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Month: August 2025

Stop Complicating Your Morning Routine

Published on August 7, 2025

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Win the morning; win the day.”

And I bet you’ve heard countless suggestions from countless sources on how exactly you can do that. You might’ve heard things like:

  • Wake up at 6am; better yet, join the 5am club; and don’t ever snooze more than once.
  • Read; then journal; then set intentions; oh, and review your to-do list; and meditate for sure.
  • Go for walk; in nature; with family or dog; for at least a mile; while listening to a motivational podcast.
  • Cold plunge; shower; skin care routine; foam roll; stretch all muscles in body.
  • Exercise; eat protein; and superfoods; oh, and lots of water; and don’t forget to include every single supplement that’s ever been recommended to you.

Let me share with you a secret that you already know: complicated is the enemy of consistency.

Try and complete that above list of items every morning and my bet is that it won’t be long until you’re burned out and doing exactly none of them again.

Simplicity is consistency’s best friend.

Want to know what I do each morning?

Generally speaking, it’s exactly three things: Shower, exercise, protein.

If I can accomplish those three things, my morning is won.

…And the other things? Some I’ll do later in the day… some I’ll do occasionally on a weekly or monthly base… and some I don’t do at all.

And guess what? That’s okay.

Because I know what’s most important to me. And if you figure out what’s most important to you, you’ll have a MUCH easier time getting it done consistently and over a life-changing span of time.

Mudded By Default

Published on August 6, 2025

Time spent thinking… about what to write… about how to say something… about how you feel… about what’s right and what’s wrong… about what’s even just going on in your mind…

…Even if it amounts to nothing tangible or ends with no evidential outcomes or progress—

—Is never time wasted.

The mind is unavoidably mudded by default in our modern world.

…And each stone not thrown into the pond—for whatever duration of time it can be sustained—is an inaction that leads precisely to what a mudded-by-default kind of world needs more than anything else:

…Clarity.

Never underestimate the power (or benefit) of sitting and doing boring thinking.

It Made All The Difference

Published on August 5, 2025

After an afternoon adventure, I was running a little early before needing to return to work and was faced with a choice as I closed in on my afternoon coffee time: (a) Get my coffee to go and go back in early—using caffeine and the extra minutes as the vehicle to boost my “productivity”…

Or (b) remember my experiences in Bosnia and use the coffee and extra time as the vehicle to boost my presence of mind.

…I parked my car, walked inside the café, got my coffee, sat at my seat, sipped on it for a full and hearty 30 minutes, didn’t do much else otherwise—certainly nothing traditionally considered “productive”—

…And let me tell you: it made all the difference.

On Being Spontaneous

Published on August 4, 2025

Not being able to be spontaneous isn’t about your need for a plan or your desire for control… it’s about not being able to trust yourself.

Because it’s not about what happens in each moment… it’s about what you bring to each moment…

And if you don’t think you can let go of the future (plans) and bring great energy and perspective to the present (one moment at a time)… then maybe it isn’t the plans you need to work on…

When Your Body Speaks… Listen.

Published on August 1, 2025

One of the guys I play basketball with is the type who pretty much walks into the gym, dribbles and shoots a few times, and then steps into full court, full speed games.

He’s been out for a few months because of a calf injury—which likely resulted from his above “warm-up” routine.

Today, when he came back for the first time, what did he do?

…Walked into the gym, dribbled and shot a few times, and stepped into our full court, full speed game. Not a stretch in sight.

The thing you have to understand about your body is that it doesn’t communicate with you via words—it communicates with you via aches, pains, injuries, and every other unpleasant (and pleasant) type feeling.

If you don’t listen to your body, you’re bound for much more of the unpleasant than pleasant.

If you pay attention, however, and really listen… and build habits around pains… routines in repeatedly targeted areas… and rituals for when communication happens… you’d be surprised how much more pleasant it’ll be to be in your body.

Surrender > Force

Published on August 1, 2025

To force is to fight against the forces around you.

To surrender is to align with the forces around you.

The problem is that most people aren’t aware of the forces around them—because they’re too busy trying to force a schedule, force an agenda, force a relationship.

The trick is to slow down enough so as to actually feel… not only the energy coming from the forces that be… but the energy coming from the forces in your being.