001 | THE WINNING MORNING ROUTINE

WIN THE MORNING, WIN THE DAY.

What is the first thing you do when you open your eyes in the morning? For most, it involves one or more of the following: hitting the snooze button, rolling over and pretending like it was all a dream, scrolling through Instagram to wake your eyes up, checking emails to see what obstacles lie ahead, and weighing the pros and cons of abandoning normal life and just staying in bed all day. Sound familiar?

At this point, our morning routine is programmed into our subconscious, so you may be completely unaware of the elevated stress hormones it is causing. Poor habits that remain fixed for long periods of time can have a detrimental impact on your mental health, and even create serious physical health issues as well.

The way you start your day sets the tone for the rest of it - for the good or for the bad. The waking patterns you establish will generate either positive or negative momentum towards your life purpose. The choice is yours. However, a bad habit cannot be reversed without a good one to take its place. So the question remains, how do successful people start their day?

First, we must understand that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation. What works for Mark Cuban, may not work for you. Next, we must get very clear about what we want from our life. Once we have this vision in our head, we can paint a picture that brings it into focus with our daily actions. The main idea is this - do more of what brings you fulfillment, and everything that drains you of your precious energy will slowly fade away.

Human performance optimization is an idea I’ve been interested in for some time; and the more I explore, the more I discover. From my findings, there is one common denominator among the greatest figures in history - that is, a rigid routine that drives daily, incremental improvement. Everything they do aligns with their personal mission, and there’s no room for anything that does not. Cristiano Ronaldo sleeps five 90 minute cycles throughout the day - rather than the regular 8 hours at night - and is part of the reason he has maintained peak performance at the highest level for over 15 years. This works for him, but it may not be practical for the average Joe.

I am fortunate to have a decent amount of freedom and control over my schedule, so I structure my day based on the conviction of feeding my mind and body before I give attention to anything else. I set a target for myself to read, write, meditate, drink water, stretch, and workout before noon every day. Those six items must be crossed off the daily checklist first and foremost, as each one brings me a small step closer to the best version of myself.

To that end, I have already won my day regardless of what happens next.