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your life will change forever the moment
that you decide to get up early and
really attack your day go to bed at the
same time every day don't use an alarm
sleep as much as you need but the second
you wake up you're going to get yourself
going let me tell you all about what my
life looked like before I started
getting out of bed and really getting
after it
one I was sliding towards depression
because my life felt like it was
completely out of control two I was
wasting four to five hours a day every
day three I spent my time tired all the
time because I wasn't going to bed with
intention which means that my body clock
was all over the place I would go to bed
two to three hours differently every
night sometimes earlier sometimes later
I had nothing specific to Anchor to to
what time that I was going to go to bed
which means that if I just let my body
sleep then I was going to wake up
whenever I was going to wake up and if I
set an alarm even worse I was gonna wake
up but feel terrible now most of the
time I had an alarm so I would just wake
up feeling terrible and I would snooze
the alarm and snooze the alarm and
snooze the alarm and I would constantly
one I would still sleep like another
hour but I would do it in nine minute
fits and starts so you end up starting
your day absolutely terribly you feel
like you're on the back foot from the
moment you get up because by the time
you finally get yourself out of bed
depending on if you're talking about a
period when I had a job or when I didn't
which even I can't believe that that's
actually true in my lives but there was
life there was extended periods of time
where I didn't have a job and then times
where I did so when I didn't I would
just lay in bed and when I did I was on
the back foot and that was when I really
could not get momentum going in my life
and I couldn't understand why now from a
biological standpoint I really did not
feel good I was low energy all the time
when you're low energy you lack
motivation when you lack motivation then
you don't make the changes that you need
to make partly because you're not going
out and learning the things you need to
learn in order to create a framework in
your mind that's going to tell you
things like what I'm telling you now now
when I started implementing rules in my
life then one I was going to bed on time
9 pm every day like it's a religion I
would wake up when I would wake up
without an alarm so I would actually
feel refreshed and then I gave myself
only 10 minutes to get out of bed so
imagine going from snoozing for an hour
when I had a job or laying in bed four
to five hours if I didn't have a job two
getting all the sleep that I needed
getting up within 10 minutes and having
my day structured such that if I was
awake Monday through Friday I was either
working or working out imagine the
amount of momentum that you can create
in your life when you act like that and
so everything changed dramatically once
I started putting those rules in life
now when I did this I actually didn't
have a job at the time that I put this
rule set into place but I started going
to bed at the same time I started
whatever time I woke up I gave myself 10
minutes to get out of bed and then I
would get right to it now at the time I
had a big goal of writing a screenplay
which I ended up accomplishing I can't
remember how long it took me four to six
months something like that and I was
like holding this thing I was like oh my
God like I actually managed to
accomplish this why because I was
getting up early now what ends up
happening if you're going to bed early
you're gonna sleep somewhere between
probably seven to nine hours depending
on your age or if you're really going
hard after something that's really
exciting for you or quite frankly really
stressful might be closer to six six and
a half which is about where I live six
and a half to seven hours of sleep
measured has an average over the course
of a year and so like last night I went
to bed at nine I woke up at 3 30 a.m now
if you have my rule set you get up at 3
30 a.m by 3 31 you're either working or
working out now you can imagine that you
get a lot done as I'm recording this now
I think it's like 3 34 p.m in the
afternoon I've already worked a 12 hour
day by the time that I'm recording this
and I'm filling all of my
intermittent moments where I'm
transitioning from one thing to another
reading researching so I am constantly
maximizing my time now by the time most
people woke up I'd already been working
if they wake up at what six o'clock I'd
already been working for two and a half
hours if they wake up at seven o'clock
I've already been working for what three
and a half hours so I'm able to get a
half days work in because at my Pace
it's really getting a lot done before
most people get to their first meeting
so it's really incredible how much you
can do in a day when you begin
maximizing it but it really does begin
with going to bed on time
not setting an alarm this is not me
telling people to get six hours of sleep
or five hours doesn't mean telling you
to get as much sleep as you can get so
that you can be cognitively optimized so
that you've got the biological energy
that you need and so that you really can
pursue the only thing that matters which
is skill acquisition once you have the
right skills you can apply that to
accomplishing the things you want but
look we live in a hyper competitive
world I always tell people there's three
things that you've got at your disposal
you can work hard you can work smart and
you can work long hours now people
always say if I'm working hard and smart
why do I have to work long hours why Tom
do I need to get up early
because eventually you will encounter
somebody like me and I'm doing all three
so
if you're trying to accomplish something
big in your life I'm telling you just
have to maximize all of the things that
are at your disposal and one of those
things is just the number of hours in
your day now remember I love what I do
so for me to go hard after the things
that I'm trying to do create and build
it's the ride of a lifetime I don't want
you to do something that's miserable I
don't want you grinding it out to try to
make a bunch of money I want you to
pursue your passions with everything
that you have to leave it all out on the
field like your life depends on it
because how you feel about your life
actually does depend on it
so many people
have a constant feeling
that they're not doing anything with
their lives and the reason that they
feel like they're not doing anything
with their lives is because they're not
and that's the hard reality that you
have to face we all have 24 hours in our
day we have 365 days a year
plus leap year when it comes around and
most people just aren't making the most
of it most people don't have rules in
place most people don't know what
they're trying to accomplish most people
don't drag their ass out of bed and get
to work but if what you love to do is
the thing that you do when you get up it
really is pretty extraordinary here's
the thing that we're all up against
you've got all this potential
you can turn it into skill set but the
thing that's required is time and energy
so you need to get sleep to have the
energy and you need to get out of bed to
get the time now there's something about
getting up when it's dark when the world
just feels slow people aren't texting
you they're not emailing you it's just
you and the things you're trying to
accomplish when you take advantage of
that time and by the way you're going to
be sharp you're going to be fresh maybe
not in the first 30 minutes when you
wake up but man once you get that engine
turning which is why I recommend that
you work out first thing in the morning
once you get that engine going
and you're up to speed those are going
to be the most high performative hours
of the day and so you want to make sure
that you're taking advantage of that
time so that you can really get things
moving so get up get going take
advantage of that set goals know what
skills you have to acquire use that
additional time that you get from
getting up and getting right to it to
stack those skills and accomplish the
things that you want and once you
understand that stacking skills is how
you do something great but stacking
skills takes time then you'll start
putting the right rules in place in your
life to make sure that you do the things
that you need to do to be energized get
out of bed and get after it so stop
making excuses structure your life in a
way that is set up
to give you the space that you need to
get this all done don't make excuses
just get after it if you want to make
the most out of your time you really
have to be very thoughtful about the
things you do the first couple of hours
after waking up I have a very strict
routine that I've been adhering to in
one form or another it does very
slightly depending on what I'm doing in
my life but I have a very narrow range
of things that I do immediately after
waking up so this is what my life looks
like I don't use an alarm so I wake up
when I wake up it's usually six and a
half to seven hours after I go to bed so
I'm up very early 3 30 to 4 30 a.m is my
typical wake-up time I have my gym
clothes sitting right next to my bed I
get my feet on the floor within 10
minutes of waking up I immediately get
dressed in my gym clothes I happen to
then grab my dog
take her downstairs I feed her breakfast
and then I and by the way the second I
finished putting on my clothes I put
headphones on and I've got something
pre-arranged that I'm going to be
researching so I'm researching pick up
the dog go downstairs get her fed the
whole time I'm researching something I
immediately then go to the gym the whole
time I'm researching something while I'm
working out in the gym I work out
typically between 30 and 45 minutes
weight lifting I don't do cardio not
saying you shouldn't just saying that I
don't
I then finish working out in the gym I
go and right now I am immediately
meditating sometimes I will research for
10 or 15 minutes to let my breathing and
my heart rate come down but right now
I'm not I'm using the meditation time to
actually see how rapidly I can slow my
breathing down and get back into a calm
and creative state but meditating is
very important now the reason that I'm
doing all of these things and I'll
finish with my routine in a minute but
the reason I do all of these things is
to cognitively optimize the whole point
of life from my perspective is to turn
your potential into usable skill set use
that skill set in pursuit of honorable
goals meaning they elevate you and other
people and they're exciting to you it's
something you care about not because
people told you that you should care
about because you actually do care about
them do not let the world try to trick
you into thinking you have to care about
what is quote unquote right to care
about care about the things you're into
as long as they elevate other people as
well as you yourself I'm all for it
whether you want to play the guitar or
clean up the oceans I don't give a [ __ ]
just do something you actually care
about so you have this honorable goal
you're going after it with everything
you have you're transforming your
potential into skill set that's what
it's all about but you have to be
cognitively optimized energetically
optimized meaning that you're actually
getting sleep you're working out and
you're eating right and that brings us
to the next thing that you will notice
in my morning routine is I haven't
mentioned eating I'm usually up for four
to five hours before I eat so if I wake
up at 3 30 in the morning I'm not going
to have my first meal roughly until 8
30. sometimes I can push it to 9 9 30
depending on my schedule but I
intermittent fast for on average I
measured this over an 18-month period
and the average is about 17 to 17 and a
half I now forget the exact amount but
roughly 17 17 and a half hours over
again 18 months that includes weekends
holidays all of it where I'll have a
slightly shorter window but during the
week that window can push to 18 19 hours
sometimes so I'm going to do
intermittent fasting I'm once I finish
working out meditating I immediately
begin official work so that typically is
going to be somewhere around an hour to
an hour and a half after I wake up I'm
in full work mode so if I wake up at 3
30 by 5 a.m I'm like full-blown
not even research mode which I'm again
doing from the second I wake up not even
in research mode I'm sitting down and
I'm tackling my important things list
which I keep a list of the most
important things that I could be doing
that are moving my goals forward this
does not all have to be work it's
whatever you're trying to do with your
life just so happens that for me work
and what I want to accomplish in my life
are one and the Same by the way I highly
encourage for all of you but I know that
sometimes reality gets in the way and
that's not always going to be the case
so whatever matters most you should be
attacking early early early early
so I get to it I don't do my important
things list in the morning I do my
important things I technically I'm
constantly updating it but I try to have
it done before I go to bed so that when
I wake up I know exactly what I'm going
to be doing I know what I should be
researching and I know what I'm going to
be hitting right when I sit down and
then I do that thing now because I don't
take meetings before 8 30 used to be a
little bit later
I've started letting some things
actually I will frame it this way some
things I've gotten so good at
identifying what is critically important
that I'll actually let it come earlier
in my day whereas before I tried to push
it back because I felt like my time was
being inappropriately consumed by other
people I kept pushing my meetings back
now I've started taking meetings three
days a week at 8 30 a.m because I've
gotten so good at making sure that those
meetings really matter and that I
absolutely need to be in them
so I take my first meeting at 8 30. now
if I've woken up at 3 30 that means that
I have five hours of productivity before
I take my first meeting now I'm gonna
work until I go to bed which is at 9 00
PM so if I wake up at 3 30 and I work
until 9 pm I'm not going to do math but
it's somewhere around what 17 18 hours
ish I know it's a half but it's a lot
and so I'm able because I'm doing that
lead Domino strategy of important things
in a particular order I'm able to get a
lot done now that time is highly curated
very cultivated I'm not uh checking my
phone I'm not looking at my text
messages unless that happened to be on
my important things list if I have a big
partnership or something that I'm trying
to move forward and I know people are
going to be texting me then I might but
that would be highly highly highly
intentional be very thoughtful to
structure your day to make sure that it
meets the goals of the things you're
trying to accomplish that is what I do
with the first couple hours of my day
and I highly encourage you guys to do
the same when you wake up there are very
specific things you're going to want to
avoid number one hitting the snooze
button don't do it not even once that is
how you end up on the back foot trying
to make something happen in your day but
you feel tired you should be getting as
much sleep as you can unless you are a
parent with a newborn I don't think
there's any excuse for not getting
enough sleep
go to bed early you may have to go to
bed ridiculously early if you have to go
to bed at 7 pm to get on your kids
schedule I'm completely fine with that
what I don't advise is getting so little
sleep that you're constantly hitting
this news alarm first of all this news
alarm is going to give you terrible
sleep it's going to wake you up in what
nine minute increments which is
absolutely atrocious far better to just
admit that you're only going to have 15
minutes to get out of bed or to get
ready and get out of the house and just
get the Sleep set your alarm for the
last possible second that is far better
than hitting this newsletter this news
alarm says that you've not got control
of your evenings get control of your
evenings go to bed if you're telling
yourself the absolute catastrophic lie
that you need time to unwind you are
creating a torture cycle for yourself
you don't need time to unwind you need a
method for shutting your brain off so I
use fiction books or that's what I did
in the beginning now I use non-fiction
books but you need something to get your
brain at a problem solving mode if you
put a book on I fall asleep to a book
what I find there's I haven't read the
research on this but I'm going to
guarantee that if it doesn't already
exist if somebody did the study of
whether or not laying down triggers
things regarding sleep I promise you it
does if you need to wake yourself up sit
upright if you want to fall asleep and
when you don't feel tired get in bed and
lay down now if you're not completely
expending yourself during the day you
might have trouble falling asleep if
you're overly stressed you might have
trouble falling asleep if you're
drinking caffeine you might have trouble
falling asleep if you're working out
late you might have trouble falling
asleep there are a lot of dumb things
you might be doing that are keeping you
from falling asleep but if you're not
laying down and doing something to shut
your brain off then you're not going to
fall asleep and if you're watching TV
with blue light pounding into your eyes
then don't be surprised when you have a
hard time falling asleep so
optimize so that you can fall asleep get
yourself in a position
that you're actually going to be able to
get out of problem solving mode
into relaxation mode
feeling sleepy
dark light
no blue light no staring at your
computer no checking Twitter to see how
many people have commented on some
stupid thing that you've said so you
don't want to spike your stress you
don't want to be checking email and
there's a guy that works right up until
I go to bed there are ways you can
section off the things you're working on
so you're working on less and less
stressful things as you get closer to
bedtime
so doing all of that will allow you
to not violate principle number one
which is don't hit this news alarm the
next thing that you're going to want to
avoid is laying in bed so even if you're
not hitting the snooze alarm I give
myself 10 minutes to be out of bed up
and at them there's no laying in bed and
playing on your phone that's the surest
way to watch a whole bunch of time go by
without you actually getting up and
getting after it so everything in your
life once you wake up should be dictated
by
a routine that you follow religiously
that is optimized to help you achieve
your goals now remember you should set
goals that are honorable and exciting so
it's something you're legitimately
interested in doing again don't let
other people set goals for you based on
what you should want don't chase money
don't uh uh Chase
um goals that are good for the planet
unless you're excited about it now if
you are that's amazing but if you're not
don't get tricked into doing things just
because other people think you ought to
this is where you really want to jump
out of bed you want a spring in your
step you want to be moving towards
something and not just away from
something what is it that you're trying
to make come true in your life that
you're really amped up about go do that
thing so we're not going to lay in bed
we're not going to play on our phones
we're not going to take something in
before we start creating outward we're
going to figure out what the important
things are in our life so don't check
email don't go on social media go
straight to the gym you want to be doing
things that are going to optimize your
body and mind no one is more bored by me
than having to deal with the body I wish
that I could just exist in the realm of
the mind but the reality is that your
mind and your body are completely
interconnected they are organs in the
same ecosystem and if you don't take
care of your body you will tear apart
your mind so be very very thoughtful if
you're suffering from depression or
anxiety and you're not working out like
a fiend that is Step number one all
right another thing that you should
avoid in the first couple of hours after
waking up do not eat
you want to give yourself a nice long
window
where you are not taxing your digestive
tract so your enteric nervous system has
as many neurons literal brain neurons as
a cat brain so from having a distinct
personality to
being very important in terms of
responding to the things you eat you
want to be very thoughtful about leaving
that Gap so I have my first meal about
four to five hours after I wake up and I
won't have eaten
since about 2 pm the day before so I go
from 2 P.M to roughly 8 30 a.m without
eating every day that's going to allow
you to have a whole lot of improvements
in terms of how you regulate your
glucose how you're able to produce
ketones which will change your
relationship to hunger there's a whole
lot of benefits to fasting that are
Beyond this but I definitely would not
eat when you first wake up I also do not
allow myself caffeine for I have my
first bit of caffeine once the sun has
come up that's rule number one and then
number two it has to be at least 7 A.M
so those two conditions have to be met
before I have any caffeine and then I
also water my caffeine down dramatically
to the point where to be honest I'm
really just having coffee for the flavor
and I could probably do decaf and I
wouldn't notice on days where I don't
drink any caffeine I don't notice any
difference so I have no addiction to
caffeine I don't do it because it gives
me energy
really I do it because it gives me some
taste other than water the reason that I
do that is I don't want to be beholden
to any exogenous substance to get me up
and going so I have found that going and
working out is far more impactful to
elevating my energy levels to getting me
going to getting my blood pumping and my
brain working than any amount of
caffeine so I highly encourage you guys
to do that also I'm just super suspect
of exogenous substances this is why I
don't supplement I don't take any
supplements regularly I'm open if I
could find one that extended life for
instance I would take it like crazy I'm
just inherently skeptical about taking
exogenous substances I know there's a
lot of people that do take supplements
and I hold them in very high esteem so
it's not something that I have a hard
and fast rule it's just something that I
am wary of so do the research make a
decision on your own the truth is
hitting your career goals is not easy
you have to be willing to go the extra
mile to stand out and do hard things
better than anybody else but there are
10 steps I want to take you through that
will 100x your efficiency so you can
crush your goals and get back more time
into your day you'll not only get
control of your time you'll learn how to
use that momentum to take on your next
big goal to help you do this I've
created a list of the 10 most impactful
things that any High achiever needs to
dominate and you can download it for
free by clicking the link in today's
description alright my friend back to
today's episode okay that is the bundle
of things that I really try to avoid for
myself in the morning all of it is
designed to cognitively optimize myself
to get me moving to not be reliant on
anything outside of myself to get up get
moving I'm not allowing distractions
into my life I'm just getting to work on
those things that matter to me and that
is how you take control of your morning
and really get effect if you struggle
getting up and getting your day started
early even though you want to and know
that you should be doing it
this comes down to two things one it's
all mechanism all the time what are you
doing with your night routine to make
sure that you're getting to bed on time
because the reality is if you're tired
you're not going to want to get up the
reason so many people lack motivation is
because of as Vince Lombardi said
fatigue makes cowards of us all if
you're tired you just don't have what
you need to face the day life is hard
being a human is difficult life is going
to kick you in the face the second law
of Thermodynamics makes abundantly clear
that life moves inextricably towards one
thing chaos and the only way to tame the
chaos and create order in your life is
by pouring energy into the system to
pour that energy into the system you
need energy at two levels at the
cellular level and psychological energy
now it's easy enough to get yourself
pumped up psychologically
but to get yourself pumped up at a
cellular level you have to make sure
that you are getting to bed on time
getting plenty of sleep eating right and
getting exercise and meditating if
you're not doing those things and you're
not going to be primed at a cellular
level now to get the psychological
energy we get to the second thing you
just don't want it badly enough most
people don't want the thing that they're
pursuing in their life for two reasons
reason number one you don't realize that
desire is a process you build desire for
things you are not born with some
intense Sensational desire
you do have imperatives that Evolution
has given us but you don't have these
intense desires other than like hunger
thirst sexual drive
but you certainly don't have a drive to
go to the gym you don't have a drive to
be more successful at work that's
actually only minorly true certainly for
guys you probably do have a pretty
strong imperative to gain access to
resources but it will not direct you
towards the thing that you're
specifically going to pursue so you'll
have a vague sense of I want to do more
I want to be more I want to be admired I
want to be at the top but the top of
what
that's where people get themselves into
trouble because they lack that Clarity
they lack that Clarity because they
don't realize that you just have to pick
something that you already respond
positively to naturally you encountered
it it gave you more energy than it took
you're naturally drawn to that thing you
want to do it okay but it's not going to
be like oh my God I need to dedicate the
rest of my life to this I spring out of
bed in the morning because I'm so
excited about this thing that is not how
it works you'll just be like oh that's
cool I dig that thing now if you go put
time and energy into building desire
which is basically the process of
explaining to yourself why
that thing matters to you and as you
repeat that in an embodied way meaning
you embody the enthusiasm for that thing
that you want to feel and you loop
around it and you actually go and get
better at that and do it in the world
and people are like oh man that's so
cool I'd love that you can do that thing
and you get that positive feedback and
it was already energizing to you and you
loop around why it matters why am I
investing in this so much and you do
that over and over in an embodied way
now all of a sudden six months later a
year later it really is this raging
Inferno at the center of your soul
something that you care about and want
incredibly deeply you have to go down
that process of gaining Mastery of
really pushing yourself around why
you're gonna love this thing so much and
then it actually becomes real you become
what you repeat so if you're repeating
that you're an idiot that you don't love
yourself that will become true now
self-worth is a very complicated topic
that is beyond the scope of this
conversation but just know that you do
become what you repeat so be very
thoughtful right those really are the
two reasons that people are going to
struggle so you have to focus on making
sure that you're getting yourself
energized for this thing that you're
pursuing and then you have to make sure
that mechanistically you're doing the
things that you need to do so you're not
tired all the time
but most people
fail to get enough sleep they go to bed
with such wild swings that it's like
having jet lag like everybody goes oh
yeah if I traveled to the east coast
from the west coast and I had three
hours of jet leg of course I'm going to
be tired well what do you think happens
when your bedtime swings by an hour two
hours three hours you're gonna
experience that same kind of disruption
in your sleep cycle also people do a lot
of things to
have poor sleep hygiene from breathing
through their mouth taking in blue light
going to bed at different times watching
TV right before they go to bed checking
their text messages reading emails
working on stressful things all of this
stuff are things that are going to
disrupt your sleep and
this one which we haven't even talked
about
how close to your bedtime do you eat
food
I have roughly seven hours between my
last meal and my bedtime
and it's amazing and I have found that
if I even eat within three hours of
going to bed I can feel the difference
now three hours is I would say good if
you got three hours of distance between
the last moment you were chewing so now
when you start the meal the last moment
you were chewing and when you go to bed
you're in pretty good shape I think you
will find that you sleep better the
longer that you stretch that period out
there's of course also a lot of
individual variability I've heard some
very interesting information around
carbohydrates and if you have uh your
last meal has a fair amount of
carbohydrates that you will sleep better
now I find for me that that actually is
true if I have carbohydrates but they're
not high sugar
where glucose monitor it's very
enlightening but if I have something
that doesn't Spike my glucose massively
so think about
doing a lot of greens things like that
leafy greens that I actually will sleep
better but I need to have a pretty big
distance still between my last meal and
when I go to bed you have to experiment
with the stuff when it comes to diet
there's so much individual variability
it's absolutely terrifying so try it run
that but I find that most people eat
within an hour maybe 90 minutes before
they go to bed that's going to disrupt
your sleep massively so be very
thoughtful about trying that and
experimenting once you get all of that
down and you hold yourself accountable
to doing all of this stuff then I think
you're going to find getting up is very
easy but if you don't address
how badly you want the thing you're
getting out of bed for
and your physiology it's going to be a
struggle for ever and last but not least
I'll throw in a little bonus here and
that is you have to have standards
I'm angry with myself if I don't get out
of bed in 10 minutes or less I'm angry
at myself if I don't go to bed on time
because I really want the things that
I'm pursuing so be really thoughtful
about that don't do it because you ought
to find a way to get excited about it
then build rules in your life around
that and so you're doing it because it's
what you want for yourself and so the
reason that you're upset with yourself
when you don't do it isn't because
you're worried about disappointing other
people it's because you really want it
and you're not acting in accordance with
that
that's it get after it if you have a
goal to get up early and you find that
you don't and you're feeling badly about
yourself you have to be very thoughtful
about how you react in that moment I'm a
big fan of rewarding and punishing
yourself but you have to be very good at
how you go about that so when you do
what you're supposed to do of course you
want to Pat yourself on the back you
want to give yourself that emotional
uplift of recognizing a job well done
and when you don't you definitely want
to face Square on you said you were
going to do it and you didn't do it and
that is a black mark on your day now the
problem is that when you continue to
beat yourself up now you're going to
begin to diminish your sense of self
I advise you never do anything that
diminishes your sense of self you want
to hold yourself accountable you want to
have a standard you want to live up to
it I think that's incredibly important
and I think so many people fail to get
where they want to go in life because
they fail to hold themselves accountable
so you want to set a standard you want
to hold yourself accountable to that
standard but you also want to make sure
that you only do and believe that which
moves you towards your goals I have a
rule in my life that I only do that I'm
not trying to live in a post-truth world
this isn't me just deciding that I'm
going to believe in whatever I want to
believe in in fact I Define truth as the
thing that most efficiently moves you
towards your goal I think that you're
most closely aligned to what is true
when you're able to predict the outcome
of your behaviors and when you're able
to predict the outcome of your behaviors
I think you're on to what is true so
we're not going to sit there and
belittle ourselves and tear ourselves
apart we're going to acknowledge
that what we did
it breaks our rule that we had that rule
in the first place because it is the set
of behaviors that most effectively moves
us towards our goal so we want to get
back on track because we actually care
about our goal and we want to do the
thing that's moving us towards our goal
we're not going to get back on track
because we think we're a bad person or
we're worried what the world is going to
think this all needs to be intrinsic
motivation you need to care you need to
have some reason why you want this thing
so badly that you've put all these rules
around yourself in the first place all
the rules that I have the amount of work
that I do how hardcore I am the standard
that I hold myself to rewarding myself
punishing myself it's all in service of
what I want so make sure that you want
something that is legitimately exciting
to you make sure that you've spent the
time to build that desire in yourself
and then make sure that you recognize
that the most important thing that you
can do to bounce back is to bounce back
right away to not beat yourself up any
more than is useful to bouncing back to
getting back on track and then when you
get back on track and you say okay cool
this happens to me all the time I have a
rule I get out of bed in 10 minutes or
less and sometimes ugh my field hit the
floor right as it clicks over into the
11th minute now I never miss it by much
but when I'm due one I confess I tell my
wife I'll go on camera I'll tell people
ah I didn't make it today I like to hold
myself accountable and I feel good when
I hold myself accountable because I'm
willing to stare nakedly at my
inadequacies I didn't do it today I said
I was going to and I didn't but my
willingness to own that to admit it to
not lie to myself to not lie to other
people to say hey I didn't do it today
that act makes me feel good because I
know how effective it is I know how much
I've gotten out of my Life by being
honest when I don't do the things that I
wanted to do by reminding myself why I
want to do them by reminding myself why
I have these rules in place and then
live living in accordance with that and
when I don't to give myself that
reminder that hey
you said you were going to do it and you
didn't not making excuses owning
everything completely and reminding
myself that my life is an exact
reflection of my choices and that I made
my day a little bit worse by not doing
what I said I was going to do
at the same time that if I just sat
there and beat myself up and what a
loser I am that I'm not going to get
done the things that I need to get done
in order to make meaningful progress
towards my goals so I do it just enough
to kick myself in the ass and then I
stop I get back on track I reward myself
for getting back on track and boom it's
all systems go the most important thing
that you can do to wake up early is to
get your night routine on point my night
routine really begins at 2 p.m this is
all true so what I found was the number
one thing that disrupted my sleep was I
would wake up in the middle of the night
to pee and then my mind would start
worrying around all the problems that I
have to solve and I would be up for two
two and a half hours in the middle of
the night every single night and so I
was like okay what would I need to do in
order to make sure that I never wake up
to pee and at first I thought well if I
just stop drinking water in the you know
late afternoons or the evening I should
be fine that didn't work and then I
realized ah this is a food problem if I
stop eating food earlier then I can kill
two birds with one stone one I can
elongate my intermittent fasting window
which is already incredibly powerful but
two I'm also not going to have a bunch
of water being extracted from the food
as I lead up to bedtime so what I do is
I have my last meal I start eating at
about 1 15. I'm usually done chewing by
about two o'clock then by the time I go
to bed at 9 00 PM I've had seven hours
without eating and I also I don't drink
I have one sort of final sip right at
right before I go to bed at call it 8
58.55 but from two to then I don't have
any water so I'm able to sleep through
the night perfectly well I'm able to
drink as much water as I need during
because I wake up at say 3 30 to 4 30
somewhere in there so I'm able to get a
ton of water in my system before 2 pm
and so everything works perfectly so
that's the first thing that I start
doing the next thing I do is going to
the food thing I want to make sure that
I have a minimum of three hours of not
eating before I go to bed for reasons of
digestion so even if I didn't have the
water problem not eating not having food
in my digestion is hugely important now
the reason that I know that this
actually makes a difference is if on the
weekend I'm having a cheat meal I can
actually drink water and I don't have to
stop drinking water because the
carbohydrate intake will cause me to
retain water so I'm not going to have
that problem even if I eat close to
bedtime and keep drinking throughout the
day it's actually wonderful I love it I
can pound water right before I go to bed
something about water at night tastes so
good uh I don't have to worry about that
if I've had a high carbohydrate meal
so what I found though is that even by
eating let's say three hours before I go
to bed I can still tell the difference
in my sleep but three hours is sort of
that maximum where it's not truly
disruptive so no matter what whether you
have trouble uh with peeing at night or
not you want to make sure that starting
three hours before you go to bed you
finished all of your food intake that's
really important also three hours before
I go to bed I will avoid blue light so I
wear blue blocking glasses and I make
sure that my computer shifts over into
night mode so that it actually turns the
screen warmer colors I dim the lights I
try not to get bright lights in my eyes
all of this stuff makes a really big
difference also I don't do any stressful
work at least an hour before I go to bed
so even though I'll keep working up
until I go to bed at nine as I get later
into the evening I do things that are
far more predictable and less stressful
so for instance I have an episode to
prepare for today and so tonight as I
start getting ready for bed that will be
one of the last things that I do
literally right up until I go to bed
because it's something that isn't about
problem solving it's not stressful I'm
not going to be surprised by some
problem that exists in the business
right as I'm about to go to bed I
realize you know huge Spike of
adrenaline and cortisol because oh my
God I just realized we have some problem
that needs to be solved so it's
something that's based around learning
it's usually exciting it puts my brain
in a different mode and so that is
really useful to helping me begin to
move my brain at a problem-solving mode
and get into a mode that's going to
allow me to fall asleep
also I tend to 30 to 40 minutes before I
fall asleep I'll get into bed now I know
a lot of people say don't take work to
bed with you I have not found that to be
problematic at all as long as it's a
certain type of work like doing research
is my go-to for being in bed so I can
really begin to relax and calm down I
will also if I've had a particularly
stressful day in that last hour I might
do some meditation to really make sure
that I'm calming myself down and then
right as I'm about to lay in bed and
this is the one thing that I'm
conflicted about recommending to people
is I put headphones in and I begin
reading a book right as I go to bed so
as I lay down and fall asleep I put
headphones in and I put a book on I've
used fiction in the past I'm using
non-fiction currently but it's a certain
type of book one it's a very long book
so often biographies about a moment in
time or a given person I technically a
biography is about a person or a moment
in time and the books often are like 20
hours 30 hours so you know that you're
not going to get woken up in the middle
of the night by the book ending which
has happened to me unfortunately with
shorter books and so I will
um listen to those books they're not
where I'm trying to learn something so
it's just something that's interesting
and that puts my brain into a certain
Zone and I tend to fall asleep very
quickly I'm talking like five minutes
quickly or less I'll wake up in the
middle of the night and I'll rewind the
book back to a part that makes sense but
because it's such a big topic it tends
to be something where whether I get
exactly to where I was or not I can
still get the gist it's not like a story
where man if you miss anything you're
going to be completely lost what
happened it's disorienting so that has
been really really useful and then the
last thing that I do is I tape my mouth
closed because if you breathe through
your nose it can actually dry out your
throat disrupt your sleep there's a
whole book on this called Breathe by
James Nester if I'm remembering
correctly and it's really been
transformative to my sleep because I
used to wake up with a dry throat and it
would pull me out of sleep and you know
your lip smacking you need like
something to drink it's terrible so by
taping my mouth I'm able to sleep
through the night much better it really
was a game changer I highly recommend
you guys try not only that but all of
the things that I just talked about I
think that they will radically improve
your sleep hygiene which will allow you
to sleep much better you will be far
more rested and able to get to the Holy
Grail which is not setting an alarm so
you wake up naturally right at the
perfect part of your sleep cycle having
gotten as much sleep as your body needs
if you find that despite having really
good sleep hygiene that you're still
getting tired later in the day a lot of
people wonder if they can take a nap or
if they should avoid it and to be honest
I think that it's completely up to the
person there are some times where I'm so
tired that if I don't allow myself to at
least completely let go meaning I lay
down I close my eyes and I give myself
permission to sleep I just I can't focus
I can't concentrate and I have found
that sometimes even just letting myself
go like that even though I don't fall
asleep for 10 or 15 minutes can be
extremely rejuvenating
other times I find that falling asleep
for 10 or 15 minutes is completely
rejuvenating and other times I have no
idea why I feel super groggy and even
sleeping for an hour may make me feel
worse than just staying awake that
that's always super bizarre where you
lay down you don't set an alarm you just
give yourself permission to sleep as
long as you need you wake up one would
think that you got a full sleep cycle
but for whatever reason man when I wake
up I'm like God I just feel awful I feel
sluggish I have a little bit of a
headache just the whole rest of the day
I feel off so to be honest it's pretty
rare that I take a nap even times where
because if I get five hours of sleep
that I hate that I I can get by if it's
one day but I really really really don't
like doing it I would much rather get
six hours six hours as magical seven is
unbeatable so if I've gotten five I will
give myself the chance to lay down and
take a nap but I often find that it's
like man the whole rest of the day just
never feels like I quite get back on
and if I've gotten five hours of sleep
the only time I will give myself a
chance to take a nap is before 7 A.M so
that I'm still getting that sleep early
the sun typically for most of the year
is still down and so I'm able to sleep
while it's still dark because remember
if I only got five hours of sleep
chances are I woke up around 2 30 ish so
I can by that point I have gone worked
out I've started working for a few hours
and then I find that just wave of
fatigue really hitting me then I will
lay down but if the Sun is up and my day
is going the odds of me taking a nap are
virtually zero again there's a lot of
self-experimentation that you should do
figure out what works for you learning
those rhythms figuring out what are the
times like can you notice a pattern when
you end up getting sleepy and are unable
to bounce back for me it's like if the
day is really going and the Sun is up
and if I've had caffeine or anything
like that the odds of me feeling better
after I take a nap I are very very low
but this really is something that you
should experiment with because there are
going to be times where you may have
gotten so little sleep that the only way
to function is to get that rest is to
allow yourself to lay down and take a
nap so I certainly don't have any moral
judgments on taking a nap I think some
people do I don't like for one if I'm
flying there's something about flying if
I'm flying and I'm just like I cannot
keep my eyes open I'm like I'll take a
nap I've heard people like oh my God
like I'd never take a nap
that's crazy to me you want to
cognitively optimize you want to make
sure that you are performing at your
best and if taking a nap is going to be
the thing that lets you perform at your
best then take the nap you're far better
to if you let's say you're going to work
for three hours you're far better or you
have three hours to work I should say
you're far better napping for an hour
and a half and being really sharp that
last hour and a half then you are just
uh like struggling through not being at
your best and trying to get something
done now everything is on balance I work
so hard I leave everything out on the
field I just don't think twice about
taking a nap if that's what I need
because I know that I'm not doing it out
of laziness and I think that's where a
lot of people get conflicted is they
know that taking the nap is something
that they do as a way to avoid doing the
work and that they do that kind of thing
a lot and that they probably were
feeling tired because they stayed up too
late watching something on Netflix or
playing video games or hanging out
whatever or they had a few too many
drinks they've done something dumb that
is counter to the goals if those things
are your goals by all means do them I
don't pass any moral judgment on
watching Netflix playing video games get
as drunk as you want
if that's your goal if it's not your
goal and you did those things something
tells me that now you're beating
yourself up over being lazy and part of
the reason that you don't want to take
the nap is because you feel guilty if
you play all out all the time and you
know that you've earned that respect
with yourself
then taking a nap is a no-brainer if
that's going to be the thing that
cognitively optimizes you just a
reminder PSA enjoy your life and if
taking a nap is going to let you enjoy
it do it if it doesn't and it's going to
mess up your Rhythm then don't just
grind it out if you let me control your
life for the next seven days here is
exactly what I would have you do I'm
actually thinking about turning this
into a challenge because I think that
this would be amazingly impactful for
people and it goes like this our goal is
to get up early and really attack the
day so that we can get a lot of momentum
going so that we can outperform other
people remember I am super competitive
when it comes to doing the things that I
most want in life now I do that from a
place of joy and abundance I think
everybody can have what they want but
it's actually fun to go hard to compete
against other people and really see how
far you can push your life all right it
goes like this this is the ultimate life
routine
number one we're going to go to bed at 9
00 PM like it's a religion no if ands or
buts and we're gonna as you see as we go
through the day when we wake up we're
gonna do a lot of things to make sure
that we are ready for bed at 9pm but we
go to bed at 9pm like it's a religion we
do not set an alarm clock you can have
an emergency alarm clock if you've got a
meeting or a flight to catch or
something like that so that you just
don't have it on your mind because I
know some people are so paranoid they're
going to oversleep it actually
interrupts their sleep by all means set
an emergency alarm but the goal would be
to have at least nine hours before our
emergency alarm would have to go off
most people are not going to sleep for
nine hours unless they've been
chronically sleep deprived so no alarm
go to bed at nine or eight if you have
kids or seven if you have kids whatever
but we're gonna go to bed early enough
that we don't need to set an alarm for
me that's nine you're gonna go to bed at
that time you're gonna wake up when you
wake up you get out of bed in 10 minutes
or less your feet are on the floor next
to your bed
is your gym clothes you're going to put
your gym clothes on immediately you
don't have to go to the gym you can work
out at home I don't care we can do all
body weight workouts or we can go to the
gym and go ham whatever works for you
but we're going to work out we are going
to get our blood pumping no one and I
mean no one hates going to the gym more
than me I don't whatever the endorphin
rush is that other people get I don't
get but
it does allow me to cognitively optimize
if you haven't read the book spark read
it studies show that if you have a hard
problem to solve you want to tackle that
hard problem immediately after working
out they did all these crazy studies
where they had kids go in and do like
these incredibly hard workouts where
your grade was based on your heart rate
so it was like you didn't have to run a
mile in under six minutes but you had to
get your heart rate up to whatever 140
150 and maintain that four I forget how
long let's call it 15 20 minutes and
then if they had their hardest class
immediately following that so for me it
would have been like Calculus if I had
had that immediately following gym class
where I got my heart rate up into that
ideal Zone I would perform better there
because you're cognitively optimizing so
I'm going to work out I'm gonna get my
heart rate up that is key I'm also going
to be intermittent fasting so we're
going to get to when I clock that change
but I'm not going to eat before I work
out so I'm going to work out faster then
I'm gonna go and I'm gonna meditate by
the way I work out for about 30 to 45
minutes
by all means work out longer I wouldn't
work out a lot shorter
I'm going to sit down I'm going to
meditate I'm going to meditate for about
20 minutes I'm trying to get myself into
a place where I'm completely relaxed no
stress no anxiety it is very possible no
matter what is going on in your life to
get to the point where you have no
stress no anxiety now if you're really
going through something and you the
thought of trying to sit down and
meditate is just unbelievably torturous
give yourself seven minutes of Doom
scrolling cats it will put your brain in
a certain place it's very interesting it
is the art of distraction there is a
reason from an evolutionary standpoint
the distraction exists go for it seven
minutes only at the end of the seven
minutes then we're going to go into
meditation and you're going to meditate
if you did seven minutes of Doom
scrolling cats and you just don't have
extra time fine 13 minutes of meditation
so be it but I think you're better off
making it 27 minutes seven minutes Doom
scrolling cats and then 20 minutes
meditation the goal of meditation is to
just breathe you're not trying to have
any Grand epiphanies you're just trying
to breathe your mind is going to wander
like crazy and it's going to happen a
lot to the point where it's going to
distress you and you're going to think
you're doing something wrong you are not
the whole point is to just come back to
the breath come back to the breath
back to the breath back to the breath
getting yourself in that calm creative
state no stress no anxiety lengthening
the period of time where you can focus
on the breath incredibly powerful now if
you haven't done this for an extended
period of time yet the next thing I want
you to do is take a cold shower
we're doing all of this to accomplish
two goals
toughen up buttercup
and cognitively optimize so working out
as much as it's good for the brain it's
also to show you that you can do hard
things because in your life you need to
be doing hard things the other hard
thing you're going to do that's also
good for your brain and good for a whole
host of other things including
anti-inflammatory
um getting all the effects of longevity
that come from cold exposure
you're going to get in the cold shower
now the amount of time you need to stay
in the cold shower is going to depend on
the time of year and where you live
because let me tell you Minnesota in
February is very different than La in
August the cold temperature in La in
August not that cold so and compared to
and I've actually done this was it in
Minnesota no Chicago I did Chicago in
the winter I can't remember exactly what
month and the water hitting my forehead
gave me a headache I was like damn this
is a whole nother level of cold so doing
that versus in La was a world of
difference but in La I would keep myself
in the shower I think my record was like
oh God it was somewhere between 12 and
17 minutes I can't remember but for uh
what was it 13 months I did this every
single shower weekend no weekend
actually that might be a lie every
shower Monday through Friday that's
correct I think on the weekends I
allowed myself a warm shower don't hold
me to that I can't remember but for 13
months I took so many cold showers it
was horrifying in fact I stopped I
promised myself I'd do it for 30 days I
did it for 13 months I began to resent
my shower
but it is extremely powerful for doing
things that are difficult so we're going
to do the cold challenge expose yourself
for the cold as long as you can possibly
bear extend that period of time you
should be shivering before you get out
of the shower like uncontrollably
shivering that is a good way of knowing
if you've been in long enough now again
Minnesota in February it's going to
happen a lot faster than a warm climate
later in the year
but get cold exposure after that we're
going to go to our important things list
and we're going to work our way down the
most important things that we can be
doing in order to make meaningful
progress towards our goals
once we finish all of that I know you're
going to have to do a lot of work to pay
bills and all that good stuff fair
enough go do your job crush it then
we're going to get into the intermittent
fasting zone so there are two ways to
handle this way number one is that you
can stop eating really early and then
you're going to eat breakfast or you can
stop eating a little bit later call it
five six o'clock at night but then you
can't have your first meal until much
later in the next much later the next
day the rule of thumb is 16 hours of
fasting is about right I try to push
that to on average about 17 17 and a
half hours when averaged over a full
week but during the week that tends to
mean that I'm
not having a meal for about 18 to 19
hours and then on the weekend it's
closer to 15 16 hours so I tracked that
over a year and a half and that's what
it came out to be on average if you do
all of those things your life will be
unrecognizable and I hope that if you do
that for seven days that you're not
going to want to quit because it really
will transform your entire life
all right
get after it boys and girls all of those
things will help you get up get going
attack the day create momentum in your
life and actually accomplish the things
that at one point you wouldn't have
believed were even possible now that
I've explained the importance of waking
up early check out this next clip where
I talk about how to get the most out of
your day what is up my friend Tom bilyu
here and I have a big question to ask
you how would you rate your level of
personal discipline on a scale of one to
ten if your answer is anything less than
a ten I've got something cool for you
and let me tell you right now discipline
by its very nature means compelling
yourself to do difficult things that are
stressful boring which is what kills
most people or possibly scary or even
painful now here is the thing achieving
huge goals and stretching to reach your
potential requires you to do those
challenging stressful things and to
stick with them even when it gets boring
and it will get boring building your
levels of personal discipline is not
easy but let me tell you it pays off in
fact I will tell you you're never going
to achieve anything meaningful unless
you develop discipline right I've just
released a class from Impact Theory
university called how to build Ironclad
discipline that teaches you the process
of building yourself up in this area so
that you can push yourself to do the
hard things that greatness is going to
require of you right click the link on
the screen register for this class right
now and let's get to work I will see you
inside this Workshop from Impact Theory
University until then my friends be
legendary peace out
hey everybody Welcome to a very special
episode of impact Theory today we are
going to be talking all about habits and
routines and how to get the absolute
most out of every moment of your time
because I promise if you want to succeed
you've got to get deeply efficient and
that's where habits and routines come in
and I'm going to be taking your
questions so hopefully you guys have
some really good ones and we can talk
about exactly what you need to do to hit
the goals you want to hit all right
without further Ado let's hear the first
question
hi Tom I'm Danielle I'm from Sunny
Orlando Florida and I'm a sales
professional with a side Hustle
hustle my question for free is about
my husband and I are growing a side
business that we have apart from our
professional careers and I've recently
taken on a new role writing blogs about
specific topics that the company is all
about my husband already has his
personal working habits in place since
he's been working on the business for
years I however am finding it hard to
work this new role into my current daily
habits and routine not because I don't
enjoy working on the business it's just
hard for me to get started and stay
productive so what advice do you have
for me when it comes to getting started
and building personal working habits
that will last and ultimately change my
life
all right so the thing that I love is
that you're using the word build because
that's exactly what we're going to be
doing here you're going to construct
what you want your life to be you're
going to break it up into different
hours and segments so you know when it's
go time and then you're going to build
rules into your life that mandate that
you show up during those times so I have
a whole host of rules in my life they
can be small simple rules like I get out
of bed in 10 minutes or less they can be
more profound and impactful goals or
excuse me rules and I have a rule in my
life where Monday through Friday if I'm
awake I'm either working or working out
so if I were doing something like you in
this situation I would say okay these
two day two hours or five hours however
much time it is that you want to
allocate to the business you're gonna
say I am working on the business during
these times I'm going to tell myself I'm
going to tell other people that way
there's accountability then I'm going to
score myself at the end of that session
did I show up did I start when I said I
was going to start did I go hard the
whole time and I'm just going to give
myself a rating every day depending on
where I'm going how I did that day was I
distracted did I have flow was it a
great day a bad day and by doing that
I'm going to hold myself accountable so
I can see over time that I show up when
I said I was going to show up what was
the score that I gave myself for staying
focused staying on task and getting
things done and then the third thing to
really make this stick
you've got to find a way to be excited
about what you're doing and oftentimes
when people come and they say that
they're having trouble making a new
habit stick the reality is they just
don't want it badly enough and when you
realize that that's not an indictment on
you as a person that's a simple
statement about the fact that desire is
a process so you don't there's very few
things in your life that you just sort
of automatically are excited about most
of things if you really want to kick ass
at something you've got to build a ton
of energy into getting excited about
that thing now that comes in a couple
different forms number one is your why
why are you doing this so it might be
hey my husband and I were really excited
about this this is going to be our path
to freedom and building something with
him like this means everything to me and
I couldn't be more excited more honored
to be working side by side with my
husband to build something to show each
other what we're capable of to take care
of each other to you know give ourselves
what we need to build a family whatever
you're gonna make that why you're gonna
say it you're going to say it with
enthusiasm it's what I call embodying
what you want to feel so if you want to
be excited when you're telling other
people when you're even talking to
yourself when you're talking to your
husband you're actually going to let
yourself get hyped up there's a
mechanism in the brain that says whoa
hey we're all hyped up about this it
must actually be worth being hyped up
about and it becomes a self-reinforcing
loop so we've got our why and then we
want to make sure that we're putting the
identity into it that we want to get out
so if we want to be the kind of person
that shows up and works hard then we say
I'm the type of person that shows up and
works hard and you're going to lean into
that and the why that you have with your
husband you guys are building something
you're excited about it you're telling
other people you're embodying it and now
you've got the identity statement if I'm
the type of person that does this I see
this through and you repeat that
cocktail over and over over and over and
following it up with that score and all
of a sudden over time and it will take
time because it is a process but over
time you're going to stick to it because
it means something to you and your
husband you've got the rule about
showing up you're rating yourself on how
you did that day you're feeling good on
the days that you killed it and you're
reminding yourself to dig a Little
Deeper on the days where you don't and I
promise if you just work that process
over and over and over two weeks a month
into this it's just going to be second
nature you're going to be showing up
you're going to be excited you're going
to see it through
and that's it just work the process
all right who's up next hi Tom I'm Nema
I'm a business strategist and a mindset
coach my question today is about cold
showers I know that you're a big fan of
cold showers I am as well I want to
understand the exact process that you do
it do you start with a cold shower right
away when you step into your shower do
you do it in the middle or do you finish
off with a cold shower how many minutes
do you usually go for and do you think
that you use purely willpower to do it
on a daily basis or does it actually
become a habit and in a sense easier to
do so I personally think that it doesn't
really physically become easier to do it
but mentally one can gain the strength
to do it on a daily basis hence as a
habit I would like to really hear your
thoughts on the topic and thank you very
much for your great show
all right so first of all I just want to
talk about the notion of doing hard
things so doing hard things is
critically important in terms of earning
self-respect
um building those calluses on your mind
as David Goggins calls them to have the
ability to stick with something when it
gets difficult it is such an incredibly
powerful skill set and the only way
you're going to get it is if you do hard
things now I want to be clear that I
don't love cold showers I hate cold
showers cold showers never got easier in
fact I would say over time it really
began to chip away at my soul so I did
cold showers every day for one year and
three months I'd promised myself I would
do it for a month so in ending up doing
it for 15 months I was pretty stoked now
I don't do cold showers anymore and I'll
go back and explain the process I was
using when I was doing cold showers now
what I'm doing is water submersion so
cold water submersion that I find is is
way more powerful it is much more
difficult but in a weird way it's uh
more enjoyable so when I was doing the
cold showers it went like this I would
get in Stand bucket naked
dry shower and just will myself to crank
that on because there was nothing worse
than standing dry knowing that that cold
water is going to hit you that was by
far the worst is that anticipation of
like do you stop and take a couple
breaths do you just get in there and
crank it on like without hesitation it
was so
powerful to have to face that down day
after day after day it really was pretty
incredible so that made it more
difficult I did not find it hard if I
was taking a warm shower so
um Wim Hof the Iceman recommends that
you do a warm shower like normal but
then you end on he it suggests to start
with 30 seconds you end cold I actually
didn't find that that hard and so
because that wasn't hard I wanted to do
it the hardest way possible by starting
just dry and going straight for the cold
so that was how I did it the whole time
I would though end on warm most of the
time every now and then if it was a hot
day or something I might do cold warm
cold it just depended so there is
something about a entirely cold shower
that's quite powerful but I found it
very difficult to warm up after and so
that can slow the rhythm of a day down
and I just didn't want to give that much
time to it okay so I do that for 15
months I end up growing showing this
resentment towards my shower I didn't
like the way that felt I wanted to get
back to actually enjoying my shower and
I thought you know I have always had a
lingering notion in my mind that it
would be far better on a physiological
level to get the the
um response that you're looking for at a
cellular level from True submersion and
since I have a swimming pool that for
most of the year it's not heated I
thought well I'll just start going in
the pool during the winter months pool
gets down to about 58 degrees that's
plenty cold let me tell you and it is
so much more intense than a cold shower
because there is no part of your body
that isn't getting the life force sucked
out of it by the cold and so one you
feel like a total badass doing it and
you get that self-confidence you get
that yeah like I'm here I'm doing hard
things I'm pushing through so that gave
me a lot of confidence that it was have
having the kind of physiological effect
that I was hoping it was have so if you
can do submersion I highly recommend it
I would stay in the pool water again it
was about 58 degrees I would stay in
that the longest I did was 22 degrees a
22 minutes excuse me and by the time I
got out I was moving so slowly and my
teeth like I was so afraid I was going
to bite my tongue because my teeth were
chattering so hard
um and so I thought okay that's a little
too extreme so I started backing it off
and then the important part is to warm
up naturally so I wouldn't end up taking
a warm shower until say 45 minutes later
to give my body the command that it had
to warm up on its own that was
I think more powerful than the the cold
shower so now I'm more focused on
submersion
word
next up hey Tom I just wanted to take a
second to thank you and your team for
all the positive impact you had on my
life I'm yours from athenia and I'm
currently studying physiotherapy I'm
also an aspiring personal trainer
and my question is
I have these ups and downs a really good
productive work and then something
happens and I get down to this Baseline
which isn't terrible but I just know
that I can do more and
I just want to find out how do I keep
that habit of always producing good
quality work with minimal to no
downfalls
yeah that's it thank you okay so this is
very straightforward but there are a lot
of different pieces that are going to go
into it so the first thing you need to
do whenever somebody wants something
they know what they want they've got a
clear goal they're prepared to do the
work but they just find there's pretty
radical inconsistencies as they're
trying to move along that path to really
get something going number one is that
you need to really get amped up about
why that goal matters to you because
once you know why the goal matters
that's going to be that thing that gives
you meaning and purpose that turns into
a passion that allows you to show up and
keep doing it when you're bored because
boredom kills more dreams than failure I
just promise you you just get to the
point where it's such a grind and you've
got to do a day after day month after
month year after year it's just like it
really drags on it's like that old
Outcast song forever forever ever
forever ever it's like it's easy to do
something once maybe you can do it for a
week but when you have to just keep at
the grind then you really have to have a
strong why so figuring out why is it
that you care enough about this because
by the way if you don't care enough
about it to do all this go find
something that you do care enough about
to go after because you can do anything
you want in life just not everything now
if you're as angered by that notion as I
am you realize whatever it is you're
going to give yourself over to and do
all the way it needs to be something
that you are really on fire about now
getting on fire about something you're
not born with that you cultivate that
fire so you're going to pick something
starts as an interest you're going to
pick it engage with it fan the Flames of
that fire by talking about it to
yourself to your friends to your family
to anybody who will listen about why it
matters to you and then you go hard on
that so like for me I'm trying to build
the next Disney but why why am I trying
to build the next Disney because I've
worked with so many people in the inner
cities that were extraordinary far
smarter than I am and they're doing
nothing with their life why because they
don't have the right frame of reference
their mindset is so limited that even
though they have all of this natural
skill that they could build upon and
turn into something absolutely
extraordinary they're not doing it
because they're not thinking about
themselves in the world in the right way
okay I'm not prepared to live in that
world right now in America the number
one predictor of your future success is
your ZIP code okay I want to introduce
you to a word maybe you know it maybe
don't called an animus something that
that pisses you off enough that it
animates you to take action now you want
to find something a spark of something
and really turn that into this raging
Inferno of I am not prepared to live in
a world where that's true and now I'm
going to show up every day and I'm going
to fight make sure you focus it
get it specific to a person don't let it
be abstract who's someone you know and
love that's struggling with that thing
that you want to put an end to do you
have a mom that's struggling with
depression a brother that has massive
anxiety whatever the case may be there's
something out there that animates you
that you want to fix and you attach that
to a person that you love and care for
why so that on a Friday at 2 A.M when
you're exhausted and you're bored and
you know you need to show up and have
the discipline to see this through you
don't want to be thinking in the
abstract you want to be thinking very
concretely about a person who is
struggling with that thing and then you
can fight for them I always said at
Quest I was trying to end metabolic
disease because my mom and my sister
were morbidly obese and I didn't want
them to die so at Friday on a 2 A.M I
wasn't showing up thinking about protein
bars I showed up thinking about them and
suddenly when you're fighting for
somebody like that and it's personal
you'll have the energy that you need to
see it through word
next hi my name is Aisha I live in
Boston Massachusetts and I'm a Financial
Consultant so for my job we are required
to pass Urban certification in order to
be promoted
has our struggle in finding time to
study I was advised to wake up couple
hours early and study before work as my
brain would be fresh and and more
focused
and I noticed on days when I'm truly
motivated I can get up even before my
alarm goes on and put in the number of
hours I want
but on days when I don't feel motivated
I will keep on snoozing my alarm until
my usual wake up time and my and try to
rationalize my excuses in my head
I'm usually pretty hard on myself and I
noticed that my brain has found the
trick to rationalize my excuses when I
don't feel motivated
I know that discipline will be the
solution but what is what would be
the process to actually implement the
Habit slash discipline to just do it
without thinking when I'm lacking
motivation
thank you all right
here we go I'm going to give you the
three steps to this magic formula and if
you do these it will work every time so
number one like we've mentioned multiple
times already in this episode motivation
you have to want it it has to be
something that you were on fire for
literally as you were describing it I
was like oh my God I would study so much
I would Ace this exam you have no idea I
would absolutely kill this
because that's my identity so why is it
that you want to do this is it that you
want to be the best is it just the
promotion if it's the promotion and this
is just about money what does that mean
why does it matter what are you going to
do with the money are you the first
person in your family to be promoted
that far are you setting an example for
your son or your daughter like when you
attach it to something that really
matters like for me it's like I'm gonna
dominate wherever you put me I'm going
to dominate that's just my thing my
identity is so wrapped up in outworking
everybody else I love it so I love going
hard learning putting more time and
energy my thing is part of my identity
you ready for the secret
part of my identity is like I will work
so hard at something that people will
just assume I'm naturally gifted at that
thing because the alternative to believe
that I'm spending
40 hours a week 40 hours a week on top
of my full-time job to study for that
thing people they won't believe that I
would put that kind of energy and effort
into something
I will and so to them it just looks like
magic now I love that [ __ ] so much that
it becomes very easy for me to use
identity statements Okay so we've got
motivation
we're getting amped about it it matters
to us for some reason now we've got
identity statements I'm the type of
person that I'm the type of person that
works so hard people assume it's magic
I'm the type of person that works so
hard at something that people just
assume I'm naturally talented okay I
love that I love saying that about
myself I love knowing that it's true I
love knowing that I can trust myself to
put in the time and the energy to own it
because I'm the type of person that
knows information is really power and
that if I go in and I work and I get
better at this thing that I'm going to
be able to outperform other people right
skills have utility and then the third
thing that you're going to do to
absolutely
dominate is you're going to set rules in
your life I don't care if you've got
motivation I don't care if I have
motivation I get out of bed in 10
minutes or less every day no matter what
no excuses but Tom your leg has snapped
off at the knee I don't care I'm getting
out of bed in 10 minutes or less but Tom
you only got 45 minutes of sleep I don't
care I'm getting out of bed in 10
minutes or less I have a hard and fast
rule it's what I call a bright line
there are bright lines in my life there
is no excuse to lay in bed there is no
rationalization nothing matters it does
not matter
has it been 10 minutes since you woke up
then you got to get your ass out of bed
it's that simple and every day if I miss
and when I miss I miss my seconds but if
I miss I confess to my wife if I miss
I'll even confess on camera and let
people know hey I didn't get out of bed
in 10 minutes or less now keep in mind
it was probably 10 minutes and one
second but even then if the clock is
ticked over to the 11th minute I gotta
wrap myself out because I don't tolerate
that myself I have that hard and fast
rule it is a bright line and I act in
accordance now the reason that I had to
use bright lines is I used to in my
mid-20s I used to lay in bed for four
and five hours a day every day if I
could get away with it so hard and fast
rules and then just as a bonus thing I
will say this don't set an alarm
go to bed earlier go to bed however
early you need to go to bed in order to
wake up so that you have a couple of
hours then your mind really will be
fresh then you don't need to hit the
snooze alarm I built a billion dollar
business
without setting an alarm
impact theory has grown by 400 in the
last two years alone I've done all that
without setting an alarm there you do
not need to set alarms I'm telling you
you just need to go to bed earlier and
this is where a lot of people mess up is
they're living in this chronic state of
fatigue wondering why they can't see
things through so I forget the coach
that said it but this is so powerful
they said the quote is fatigue makes
cowards of us all don't allow yourself
to be tired it is a unique ring of Hell
to walk through life tired so get the
sleep you need
set the rules make sure you've got the
motivation know why you're doing what
you're doing and then rinse and repeat
just get after it
next up
hi I'm Emmy and I am a breakup in
relationship coach based out of Boston
Massachusetts and my question for you
Tom is I recently started my business
over this past year I am still a high
school biology teacher of 16 years and
when I come home from school every day I
am mentally drained and so I find it
really challenging to stay consistent
with working on my business and doing
what I should be doing to keep for
momentum in progress so my question is
do you have any suggestions for habits
that I should create to help myself work
on my business and not have the things
that I accomplish just be kind of random
um like my check off list is kind of all
over the place so any insights that you
have to share with me would be really
appreciated and I know that you're
probably thinking ah these are just
excuses you're tired we get it we're all
tired but I'm hoping for some habit
suggestions
all right
I don't think you're just making excuses
I think that cellular energy is going to
be what you need to focus on and I can't
tell you how much I hate that I have to
pay attention to my body in order to
achieve the things that I want to
achieve I want to just be able to work
around the clock but I know if I try to
do that I won't be cognitively optimized
and I won't have the energy that I need
so when I go give talks oftentimes I'll
end up after the talk
answering questions and my record is I
once stood in a hallway with whatever 50
people around me answering questions
without even stopping to pee for 11 and
a half hours
now by the end of it people were like
how the hell are you doing this and the
answer was because there are two types
of energy there's psychological energy
right you're exhausted right imagine it
oh you know those days you're wiped out
but you got that one song you put that
song on and you still got a little ass
shaking left in you and you can just
feel it it changes your mood you're
ready to get up you're ready to get down
that's psychological energy okay we can
actually make you suddenly feel like you
have this burst of energy
the other part the one that won't let
you down is real cellular energy now
within your cells are a whole bunch of
these things called mitochondria
mitochondria are separate little
organelles okay they have their own DNA
they are not you but they are inside
your cells and they are the power plant
of your body and if you don't do things
to push your mitochondria to stay
razor-sharp productive to proliferate
you just won't be able to generate the
energy this is why I'm always telling
people you are having a biological
experience whatever this is your body
may have been given to you by God fair
enough but he gave you a body and now
you have to deal with the realities of
going through life in a body that if
you're not eating right you're not
exercising you will not be able to
generate the ATP which makes you feel
like you can go and Conquer mountains
and do whatever you want but if you
really don't have the energy then that's
a nightmare this goes back to being
tired is is a unique ring of hell it is
just absolutely miserable so you're
gonna have to get your diet right which
is probably the number one thing to get
your energy levels up at a cellular
level you got to get your diet right and
then to really push things you want to
start exercising and then another one
going back to one of our early questions
cold exposure is another way to get your
vascular system going to get your
ability to generate ATP up high because
cold exposure has a tremendous impact on
your mitochondria okay so getting that
right I think is going to solve a lot of
problems for you and you may even need
to go and get your thyroid levels
checked like there's really could be a
lot going on biologically so to put it
all into the language of a habit you're
going to go to bed early however early
you need to go to bed to not set an
alarm number two when you wake up don't
eat you're gonna work out work out
fasted okay I would highly recommend
that you lift weights rather than doing
a bunch of cardio and then next meta
rotation you'll be shocked how far that
goes and then we want to
um
get some cold exposure in there if we
can that would be a really great way to
get you going and as far as diet goes
making sure when you do eat and try to
do intermittent fasting so that you have
call it a 16 hour fasting window and an
eight-hour feeding window and so you're
going to push your first meal back to
post workout and then when you eat
you're going to make it Whole Foods so
you're going to be eating green leafy
vegetables you're going to be eating
Meats if you eat meat that's absolutely
fine
um
no processed foods if you can avoid it
you should be less than 10 of what you
eat should be processed obviously zero
is the ideal but realistically if you
can make less than 10 percent of it
processed you're going to be gold if you
do that all the time you're going to
feel like a million bucks you you just
cannot overestimate how big of a deal
sleep diet and exercise make it is
life-changing and it's the one thing
most people aren't willing to do but if
you want cellular energy that's the
Habit you're going to have to get in
word
all right who's next hello impact Theory
family thanks for this opportunity I'm
Mika darling I currently live in Arizona
so this is the question I have for you
I'm currently in a job that I hate I'm
currently at a weight that I definitely
hate I'm ashamed of it and no matter how
horrible it is and how isolating it is I
just can't bring myself to get out of
this routine of comfortability uh at the
age of 15 I lost my mother and then I
shortly became uh shortly after that I
became homeless and so a lot of my
behavior I excuse it away because I say
oh you've had a rough life I've been a
therapy I got into metaphysical even did
hypnosis and nothing is shaking me to my
core how can I become
comfortable with being uncomfortable
thank you guys so much I love you guys
hopefully you can help me see ya bye
okay so here is the hard reality that um
I know all too well uh growing up in a
morbidly obese family unfortunately no
one is going to be able to help you we
can give you all the tools and tactics
and tips but at the end of the day
you've got to be in a place where you
want it you're excited about it you're
amped you're imagining like what your
dream job is going to be and you're
figuring out what you're going to have
to do to get that dream job and you're
going to go through the application
process and all the rejection you're
going to have to go through in order to
finally get where you want to go maybe
you have to study something maybe you
have to build a a you know a marketing
deck on spec or whatever to get their
attention but you're going to do all
that because you're excited about what
that dream job is and you know on a long
enough timeline you can win that job but
it's about like I'm not moving away from
hating this job because that's obviously
not enough I'm moving towards something
that's exciting to me and we're gonna
build that energy we're going to build
that excitement that enthusiasm we're
going to tell ourselves I'm the type of
person that does whatever the hell it
takes to get that job so you're gonna
figure out what it takes you're going to
call them you're going to ask what does
the ideal candidate look like what do I
need to do in the interview process to
make you confident that I'm the right
person for you to hire and then whatever
they tell you to do do that and more the
number of people that think well I
shouldn't have to do all that just for a
job interview it's like
sure fine you're not going to get the
job like everybody wants to be blown
away
to have unusual success your job is to
leave people in awe okay so that's the
job side we're going to do all that
we're going to go leave them in awe
we're going to get our dream job we're
going to set our mind to something we're
going to keep going we're going to push
past all the rejection which is
inevitable it's not a commentary on you
it is the nature of getting a job
now the next part I can tell you right
now there's one word that's causing all
your problems and that is you're ashamed
you're ashamed of your weight
don't be okay this is just biology we're
playing a game of figuring out what do
we have to do to get the body that we
want now the problem is your biology is
going to [ __ ] with you so did you know
fat is an organ meaning like your liver
like your heart like your kidneys it is
an organ it secretes hormones it tells
your body to want certain things to
behave in certain ways to eat certain
foods your microbiome is essentially an
organ it's five pounds of bacteria in
your gut that respond to what you eat
that the population changes based on
what you eat and then
to make sure that they survive they keep
telling you to eat more of that so
you've got your fat cells screaming at
you to keep eating to keep over feeding
so that they can stay safe they don't
want to
um feel like they've entered into a
famine period where now they have to get
rid of this incredibly
um useful extra stored energy you've got
your microbiome saying hey that fast
food that you've been eating eat more of
that because we're optimized for it we
want it we need it we won't survive if
you change your diet so you've got a lot
of things working against you from a
biological level okay I'll say this the
deck is stacked against you mom died
when you were young that had massive
cognitive implications okay would have
at a very formative age impacted you you
were homeless that creates this sense of
fight or flight it's a high stress
moment
not only is that going to push you to
eat more but I'm sure at the time you're
struggling financially as well which
means you're going to be eating cheaper
foods which are going to be highly
processed okay which is going to
exacerbate the problem so all of this
stress inflammation emotional trauma all
of that is going on okay you have every
reason in the world to not get your act
together right
but I will say this
now what
you can
keep doing what you're doing now and
you're going to keep getting the result
that you're getting and that's fine by
the way you shouldn't be ashamed of that
if that's a life that you choose choose
it do it don't be ashamed of it
recognize that it is a choice
if on the other hand you're like [ __ ]
this I'm not happy here I don't want to
live like this I want to do something
different well now we have to go into
with our eyes wide open your biology is
working against you but that doesn't
mean that you can't overcome it you
absolutely can
there is no human being that is
incapable of losing weight it's just
that the only bulletproof way to lose
weight which I will tell you I will give
it to you would be the world's simplest
thing
but your fat cells are going to scream
out they're going to mess with your
hormones your microbiome is going to
mess with you so you're going to have to
want it badly enough to see it through
now I know you can do it it's just a
question of whether or not you're going
to want it badly enough to see it
through but here's all you have to do
eat whole food exclusively okay
green leafy vegetables nothing processed
chicken beef
um
fish
keep the fish small if you can to avoid
toxins but you know as long as we're not
eating swordfish or eating it for every
meal it's probably better than some of
the Alternatives that you're taking in
zero processed food no crackers cookies
none of that stuff first of all has just
obscene amount of sugar it has
glyphosate which has all kinds of
Downstream problems on your microbiome
that are going to continue to create
problems I just want to say this is
doable it is hard but even if the deck
is stacked against you even if you do
legitimately have it worse than every
other human being on the planet
now what
now what what are you gonna do
you're not a bad person if you're like
it's just not worth the energy
fine know what the realities are it's
going to shorten your life whatever
emotional problems you have over looking
that way the inflammation doesn't feel
good all of that but you're not a bad
person
and if you want to go in this direction
well then it's like [ __ ] let's celebrate
what that's about right let's know our
why let's know what we're going for and
if it's to look really good in a [ __ ]
pair of skinny jeans then let's own it
let's look really good in those skinny
jeans don't let people tell you that you
have to be doing it because you want to
be healthy I love some healthy but man
whatever really motivates you whatever
is really true whatever actually gets
you excited don't let people shame you
into thinking you have to do it for you
know some specific reason because let me
tell you the vast majority of pounds
that have ever been lost all throughout
human history is about looking good in
skinny jeans that's just the reality so
but that doesn't make you a better
person this doesn't make you a worse
person over here you're less healthy
it's gonna have its consequences and
over here it's going to be harder you're
going to have to stay focused you're
going to have to keep pushing through so
decide what it is you want to do and get
[ __ ] amped about it and if you can't
get amped about it
focus on that you got to focus on the
motivation you've got to get yourself in
a position where you want the change
but don't spend Cycles
lashing yourself hating yourself I can
think of nothing worse the only thing
that makes me sad is when somebody's
overweight eating ice cream by
themselves in the corner of the Cold
Stone crying right
that's [ __ ] heartbreaking
an overweight person enjoying ice cream
like it was their last [ __ ] meal good
on you
the person over here that never touches
ice cream man because they're going hard
they know what they want they're amped
they want to live forever they want to
feel good they want to look good they
want to be strong I get that
put time and energy into it they're
choices
no matter how hard something is you've
got a choice
and so I always come back to that one
simple phrase now what I'm in this
situation let me tell you Tom bilio has
a very easy time putting on fat and a
very hard time getting lean now what
you're gonna work harder and get the
six-pack abs or not
and that's it
all right
I know you can do this
you've got this
I'm cheering for you
But ultimately as much as I wish I could
want it for people I cannot you've got
to want this for yourself you have to
take responsibility
and know that you can get whatever you
want
whole food that's it you do that be a
life changer all right guys I'm telling
you you are but one habit one killer
routine away from having the exact life
that you want your life is a reflection
of the choices that you make that
doesn't mean that some things aren't way
harder for you than they are for other
people it doesn't mean that other people
don't have more more motivation than you
it doesn't mean that some people don't
generate more cellular energy than you
but all of us can make a different
choice at any time set rules in our
lives focus on our motivation get super
hyped about something find a way by
connecting this hard ass thing that we
have to do to our identity
to a person that we love and letting it
be about them and not just that thing or
focusing on the end result and being
hype about how good we're gonna look in
the skinny jeans
you're having a biological experience
figure out what are the things that you
need to do to manipulate your biology to
get the results that you want
right setting rules being excited
following through on something because
you said you would you told yourself you
told other people to trigger
going back to the biology to trigger
that desire for congruence man I said it
to them [ __ ] they're watching I better
do it
use any tool at your disposal but if you
get the habits the routines the rules
the identity right you get all that
stuff right and you will have your ideal
life
all right guys that's it this really is
doable you can have any life you want
so go out make it real and if any of
that sounded like [ __ ] I want you to
let me know I want people to come at me
I want people to say no no this guy's
just a hype machine cool come at me bro
because I'm telling you this stuff works
I've done this in my own life
I've watched other people do it I'll
take any heckling people have if you
think something is dumb let me know
you'll either change my mind and open me
up to something new or you'll give me a
chance to show you that there's nuance
and that this stuff really does come
together into a tapestry of magically
delicious lives if you're still not sure
that you can accomplish everything that
you need to be sure to check out this
episode where I talk about taking as
much control over your day as possible
if you're not going in the right
direction in your life and you want an
action plan that you can use gonna
change everything in your life it goes
like this
[Music]