you told me to throw my phone against the wall so I stopped. It was pre 6 AM

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Haha :)

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I've started taking a short walk as soon as I wake up and it's kinda miraculous. Excellent list!

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Works wonders Diana, doesn't it?

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It is surprising the difference this makes. I have to convince myself that even a short walk is 100% then nothing. My standard walk is 50min which is sometime harder to accomodate.

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Great checklist. Tick tick tick, boom - missing that one! Good reminder and appreciate the fresh approach.

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Thanks Nicky! Boom!

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After 2 short devotionals, prayer and Kona coffee, I'm ready to crush the day. Also, a small win in the morning puts the day on the right track. Thanks for the tips on mixing it up!

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What's Kona coffee, Jose?

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Kona coffee is not typically 100%, except the more pricey grounds, and may have a blend of the Kona coffee bean grown in Hawaii. It has a rich bold flavor that I find unique. Likely I've connected it with my time vacationing in the islands, which inspires me to know that it ain't all about work when I drink this liquid aloha. 😎 Try it!

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Have been using the exact same hack and it’s been working fantabulously. Thanks for putting this out there and validating it.

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Any time Praachi.

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Love the sub-title!

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I love this advice, however I'm going to agree to disagree (sorry) after working over 30 years of nights I'm like hardwired for nocturnal life!! Don't get me wrong I had times where I worked days, but boy oh boy they were damn hard! My father worked away a lot when we were young and when home working away often working nights shift!! He would sleep thru the day and I remember saying to him Dad you are going to sleep your life away... Well fast forward when he and I ran our business, I would work for him thru the day then work nights, then on weekends between working nights riding and training other peoples horses, I can go to sleep anywhere anytime....I was diagnosed with breast cancer 8 years ago went thru 2.5 years of chemo and hormone treatment and chemo kicked up the insomnia notch ten fold!!

Sorry, point being, trust me it's damn friggin hard to rewire a body of 53 years of age to become a morning person.. I'm trying but crap it's hard..... Cheers

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Great to get another viewpoint. Thank you. Remember: humans can always change. Age has nothing to do with it. It's a matter of will.

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Yep, I know when I can do these things my day works well. I do include meditation, right before I start work, which clears my mind and settles the soul.

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I need to go back to meditation David. I had a record of like 633 days with the Calm app not long ago.

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Thank you for sharing this great insights ❤️

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My pleasure Jenni.

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Great article. I attempt to do most of these in most days; however I have learned that I am more productive and creative after 8 pm. I have been this way my whole life. Unfortunately, this interferes with my “day job” responsibilities.

Before having long COVID symptoms I needed 9 hours of solid sleep to get up feeling refreshed at 6 am. I could easily do that without an alarm. Now, it requires at least 10 hours and sometimes more. My life cannot accommodate more (right now), so I drag myself around in the morning, trying to engage brain cells that sometimes refuse to fire up.

I will reread this article and take note of how I can refine my current routine. There is always room for improvement.

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Sorry to hear about long covid Corrie. It's a nasty thing.

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No kidding. I am thankful for my integrative nutrition knowledge. It is coming in handy.

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Couldn't agree more with you Tim on the majority of the points you made and also was enlightened on some new ones. Thanks for sharing.

Sorry to hear about your change in coffee consumption! I'll drink some extra for you!

Great stuff!

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Yes, I'll have a double espresso Virginia.

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Perfect! That's what I drink every morning!

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Downtime is important. And the only way I will see 4am is if I don't go to bed at all.

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True Natalie.

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Looks great Tim, will give a try.

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Report back when you do Cornel.

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