I’m a creature of habit, except for when I’m not.
For the past several months I’ve had my alarm set for 6am and below is what my routine looks like. I’ve found that during the Summer months it’s sooo much easier to wake-up “early” because it’s light out… I LOVE it! (sure don’t miss those winter months of waking up when it’s dark out and throwing on a sweatshirt as soon as I get out of bed).
6 AM: Alarm Goes off (PRO TIP: always have a song that pumps you up, if you start to hit snooze then it’s time to change the song!)
I usually start my day by checking my phone. I’m too connected – this I know. Whether it’s social media updates or emails, I’m all over it. But specifically emails… I love the opportunity to get back to a client at 6 in the morning – if that doesn’t show dedication then I don’t know what does! I usually clean out my inbox before going to bed, but hey somehow I always have plenty more emails to clean out in the morning. This is a great way for me to slowly wake up and start my day with a simple productive task.
Budget: 5-10 mins
6:10 AM: PRE-WORKOUT!!!
It’s gym time! Without fail, I swear this is what happens… Roll out of bed, yell “RILEY!” I guess that’s my warrior cry. Riley is my one-and-a-half year Golden Retriever (or 18 month old pup but hey who’s counting months?!) This dog is so damn energetic — and if you don’t believe me then ADD ME on Instagram to see her famous pool trick! Anyway, the point is I absolutely need to give her some attention before I head out to the gym. She knows the difference between “right paw” and “left paw” and when I expect a high 5 she knows the difference.. She’s cool and she deserves to get some attention before I abandon her for the gym, haha.
I intentionally tell my dog, Riley, to come down the stairs and follow me to the kitchen during which I toss some “BroTein” in with my pre-workout. We head back upstairs (slight run) and I drink this stuff and check my emails once more but this time from my laptop vs. my iPhone. See the point of going downstairs and upstairs is just to give Riley a bit more movement and let her play around a bit before I ditch her to get swoll at the gym. Lately I’ve gotten back into swimming, so before I leave the house I connect my waterproof iPod to my laptop and choose a new Podcast to listen to for my swim. Then, back downstairs, fill up the Shaker Bottle (which is branded of course) with BCAA’s, and off to the gym it is! Drive time to my gym is no more than 5-10 mins.
Budget: 20 mins
6:40 AM: GYM TIME!
This is my “me time” – some might call it meditation. I follow some of the self-help experts like Tim Ferriss, Gary V, etc etc. A common theme I’ve noticed among successful people is they allow time in the mornings for meditation. Well, I don’t meditate per se, however; I stretch. You know the big exercise room they use for yoga your gym? Well around 7am it’s usually empty and it makes for a great dark, quiet and not too crowded area to get some stretching in. I have one of those yoga stretch bands (but sometimes I use my branded Resistor Strip) and I’ll stretch out those hammies followed by foam rolling. Now, I’m not going to go through my whole gym routine, but I think it’s important to walk through the important elements (my version of meditation. For the past couple months I’ve had a solid routine of stretching, lifting, doing core then swimming for 10-20 minutes. I did 4 triathlons in 2015 then before April of 2017 haven’t really swam at all… so it feels great to get back in the pool!
8’ish AM: My workouts fluctuate but usually I get back home around 8am’ish. Sometimes I have terrible workouts and get home much earlier … but it’s okay — half the battle is just showing up. Well, no “showing up” is more like 10% of the battle – let’s be real. Other times I have amazing workouts and I don’t want to leave the gym. The point is your routine needs to be consistent. If I wake up and don’t feel like going to the gym, then I put on a Podcast (notice a theme here?) or something else that will motivate me. I’m going to the gym no matter what in the morning unless I’m hungover from a mixer that ended in a party or something of that nature … OR if I have a board of directors meeting. (Hey, it’s okay to be a Pro by Day and a Bro by Night – right?!) I’m getting off track here… When I get back home I make Riley her breakfast in between my morning Greens smoothie. I prefer spinach, chocolate protein, frozen bananas, some other health nut oils and what not – but my newest thing is Organifi – love this stuff! (John Lee Dumas from the Entrepreneur on Fire Podcast promotes Organifi all the time and I got hooked) Sometimes I’ll make actually breakfast – usually eggs and bacon. Then it’s back to emails and I start my day.
THAT’S IT… That’s my routine. I could care less about anything else that happens during the day in terms of my routine. My morning is my ritual and for me it starts me out with purpose, energy, focus, determination and attitude to WIN. One more routine I probably should mention is that I try to plan out tomorrow, tonight. Meaning that before I go to bed I like to look at my calendar and organize my Daily Goals in a Google Doc (app from iPhone), but I really don’t do this consistently. I try to, but you know .. sometimes you just need to unplug.
If you try out a new routine that was inspired from this post, then send me a note. On social I’m @SwagSam408 or feel free to email me at Sam@valuebp.com to get hooked up with some branded Shaker Bottles, Stretch Bands or anything else you might need 😉
Til Next Time,
Sam AKA SwagSam
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