Waking up at 5 AM Is Dumb. Personal Freedom Is Waking up Whenever You Want.
Ignore the productivity gurus
Morning routines have become ridiculous.
We’ve gone from waking up and starting our day… to turning the morning into some B.S. bragging rights full of tiny optimizations that don’t matter.
There’s a chance your morning routine has become more complicated than it needs to because of this trend. It’s time to simplify and focus on what matters.
The viral story that pissed off the internet
Morning routines were seen as fine until recently.
There was a massive backlash. It all started when Ashton Hall posted a morning routine. I wanted to tell you who Ashton is so I googled his bio. It’s not easy to find out what he actually does.
Google and ChatGPT say he’s into fashion. Then as you scroll it looks like he helps people with fitness. After a lot of scrolling I concluded he’s an influencer and content creator. This is crucial to understand (I’ll explain shortly).
So Ashton posts this outrageous Instagram video (click play below):
His day starts at 3:55 AM. This is a new low. The productivity gurus preached 4 AM. Now we’ve progressed to 3 AM. Where does it end?
From here, Ashton goes through a series of ridiculous steps that make up his morning routine. Everything from dipping his head into a bowl of icy water to wiping banana peels on his face. It’s almost comical yet it’s presented as a routine we should follow.
The internet blew up at the video. I estimate he got 2M extra followers from the post. Critics showed how his video timeline didn’t make sense. In one part of the video he’s jumping into the pool and is mid-air for 4 minutes before landing.
Obviously this is an error.
I don’t hate Ashton, and I think he’s an interesting person. I may not agree with his productivity advice but I take nothing away from his huge success.
What people are forgetting is that social media is performative. To get attention in this way you must show the extremes. A safe and normal morning routine won’t get clicks on Instagram (Ashton’s biggest channel).
You have to go to the extreme and show something that will enrage people. Instagram’s culture is people showing other people how good they are. So it’s the worst demonstration of reality imaginable. Yet many people (including my wife) casually scroll Instagram and TikTok and think they’re watching educational content.
They’re not.
The most common video platforms show you a delusional reality. If you pay close attention, then you’ll notice people who use the label “influencer” or “content creator” are telling you their true intentions.
Content creator's main job is to create content. That content must get views for them to succeed, which means they’re closer to paid actors than they are historians, scientists, teachers, or providers of factual information.
Yet the masses have confused entertainment as non-fiction advice they should follow.
It’s tragic.
The ideal morning routine
The truth is it’s different for everyone.
I have a 2 year daughter. I can’t wake up my household at 3 AM, pump Kendrick Lamar rap, and skull coffees screaming “let’s crush the day!”
I’d wake up my family. My wife would divorce me. My 2 year old wouldn’t be able to sleep and would suffer sleep deprivation.
So these cookie-cutter routines are a f*cking joke and not to be followed.
I’ve found the ideal morning routine is to cut the crap and aim to start doing your most important work as soon as possible. Most morning routines are just procrastination in disguise.
This is what I do – I wake up and get to work as fast as possible.
I work on the most important task of the day that’s tied to my obsession and motivates me to do everything else. That’s often writing. I find waking up early is definitely helpful but it depends on what stage of life you’re at.
I rarely hear of successful people who wake up at 10 AM.
Waking up at 3, 4 and 5 AM is stupid for most people.
6 AM makes a lot of sense for me – it’s not so early I wake up family, but it’s also early enough that most of the world is asleep and distractions are reduced.
Takeaway: wake up and work on your most important task.
Personal freedom is waking up whenever you want
The whole point of having personal freedom is living life on your terms.
That means you should be able to wake up whenever you want. If you must wake up early, then are you free? Or are you drowning in work and have no choice? If you have to wake up early to commute to an office, then once again, are you free?
The people who are truly free do whatever the f*ck they want.
Someone who is free is a leader in their own right. Leaders, lead. They don’t follow some gym bro on Instagram & wank off to morning routines because the masses are.
The real problem with morning routines and productivity gurus is people’s minds are being brainwashed with a false definition of reality done for performative ‘likes,’ like a monkey jumping through a hoop at the circus to earn a banana.
Personal freedom is thinking for yourself. It’s being action-orientated and ruthlessly chasing your obsession despite what the crowd thinks.
I consider myself free. I can take the next 30 days off if I like. No one tells me what to do. I don’t care what anyone thinks. And my life is not controlled by the ideas or opinions of people on social media or fake gurus.
This should be our #1 goal, not following some silly routine like a slave.
Final Thought
Let’s stop worshipping crazy wake up times and morning routines. Let’s focus on building a life where we’re free and can do whatever the heck we want no matter how crazy average people think it is.
If someone tells you what time to wake up, you’re not free. Get free. Make freedom the only goal in your life.
Tell me in the comments section whether you think morning routines make people successful (I read every comment).
P.S. Do you post on social media?
Do you hope those posts lead to sales?
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Hey Tim, I wake up at 5 am four times a week to do sports and I love it. If you can accomplish 100 pull-ups or run 12 km before you're in the office, the rest of the day is easy. Doing hard stuff in the morning sets you up for success in the day ahead.
Did you hear Brandon Sanderson s interview with Tim Ferriss a few weeks back? He gets up at around 11 or 12, works from 2-6, then hangs with his family until around 10. Then works on until around 2-3am. Different routines work for different people.