You need a routine.
And if you think you don't, you may not realize that you already have a routine that you didn't create. Your parents, teachers, employers, and society did.
Or your "routine" is not having a routine.
But you don't need any old routine.
You need a very short one.
Because think about it.
If you're anything like I was, you went to school and got a job.
I didn't have much time on my hands, and worse, I didn't have much energy to invest into the future I wanted to create. When you're forced to put that energy into others' dreams rather than your own, it doesn't feel good.
I'd try going to the gym after work.
But all I wanted to do was go home. I was tired.
I'd try learning something new on my way to work.
I learned a lot, but that knowledge didn't do much since I didn't have the time to apply it.
I'd try building a little get-rich-quick side hustle before bed.
I didn't stick with it. I tried once, expected the world, and quit soon after.
Eventually, I got sick of the lack of progress I was making. I wanted full control over my energy for the entirety of my day. Every ounce of energy wasted on someone else's projects felt terrible.
Of course, it wasn't about it being someone else's project. It was about working on something I didn't have a long term stake in. I wanted to feel valuable. Worth something. And when all you get is a measly paycheck every 2 weeks knowing others doing less work than you are making 10x more is painful. I wasn't investing in anything outside of a measly 401k that would help with retirement. I didn't want to retire. I wanted to live. Right now. Not in 40 years.
The Forgotten Importance Of Routines
Here's the brutal truth.
If you can't carve a 60 minute block out of your day to work on a project that acts as a stepping stone toward your ideal future, where do you think your life will end up?
Chances are, you already have a routine deeply engrained in your mind.
That's what your mind likes to do.
It normalizes repetitive situations, and your life is probably more repetitive than you'd like to admit (mine sure is).
The more you do something, the more habitual it becomes, and the less you need to put effort into maintaining that system.
This is a double edged sword.
Why?
Because your actions create your future, and if those actions are on autopilot, and you didn't set the destination, that's a recipe for disaster. One day, you'll finally wake up and feel disgusted because even when you lived in your body, you felt out of control of it.
For most people, you can simply observe society and see that their routines aren't leading anywhere good.
They wake up, grab their phone, immediately project into the stressful tasks for the day, stay in bed as long as possible in hopes that something will change until they're forced to get up because their survival is dependent on the paycheck those tasks bring in.
Then, they get to work, at home or remote. They don't have a deep care for the work they're doing or who they work for, so they don't care if they do the bare minimum to receive said paycheck. Since they do the bare minimum, their terrible diet and lifestyle habits aren't seen as problems because their performance toward a meaningful goal doesn't take a hit. Their goals don't demand them at their best, and they shy away from ones that do.
Then, they get home, exhausted and ready to "shut off" for the day. But when they think about it, they didn't do anything that would make them tired. In fact, it was a pretty lazy day. That's what's funny about energy: it is generated from effort. A low energy lifestyle stems from a low action lifestyle.
They say hi to their husband or wife. No effort there either. Each start to grow resentful of the lack of zest and intimacy in the relationship. Divorce is on the horizon.
The thing about systems is that if you don't put energy into them, they start to fall apart. They decline into chaos. This is known as entropy.
Most people don't create a routine, they are assigned one, and since they don't care about the outcome of that routine, they fail to put effort into it, and the entirety of their life slowly, then all at once, plunges into the gutter.
On the other end of the spectrum, routines free up mental space to be creative. That's the secret of most successful people. They create routines that:
- Move the needle toward their ideal future
- Reduce the cognitive load of repetitive tasks
- Allow their mind enough breathing room to think outside of their survival needs (and toward their actualization needs)
But most people don't see that creative potential because they are living in the past or future. Worried about the work or arguments they're going to have. Since they're in this perpetual state of stress and worry, their mind is narrow, and they numb that pain with quick pleasures.
That's the massive problem here.
It's not just about your work or money, it's about each domain of your life.
Your mind, body, and money. Relationships are implied with those.
Your lazy morning impacts your work, your work impacts your will to maintain your health, those both spill over into your relationships, and since there are so many problems circulating in your mind, you can't see an opportunity to change.
The solution is incredibly simple.
There is only one way out.
You need to carve out an intentional block of time for that one thing that will make the most progress toward your ideal future.
You Need 3 Habits
"I don't have time."
"I'm tired at night."
"I'm not a morning person."
Listen to yourself.
Acting as if your current feelings matter more than tomorrow's reality.
And yes, not having time is a feeling.
You feel busy. But you aren't. Because if you were to write down on paper what you do at every second of the day for the next week, I guarantee you would realize that you are lying to yourself.
The solution to most of your problems is to start solving one.
You need to knock over the lead domino that cascades into all areas of your life.
For most people, this is fixing their money problems so they can take control of the rest of their day.
Block off 1 hour in the morning.
I don't care if you aren't a morning person.
Don't start acting like your preferences matter right now. You aren't a little kid anymore who gets mad when their brother starts playing with a toy they haven't touched in a year. You don't prefer the entirety of your life… but you won't give up one of your current small preferences to be able to create a life you prefer? Make it make sense. Stop thinking with the perspective of your current self.
The morning is when your energy is highest.
It's far too easy to feel as if you put in a good days work and let yourself go when you get home.
The minimal amount of time you have in the morning before responsibilities pile up is the only time you have to change your life.
Even if it's not, act like it is.
Money: Start A Business
Telling people to "start a business" is like beating a dead horse at this point.
And that's the trap.
If your mind reacts to the simple advice of starting a business because you've heard it too many times before, or have a bad relationship with the term, you close yourself off to your potential. This is not exaggeration.
In today's world, your work spills over into every other area of your life. This is the lead domino for most people.
Work is a necessary part of life. It brings contrast to rest—making it enjoyable rather than boring. But if work takes up 70% of your waking hours, and most work isn't meaningful, then a majority of your life won't be enjoyable. That's not good.
For most people, becoming an entrepreneur, the path of high agency, should be the first endeavor they dedicate the first hour of their mornings to. It will take the longest. It will be the most difficult. It will require you to feel as if you are starting over from scratch. But it is the singular ticket to taking back control of your life.
This isn't about forming an LLC and designing a logo.
It's about doing things that aren't taught in schools. It's about doing things that lead to success even if you don't make it in business.
Companies pay top dollar for irreplaceable people.
Replaceable people are those who learned the same thing as everyone else. They fit perfectly into the machine they were molded to fit in.
Entrepreneurs are the ones who get equity in companies and know how to make money because they've learned the stack of skills that allows them to do so creatively.
If you can make a company 10m, you can negotiate your way to being paid 1m and being in control of your schedule.
Beyond that, the future of work is being a one-person business.
As jobs slowly then rapidly get replaced by AI and further technology, your only option is to get pushed aside or choose to create. You either become treated like a machine or become the master of machines. One person today can build a company that required a team of 50 people 20 years ago.
Work is shifting from corporation to individual.
If you don't know where to start, check out the One-Person Business Launchpad or watch my YouTube playlist on the topic.
Body: Go To The Gym
In my opinion, starting a business is the first thing you should do when it comes to changing your life.
All things related to learning, building, and selling fall into the first high-energy 60 minutes of your day.
But that doesn't mean that health should be any less prioritized.
Why?
Because improving your health doesn't have to take up any more time throughout your day. Good health is not reserved to those who have a business or have a lot of time. Improved health comes from simple behavior changes.
Taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
Going on a 10 minute walk while on your lunch break.
Swapping the fast food for something high-protein but still tasty.
You know what changes you can make to start improving your energy levels, and that energy can now be put back into the important aspects of your life.
You don't have to set aside another hour to go to the gym, but if you want to increase the challenge of changing your life, wake up another hour earlier. One hour for the gym, one hour for business.
Yes, you can go to bed earlier. That's when most of your bad habits take place anyway. You can exchange 2 hours at night for 2 hours in the morning, and that alone will set you on a completely new life trajectory.
Why the gym?
Because it is the physical manifestation of progress within your direct experience.
There are parallels between progress in the gym and progress in any other area of your life.
- You will be afraid and overwhelmed the first time you step into the gym.
- You will think everyone is watching you until you realize nobody cares.
- You will try to throw too much weight on the bar and get your ego checked.
- You will go through "beginners hell," but soon enter intermediates heaven. There is no greater feeling than progress being made.
Sure, you can absorb these lessons just by reading them, but you don't actually learn something until you experience it. Learning comes from insight, not study. Insight comes from experience.
Mind: Connect With Reality
I used to think the term spirituality was reserved for new age hippies.
But you don't have to think of it like that.
Spirituality is not sitting cross legged in a forest with crystals floating around you.
Spirituality, in one useful definition, is releasing the limits on your mind that fog your perception. Spirituality is clear perception. The pursuit of being at one with reality.
The problem is that people get trapped in survival mode.
Tied to the past and stressed about the future. Their mind can only think within a tiny box of negative potentials. The bills. The mortgage. The car that's about to break down. The tasks they have waiting at work. How little time they have at night to enjoy themselves. Since they can't think clearly, they can't make decisions that change the course of their future.
In other words, it's extremely difficult to improve your money, health, and relationships if your mind can't see the opportunity to improve those things.
Like health, spirituality is about simple behavior change.
You don't need to sit and meditate for an hour every morning.
You can, of course, but you need to solve your survival needs (money, in todays world) before your mind can fully move on to it's actualization needs.
For now, connect with reality at any time you get.
Any time you are not engaged in work, or thinking through a problem with intention, refocus your mind on the present. Avoid getting trapped in a limited box of negative thoughts.
Treat your senses as attention anchors.
Whenever you touch something, feel it.
The water as you wash your hands. Any object or person that you hold. Your dog when you pet them. Place all of your attention there.
Whenever you are looking at something, see it.
Notice the detail in the leaves of a tree, the cracks in the road, the beauty of the mountain range in the background, the vastness of the sky.
Whenever you listen to something, hear it.
The conversation with your partner. The music you think you hate.
And so on. Smell it. Taste it. Pick apart the flavors in a meal.
As a simple mindfulness practice, you can always recenter your attention on the breath.
Breathe deep into the belly from your nose and follow that breath around and back up your spine.
Live in reality. Not your head.
Thank you for reading.
– Dan