Hey 👋🏽,

It seemed like everyone I talked to last week was tired: family, friends, coworkers, riders. Almost 6yo slept in later than normal and I laid my mat down on my office floor more weekday afternoons than not to indulge in some restoration courtesy of Yoga Nidra by Caitryn.

Then I talked to Anna Yang, one of my coworkers at Animalz. Every morning like clockwork, Anna tweets about her #5amwritersclub experience.

Everyday, she sits down, lights a candle, and gets to work. She shows up even when she’s tired, practicing breaking work into smaller segments.

I really related to what Anna shared as a maker and a mom. How many days have you started in reaction mode, immediately at the mercy of the news/notification cycle, having everyone else’s priorities set your own?

3 weeks ago, to shake off the winter hibernation, I resolved to build a more deliberate morning routine. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months and accelerated my quest for a better wakeup since giving into some clickbait and watching the 1 Billion Dollar Morning Routine. Rituals vs routines was the most clicked on link in start again today no. 59 so I was interested in exploring this further.

The routine involves such joyful practices as:

taking a cold shower
writing lots of different types of lists
being a billionaire (most time management advice is out of touch with reality)

The key thing for me in designing a morning routine has been having time to create the energy I want to bring into everyday instead of trying to draw all of my energy out of the day. It’s also time to make progress towards my longer term goals: reading 500 books over the next decade, being a better friend to my bffs, customers and riders, and building a portfolio career.

With that energy, I’m able to ask the question: “what’s the highest leverage thing I can do for our team, our customers, our business?” So far, I’ve found myself looking forward to going to bed knowing that I have this time to look forward to in the mornings, and ending the routine ready for whatever the day may bring.

What do you love/hate about your morning routine? I’d love to know. I hope that wherever/whenever you are you’re starting the day (and the week) on your terms. And if not, you can always start again tomorrow.

I see you, I love you, have a great week,