204: The Ultimate Morning Routine for Managers

But Zig had so many quotable moments in his work. And one of those. That stood out to me when I first heard it, it just pierced my soul. The first time I heard Zig Ziglar say that a great life is nothing more than the sum of many great days. A great life is the sum of many great days. When you think of it that way, it begs the question, how do I create a great day?[00:01:00] How do I take more control and more influence over the quality of my days. If the ultimate measure of a life well lived comes down to something as simple as how many days will I reflect back on and say, wow, that was a great day. I had many great moments in that great day. How do you win the day? What does it take as an engineering leader? To win the day more often than not. And it is absolutely foolish to think that you can be a happy engineer, to be a great leader in technology and engineering, to build a career that you’ll ultimately look back on and say was great. If the average quality of your days. Is not great. If you hate your career, if you dread [00:02:00] waking up on Monday morning, if you’re unhappy at work, if you’re unfulfilled, if there’s no passion, there’s no energy, there’s no enthusiasm, no joy in what you do. It is foolishness to think that one day, 20, 30, 40 years from now, you’ll stop working, you’ll retire and reflect back on your career and say, that was a great day. I’ve had a great life up till this point. That is foolish. You won’t, you’ll get to that finish line and you will have regret that you did not experience the quality of life that you wanted and the quality of your life. Is absolutely measured in part by the quality of your work life. The quality of your life depends on the quality of your work life. So if a great life is the sum of many great days, a great question to ask yourself is how can I create great days? [00:03:00] How do I win the day? And for me, the answer to that question begins with how to win the morning. I was in an open Q and a session with a bunch of engineering leaders. Just last week and a director of engineering named Joel asked me this question. You know, what are the keys to success in your career? Overall, the big keys. It’s one of those questions you get where there is no single answer. It’s kind of a Seriously, huge open ended question. You know, what are the keys to success? And everybody asks questions like that. And I don’t mean any offense to Joel. It’s a reasonable question to ask a coach, what’s the key to success, but where do you go with that? And one of the things that came to mind as I was responding was exactly what we want to talk about today. Winning the day begins with winning the morning. And if you do not have a really strong discipline around your morning routine, 2025. Now is the time to change that. [00:04:00] Now, before I get into what the ultimate morning routine for an engineering leader looks like. Looks like I want to remind you that we have openings in our coaching program, the lifestyle engineering blueprint. If you’re not familiar with our program, this 90 day journey of accelerated growth with a peer group of incredible engineering leaders from around the country, we bring cohorts together and we put together an entire blueprint for how to get you to the next level quickly without burning out. And it is absolutely tremendous. If you want to know. More about joining an upcoming cohort of the coaching program to get one on one support directly from me And to be surrounded by a community of peers and coaches who are going to help you accelerate your goals For this year then grab your phone and click the link in the show notes or you can simply text The word lifestyle, just that one word lifestyle. It’s to the number five, [00:05:00] five, four, four, four. It’s a short code phone number there. Text the word lifestyle to five, five, four, four, four. We’ll get a couple of details from you and I’ll send you a link. where you can book a time to have a 15 minute chat with my team. Explore where you’re stuck. Where do you want to go in your career? What are the gaps that you’re facing? What are the goals you have and how can we close those quickly? And if the program is a fit for you, my team will get you. Onto my calendar, we’ll do a free roadmap session, build a plan and make sure that it’s a great fit. So if that interests you and you’re hungry for more in your career, and you want to do that with a cohort of leaders who are all on that journey with you. And with my direct mentorship and coaching every step of the way, then grab your phone and get signed up for one of those free 15 minute conversations to see if the lifestyle engineering blueprint is a fit for you. So Joel asked about how do we succeed? [00:06:00] Winning the day is a big part of that to win the day. You must win the morning. You must win the morning. Now, morning routines is a topic that’s covered by every coach, every guru, every person out there. And in fact, there’s been a really popular trend on social media lately of coaches saying, you don’t need a morning routine. Uh, you’re doing all that 5am or 4am wake up nonsense is for the birds. You don’t need that. You don’t forget that stuff. Um, look, I honestly believe that a lot of that is just marketing. Seeking to get your attention, going with the counter cultural or the controversial opinion. Here’s what I’ve seen working with hundreds of engineering leaders, one on one and having had thousands of people come into the world of our work here at the Oasis of Courage. There is not a person yet who I’ve supported in creating accelerated success in their career and a deeper level of fulfillment and happiness in life where the [00:07:00] morning. And the things that you do in that first 30 to 90 minutes of the day is not a huge lever to accelerate and increase those results. So if you think you’re an exception to the idea that how you start the day matters, then reach out to me. Send me an email. Let’s talk. I’d love to know why you believe that or what it is that you’re doing because I have not met you. A single engineering leader yet who cannot create bigger and better, more consistent compounding results through a powerful morning routine. So there’s a thousand things you can do. There’s a few things that you definitely should not do in your morning routine. And those I’ve already covered in a separate episode of the podcast, so I won’t repeat them here. Rather than going through them again, I’ll just refer you back to episode 111. Thank you. Episode 111 where I cover [00:08:00] five things that you must not do in your morning routine. So go back and check that one out after this. So what should you do? What are the things that help you to create a great morning routine? Well, the challenge and the reason Most people don’t address this question super directly is because there’s so many things you could do and your unique situation is going to dictate what’s possible for you. If you’ve got three small children at home or kids that you’re helping to get ready for school at home, then your morning routine is going to look different than a single bachelor who just got out of college and doesn’t have anyone else. To consider in the morning and can do whatever they want. And because of that, there’s not a single recipe that’s going to fit and work for everyone, but there are three principles that I’ve seen are necessary to have the ultimate start to the day, how we piece those together can be customized and [00:09:00] curated into anybody’s unique situation. But there are three principles we must include to have a powerful start to the day. When you get up out of the bed and your brain is coming out of that alpha state and you’re getting into that beta state and you’re getting ready for the day, you’re getting into that mode of time for work. We want to be really intentional to wake up and optimize the body, to wake up and focus the mind and create a great plan. We call that your playbook here at the Oasis of Courage. The body, the mind, and the playbook. These three components, these three principles are necessary to create a really powerful morning routine. So I want you to imagine as you wake up in the morning, when you pull those sheets [00:10:00] off and the alarm goes off and you’re rolling out of bed, you start the day Square smack dab in the middle of your comfort zone. I mean, literally, you are in the most comfortable place you’re ever going to be throughout that day. You’re in bed, the warm, cozy sheets. It’s like so hard to even want to get out of bed, right? You start the day right in the middle of your comfort zone. And moments ago, So the first thing we need to do is wake up. We need to get out of that mode of the comfort zone. And it’s characterized by a few key qualities. It’s an automatic pilot. It’s seeking the easiest path of least resistance. And it’s self aware. Completely unaware or unconscious, right? Of, of what matters [00:11:00] most it’s agnostic to priority. That’s the problem with that mode you’re in. First thing in the morning, you’re going to go do the same things that you’ve always done, and you’re not yet conscious of what matters the most. So the morning routine is designed. To help kick us out of that place to wake up quickly physically and mentally because a strong mind, which is what you need to be successful as an engineering leader exists inside of a strong body. All right. The body and the mind are inseparable. We want to wake up and engage both. And then we need to aim That energy that we’re waking up towards the highest priority of the day, creating focus through the playbook. So what are the keys to this? When you think about waking up the mind, waking up the body, and creating a playbook. Well, I’ll share with you just a couple of those components for each one that [00:12:00] I have learned and work tremendously well for me. Let’s start with the body. It’s the easiest one. If you’re the kind of person who’s just rolling out of bed, Throwing on your clothes, going straight to the coffee pot and sucking down two cups of coffee to get yourself rolling and moving in the morning. And then the next thing you know, you’re sitting down in front of the computer, basking in the warm glow of those fluorescent lights and working. Then you have completely missed the opportunity to engage and leverage the power of your physical body for ultimate results. The body is, it’s just amazing how much. More there is we can leverage there and I’m learning right alongside with you, but let me give you a couple of keys. Number one, water before coffee. Okay. Water before coffee. Dan Pink has talked about this. Andrew Huberman talks about this. All the greats talk about this, that we want to treat the body like the high end performance [00:13:00] vehicle. It can be if you give it fuel that is full of garbage instead of the high performance, clean fuel that it needs, then you’re going to feel that drag. On your performance and caffeine and coffee is the very first thing into your body, which is a habit for lots and lots of leaders is a big mistake. You dehydrate during the night. You’re going six, seven, eight hours without anything to drink and your breath, just that tendency to lose moisture through the breath. You’re dehydrating through the night. I highly recommend first thing you do, drink a big glass of water, drink a big glass of water. Athletic greens or some product that has a lot of nutrients to it. Getting that infusion of healthy liquids first thing in the morning. Not a lot of sugar, just water. Drink water first thing in the morning. And ideally wait at least 30 minutes after waking. Before you drink anything with caffeine, [00:14:00] Dan Pink talks about this in this book, when and the science of timing and why that matters. But for the moment, just take it at its face value. Coffee first is not the highest performance way to go in the morning. Drink water first. The second thing. Stretch and move your body. If that’s not going to the gym, you don’t have time for that or that’s not an option for you, it doesn’t work for you, I totally get it. But don’t let a short or compressed morning routine be an excuse for not moving the body. Mobility, flexibility, even just a few push ups, a few sit ups, some squats, something that gets your body going is really, really helpful. Stretch and move the body. Energy gets created. stored or trapped in the muscles, tissues, joints of your body. And when you start to move, when you start to stretch and open up the body, get the blood flowing, then you’re [00:15:00] enhancing the performance of the mind as well. The mind and the body are connected. Your nervous system goes throughout your entire body, not just your brain. So stretch, move, come up with something that fits for you. If it’s three minutes of stretching, that is better than just rolling out of bed, putting on clothes, driving to work and sitting in a chair movement. Matter. So stretch, move the body, do some yoga, go to the gym, get yourself moving, get that heart rate up, get your blood pumping if you can. Which leads me to the third thing I would say around body water before coffee, stretch and move and do something physical that pushes you to your limit. Push yourself to the limit in one way physically in the morning. Couple ideas. What could that be? A really popular trend. Lately has been cold showers or cold plunges. I do that. It’s absolutely tremendous. The benefits [00:16:00] that are gained from that, but what’s common among every, idea, every tactic for pushing yourself to the limit, if that’s one set of pushups to your maximum or, uh, running sprints, doing something that pushes you to run at 100 percent finding your limit physically. Whether it’s a cold shower or running sprints, they all have the common element that your mind will resist doing it. And you must consciously choose to overcome your mind in order to do that thing. I’ll tell you, I’ve been doing cold showers for a long time now. And I’ll never forget, I was at Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within event back in 2019. This was before COVID. It was his last UPW before COVID 19. So 000, I don’t know, huge group in a. Big [00:17:00] arena for unleash the power within. And somebody came on and was talking about cold therapy, cold plunges, cold showers. And Tony was talking about his cold plunge routine in the morning. And I was the first time I’d been exposed to how prevalent this was. I mean, I’d heard of it, but I didn’t realize how many people were really advocates of this cold exposure. And Tony said something that I thought sounded kind of cliche. He said, I’ve been doing this cold plunge every morning for however many years. And I never want to do it. Every single morning, there’s a negotiation in my mind. And I’m hearing Tony Robbins say this. I’m like, nah, that sounds like something he’s telling us to help us overcome some of that internal resistance to trying it. That’s probably not true though for a guy like Tony Robbins. Well, I can tell you now, here it is 2025. I’ve been doing cold showers since 2019 and he’s right. [00:18:00] There is not a single morning where I. Getting that shower and I’m excited to turn that temperature off of the scalding hot temperature. My wife loves and cranking that all the way over to as cold as it goes, especially in the winter time here in Michigan. Woo. I mean that is some cold, cold water and it is shocking and it wakes you up and it is exhilarating, but I never want to do it. I never want to do it. There’s a decision required to push yourself to the limit. So when you think about your morning routine, if you’ll find one thing to do that forces you to your edge, to your limit physically, it will have a tremendous benefit in your life mentally and spiritually. Because of that discipline of doing hard things. There’s a certain power created in your, in your [00:19:00] mindset when you get good at saying yes to uncomfortable but valuable things. Because in your career, this is the distinction that’s going to accelerate your success versus keep you on a slow or flat path towards what’s next. It’s that ability to face the next hard thing, that next uncomfortable decision, that uncomfortable conversation, that challenge that you may fail to come back and bounce back from rejection. All right. Or a big mistake to learn from those mistakes. That mindset is strengthened. Every single morning, when you do that hard thing that pushes you to your edge. So, Ultimate Morning Routine. It has three parts, body, mind, and playbook. And when it comes to your body, water before coffee, stretch and move in some way that fits in your schedule.[00:20:00] If that’s going to the gym, awesome, that’s what I do. But if it’s three minutes, five minutes, great. Make one of those things something that pushes you to your edge. Ultimate Morning Routine Finding your limits and you’re going to have an incredible boost to start the day. That’s your body. Now let’s talk about the mind. Waking up the mind is about coming off of autopilot and into a focused intention. So we can then use that focus and intention to create a really great plan in this next piece. So in the mind, what does that look like? What do you do? Well, there’s a couple things that are really, really useful in the mind. Bringing your mind out of that comfortable, neutral place when you roll out of bed into you at your best. The first one is to give yourself room, an empty space, an empty container [00:21:00] for what I call stream of consciousness to flow. Stream of consciousness through journaling, prayer, meditation. meditation, a disciplined practice that allows you to avoid input. Okay. The first thing of your day should not be input. It should be output, a clearing of the mind. I love sitting down for time in meditation or prayer, just to sit in silence and listen and pray and meditate and think about. What’s on your own mind? Not what someone else is saying on the news. Definitely not what people are saying on social media or in your email inbox. Before any inputs, we want to have room for output. Freeform journaling is another really powerful practice. Top excuse [00:22:00] I hear from engineers all the time on this. Zach, I just don’t have time. For all of these disciplines in my morning, you don’t understand, you know, how tight my schedule is and how many other people there are in my household to deal with and take care of. Look, you can have all of the excuses in the world. That’s fine. And they’re reasonable. I’m not saying you’re wrong. It could be completely true that you don’t have a single place that you can go get alone and do any of the things that I’m talking about. But if you want The best results possible in your whole life. If you want unreasonable success, then we need to stop accepting reasonable excuses and be a little bit more unreasonable in our life. Take two minutes, take five minutes, give yourself the gift of that time for output of the mind before you engage with everything else around you. [00:23:00] The second thing, Number one is intentional input. Number one is output for the mind. But number two is when it comes time to start filling your mind, what’s the very first thing you fill it with when you start your day? Start on the track that you want to continue down. If you want to have a positive, loving, joyful, passionate, intelligent, success driven day, then start the day by filling your mind with material that aligns with that intention. Again, don’t go listening to the news, which is full of all the world’s biggest problems or social media, which is everybody else’s pretend version of life. Go to the source of things that’s aligned with what you want more of. If that’s reading a really great book, something that you’re learning about something for education, if that’s [00:24:00] listening to motivational speaking or a great podcast, that’s informing the lifestyle you want to live. If that’s, you know, spending some time in affirmations and reading back. Those statements, those beliefs, those identities that you want to hold any of these things are powerful and will help you But when it comes to input Start your day with inputs that align with the kind of day you want to have a great life Is the sum of many great days So when you’re thinking about waking up and priming the mind Output before input and when it comes to input start with the things that align with what you want If you’ll do that with your mind, then you’re going to be well positioned to now create a great body, mind, and playbook. A plan. I wish I had the research budget to go and do my own [00:25:00] study. On how much of our life runs on autopilot, many of the famous and often cited studies talk about 95 percent of your mind being in the subconscious that we have tens of thousands of thoughts every day and that 80 or 90 or above percent of those thoughts are the exact same thoughts you had yesterday that we are so much on autopilot. And so if you want to start a great day. This playbook, the planning, is about breaking that pattern of autopilot and just doing the exact same things you’ve always done and assuming the same thoughts from yesterday apply again today, and to take a moment of consciousness and intention to make sure that today is aligned with your highest and best. The playbook for us here at the Oasis of Courage is about reflection, Learning and planning. How did yesterday [00:26:00] go? Was there anything from yesterday that I need to remember, either celebrate or learn from? Apply that learning into my day today and choose what is the one most important thing and the two or three other things that I’m gonna aim my energy at that are most important today. Selecting those priorities. Alright, and that’s not to say that you want to select priorities that fill every single minute of the entire day. In fact, that’s a really bad strategy. If you’re seeking to fill up every single minute of every single day, then you’re never going to experience the fulfillment of finishing strong for a day because things don’t go perfectly. You need to leave room margin for those unknowns and those unexpected things. If you don’t want to experience constant stress and overwhelm, but it’s still important to begin with a great plan, even if it’s as simple as a single sticky note [00:27:00] with two or three things written on it, which by the way, is exactly what I do. Something as simple as that can change the trajectory of your day. I’ve worked, like I said, with hundreds of engineering leaders, managers, directors. You know, C suite level leaders, the number of people who get to work, start their day, and their very first thing is to simply check their email or walk into the room of their first meeting. Whatever was already on their calendar. That was their first meeting. The day before or it’s there every week, it’s a recurring meeting and that’s all they do to start their day and they don’t think about their priorities until 10 or 11 or 1 p. m. when they have their first opening in the day and then they ask, what should I be doing? By then you’ve already lost. Set up a great plan from the beginning so you can hit the ground running and know that if you [00:28:00] accomplish these critical few things that you’re going to win the day. And when you win the day, you win your life. The ultimate morning routine can be 20 minutes of focus time. It can be two hours of focus time. It can be just you in your own little world. It can be you integrating with your family and the people you live with and around and colleagues. There is no single defined, uh, prescription for how that’s going to look like for you. But it includes these three components. Wake up your body, wake up your mind, and focus that energy in a great plan, your playbook, to make sure that you’re winning the day. If you need help putting those pieces together, you don’t know how to use the tools for mindset and affirmation or the concepts of stream of consciousness. Some of these things feel confusing to you or you’ve got questions about, you know, is it better to do this or that when it [00:29:00] comes to waking up the body, any of these things at all or, or planning tools. How do I know what my priorities should be for the day? How do I make great decisions when I have such a full calendar of meetings and I’ve got 20 projects and two bosses and. If you’re stuck on those kinds of details, then reach out, let’s connect, and get you the answers that you need. You can join us at happy hour, we get some support there. You can reach out and apply for our coaching programs and get a full robust plan, not just of your morning, but of your entire career strategy. But don’t sit and do nothing just because you’re stuck on one or two details. It’s really important to make the decisions and get started now. Win the morning, win the day, win your life, and let’s do it together. We’d love to support you and bring you in as part of our incredible community here. Like I said earlier, if you want to join one of our cohorts for the lifestyle engineering blueprint program, we’ve got openings coming up every quarter this year, we’d love to have you join us [00:30:00] connect. We’ll share all about it. You can text the word lifestyle to five, five, four, four, four, or click the link. That’s right there in the show notes, wherever you’re listening to the podcast and you can apply. For one of those free calls there, go in the day when tomorrow morning, let’s do this.