Morning Routines

Hola and welcome to The Summit, my weekly newsletter where I share my unfiltered thoughts on navigating the peaks and valleys of adulthood. From health and relationships to productivity and purpose, consider this newsletter a collection of naive wisdom from a 20-something year old summiting the mountain of life.

Today: Morning Routines

In the pursuit of success, many iconic figures have crafted morning routines that set the tone for their day and, ultimately, their lives. From the disciplined regimen of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starts his day with rigorous exercise and goal setting, to the visionary approach of Steve Jobs, known for his contemplative walks and creative brainstorming sessions, these men exemplify the power of intentional morning rituals. Even LeBron James, the undisputed GOAT of basketball, begins his day with early workouts and mindfulness practice.   

This begs the question, what are the most optimal morning routines and what benefits do they really reap?  

When trying to answer these questions, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the plethora of information available.  Wake up at 5! Do 10 pushups! Jump in an ice bath! Anal gaze 🫣 (Yes, I’ve read articles imploring me to gaze first thing in the morning!) So today I want to share some of my favourite resources and learnings I found when developing my personal morning routine: 

Huberman Lab Podcast: 

Andrew Huberman (Neuroscientist and Stanford Professor) has multiple podcast episodes scientifically exploring a variety of morning habits/practices.  My favourite episodes which directly relate to this topic include: 

1. Using Light to Optimise Health  

   • He suggests that we should seek sunlight in the first few hours of the morning to spike our cortisol, improve our immune system, regulate our circadian clock etc.

2. Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance 

   • He explains the several health benefits of cold exposure and suggests adding cold showers or ice baths to your morning routine.

3. AMA (Ask Me Anything) #9 Journaling Benefits  

   • He explains some of the many benefits of journalling and how he implements it in his morning routine.

The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: 

One of my all-time favourite self-development books by Robin Sharma explores many profound practices including the following suggested daily habits: 

• Mindfulness/Meditation: 

  • Heart of the Rose Technique  

  • Silent Solitude  

  • Creative Envisioning  

  • Self-Mantras 

• Exercise  

• Reading/Learning  

• Early Rising  

The 5am Club: 

Also written by Robin Sharma, 'The 5am Club' thoroughly investigates the benefits of owning your morning and elevating your life.  While many themes and practices are explored, the ultimate suggestion is to implement the 20/20/20 formula.  That is 20 minutes of vigorous exercise, 20 minutes of reflection and 20 minutes of growth/learning all between 5am and 6am. 

The Daily Stoic: 

On page 'January 21^st' of 'The Daily Stoic', Ryan Holiday explains the importance of having a morning ritual (stemming from a passage of Epictetus' Discourses).  Although he explores the idea of starting your day in contemplation of existential questions, he suggests that "it is not so much the activity itself as it is the ritualised reflection. The idea is to take some time to look inward and examine". 

Make your bed: 

Admiral William H. McRaven, in his book "Make Your Bed," argues that you should start your day by making your bed.  Not just to be tidy but because it represents accomplishment, discipline, order and emphasises the fact that little things matter. 

As you are probably starting to see, there a million things you can do to win your morning, but like Ryan Holiday suggested, I believe the main idea is that you do something. Something that works for you. It has to work for you because it has to be consistent. It is no good preparing an hour long extravagant morning routine, if you realistically will not be able to put aside an hour every morning. Instead, start small and achievable – but deliberate!  

Personally, I am always learning and adding to my routine, but I’ll share what I currently strive to do every morning:

• Wake up. 

• Make my bed. 

• Toilet trip. (10 min 🤥) 

• Stretching/Mobility. (10 min)

• Go outside. I grab my journal and Ryan Holiday's 'Daily Stoic' and go to my balcony.   

• Read the stoic quote of the day. Write down my interpretation of the main ideas. (5 min) 

• Sit in silence and reflect on how the message applies to my life.  Write down my thoughts. (5 min)  

• Do a box breathing meditation technique. I start with a 4-4-4-4 breath pattern (4 seconds in, 4 seconds hold, 4 seconds out, 4 seconds hold, repeat) and slowly stretch this out to 10-10-10-10 pattern.  (2 min) 

• Heart of the Rose (The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari).  I choose something to focus on, an object, a plant or even a photo. I generally pick the ocean because I am lucky enough to see it from my balcony.  I then go through the five different senses and think about how the ‘thing’ looks, smells, tastes, sounds and feels.  (5 min) 

• Creating Envisioning/Manifesting (The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari).  Sitting in silence, I think about where I would like to be 1 month, 1 year or even 5 years. What do I want to be doing? Travelling around living the digital nomad lifestyle? Running a successful business? Writing a cool blog 😳?  (5 min) 

• Self-Mantra. To end my morning mindfulness, I repeat a self-mantra to myself 10 times.  This is not my favourite exercise to do yet because I still get a little uncomfortable doing it (icked out).  However, there are so many people out there, far wiser than me, preaching the benefits of this practice, so I’ll keep at it for now! (2 min) 

• Write down my daily goals. This includes identifying one primary goal (the frog). So long as this gets done, I consider the day a success. (2 min)

• Lock in and start cracking away at my daily goals/to-do list.

All up that’s 35-ish minutes of mindfulness, reflection and introspection - easy peasy.  As you can see, I don’t get everything in, no vigorous exercise, no cold plunge, but right now, it works for me and that’s what I find matters the most. The way I see it, all I need to do is set my alarm 45 minutes earlier to win my morning.   

However, if you’re anything like I was a few months ago, you’re probably questioning whether any of these practices actually do anything? "It all sounds great Gabe, but will telling myself that I am on the right path ten times really elevate my life?" 

Truth is, I don’t know.  I can only speak from my experience. I’ve been doing this for the better half of a year so far and honestly cannot see myself going back.  Believe me, I was more than skeptical listening to mates talk about the meditation they do, and even reading about these practices. But I figured the least I could do was give it one week and see how I go. Now, six months later, here I am recommending you do it too. 

But don’t take it from me, the confused wantreprenuer (just a little less confused then yesterday), take it from Arny, Jobs and Lebron 🐐 . 

All it takes is half an hour, so step up, set the alarm and get vulnerable.  

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