Heard a guy talking about his 4 hour morning routine that started at 2.15am and I immediately called bullshit.

Even if this was true and not farming attention nobody should live like this. Total waste of time.

Your morning routine doesn’t need to be 4 hours and you don’t need to wake up at 2.15am, my word.

So I’m giving you a 4 MINUTE morning routine that will set you up for success every single day with minimal effort.

We want to start our day with the right intentions with the right energy and it does not take 4 hours to get there.

So here we go, follow along and in 4 minutes you’re going to have an extra 3 hours 56 minutes in the bank.

Minute 1: Move your muscles about a bit

Stretch your legs. Touch your toes (I haven’t been able to do this since I was about 11 but that’s beside the point). Swing your arms around in circles. Wobble your neck from side to side. Roll your ankles. I don’t know jump up and down or something.

Get some blood pumping and get some mobility in those muscles and joints.

If you’re mega lazy then you don’t even need to get out of bed to stretch.

Side note, if you’re in your 20s reading this my god man stretch more. I’m in my thirties now and neglected any stretching in my 20s, even before and after working out, and my muscles and joints are not as young as they should be.

Minute 2: Get the fluids on board

After your very intense 1 minute stretching routine, grab a bottle of water and chug that baby down.

The human race is chronically dehydrated 98% of the time (don’t fact check me).

Search for Dr. Batmanghelidj on Youtube and you’ll know everything you need to know about the body and water. Listen to Huberman and his take too.

Finish and start your day chugging down some H2O. It improves sleep, brain function, inflammation, you name it, it solves it.

I’m guilty of not drinking enough water throughout the day so I get this in first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

It’s always the simple changes that can impact our physical and mental health the most.

Minute 3: Zen huuuuuuummmm

You don’t need to become a born again monk to become more zen. I wrote an article a year ago called The 1 Minute Meditation - here it is making an appearance again.

Sit yourself down, set a timer for 60 seconds, close your eyes, take some deep breaths. That’s it.

Congratulations you can now tell your buddies you meditate and you’re off to India to go and find yourself.

If you want, don’t set a timer and just sit still in a quiet room and open your eyes when you’ve had enough or become restless. Your 4 minute morning routine might become a 12 minute morning routine but that’s your prerogative.

Don’t want to be more zen? Take the 1 minute and take some deep breaths. Go full Wim Hof style (you don’t need to get into a frozen lake to prove you’re a beast though).

Minute 4: The daily intention prompt

Congratulations, you woke up at 7am and now you’re 1 minute away from completing your morning routine and it’s 7.03am. Alright, it’s probably 7.05am by the time you get out of bed and get your water but you get the point.

Your final task is to write down your intention for the day.

Here is your prompt: Today, I will…

(I’m not reinventing the wheel here people.)

Just write down one thing you will achieve that day no matter how small.

Here was mine: Today, I will write my newsletter.

Mine yesterday? Today, I will not eat until 3pm.

Elon Musk would be proud of those goals, right?

The best thing about this seemingly simple exercise is that at the end of the day you mark it as done and your day was a success. You achieved what you set out to do that day.

We all know small habits compound over time into enormous wins.

My newsletter goal is part of a wider ambition I have about building my own media empire.

My intermittent fasting goal is part of a wider plan to get back down to 185lbs.

They all add up.

3 hours 56 minutes to spare

What are you going to do with your spare 3 hours 56 mins? Normal people stuff I guess. Sleep. Leave the 2.15am wake up time for the people that say they wake up at 2.15am…

Don’t like any minute of the morning routine, fix it up to your preferences! A gratitude list, burpees, positive affirmations, jump in a cold shower, whatever suits you.

Keep it short, simple and sweet. Start your day with the right intentions with the right energy.

Remember people, getting your shit together takes some work but not that much work.

If you wrote down everything that you do daily, I guarantee there are things on that list that are detrimental to your physical and mental health and if you cut those out your life would drastically improve.

You probably think quitting bad habits is harder than picking up new habits (false). That’s a limiting belief you can use as comfort when you find it too difficult.

Write that list and highlight everything detrimental to your physical health, mental health, relationships, career, and productivity…and systematically eliminate them one by one.

Mid-week solo drinking like a loser

We've all been there.

The cheeky whisky on a Wednesday night. The cold ones during Monday night football. Anything to take the edge off a stressful day at work, but that’s all an illusion. An illusion of relaxation.

Drinking that booze is pointless. You get less sleep, you wake up feeling ropey and it has a dramatic effect on your energy levels, motivation and drive.

Here's the real danger - it becomes a habit. A hard day automatically equals a drink. It's a slippery slope, and before you know it, you can't imagine a weekday without that 'relaxing' drink. Breaking this cycle can be tough, but it's essential.

It's not just about cutting out the booze. It's about changing your lifestyle and mindset. It's about finding healthier, more fulfilling ways to cope with the stresses of daily life.

Ditch the mid-week solo drinking. Save it for social occasions.

Processed junk food jacked up in sugar

This one's a no-brainer but hard to break because you’re up against trillions of dollars of marketing investment from junk food companies. There is not a single benefit to eating processed sugary junk food. None.

You're feeding your body garbage, and in return, it's giving you weird energy levels, you put on weight in all the wrong places, and it is beating the crap out of your heart.

Start easy by cutting sugar from your coffee or tea (black coffee no sugar is the one anyway).

Then just go cold turkey. No sweets, no added sugar, no cakes, no chocolate. I guarantee you’ll cut out 2000 calories a week when you do this, your energy levels will stabilise throughout the day and you will have dramatically fewer cravings too.

Quit now, your heart will thank you when you’re 80.

Nothing good happens after midnight

Quit staying up till 1am on a Tuesday night doomscrolling Twitter (guilty).

Go to bed earlier. Like 10pm earlier. My wife just had a baby and I am up till 1am every night and I’m telling you I can feel the impact on my mood, my motivation, my drive, my decision making, everything.

Go to sleep and get 8 hours in. None of this ‘I can survive on 5 hours’. No you can’t.

Get your sleep in order and the clarity and energy you'll gain will be a total game-changer.

I’m telling you all physical and mental health leads back to poor sleep quality. It’s hard to believe unless you prioritise and protect your sleep routine.

Doomscrolling like a psychotic dopamine junkie

I just mentioned it but doomscrolling on social media to escape your world doesn't solve the problems you have.

Endlessly swiping through bad news and other people's (fake) highlight reels is addictive but destructive. Of course it’s addictive, there are thousands of software engineers pouring billions of dollars into making the apps as addictive as possible - what chance do we have about being in control of our own time when that’s what we are up against? Slim to none and that’s why everybody is walking around with their head buried in their phones.

Social media is a vortex that sucks away your time, energy, and peace of mind. Break the cycle. Unless you’re actively creating content for some higher purpose, there is NO benefit to consuming the content on those apps. Delete TikTok for a week and tell me you missed something important - and that’s coming from somebody who creates content on TikTok!

Put down the phone, pick up a goddamn book (LITERALLY ANY BOOK), go for a walk or do ANYTHING other than doomscrolling on TikTok.

Feeling sorry for yourself and blaming the world

Life's tough, but guess what? It’s the same for everyone. We all have our battles. Life is a relentless stream of obstacles and put-downs.

Sitting around feeling sorry for yourself and blaming everyone else won't change anything. Some people have it harder than others of course they do and sometimes through no fault of their own. But you’ve been dealt a hand and you can either choose to play that hand or fold. Don’t fold because folding means giving up.

Take some responsibility for your life. Be intentional with your decisions. The moment you do, you take back power. And with that power comes change.

"He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived.”- Chinese proverb.

Giving up at the first hurdle in anything you do

Been there. Been there MANY times. Your brain is seeking comfort 24/7.

See your mind as an opponent, one that you must overcome to get to the next level.

Your brain doesn’t want to be doing hard stuff, it wants you to feed it cheap dopamine - that’s why you’re doomscrolling.

You are the master of your mind when you pursue hard things even when you don’t want to. I don’t care if it’s fitness, I don’t care if it’s a side hustle, your career, relationships, whatever. Do hard things and do them when you don’t want to.

Successful people are no smarter than you, no more intelligent than you, no luckier than you, no more deserving than you, they simply outlast you.

Giving a shit what other people think of you

This is the big one.

Caring too much about others' opinions is a prison. It will keep you caged until you finally decide to break free.

I stopped caring what other people thought of me when I realised that nobody was thinking about me in the first place.

Everybody has their own shit going on. Be yourself, unapologetically. Those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter. Live your life for you, not for the approval of others. We all end up in the same hole in the ground anyway so you might as well do something for yourself despite the fear of other people’s opinions.

Get it together

There you have it, 7 things to quit right now to see an instant improvement in your life. Some are harder than others. Some will be more relevant than others.

Quit doing dumb stuff that is detrimental to your physical health and mental wellbeing. There is no magic pill that will fix all your problems but quitting destructive habits is 101.

Your life is malleable, you can bend and shape it in any way you want. It's not going to be easy, but nothing worth having ever is.

Here's to taking control and making some real changes. Let's get our shit together.

P.S. I didn’t write a newsletter for 4 weeks because we just welcomed a baby daughter into our lives and I took some time to spend with the family. Next week marks 1 year of writing this newsletter - here’s to making 2024 a belter together.

What job did you have?

How much were you being paid?

How much did you have in your savings?

Were you in a relationship? Who with?

Where did you live?

Who did you live with?

Who was your best friend?

What were your hobbies?

Have there been any family changes - do you have a child now or have you lost somebody close to you?

What was important to you then?

Look at a picture of yourself and notice your physical appearance.

Take a few minutes and jot the answers down on a piece of paper.

Next…

I want you to answer the same questions but for 2023.

The point is not to understand if you are in a better or worse position than you were 5 years ago, but to realise that you are in a DIFFERENT position than you were 5 years ago.

I am willing to bet that most of those things in 2018 are different today…

And that should come with some comfort that in the next 5 years you can be a completely different person…

You can be in a job that you love, you could be getting paid more, you could be in love, you could be fitter, healthier, and the list goes on.

What’s important is intentional reinvention. Knowing that things will be different and taking control of it.

When you reflect on who you were 5 years ago you start to understand that who you will in 5 years will be completely different to who you are today.

@jbharrisYou can compleltely reinvent yourself in 5 years and become totally unrecognisable to the person you are today. You shouldnt even recognise the person you was 5 years ago. Your career, relationships, wealth, health can all change and they will all change in 5 years. So if you feel stuck or are not fulfilled with your situation today, take comfort in the fact that things change, they will change. When you intentionally reinvent yourself this can happen 10000x faster and you can choose the destination. #personalgrowth #selfimprovement #personaldevelopment

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Becoming a father has unlocked emotions inside me that I had no idea existed. An indescribable feeling of love, care and protection.

I’ve been thinking for a few weeks about how to capture Theadora’s earliest moments in life. I love watching home videos from my childhood and reminiscing with family about memories that would certainly be forgotten if it wasn’t for the tapes.

Whilst watching her sleeping in my arms a few nights ago, I thought about writing a letter addressed to Theadora to open on her 18th birthday.

A letter that not only captures the present but looks to the future. A letter of wishes, commitments, promises, values, hopes and dreams.

Letter writing is a lost art, replaced by instant messaging and video calls. It’s time to revive this art to create a keepsake, something that can be held and felt.

The world, undoubtedly, will be a very different place in 2041. World events, technological inventions, scientific discoveries, art, culture, fashion, travel and the way we live will change. (18 years ago the iPhone hadn’t been invented yet!)

What will remain a constant through the years will be this letter - a time capsule of thoughts and emotions, a snapshot of the present moment and a bridge to the future.

No one else will read this letter. It’s a father-daughter secret that will be locked away for nearly two decades.

Is there somebody you could write a letter to for them to open in the future?

Today, I want to share with you a few videos that changed my worldview and positively impacted my mindset.

‘Start earlier’ - Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant is considered one of the greatest of all time but talent doesn’t account for much without hard work. The mamba mentality left a legacy on sport and this video is a reminder that you have to work harder than anybody else to get to the top.

‘I lost my mind to this game’ - Conor McGregor

It will never fail to inspire me to see somebody before they found success and what they sacrificed to get there. This was taken in 2014, a year before McGregor became world champion for the first time. He won that fight in 13 seconds but it took a decade of dedication to get there.

‘Get stuff done’ - Obama

I heard this video in January and a few months later I was promoted at work. For context, I had not been promoted for the 9 years prior. It’s true that people notice when you start finding solutions instead of complaining about problems.

‘Become a good reader’ - Jim Rohn

This is a great mantra for personal development. Anything you want to know has been written about before by somebody who has done it, as Jim says.

‘You’ve got to have a goal’ - Arnold Schwarzenegger

When you have something to aim for you can walk the path towards it. Without a goal, you will float around without a real purpose. From the age of 14, Arnie wanted to be Mr Universe and he built his life around that goal. The rest is history.

‘How badly do you want it?’ - Michael Phelps

When asked what makes Phelps so successful, he doesn’t put it down to his genetics or his relentless training regime. What separated Phelps and other great athletes is their mindset.

‘You can change the world’ - Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs changed the world but only because he believed that he could. Once you realise that everybody else is winging it and that everything around us was constructed by humans, it seems a little less daunting to try and affect change.

Missed last week’s edition of No More Snooze?

In the beginning, I was publishing into the void until the first few subscribers stumbled across my writing.

Now 500 of you subscribe to get the next article sent to your inbox and I will forever be grateful for a small slither of your attention.

In the past, I’ve hopped from good intention to good intention but in the end, I’ve quit most of my endeavours.

Today, I want to share how I was able to develop a writing habit and a few lessons I’ve learned about self-discipline along the way.

Setting an achievable target

Initially, I was posting 2 articles per week but this soon became unmanageable. The Jake of old would’ve been demoralised and probably quit after a month.

This time, however, I recognised that it was just a time management issue. I had too high expectations of what I was capable of achieving.

After 4 weeks of writing, I reduced my target to publishing only once per week and I have been able to stay consistent with this schedule.

If this became unmanageable, I could’ve dropped to once every 2 weeks or even once a month.

The important lesson is that high expectations may lead to failure. Starting small and then adapting as you learn along the way is the key to any habit formation.

On January 1st, 99% of people with a New Year resolution of going to the gym will stop going by February.

They will start with high expectations of going to the gym 4 times a week and when it becomes unmanageable they will throw the baby out with the bath water.

If everybody with that New Year resolution started small with an achievable target of once per week, they would be more likely to stick to that schedule. Over time, they could increase the volume as the momentum of working out every week became part of their weekly routine.

Doing something even when I don’t feel like it

We all have good days and bad days. Good weeks and bad weeks. Nobody is happy and motivated 100% of the time, that’s not how life works.

Some weeks I don’t feel like writing this newsletter, other times I can’t wait to start typing.

The Jake of old would only do something when he felt like it (quelle surprise I used to quit when my motivation faded). I was accustomed to doing things fuelled by motivation only. Self-discipline is doing things when motivation is nowhere to be seen.

I haven’t missed a week of writing online in 9 months because I have been training my discipline muscle.

The satisfaction of publishing a new article every Sunday and knowing I did what I said I was going to do is a strong hit of dopamine.

The satisfaction is even greater when I know that I stuck to my schedule even when I didn’t feel like it.

I feel in control of my self-discipline, my productivity and my procrastination more than ever before.

The same people who have a New Year resolution of working out will quit by February because they just won’t feel like going anymore.

The burst of motivation they had in the beginning is nowhere to be seen. The ones who keep going to the gym even when they don’t feel like it will be the ones who achieve their health goals.

Accepting my imperfection

I’m not what you might call a '“writer”. I rarely write anything other than work emails and birthday cards and yet I’ve managed to develop a writing habit.

A huge reason for that is that I’m happy to accept my imperfections as a writer.

I accept that I’ll never be as eloquent as Ernest Hemmingway. I accept I’ll never be as good of a storyteller as Stephen King.

There is no pressure on me because the only person I will compare myself to is me 6 months ago.

Accepting the imperfections in the output allows me to focus on my input. Rather than spending days and months learning about proper grammar and sentence structure, I can focus on my consistency and self-discipline.

The same people who have a New Year resolution of working out will quit because they will compare themselves to somebody who has been going to the gym for a decade. Or they will focus on ‘the perfect bicep exercise’ rather than just doing something. They will seek perfection rather than accept their imperfections as a novice gym-goer.

What I need to do to maintain my writing habit

1. Establish a writing routine

I have been able to commit to publishing every Sunday but my writing process is still all over the place.

Sometimes I’ll write the article on a Tuesday other times on a Saturday morning. This unorganised method is destined to fail eventually. If I leave it to Saturday and then something urgent comes up I will miss my Sunday publish date and it will be due to my lack of a consistent writing set-up and routine.

2. Minimise distractions

Once my writing routine is established I need to focus on minimising the distractions around me.

I could cut my writing time in half without compromising on quality by sitting down in the same place every time with my phone switched off and some background music for focus.

This should be fairly easy to implement over the next few weeks.

3. Join a writing group

There is power in surrounding yourself with people who have the same goals as you.

There are a few subscribers who joined the No More Snooze self-improvement network a couple of weeks ago (we’d love for you to join also) because there is power in tribes.

I know that for my writing to get to the next level and to stay accountable I should join a writing group to learn, share and grow with others on the same journey.

Developing a writing habit will go down as one of the most impactful things I did this year. Not just for the benefits of writing and thinking, but for what I’ve learnt about myself, motivation, productivity, persistence, self-discipline and habit formation.

If you missed last week’s edition of No More Snooze 👇

A reminder of the digital detox rules…

1. Deactivating all notifications except Whatsapp, Phone and Ring.

2. Deleting all social media apps.

3. No phone between 8pm and 9am.

4. Reading on my kindle, not my phone.

5. No phone on Sundays.

Let’s just say that the results are … interesting.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

4 weeks ago, I was averaging 150 notifications per day which meant I was picking up my phone 113 times per day on average. By disabling my notifications, I could reduce the number of times I picked up my phone.

This week I averaged 68 notifications per day, down almost 60%. I also picked up my phone 85 times per day on average, down 25% from the start of the detox.

It’s obvious that reducing notification alerts stops me from reaching for my phone so often, but the effect isn’t as great as I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong, picking up my phone 25% less than usual is great, but I was hoping for something a bit more drastic. Clearly, I’m still reaching for my phone many times each day.

Here’s where it gets interesting…

4 weeks ago, I was spending on average 6 hours a day on my phone. 4 weeks on, my daily average screen time is … 5 hours and 32 minutes.

WHAT.

Plus, if I’m being totally honest and transparent that 5 hours 32 minutes is down from the week before by 9%. So last week, I spent on average 6 hours a day on my phone.

I’ve had seemingly no positive impact on my screen time usage…at all.

The numbers don’t lie people. I’m not a guy who is going to tell you all that the digital detox went great and bla bla bla to make me out to be some kind of self-improvement god.

It truly didn’t go to plan. HOWEVER…

‘How’ I used my phone did change.

My Screen Usage Now

From the original post, you will see that I spent 16 hours each week on TikTok. That was the most depressing statistic.

I deleted TikTok along with every other social media and I can tell you that I’m never downloading TikTok again. I haven’t missed it and clearly, it was just a time drainer.

But my screen time average is basically the same… how does that work?

Well, I played chess. A lot of chess. 12 hours last week I spent playing random people across the globe at 10-minute games of chess. I basically replaced my TikTok usage with games of online chess.

I’m taking that as a positive (even though nearly 2 hours a day is still too much). If I had replaced TikTok by using a brain training app then I’d see that as a useful way of using my phone.

But the truth is I still spent all that time on my phone and my goal was to reduce my overall screen time.

I also used my phone for work email, Google Maps and searching for things I needed to know using Safari. I’m not quite sure how I can cut usage of those things if I’m honest.

I also completely disregarded the rule of no phone on Sundays. Truth be told I forgot about this rule in week one (thanks to loyal NMS reader and good friend of mine Sam for calling me out on this…).

I was constantly drawn back to filling in the silence and downtime by using my phone and Sunday is usually the most leisurely day of the week.

A Spade is a Spade

I failed. I failed at reducing my screen time over a 4 week period. Yes, I used my phone in a different way and cut back on social media, which is a positive, but I was still glued to my phone for an average of 5-6 hours a day.

One thing I will say is that once you realise that you don’t need social media, there’s no going back. I’ll never download TikTok and Instagram again, I don’t use FB and only check Twitter for fantasy football alerts at the weekend.

Social media is touted as a must-have to keep up and connect with friends. That’s nonsense. You chat with your real friends in real life or by Whatsapp/text. You don’t need Twitter to stay connected to anybody. It’s a distraction.

So, I failed. Am I upset with that? Not really.

I’ve learnt that self-improvement is the journey, not the destination. It’s about self-awareness i.e. recognising you have a problem with screen usage, and then taking strides to try and positively impact your life. Sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed, but we never stop trying to better ourselves.

If you were sitting on the fence about doing a digital detox and now you see my results and think it’s not worth doing, I’d encourage you to try it.

It may work for you or it may not, but let me tell you, you will learn about yourself.

The Journey Never Ends

Clearly, I wasn’t able to cut my screen time in 28 days but I am still on a mission to regain control of my time from the digital device overlords.

I’ll either buy a phone safe that unlocks after so many hours, or I’ll buy a dumb pay-as-you-go phone for talking to friends and family and replace my iPhone for another month.

As always when the time is right, I’ll give this another shot and share my experiences with you.

The digital devices and the thousands of engineers working to make them as addictive as possible win. For now.

A quick Google search and I could not believe what I was reading!

This herb, taken in India for the past 5,000 years, promotes muscle growth, cardiovascular health, and brain function.

It lowers stress, combats anxiety and depression, raises testosterone, increases fertility, reduces blood sugar and inflammation, and improves sleep and memory!

This shrub growing in India sounds like a complete miracle to 21st-century living.

So I had to try it out for myself...

I bought a 1 month supply for £14.26 and for the next 30 days I started taking 858.6mg of Ashwagandha daily.

Week 1 - Is This Thing On?

With all of those potential health benefits on the horizon, I was expecting this thing to go off with a bang.

In reality, the first week flew by without any noticeable positive effects. In fact, I slept TERRIBLY all week.

At least two nights of the week I was wide awake at 2 AM…

Was this just a coincidence or was this miracle herb the culprit for restless nights? I’m not sure but it is certainly worth noting.

There really isn’t much else to tell you about week 1. I felt the same both physically and mentally, my only challenge was to remember to take it every day.

But it didn’t take too long until things started to change.

Week 2 - The Calm Amidst Chaos

Sticking to my routine of popping a couple of pills with lunch every day, around the 10-day mark I noticed that I felt calmer.

Work is always super busy around this time and there are added pressures. This isn’t anything new to me but I felt more methodical this time.

I also felt chilled in the evenings where usually I can be quite restless.

When we feel stressed or anxious our cortisol levels increase, hence why Ashwagandha is sometimes suggested as a natural remedy for people that have anxiety or depression.

I don’t suffer from those but I am a hyperactive person. I fidget a lot and I can become restless.

This is exactly what I was hoping would happen. To feel calmer, more relaxed, and less stressed.

If this is what Ashwagandha can do for me, then I’m all in!

Week 3 - The Concerning Shift

Things started to change for me in week 3 and for the worse.

I woke up one day and I just felt numb. I wasn’t my usual self and I didn’t have any up-and-go whatsoever.

The first day I noticed this I didn’t even consider that it was Ashwagandha that might be causing it. I thought that I was just feeling a little off that day.

The following morning I felt exactly the same. I felt kind of emotionless, it’s weird to even try and put it into words, but I didn’t care about stuff as much as I usually do.

The line between stress-free and emotionless became blurry.

I started to watch a few more videos and read a few more articles about Ashwagandha and started to notice that others were experiencing the same thing.

One video from Andrew Huberman, a Stanford Professor, simply stated “Do not take this for longer than 30 days and then take at least 2 or 3 weeks break”.

Many others made videos saying they began to feel detached. I decided to test something in Week 4.

Week 4 - The Experiment's Turning Point

After becoming a little bit concerned about the effects, I decided to test if what I was feeling in week 3 was because of Ashwagandha. I took a couple of days’ break cutting my dosage to zilch.

Quite remarkably the next day I felt more spritely. In fact, I felt more focused and more switched on too.

The next day was exactly the same. I felt myself again.

These two days made me realise that Ashwagandha was causing some emotional detachment.

From the two-day break, I was happy to say that I wasn’t going to continue with the final few days experiment.

It’s Not Over

You might think that I’d move on from Ashwagandha and throw the leftover supply in the trash.

I’ve been taking two capsules per day, approx 860mg of Ashwagandha. Upon further reading, that dosage was probably too high.

I wonder what might be if I cut that dosage by half.

Remember in week 2, I felt great. I was cool, calm, and composed. I felt less stressed and less restless. This is exactly what I was looking for by adding Ashwagandha to my daily routine.

Supplements affect individuals differently. My experiences may not be yours. What works for one person may not for another. It takes experimentation, tweaking, and testing.

I’m going to take another 3 or 4-week break and then reintroduce Ashwagandha at half the original dose.

If you found this experiment interesting then I’ll write about my second experience and send you the results.

As with any supplement write-up, I have to add a disclaimer. This is my experience. I am not a physician. Before embarking on any supplement journey, it's crucial to consult with a healthcare provider to ensure it's a safe and suitable choice for you.

But there are only a few that actually work.

How can you find the one that works for you? Trial and Error.

You try a bunch of techniques like The 2-Minute Rule, The X Effect, or Pomodoro, and when one clicks you go all in on that.

Today, I’m going to tell you about a technique for achieving what Jim Collins calls your BHAG.

I know this works because I’ve seen it and lived it, so let’s dive in.

Firstly, you might be thinking, “WTF is a BHAG”.

A BHAG, pronounced Bee-Hag, is your Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

This is a powerful mechanism for shooting for the moon. It’s a way for you to think bigger, aim higher, and set goals that are so powerful and compelling they have their own gravitational pull.

By their very nature, they are hard to pull off. Very hard, in fact. That’s why they're not just Big and Audacious. They are Hairy. ‘Cos you can be damn sure it’s going to get hairy along the way.

Setting your BHAG is one thing but all goals are achieved when we focus on the system, not the goal.

About 5 years ago, I was working for a small company in London. When I say small, I mean 4 employees type of small.

We were a tiny team doing millions a year selling apartment stays to business travelers at Fortune 500 companies and Investment Banks.

The owner of the biz, who is still the most influential person I have ever worked with and now a friend, came in one day and hung a whiteboard on the back of the office door and wrote:

90/90/1

Ben:

Jake:

Rebecca:

John:

We just looked at him in silence until he turned and smiled at everybody.

“Spend 90 minutes a day for 90 days on your 1 Big Hairy Audacious Goal”

I couldn’t help but think that this guy was paying us to be here from 9 to 5 and he’s asking us to spend just 90 minutes a day on our goal.

But Ben understood that most of what anybody does at work is simply a waste of time. Answering emails, pointless meetings, focussing on the wrong thing, spending too long on projects that don’t move the needle, admin, etc.

We each wrote our BHAG on the whiteboard (a genius concept for accountability that I only realized after I had left) and he asked us to prioritize 90 minutes every day working toward that goal.

Now I’m not going to bore you with the goals we had in sales, operations, blah, blah, blah, but I can tell you that I had never experienced focus like that before.

Each day, I spent 9-10:30 doing intensely focused work toward my BHAG.

And this tiny team was crushing it. We would hit our goals in 47 days and set a new one and then in 63 days and set a new one.

The BHAGs got bigger, hairier, and more audacious. We realized that just 90 minutes of intensely focused work was all that was needed to crush it.

P.S. I know now that this is a rule coined by Robin Sharma.

Why I think the 90/90/1 Rule works

1. Momentum

2. Focus

Momentum is a powerful force for productivity. In the beginning, it takes a while as you exert more energy to start something new but after a few days or weeks, it becomes easier.

You’re on a roll, and you know what to do, you pick up from where you left off and 90 minutes absolutely flies by.

The momentum makes you more focused and focus creates more momentum. It’s a powerful flywheel that turns you into a productive beast.

There’s a simplicity to this rule which is why it’s so effective.

Using the 90/90/1

This is not something that is only useful in a work setting.

Set yourself some Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals and work for 90 minutes a day for the next 90 days.

To this day, I am surprised at how effective the 90/90/1 rule is.

But you will only understand that if you experiment with it.

I said in the beginning, you should try a bunch of techniques and find what works for you. I can only speak from personal experience.

If you’re yet to find a framework that works for you, try the 90/90/1 rule.

You must set yourself a BHAG. Something to aim for. Then forget about it. Focus on the 90 minutes.

If you missed last week…

I’m currently 7 days into a 28-Day Digital Detox. Read last week’s edition and join me and a few other subscribers in taking back control of our time.

Conservatively, let’s assume I spend on average 5 hours a day on my phone across the year. That’s 1,825 total hours.

If I were to spend 24 hours a day on my phone it would take me 76 straight days to get through 1,825 hours.

That’s f’ing frightening.

Last week, I picked up my phone 113 times a day on average. On Thursday, I picked it up 181 times. Assuming I was awake for 16 hours, I picked up my phone 11 times an hour. EVERY 5 MINUTES!

That’s quite embarrassing.

Surprisingly (or not), the amount of times I pick up my phone is relative to the number of notifications I get each day.

One might assume that if I turn off my phone notifications, the amount of time I spend on my phone and how many times I pick it up will plummet.

How I spend my time needs to change.

I think you’ll agree, those numbers make for sobering reading.

So for the next 28 days, I’m doing a digital detox.

My Digital Detox Plan

1. I’m deactivating ALL notifications from every app I have installed on my phone except WhatsApp, Phone, and Ring. When my wife texts or calls me or when someone is at my door I want to know about it. Everything else is a distraction.

2. I’m deleting all social media apps. Last week, I wasted 16 hours mindlessly scrolling through TikTok, Reddit, and Twitter. If I delete those apps I will cut my screen time by 50%!

3. I’m not going to use my phone between 8pm and 9am. That’s no more late-night scrolling and no grabbing my phone as soon as I wake up.

4. I’m going to switch reading on my phone to reading on my Kindle. While it’s still a digital device, it has an e-ink screen so there is no blue light and there are no other apps to distract me.

5. No phone on Sundays. I’m going to avoid picking up my phone altogether for 1 day a week. Sunday will officially become the day of digital rest.

What I will use my phone for

1. I’m going to use Spotify for listening to music and podcasts.

2. You can see from my data I played ‘Games’ for 5 hours last week. That’s just 1 app - Chess. I’m going to cut the amount of hours, but I’ll still play the odd game here or there to keep the brain ticking.

3. Banking and Travel.

On Sunday 8th October, I’ll send you the results of my digital detox, what I learned, and the effects on my life.

Take a look at your screen time data. Uncomfortable with what you see?

Let me know in the comments your screen data and join me on this detox to take back control of your time.

Of course, 100 books is just a vanity metric. But I am big believer in the power of reading for stimulating creativity, brain training and knowledge acquisition.

I don’t read particularly fast but I am very selective about what I read.

Keep reading if you want to develop a habit with absolutely zero downside and unlimited upside - reading more books!

What books do I read?

When I say that I read 100 books I am talking about non-fiction.

If you’re into reading fiction books, the goal should be to read less, not more.

A gripping story should be read slowly, cover to cover, chapter to chapter.

Fiction books are an opportunity to escape this world, enter another and lose all sense of time. There really isn’t anything better than a story that pulls you in.

I view non-fiction books as an opportunity to learn something. Another point of view, another worldview, a new skill, a new way of living, a new concept, a new strategy, a new tip etc.

I read widely about entrepreneurship, technology, psychology, writing, self-improvement, marketing, creativity, health, wealth and more.

The truth about non-fiction books

Most of them are shit. Simple as that.

Of the 100 books I read last year, I would say 90 were garbage, 7 were fine, 2 were great and 1 changed my life.

It’s that 1 book that I’m looking for.

Most non-fiction books are an opportunity for the author to monetize their knowledge in someway.

They have achieved something in their life and they want to package that up as the best thing since sliced bread and make a mint from chumps like me.

I’m not bashing them at all. If you have something worth knowing you should definitely turn it into a book and spread your message as far and wide as you can.

But in truth most non-fiction books could just be a long blog post.

But people don’t pay for blog posts.

Usually each non-fiction book has one central idea. To sell a book the author must present this idea and then reinforce that message with "proof” over and over again to fill the 300 pages.

The goal when reading non-fiction

Knowing that 90% of non-fiction books aren’t any good means that I treat them with complete contempt.

I want to absorb the main idea as quickly as possible and as soon as the book stops offering something for me to stick around, I put it down and that book is left to collect dust.

Unless a book grips me, changes my worldview or gives me a reason to keep reading on with each passing chapter, I have no issue in putting it down.

Remember, I want to find that 1 book that is going to change my life.

So here’s the truth…

Last year, I absorbed the ideas of 100 books, I have finished about 5 of them cover to cover. I have re-read 1 more than 3 times.

Another great thing about non-fiction books is that you don’t need to read it in chronological order.

The contents page is one of the best resources for absorbing ideas quickly.

Because the author has to fill approximately 300 pages, the first 3 chapters are probably pointless set-up and you can usually tell from the titles of the chapters.

I want to get to the main idea as quickly as possible and if that means starting at chapter 4 of 12 then so be it.

If the main idea seems interesting to me and worth my time, I can always go back to chapter 1 if I feel the set-up is important.

Here is an example from the contents page of a book called ‘The Art and Business of Online Writing’ by Nicolas Cole.

“Want To Start Writing Online? Don’t Start A Blog” is the name of one of the early chapters.

Now I can see there are 14 pages in this chapter, but am I going to learn anything new that the title doesn’t already tell me?

I imagine it’s a short chapter about why this author doesn’t believe you should start a blog with some proof or evidence of why that is the case (I don’t know because I skipped it).

I jumped straight to ‘How The Online Writing Game Works’ since that piques my interest. This author has clearly mastered the art of writing online and perhaps I can learn something new in this chapter.

After that I read another 3 or 4 chapters later in the book and skim read a couple more.

Once I felt that I had grasped the main idea and had a couple of takeaways to action then I was satisfied.

Did I read every single word in this book? No.

Do I classify this book as being read and the main idea being absorbed? Yes.

How To Develop A Reading Habit

1. Set an achievable reading target

I spend at least 20 minutes a day reading, usually right before I go to sleep.

I have set a goal in the Apple Books app for 20 minutes of reading and once that goal is hit a little notification pops up telling me that I have hit my goal for the day.

The reality is I read for about 40 minutes a day.

The great thing about a reading habit is that once you’re already reading something it’s very easy to continue reading on even if you reach your goal.

I recommend setting your target or timer for a short period of time, say between 10 and 20 minutes. The goal is to read every day and hit your target. 10 minutes is better than 0 minutes.

However, I bet you will find yourself reading for longer than your goal. When the timer goes off you’re either enjoying the book and want to carry on or you’re in the middle of a chapter and only a psychopath puts down a book in the middle of a chapter.

2. Read at the same time everyday

Studies have shown that we stick at habits longer when we do them at the same time each day.

Make it as easy as possible by choosing a time you can stick to. If you commute to work by train everyday that’s a great time. I find it easiest just before going to sleep.

A little bonus is that reading can make you tired. So if you struggle to fall asleep at night then pick up a book and start reading. As soon as you feel yourself drifting off, put it down and hit the pillow.

3. Put down boring books

If you find yourself disinterested in a book then put it down. Time is precious and there are so many other books to choose from.

I know I said most non-fiction books are garbage but there are also a lot of great books with interesting ideas.

It’s much easier to develop a reading habit when you’re reading something you enjoy.

4. Don’t use Amazon to choose your books

Most products on Amazon have gamed reviews. Meaning that most of the reviews have been bought and paid for.

The search functionality on the Amazon book categories is also really bad.

Same goes for Google. Most of the first pages of Google have been gamed by marketers who know how to get their website ranked highly.

Instead, you want to read books that other people have genuinely read and recommended.

Trust other people rather than the algorithm.

I use Twitter, Reddit and other forums to find new books.

I’ve found some very obscure titles buried in the comments of a Reddit community. These types of books never make it to the top of Amazon seller lists or the front page of Google.

5. Read topics that YOU enjoy

If you’re into natural history and anthropology then go down the rabbit hole and read widely on those topics.

If you’re into Cosmology and Metaphysics then there are thousands of titles to explore.

You could read 100 books a year for the next 50 years and not even scratch the surface.

The best way to develop a reading habit is to read stuff you enjoy, not what others enjoy or what is becoming trendy.

6. Understand what your reading goal is

I read non-fiction books because I love to learn new things. I also don’t have the attention span to read a 500 page novel from cover to cover.

If you prefer to read fiction then slow down and get lost in the story.

But the same rules apply! Put down rubbish fiction books. There are too many great novels out there so don’t waste your time on something that doesn’t grip you.

If you’re reading non-fiction books then read the contents, flick back and forth between the chapters and get to the main idea as quickly as possible.

If you find that a fiction book has a really interesting idea you can always go back to the beginning and read it chronologically.

7. Re-read great books

It’s very rare to find great books. But once you do then go back and re-read them in 6 to 12 months.

I read the same 3 or 4 books once a year. I always get something different from them, maybe I missed something from before or perhaps I want to revisit just 1 or 2 chapters.

You will know once you’ve found a great book because it’s very hard to put down, it changes your worldview and you’re not the same person you were at the beginning of the book.

Why You Should Read Everyday

As you can probably tell by now I am a massive advocate for reading.

If you think about it reading is basically time travelling.

I can be sitting at home reading a book from someone that lived 2000 years ago and absorbing their ideas and views.

For the same reason, I love to write and publish online. Hopefully in 10 years time some of the things i’ve written are still being read and can impact others in a positive way.

I have yet to find a single downside to reading other than there isn’t enough time in the world to read all of the great books that were ever written.

I’m not going to regurgitate all of the physical and mental benefits of reading, there are plenty of articles out there who can go into much more detail than I can.

All I know is that a small daily habit of reading is one of the greatest habits you could start.

A 30 Day Reading Challenge

Now it’s time to start your new reading habit.

Choose an achievable reading target and decide when and where you’re going to read each day.

Most people assume it costs a fortune to read a lot of books.

You can find over 70,000 FREE books in the public domain at Project Gutenberg, there are millions of FREE books in the Internet Archive or you can buy cheap ebooks on Amazon/Kindle Unlimited.

You can even get a library card and borrow books or find cheap books at charity shops.

• Insightful Article: The Dichotomy of Control

• Visual Inspiration: Where to Expend Energy

• Conceptual Framework: Practice Amor Fati

• Powerful Quote: Slave turned Philosopher, Epictetus

• Reader Spotlight: Share your story

If you enjoy today's newsletter, please share it with your friends and family!

The Dichotomy of Control

Stoic-philosopher Epictetus wrote about the Dichotomy of Control which poses that there exists two types of problems:

1. Things you can control

2. Things you can’t control

Those that are within our control should be given our full attention and mental energy; our beliefs, our judgement, our actions, our mood, our decisions, our desires.

And we have zero control on things like the economy, politics, the weather. Yet we let those things get us down and frustrate us.

This fantastic article translates a chapter from The Enchiridion and shares a three step framework for practical application of the Dichotomy of Control.

Read the Full Article

The intersection of where you should expend your energy

Practice Amor Fati

Amor Fati, first written by Nietzsche, is a mindset that draws close parallels to stoic virtues.

Translated to ‘Love of Fate’, Amor Fati is the embrace of whatever outcome may be bestowed upon us. To truly accept that things are out of our control which can lead to outcomes that can be good or bad for us.

Not just to accept fate but to love fate and then to play the hand you’re dealt.

Amor Fati forces us to focus on our inputs, the things we can control, and forget about the outcome which is out of our control.

It pushes us away from wishing things were different to accepting that this is the way things are and then doing something about it.

Powerful Quote of the Week

“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some things are within our control, and some things are not.” - Epictetus

🔦 Reader Spotlight: Share your story with our readers

Have an interesting story that you want to share with No More Snooze readers?

Reply to this email with your story to be featured in a future edition.

• Scientific Finding: Are lottery winners happier than people with spinal-cord injuries?

• Insightful Article: Increasing your happiness baseline

• Visual Inspiration: The Hedonic Treadmill

• Conceptual Framework: The reverse bucket list

• Powerful Quote: When enough is never enough

• Reader Spotlight: Share your story with our readers

If you enjoy today's newsletter, please share it with your friends and family!

Are lottery winners happier than people with spinal-cord injuries?

In 1978, a team of psychologists from Northwestern University and the University of Massachusetts asked lottery winners and recent casualties of spinal cord injuries to rank their enjoyment of everyday experiences like chatting to a friend, watching TV and laughing at a joke.

They found that the accident victims derived more pleasure and happiness from the everyday experiences in life than lottery winners did.

Overall, lottery winners did report slightly higher levels of general happiness than paraplegic people (so they damn well should, right?) but recent accident victims “did not appear nearly as unhappy as might have been expected.”

It seems that after life-changing events, our happiness levels are affected in either direction but at some point we return to our hedonic set point (happiness baseline) as we adapt to our new normal.

Published in the National Library of Medicine

Increasing your happiness baseline

If we seem to always return to our happiness baseline or hedonic set point even after seemingly life-changing events, surely we should focus on increasing our baseline since this is where we spend most of our time.

Martin Seligman, a positive psychologist, suggests using the PERMA model, which focuses on cultivating positive emotions:

1. Positive Emotions

2. Engagement

3. Relationships

4. Meaning

5. Accomplishments

Seligman suggests by following the PERMA model we can increase our happiness baseline and jump off the Hedonic Treadmill.

Read the Full Article

The Hedonic Treadmill

My wife just said “that’s you in a picture”. Harsh, but true.

The Hedonic Treadmill is wanting more no matter what you already have.

It’s constantly moving the goalposts and desiring more.

At some point, we should probably get off the treadmill.

The Reverse Bucket List

A bucket list is an unchecked list of things we haven’t done. It’s a reminder of the things we haven’t achieved. It’s a list of wanting more.

A reverse bucket list is a checked list of things we have done. It’s a reminder of all of the incredible things we have already achieved. It’s a list of gratitude.

The reverse bucket list switches our mental frame from ‘I want to do this’ to "‘I have achieved this’.

Sure, keep a list of things you want to do in your lifetime. But remember to celebrate and be grateful for what you have and what you’ve done.

Powerful Quote of the Week

As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.

Richard Carlson, Author of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

🔦 Reader Spotlight: Share your story with our readers

Have an interesting story that you want to share with No More Snooze readers?

Reply to this email with your story to be featured in a future edition.

It’s easy to understand that whatever foods we feast on will have a direct impact on the number staring back at us on the weighing scales.

But what about our mental diet?

What we feed our brain has a profound effect on our mental well-being.

Yet how many of us are keeping check on what we are feasting on?

When we overeat for a few months we can see a noticeable change by looking in the mirror. However, it’s much harder to notice the effects of our mental diet.

You are what you watch

If you sit around watching 24-hour news and reading sensationalist tabloid newspapers, your mind will be overloaded with fearful and depressive stories.

Researchers at Texas Tech University found that people who obsessively follow the news are more likely to suffer from elevated levels of anxiety, stress and live with mental ill-health.

What we watch will shape our perspectives, influence our behaviour, and contribute to our mental and emotional state. Are our thoughts really our own?

The reverse is also true. Researchers have found increasing levels of creativity, alertness and curiosity when a subject watches educational content and documentaries.

For most of us we will switch on the TV this evening. In fact, watching television is the most popular past time and if you live to the age of 78, approximately 15 years will have been spent watching television. Pretty frightening.

Add on top Youtube, podcasts, TikTok, radio and it’s easy to understand that we are what we watch.

I cut out reading and watching the news about 3 or 4 years ago. Purely because I had noticed that my mood changes after watching the news.

It turns out that you don’t miss much. If something is really important you will hear about it anyway and then can choose to look into it if it interests you.

But most of the news is total garbage that adds very little value to your life, but has a tremendous impact on our mental health.

You are what you believe

If you think you’re not good enough, you’ll never be worthy.

If you think the world is against you, nothing will go your way.

If you think you’re an unlucky person, bad luck will find you.

What we believe has a funny way of being proven true.

You may have heard about ‘The Law of Attraction’. Now before you run for the exit button I’m not going to start preaching The Secret. I’ll leave that to Oprah.

But I am a firm believer that what you believe and think about yourself ultimately ends up being true. Or should I say, it seems that way.

Take two people. One thinks they are unlucky and the other thinks they are lucky.

They both receive a phone call telling them they have lost their job.

The first person thinks, ‘Typical. Just my luck. Everything always gone wrong for me. I don’t even know why I bother'.’

The second person thinks ‘Damn, that’s a bummer. I guess right now so many people are losing their job so it’s not just me. Plus my boss was a bit of a dick. Maybe this is what I needed to start following my dreams'.

Too extreme?

Same two people. They get in their car to go to work and the car doesn’t start.

The first person thinks, ‘Typical. Just my luck. Everything always gone wrong for me. I don’t even know why I bother.’

The second person thinks, ‘Damn, that’s a bummer. I’m lucky the car lasted this long. I was expecting this at some point. Anyway, at least I get to work from home today.’

These are of course totally made up scenarios at very opposite end of the spectrum. But bad luck always finds unlucky people.

This is a mindset switch to make. It’s not easy to do.

But you are what you believe and your self-talk has a huge impact on your experience with the world.

Be careful who you listen to. Especially yourself.

You are who you hang around with

You might’ve heard the phrase, ‘you are the average of the 5 people you hang around with’ or ‘show me your friends and I’ll show you your future’.

Again this is a little pithy but the premise is true.

How many times have you heard ‘I started hanging around the wrong circles’.

Usually, that’s a line fed by someone who has done something wrong.

But again, the premise is true.

Humans are mimetic creatures. We copy people around us. If you moved to Australia, in a few short months the way you say certain words will have changed.

If somebody else has their legs crossed with their hands on their lap, we copy them without even think about it.

Those closest to us affect our thoughts, beliefs, decisions, esteem and behaviour.

That’s why communities are the most powerful social mechanisms. We seek out people who think the way we do and we hang out with them more.

Who we hang around with is a huge contribution to our mental diet.

That’s why it’s so important to cut out toxic people, unsupportive people, jealous people, the list goes on. Their thoughts are self-fulfilling - they are what they believe!

And again the reverse is true! Surround yourself with optimists, people that are curious, intelligent, and supportive.

People who are chasing their dreams are far more interesting than the people who talk about the people chasing their dreams.

Question your own mental diet

Monday is a beautiful day to reflect on your own mental diet. Have a think about what your brain is feasting on.

What are you consuming and how do you feel afterwards? What are you reading online? How many hours did you spend watching shallow, unfulfilling TikToks?

What do you tell yourself everyday? What do you believe about yourself? What do you believe about the world?

And ask yourself am I really like that. Or am I just meeting my own expectations.

Who are you hanging around with? Do you have a support network? Is there somebody else out there who is on a similar path that you can chat with?

Community is extremely powerful. A small gathering of like-minded individuals can be an unstoppable force. For good or for evil.

Read last week’s edition, The Transtheoretical Model of Habit Change

These studies and experiments led Prochaska and DiClemente to discover that there are 5 stages we must go through in order to change our behaviour.

The Transtheoretical Model, or Stages of Change, suggests that behaviour change is continuous but our goal is that we move through each stage until we reach Maintenance, where we maintain our new behaviour as it becomes the norm.

The 5 Stages of Behaviour Change

1. Pre-contemplation

At this stage, we are usually unaware that our current behaviour is an issue. It’s who we are and will continue to be. There is no intention to change in the foreseeable future and we look for reasons not to change that behaviour.

2. Contemplation

Here we might recognise that there is something we could change but we are still against taking action any time soon. “At some point in the future I should probably quit smoking”. We have raised our level of awareness of a problematic behaviour and some point in the future we might do something about it.

3. Preparation

Now we are ready to take action in next few weeks. We’ve decided that something needs to change and we might start taking a few small steps to change our behaviour. After contemplating that we might change something, now we are preparing to take action.

4. Action

Here we are taking massive action to change our behaviour. We are actively pursuing an outcome and learning about ourselves in the process. We might be modifying our existing behaviour or adding a new mental toolkit to help us in our quest for change. We are up for the challenge and recognise that once we change our behaviour we will be in a better place for it.

5. Maintenance

We have managed to change our behaviour for a healthy period of time (6+ months) and now we want to maintain the new status quo. We are conscious that we could enter an earlier stage at any time (relapse) but we fully intend to keep our old behaviours at bay.

Recently a 6th stage has since been added to the original model, Termination, which is the end of maintaining our new behaviour change because we have done it long enough that it is now the norm but according to behavioural scientists this is rarely reached.

What does it mean for you?

If you’ve ever changed a behaviour it is very likely that you passed through the 5 stages. And unless you were already aware of the model, you did so without knowing it.

You may have spent years at one particular stage and just a few days at others but in the end you took action against your existing behaviour in favour for a better outcome.

In 1970 this model was determined for health related change like quitting smoking, but awareness of the 5 stages equip us to understand how to change our behaviours and habits more generally too.

Awareness of the 5 stages allows us to understand the journey of change a little better, recognising where we currently fit in the cycle and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

One thing I love about this model is that it completely eliminates any idea we have of behaviour change happening overnight.

The model shines a light on the reality of changing our behaviours. It takes time and effort. If it was easy we would all be living perfect lives. So I I like to think of The Transtheoretical Model not as a model but as a roadmap.

A roadmap towards personal transformation.

If you missed the last edition, you can read that here - Devil makes work for idle hands

A previous edition, A System for Showing Up, stressed the importance of a system for accountability. But what about a system for actually doing what you said you were going to do?

I’ve often said ‘there just isn’t enough time in the day’, as I’m sure you have to. But that’s nonsense isn’t it.

If all of a sudden there were 26 hours in a day, you wouldn’t necessarily become more productive. In fact, the tasks you complete in 24 hours would just stretch to fill the allocated time.

That’s called Parkinson’s Law. If you give yourself 7 days to do something it will take you 7 days. If you give yourself 48 hours, it will take 48 hours.

Control your time or it will control you

Time-blocking is the art of allocating blocks of time to 1 specific task.

When you have a meeting at work scheduled for 10-11am, everybody shows up, you talk about the issue and everybody leave at 11am. That hour was blocked and allocated for that meeting.

We can extend the utility of time-blocking from our professional lives to our personal lives.

Not only can we time-block our calendars to get stuff done at work, we can use the same method for staying productively disciplined in our personal lives.

Let’s say we clock out at 5.30pm for arguments sake. A time-blocked calendar might look like this.

How is this different from a to-do list?

Well, we might have ‘Workout’, ‘Learn skill’, ‘Put flat pack together’ on our to-do list for the week, but there isn’t any structure. Or in other words, there isn’t a system for getting them done.

A to-do list is an arbitrary list of things. Time-blocking is a system using the constraint of time to commit to one of those tasks at a specific time.

Rather than wishing for more time in the day, we become more effective at using the time we have available.

How does that lead to greater self-discipline?

As somebody who has spent many years being totally undisciplined, wandering through life unorganised and just letting each day pass while the to-do list piles up with sky high procrastination, I’ve come to understand that I’ve not been in control of my time. I’ve left many things to inspiration or motivation. But I’m rarely inspired to workout.

What I’ve actually been lacking is a system for task commitment.

With time-blocking, I’m saying ‘this is what I’m doing tomorrow and this is when I’m doing it’.

I’ve slowly introduced this method in my professional life and have began to extend this to my personal life which has led to longer states of self-discipline.

It’s also helped me avoid habits that waste my time. Rather than mindlessly scrolling through TikTok and Reddit for a couple of hours, I’m busy doing more important things.

Give it a try. It’s Sunday today, a perfect day to plan out your week.

What do you want to do next week that you know you need to do?

Set a specific hour on a specific day and use the constraint of time to your advantage.

If you missed the last edition, you can read that here - Creatures of habit

“What’s that?”

“We always walk to the same spot and put our shoes on the same rock…”

For the past 7 days, my father-in-law and I have been running through the quaint mountain-side villages of Crete finishing at a secluded cove to swim in the sea with the village locals.

Every morning we would walk across the stoney cliff face and place our shoes on exactly the same rock before going for a quick dip.

Even though the cove isn’t particularly big, it’s still large enough to choose any perfectly good spot on the beach to place our shoes.

And yet, without fail we head to the same spot and place our shoes on exactly the same rock for one simple reason.

We are creatures of habit.

When I say ‘we’, I mean you and I and every other person on this planet.

On day 1, where we took off our shoes on the beach was total chance.

On day 2, it was already a subconscious choice.

On day 3, 4, 5 and 6, it was a habit.

Most of the tiny daily decisions we make are subconscious impulses.

I bet you sit in the same seat when watching the tv.

I bet you sit in the same spot at the dinner table.

It’s now 7 days into our holiday and each one of the family has sat on the same pool-side sun lounger as they did on day 1.

Creatures of habit.

Our brain tries to autopilot as many decisions as possible. It has to.

If we had to think hard about where to put our shoes every morning plus the thousands of daily decisions we need to make we would be mentally exhausted.

We want most decisions to be made by subconscious impulses.

However, we don’t want to be making important decisions about health, wealth and relationships on autopilot.

Recognising that we are creatures of habit is the start. Understanding that we can harness that fact for our greater good is how we take control of our lives.

For instance, people that go to the gym at the same time on the same days of the week end up logging more workouts.

Creatures of habit.

Take a moment to reflect on some decisions you’ve made recently that fall in to a category of either health, wealth or relationships (the real important decisions in life).

Are you making intentional and conscious decisions or are you letting your decision-making run on autopilot?

Building good habits needs your full conscious attention and effort because our mind is constantly seeking comfort and certainty.

As a wise man once said, “We are what we repeatedly do”.

If you missed last week’s edition, read The illusion of shortcuts.

I’ve quite literally read hundreds of books and spent hours of my life absorbing as much as I can in these two areas.

I’ve always thought that’s because that’s where my interests lie. Improving myself and owning a business. And I think that is part of it but not the underlying truth.

Just a few hours ago on my family holiday, I was sitting on the sun lounger reading another book about self-improvement (obviously) when I asked myself ‘why are you actually reading this book?’

I’ve been reflecting on that ever since and I made a little discovery.

Since I was in high school I’ve been looking for a shortcut in most things that I do.

No matter what it is, I want the hack/trick/cheat code/shortcut to avoid putting in the hours it takes to arrive at the end destination.

That’s either hard-wired in me or has been influenced by my environment of short term dopamine in a technological society, who knows.

All I know is that nobody ever became a chess grandmaster without putting in thousands of hours and many years of practice, experimentation, failure and persistence.

And I’m willing to bet that’s the same for every single pursuit of something on this planet.

So why do I expect to one day discover a ‘golden ticket’ or take a shortcut to avoid putting in the reps.

That’s why I really read self-improvement and business books. I am searching for a shortcut in personal growth or owning a business.

But I missed the true essence of growth and fulfilment.

Relentlessly turning up every day, doing the boring stuff, putting in the reps, racking up the days, weeks, months, years is the rewarding part.

It’s not about finding a magical formula or stumbling upon a hidden secret.

It's about embracing the process, the journey itself.

Treasure is found at the depths of the ocean, it rarely floats.

In truth, the books I’ve been reading have been an avoidance tactic. A reluctance to admit the truth.

Everything worth having takes time, even longer that I think probably, and there are no shortcuts.

There is just showing up everyday and doing my best and then there is everything else.

I knew this was coming.

It was 8.55am and I was still laying in bed. The 6.30am alarm was a distant memory.

For the third time in as many days the allure of the snooze button had been too strong.

And my wife was absolutely right. How could I write about habits and routines without conceding that I’d fallen off the horse this week.

A few late nights, falling out of my evening routine and poor quality sleep due to the the muggy British heat and the old Jake was back in town.

To be honest, I’m surprised it took this long.

For years, I’d been best friends with the snooze button and yet I somehow managed to wake up early for the past 6 months.

But with this bad habit creeping back in, I’ve noticed a lack of energy throughout the day, I’m unable to fall asleep at night and my morning routine has been non-existent.

Apparently it takes 21 days to form a new habit. But I’ve been getting up early every day for the past 180 days and guess what, it still isn’t a habit.

The minute you stop, it’s no longer a habit and that’s why the 21 day rule is a myth.

Anyhow, I admit that I hit a roadblock this week, simple as that.

It’s never plain sailing when trying to cut out bad habits and pick up healthy ones.

If it was easy we would all be in great condition with a life expectancy of 150. But that’s not how the world works.

Yet I can make a choice.

Continue down this road and let those bad habits creep in and take over.

Or jump back on the horse, tomorrow is a new a day with new challenges and rewards.

The old me didn’t even know there was a choice.

The new me will set that alarm and get up early tomorrow.

And this is my call out to you.

If you hit a roadblock with your habits, recognise tomorrow is a new day and you can make a choice.

If you’ve missed the gym for 1 week after a long stint of working out, tomorrow you can get right back to it and pick up where you left off.

Whatever it is that you’re trying to cut out, tomorrow is a new day.

There will be setbacks. Inevitably.

But these small moments are what tests and builds our character.

So people, I’m making a choice to get back on track. Will you join me?

Tomorrow is a new day.

When my buddy turned to me and said “how do I know I wasn’t supposed to be a world champion snooker player?’.

I paused the game and sat in silence for a few seconds deciding whether to ignore this obvious drunken nonsense and go to bed, or commit to the next 90 minutes debating whatever this question was about to manifest into.

‘Wtf are you on about?’

For context, my pal had never even picked up a snooker cue.

‘How do I know I wasn’t supposed to be a world champion snooker player?’

He repeated the question at me like I was the one who was stupid.

‘Well, you don’t play snooker for a start, have you even picked up a cue before!?’.

‘EXACTLY...’

Still not following and slightly regretting my decision not to escort myself to bed, I gave him one last chance.

‘If you’ve never picked up a snooker cue, in what parallel universe would you be a world champion snooker player, you [insert cuss words].’

‘I could’ve been destined from the moment I was born to be the greatest snooker player that ever lived but I never picked up a snooker cue. I’ll never know what I could be capable of because it’s impossible for me to try everything.’

Silence fell.

It was possibly the most profound thing I had ever heard at 1am.

A terrifying thought.

How many of us never discover our innate talents and passions because we never stumble across the thing that leads us to that discovery.

I don’t want to be the guy that didn’t fulfil his potential.

But I don’t know what I don’t know. And neither do you.

There are an infinite number of things I could be talented at or passionate about.

But where I’m born, when I’m born, my genetics, the events in my life, dictate a lot about who I am - where I work, what I do, the friends I have, what I’m interested in, the skills I have, the things I’ve learnt, the chances and opportunities that present themselves to me, the challenges and hardships that I face.

If I was born in Texas then the chances of me being passionate about NASCAR are about 100000 times more likely than if I was born in London. That’s not a choice I made it’s just a matter of geography.

And yet even though all of those things are out of my control, life is not a predetermined path. Life is full of boundless opportunities.

I was stuck for many years wondering about my purpose hoping that it would reveal itself to me in some grand fashion.

But I know that purpose, meaning, passions and talents will not just magically appear as if genies from a lamp.

We have to go out there into the unknown collecting experiences and moments as if we are the curator of our very own life gallery.

Our potential, our place in the world and the meaning to our lives are found by being ferociously curious.

Searching for new experiences, hobbies, skills, sports and past times that bring us closer to understanding who we truly are.

I have no issue trying something new and dropping it just as quickly when I realise it’s not for me.

Because I refuse to be the world champion snooker player that never picked up a cue.