Everyone knows that in order to be successful you need to hop into an ice bath, stare directly into the sun for 12 minutes, and drag your balls through some dirt.
But I want to expand upon the common knowledge laid out by the giants before me, and show you how I set things up to help me stay lean while building a business along the way.
Goofy morning routines can definitely get out of hand, and they can start taking away from your life once they get too lengthy and complex.
If you need to tick an 18-point checklist before you can get a single thing done each day, you might be actually setting yourself up poorly – especially if those habits revolve around expensive “bio-hacking” nonsense.
But – having some structure and routine to your day can help set things off on the right foot.
For me currently, the most important things are:
- Food
- Planning
- Focus
- Exercise
And if you say it out loud, it makes a really nice sound that rolls off the tongue – fpfe. (Can’t wait to get see this trending #fpfe)
THE PRACTICE IN ACTION
Let’s take a look at how I use #fpfe to craft a winning morning routine, and what your morning could look like too.
Everyone is all about their fasting nowadays, but I find that takes away from my workout later in the morning, and gives me less energy to focus on my morning work.
5:30am: I start most mornings with the exact same breakfast, greek yogurt with protein powder and some fruit and/or toast.
If you can get some protein in each day, first thing in the morning, you’ll help your body build more muscle, and preserve more of it – if you’re dieting for fat loss.
Unless it’s pancake day, I don’t like to cook in the mornings, so I will have something cold that’s easy to grab and go like yogurt or some cooked chicken.
Throw some carbs like fruit, bread, cereal, or bagels in the mix, and you’re golden.
That’s gonna help you hit your workout harder later in the day.
I’m a big fan of espresso, but my current coffee grinder is a little broken, so sometimes I’ll just have instant coffee like the pleb that I am.
6:00am: After food, I spend about 10 minutes just planning my day on google calendar.
A lot of the time, this ends up being similar stuff each day like client calls, writing, making videos, or writing programs.
But I like to time block each individual day so that I can work productively when I need to.
6:15am: After that – I hit the pomodoro timer. This is a timed period of focused work or productivity.
You work for 25 minutes before taking a 5m break, then repeat 4 times before taking a 10-15 minute longer break.
This one called pomofocus is awesome – it gives you a graph report of all the hours you spent focusing, and what tasks you were working on.
I’ll be building a huge chart this year with how much focused work I’ve been doing.
For me, this is mostly content creation and focused work periods for checking in on my clients these days.
But I recommend you slot your most important tasks in here for your situation.
If you have one big project you’re working on – this is the place for it.
Non-negotiable, big deal projects that require lots of thinking.
I can normally get 1 hour of good, focused work done each morning before anyone really talks to me.
This is a huge part of how I’m able to create so much.
7:30am: At this point, I’m fed, caffeinated, and feeling satisfied by doing some lever-moving work.
I go upstairs to pet my dog, wake her up, and take her for a short walk before I walk to the gym.
Lately, I’ve been really enjoying training for muscle growth – it’s a super satisfying type of training.
So normally, I’m feeling pretty worked after I walk home.
After a shower, it’s about 9:45 am – and I’m ready to kick some more ass.
TAKEAWAY
The specifics of your morning will look different than mine, but it’s not the details that matter. What is important is that you set yourself up for success each and every morning.
Food, planning, focus, exercise – If you stick to this routine for a year, you’re going to be on the path to achieving something incredible – no matter what it is.
