Like most people, over the last few years I’ve really tried dialing in my morning routine.

When I first started this journey, I read a very interesting book called The 5AM Club.

It was awful.

BUT the foundational idea that being intentional with your first moments awake can boost your productivity, mood, and overall outlook on life is beyond clear.

5AM didn’t really work for me at the time, but I’ve tried a lot of other things since then and feel that I’ve got something working now.

I’ve dialed in my routine to where I feel energized throughout the day and have time to accomplish and focus on the things that I value most.

Can I get everything done that I want to? Never.

But I’ve come to accept that completing a todo list for the sake of completing a todo list doesn’t matter.

I ask myself at the end of the day;

“Did I focus on the most important things today?”

“Did I give today my all?”

If those are yeses, then I’m sleeping sound tonight.

And sleeping sound begins every night around 9:30pm.

To make sure I get there though, I start the day off with some really key things:

I shoot for being awake and alive at 5:30am every morning (except for Saturdays)… BUT I have a love/hate relationship with my alarm on my phone.

It’s just too dang easy to turn it off. One click of the volume button from a brain that is still sleeping is NOT how you wake up at a decent time.

So I found that setting a SILENT/VIBRATION alarm about 5:05am slowly starts to wake my brain up.

Then about 10 minutes later, I bring out the loud alarm, fade up our bedroom lights, and silence our sleepy music through the beauty of Alexa routines.

Even still, all of this won’t get me out of bed by 5:30am. I need… additional motivation in some way.

I found that using Focusmate as an additional motivator to be out of bed and in my office ready to start the day, is another game changer that Focusmate brings to my life.

Once I’m in my session, I tell my partner that I’m going to do my morning prayer time.

This prayer time consists of these sections in order:

  1. Thoughts — I wanna empty the brain before I try and start filling it.

  2. Scripture — I use the audio bible Dwell in conjunction with my Obsidian ESV Bible to read the word.

  3. Response to Scripture — I try and articulate how the passages I read apply to my life today and in our current season of life, or to just respond with praise and honor to King Jesus.

  4. Prayer for Today — An overall prayer for my day, work, and the way I lead my family

  5. Prayer for my Wife — To bless her and give thanks for her.

  6. Prayer for my Daughter — To bless her and give thanks for her.

  7. Prayer for my 2nd Daughter (coming April 2024) — To bless her and give thanks for the Lord’s provision and expansion of our family.

I TYPE out everything. Why? Because I am intentionally saving these notes and prayers for my kids to read one day.

This prayer time usually takes me ~30-40 minutes. It is by far the best way to start my day.

Next, I spend about an hour to 90 minutes working for some clients I consult for.

Then I do something that I never thought I would be able to do. I take a cold shower.

Now, I’m not insane and only use cold water.

However, after I’m completely finished with my shower, I don’t get out.

Instead, I turn the hot water all the way off, and turn the cold water all the way on… and guess what?

It sucks.

I live the definition of “grin and bear it”.

I make sure to take deep breaths and ensure ice cold water runs down my face and my back…

I’m not sure what the science says, but it feels like this shocks my system and resets everything.

I feel more alive and awake than ever.

This was my wife’s idea. Although, she doesn’t do it anymore… since the day I started, I haven’t stopped.

There is something profoundly weird about waking up in the morning and deciding to do something that everything in your body and your comfortable soul screams at you not to do.

After the shower, I get ready for the day, get our daughter ready for the day, eat breakfast with the family and drive off to the office or walk to my home office.

Waking up before the sun, intentional prayer time, and a cold shower have made my days feel super productive and rewarding…

But you know what’s funny?

We have less than 12 weeks before our second child is here…

And all of this is going to be thrown out the window.

Cheers until then.