- 4:45 a.m. – Get up, put on some work out clothes, splash water on my face and drink a 16 oz cup of water
- 5:00 a.m. – light workout (7 minute routine or quick jog)
- 5:15 a.m. – Meditate for 10 minutes
- 5:30 a.m. – focus on today’s real estate entrepreneurial tasks while consuming an audio book…also drink more water
- 7:15 a.m. – breakfast with the family and, of course hygiene!
- 7:45 a.m. – first call for the W2
So let’s walk through this in more depth, but before we go any further let’s clarify some things. I’m not a perfectionist and I’m not striving for perfection, I AM striving for excellence. This is meant to be a guide and a plan. Having 2 kids, 4 years old and under, with a 3rd on the way has its challenges of keeping any sort of routine, and this is why I focus on doing mine early in the morning before the rest of the house wakes up. That and essentially at the end of the W2 day I’m typically to mentally exhausted to want to do anything else except hang out with my kids and wife.
4:45 Alarm – Are You Serious?
Yes I’m serious but don’t think I decided to one day just wake up and that was that (also to note, I’ve never been a morning person). I tried setting my alarm at 5:30 a few times but just snoozed it. Like any other workout I had to ease myself into it. So, I move my alarm up 15 minutes early for 2 weeks (do something for 2 weeks and it becomes a habit right?!). After those 2 weeks, I backed it up another 15 minutes. After those 2 weeks, another 15 minutes and so on. Just like any workout goal, you don’t decide to just walk in the gym and do it or run a 5k from the couch, you have to work at it and rising early was the same for me.
Drink More Water
You’ve seen ‘Drink More Water’ a couple of times now. The goal here is 100 oz/day. A little back story here…until I gave into my wife’s wishes, I was consuming 4-5 sodas/day with a few glasses of sweet tea for dinner. Hardly any water. But after years of chipping away, I finally gave in and decided to try what my wife has been on me about and it’s AMAZING how much healthier I feel. Now don’t get me wrong, I still drink a soda or two at lunch and couple glasses of sweet tea typically at dinner time and a rare night cap alcoholic drink but my daily water consumption is 100 oz. The reason I drink 16 oz right when I wake up is because the last time I had anything to drink was right before bed…7-8 hours ago. My body is a little dehydrated. I have another 16 oz glass (or two) right after my quick workout and within an hour of waking up I’ve consumed a third (or half, if I drink two after working out) of my daily goal. And the reason I choose a 16 oz glass, is just for easy math – 6.25 glasses of 16 oz = 100 oz.
And notice until this statement I haven’t mentioned coffee. I will drink the occasional cup on days I’m not able to go through my morning routine but I’m not particular fond of what it does to my GI system 🙂 And I’m quoted several times in saying how Coffee is your friend. Replace coffee with your miracle morning routine as much as possible.
Light Workout & Meditation
I have come to the acceptance and conclusion that my dreams of being a star in the NFL, Mr. Olympia, or competing against David Goggins running in Ultra Marathons have come to an end. However, I do want to have the energy and stamina to keep up with my kids when they want to get out in the yard and play or wrestle in the living room floor. So, my light workout routine (right now) is either a 7 minute HIIT program or a 1 mile walk/run. And I put right now in parenthesis because due to some lower back injuries (stemmed from my Uncle Rico days), I didn’t workout for a decade. I’m slowly getting back into it and my current light workout elevates my heart rate, gives me a good sweat, but most importantly wakes me up in the morning.
I go straight from my light workout into meditation. This is something new I’ve adopted in the last year and it has certainly helped with dealing with anxiety and stress. I see it as an exercise for my brain and I’m upset it has taken me this long to discover and try it out. There are plenty of apps available to assist with this and I highly recommend you find one that provides you the most affect. I use Headspace, which is free to try.
Real Estate Investing Tasks
I focus on 12 Week Goals, led by the concepts discussed in the book The 12 Week Year by Brian Moran. This is also the concept we use as a base for successfully pushing our Mastermind Group members to the next level. BUT, my daily REI tasks vary from quarter to quarter, but the important thing here is write down your goals, create those daily tasks and track your progress daily. This also includes sharpening the grey matter. I’ve read and consumed more material in the last 5 years than in my entire life (my high school teachers would be proud). I list the most influential books on the Read Page and highly recommend Audible for knocking these out while you commute, jog, or tackling that honey do list.
On The Backend…
Meaning at night time…I still strive to grab 7-8 hours of sleep every night, this means I typically go to bed around 9 p.m. If this is unacceptable for you, I go into more detail of altering lifestyle in the How I Balance post, check it out. The bedtime alarm on the iPhone keeps me in check of when to go to bed. Amazingly, most people I tell about this feature have no idea that it exists. Check it out under Clock, here’s a screen shot of what mine looks like.
Miracle Morning Millionaire
This book by Hal Elrod and David Osborn will change your life and is the centerpiece around my morning routine. We’ve tackled this in the W2 Capitalist Mastermind Group and practicing this routine will change your life. Here’s the link to the book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2t8clHs