How to Create The PERFECT MORNING Routine For SUCCESS! (In-Depth Guide) w/Lewis Howes EP 1130

It can be extremely difficult to find success, but there are a few things you can do to really increase your chances of achieving everything you want to do with your life. One of those things is creating a morning routine that gets you in the right mindset everyday. So today I wanted to do something a little different and talk to you one on one about some of the things I’ve learned over the years about morning routines––and creating my own habits––that have really set me up for success. In this episode I discuss why a morning routine practice actually works, how to make your habits actually stick, the easiest and most important habits to start building now, my own personal morning routine, and so much more! For more got to: www.lewishowes.com/1130MILLIONAIRE MORNING GUIDE - https://www.themillionairemorning.com/The Wim Hof Experience: Mindset Training, Power Breathing, and Brotherhood: https://link.chtbl.com/910-podA Scientific Guide to Living Longer, Feeling Happier & Eating Healthier with Dr. Rhonda Patrick: https://link.chtbl.com/967-podThe Science of Sleep for Ultimate Success with Shawn Stevenson: https://link.chtbl.com/896-pod Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 1,130, a solo round with me on how to create the perfect morning routine for success. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:31Lewis Howes?

  You've heard the saying that we become what we repeatedly do. And it can be extremely difficult to find success, but there are a few things you can do to really increase your chances of achieving everything you want to do in your life right now. And one of those things is creating a morning routine that gets you in the right mindset every single day. Your thoughts, the way you think, how you perceive the world, all supports you in either accomplishing what you want or holding you back from what you want. So today, I wanted to do something a little bit different and talk to you one-on-one about some of the things I've learned over the years about morning routines and creating my own habits that have really helped me up for success and accomplishing the goals in my life. So in this episode, I'm going to connect with you one-on-one and share with you why

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  a morning routine practice actually works, how to make your habits actually stick, the easiest and most important habits to start building now, my own personal morning routine, and so much more. So if you're enjoying this, make sure to connect with a friend and have them join in and listening, or you can watch over on YouTube as well, youtube.com/lewishowes and subscribe over there. And if this is your first time here, then welcome to the School of Greatness. We've got some incredible content for you. But in just a moment, I'm going to be sharing with you a solo round on how to create the perfect morning routine.

• 1:49Lewis Howes?

  Hey, everyone. My name is Lewis Howes, and today I want to talk about how to create the perfect morning routine for a successful life. Now, there's a lot of information out there about morning routines and a lot of different content talking about it from different people, but I wanted to share what works for me and what I've seen works for so many people that I've interviewed. From the School of Greatness, I've had the great fortune of interviewing some of the greatest athletes, scientists, doctors, researchers, celebrities, artists, activists in the world. And I've picked up some tips here and there about their morning routines and I've tried it for myself. And I've kind of distilled it down to what really works for me at this stage and season of my life.

• 2:31Lewis Howes?

  Now, to set the stage here, it all kind of depends on where you're at in your life. It depends if you're in school, if you're a busy mom, if you're in your twenties and you're a career professional. The season of your life, how your morning routine is going to set you up for success or not. And I want to talk about what the morning routines and habits that are necessary for success. For me, from all of the research and testing that I've done, waking up after you've had a full night's of sleep, getting eight hours, seven to eight hours is crucial for my success. And just a few nights ago, I was up until 3:00 AM for a specific reason, I was working late.

• 3:12Lewis Howes?

  And I got maybe four or five hours of sleep and I could feel it throughout the next day. Whether I'm just getting older and you know, I'm not 21 anymore and I can't pull all-nighters like I used to in college. Or whether I'm just doing so much more during my days, I'm physically exerting myself, I'm mentally and emotionally exerting myself. My body and my mind needs time to recover. From Dr. Daniel Amen, who talks about the brain and the science of the brain, your body and your brain needs to recover. You need sleep and you need restful sleep. Shawn Stevenson talks about this as well in interviews I've done with him about sleeping and how it's so crucial. And you can't really make up the debt of missing out on sleep.

• 3:56Lewis Howes?

  Say you get three hours a night for weeks and months, it's going to be hard on your mind and body. It's hard to make up that debt that you've accumulated from not putting in the time and the hours. From the longevity experts that I've had on and those talking about anti-aging, they all say sleep is one of the key ingredients to success.

• 4:20Lewis Howes?

  And living longer, and living healthier, happier. So focus on sleep. Now, when I was younger, in my twenties, I used to think that sleep is for those who are broke. Sleep is, you can sleep when you're dead. But I'm telling you, you're gonna be dying a lot sooner if you don't sleep well consistently. And the brain, the heart, the body, everything needs time to recover. And this is when you're sleeping, your body is regenerating. So if you are putting in, you know, hours of training, or emotional and stressful and mental exertion throughout the day, I'm telling you, your body and your mind needs time to cleanse itself. This is when you burn fat, this is when you recover,

• 5:04Lewis Howes?

  this is when ideas start to connect. But if you're not sleeping and resting well, it's gonna be extremely hard to perform better the next day. So this isn't, this isn't just for someone that wants to live longer and happier. This is for, if you want to be a high performer as well, and have clarity, and focus, and energy, and not have mental stress. The brain and the body needs to sleep. So that's one of the first things I want to talk about. This is crucial. Some people say, well, I don't want to sleep six, seven, eight hours a day. But I'm telling you, if you can get seven in, hopefully eight quality sleep. And there are a lot of things you can do to track this. You can get the Oura ring, you can get whoop bands, you can get other things to track the quality of your sleep as well.

• 5:47Lewis Howes?

  So I recommend figuring out a structure for you. We've got episodes on this talking about how to create a sleep sanctuary, so that your environment, your bedroom, your sheets, the plants that are in your room are all designed for you to get great sleep. So make sure you're going through some of this and setting yourself up to win with sleep. Now, the next thing that I like to do, and I think this is hugely important. This is something that my mom used to tell all, tell me, and your mom probably told you growing up as well, is to make your bed. And there is a great book by William H. McRaven that says it's about making your bed. And he is a Navy Admiral that talks about,

• 6:31Lewis Howes?

  if you want to live a great life, make your bed. And this is a massive number one New York Times bestselling book. This speech went viral online. And it's something that is so simple. But sometimes we think about we've got to have some complicated morning routine that, you know, biohacking everything we can in order to optimize our day. And really, when we go back to the basics, that's when you start to transform your life. Everything goes back to basics. So make your bed first thing. There is, there's something that happens, and I started doing this years ago. There's something that happens when you decide to take pride in your personal space.

• 7:14Lewis Howes?

  When you decide to say, okay, I slept here, I slept here for, you know, six, seven, eight hours, and I want to make sure I have a clean space when I come home at night. By doing that, you set yourself up for success. You accomplish something first thing in the morning. You build momentum and you create pride and confidence in yourself because you did something for you. You did it for yourself. So when you come home at night, you can say, wow, the time and energy I spent early in the day, paid off for me tonight. Now I can go to sleep in a restful space. So something to consider, try this for a week. Make your bed every morning. It, it's the last thing you want to do because you want to get up, you want to go to the bathroom, you want to brush your teeth, and you want to get on with it.

• 7:59Lewis Howes?

  But I'm telling you, if you take those two, three minutes, you come back at night, you'll be proud of yourself for what your past self did to help you in the future. The next thing is really moving your body. And this doesn't need to be some extreme workout. I like to work out early in the morning. I like to push my body hard in the morning because again, the second thing is, okay, I've made my bed, I move my body in a physically demanding way. I like to create structured pain every single day for myself. Because when I put myself through safe, structured pain, a workout, sweating, movement of some type that's uncomfortable, I don't want to hurt myself, but I want to put myself through pain.

• 8:44Lewis Howes?

  It makes me live a happier, healthier life. You build confidence, you build momentum. It cleanses the mind. Your mindset gets stronger as well. So, exercise in the morning, move your body, take a 10-minute walk. If you've got a dog or an animal, you can take your pet for a walk for a few minutes. And at least do something, it'll help you cleanse your mind and get ready for the rest of the day. Next thing you can do is take a cold shower. This can be for one minute. We have an entire series of interviews with Wim Hof. And I do an entire breathing exercise. I went to Poland and trained in frozen rivers and climbing mountains in the snow without clothes on.

• 9:29Lewis Howes?

  I mean, I did the extreme things to test some of this. But it takes one minute a day to get in a cold shower. And it activates your mindset, it activates your body, it opens your pores. It makes you feel awake and alive as opposed to groggy and, you know, just kind of getting through the morning. It wakes you up, it gets you clear, it gets you focused. And there's so many benefits for your immune system as well by taking a one to two-minute cold shower. Again, you don't need to be extreme and immerse yourself in a cold tub for 10 minutes. You don't have to do that. You can try these things. You can push your body and your mind to the boundaries, to the limits, but you don't have to. You can do a cold shower. You can do a hot shower in the last minute.

• 10:14Lewis Howes?

  It can be cold to finish it off. Try it for seven days, just like making your bed. Try it for seven days and see what you can create. Again, we'll have more resources below in the description with Wim Hof and how you can watch more about that and learn more how you can take this on in your own life. And the next thing you should, is you should definitely try some meditation. 10 to 15 minutes for me of breathing meditation, clearing my mind, really setting an intention for the day, expressing gratitude, thinking about the things I really care about, puts me in a state of awareness.

• 10:54Lewis Howes?

  Because there is so much stress, overwhelm, distractions, media, news, frustrations happening in the world that can come into your mindset, that can come into your thoughts, and that can really take over your emotions and your feelings if you allow those things to come into your mind. And so you want to figure out a way to start the day with breathing and setting an intention for what you want to create, no matter what happens around you, how are you going to show up and respond? What is your vision? What are your goals? What are your intentions? What's the type of energy you want to show up with? Do you want to be a reactive, negative person today? Or do you want to be a joyful, loving, caring human being that shows up as a leader?

• 11:38Lewis Howes?

  And again, this is a habit that is important to form because if you're not forming the positive habit, then you're going to be extremely reactive to what is happening throughout the day. You're going to be frustrated, you're going to be pissed off at this person, someone's going to cut you off in traffic, and you're going to be mad and angry. And that is going to lead into the rest of the day. It's going to be hard to get out of that. So you want to set yourself up. The next thing is really the intention beyond the breathing. So breathing allows you to, again, continue to cleanse the body, cleanse the mind, and create awareness for your life. Setting an intention during this breathing or right after this session is important. So what is your vision? What is your goal?

• 12:22Lewis Howes?

  Do you have a one-sentence vision for your life right now? If you don't know what that is, write it down. Start exploring it. Create an exercise for yourself and say, okay, this is who I want to be. This is my goal. This is my vision. My vision is to inspire 100 million people every single week to help them improve the quality of their life. That is my mission. That is my vision. And I want to do it through being joyful, through being loving, through being curious, creative, and having fun. So for me, I'm very clear. And then I create the intention in the morning, well, what am I going to do today to support that mission? And more importantly, what am I going to say no to today that doesn't support that mission? What am I going to say yes to? And what am I going to say no to?

• 13:07Lewis Howes?

  And when you get control around your vision, your mission, your goals, and your intention,

• 13:15Lewis Howes?

  Then you can start living an intentional life throughout that day. And this vision and mission and goals can change. It doesn't have to be set in stone for the rest of your life. It all depends on the season of your life that you're in right now. So this is just the season of life I'm in right now. When I was in college playing football, my goal was to be a professional athlete. And that was my mission. How can I be in the best shape of my life? How can I, you know, be successful with my college team? How can we go to the championship? How can I get in front of professional scouts? And how can I make it to the next level? It just depends on what season of life you're in. After that transition, when I left football and was trying to figure out how to get a job,

• 13:56Lewis Howes?

  my, my mission was, how do I get off my sister's couch and get a job? Okay, what are the goals that I have on a daily, weekly, monthly basis? What are the things I need to learn? And then I took action based on that intention. So you got to think, think about what is your intention right now? And every morning, just think about that. This doesn't have to be long. It doesn't have to be 30 minutes of intention setting. It's just getting back to what is my intention today? How do I want to show up? And what do I want to create? Not what do I want to react to? When you come from a place of creation and not reaction, you're going to be making your life as opposed to really responding to your life in a negative way. So what does a morning routine practice actually do? How does it actually support you?

• 14:40Lewis Howes?

  Well, it sets the tone. Again, a lot of people say the first hour is one of the most important hours. It sets the tone. So if you're distracted, if you're groggy, if you're not moving, if you're eating bad foods, if you're on your phone, laying in bed, if you're being negative, if you're sloppy, then more than likely, you're going to create that day. It's going to be hard to get out of that. So it sets the tone for the day. The more positive the first hour, the more powerful the rest of the day. It'll make you more productive. It allows for you to really control your schedule and set your schedule as opposed to your schedule controlling you or you reacting to whatever's coming your way.

• 15:25Lewis Howes?

  And I love to have a clear schedule of the week. Exactly what I'm going to do. What is everything going to do to support me emotionally, physically, spiritually, financially, relationally? What am I going to schedule in? And I also schedule in leisure time, okay? I'm gonna schedule these four hours where I'm gonna do nothing, or I'll do whatever I want, or I'll just hang out with friends. I schedule it in, that way I'm just not distracted by my phone or whatever's happening in the world. I really try to eliminate the negative distractions from my life the best that I can. And in no way am I perfect, but it's something I try to focus on by having a clear schedule. So when I know where I need to be,

• 16:09Lewis Howes?

  and I know where I need to show up and how I'm supposed to show up, it allows me to stay focused and it's getting me clearer and clearer towards my mission and my vision for life. That's why it's important to go back and write down what is one sentence, your mission and your vision for this season of your life. Who are you? Who do you wanna be? What do you wanna create? What do you wanna accomplish and why? If you can get clarity on that in one sentence, then you'll create a schedule that supports that mission and vision for you and your life. So have a schedule. If you don't know what you're creating on a daily basis, you're gonna be responding and reacting to what life gives you as opposed to you creating what you want in life.

• 16:51Lewis Howes?

  It also sets you up for lower stress levels. And it can really lower your stress levels because you're accomplishing so many positive moments or tasks for yourself the first thing in the morning and you don't have to worry or think about doing them later. So if you're like, okay, I know I wanna get in shape, I know I wanna eat well, I know I wanna drink lots of water today, I know I wanna meditate, I know I wanna breathe at some time, and you wait until after you're exhausted. And you try to wait till six o'clock, seven o'clock at night, when you come home from whatever you're doing at work or whatever you're doing, school. You're gonna be tired. It's gonna be really challenging to have focus and energy.

• 17:34Lewis Howes?

  This is why, for me, it's really important to learn the skill of Spanish. I wanna become fluent in Spanish one day, that's one of my goals. And I was taking Spanish class in the beginning, the first six months, around six o'clock at night. And this was after a full day of work. This was after an intense workout and my brain was fried and I couldn't stay awake. I'd be in an hour session and I'd be like over Zoom after I've done Zoom calls all day. And I'd be like this trying to remember stuff and after months I was just like, I can't do this at night. So what I did is I started scheduling it at 8 a.m. And it's one of the first things I do at 8 a.m.

• 18:16Lewis Howes?

  I work on something that is meaningful for me, something I want to learn, a skill that takes and requires a lot of my mental energy. And by doing that, first thing in the morning, it sets the tone for the rest of the day. I feel more confident, I feel like more productive and I'm doing something I care about first thing. And it lowers your stress so you can improve in other areas as well. So again, it's setting the tone, it's lowering your stress levels because you're not waiting to the end of the day. You're not like, ah, I gotta do this thing later. That, that energy, that stress will, will hurt you in every other area of your life. So you want to take care of your body, you want to take care of your mind in the morning. And it allows you to show up to love those things around you instead of taking out your emotions on people and experiences in your life.

• 19:04Lewis Howes?

  A few months ago, I decided to adopt a cat and I named her Grady the cat. And I love my cat. She was a foster for two years. She didn't have a real home, so I wanted to give her a home and she's been amazing and a joy to be around. But as much as I love my cat, I'm not a huge fan of the stink bombs that she leaves in her litter box. Everything from cleaning to covering up the smell is a constant battle. And that's why I use PrettyLitter. Unlike traditional litter, PrettyLitter's super light crystals trap odor and release moisture, resulting in dry, low maintenance litter that doesn't smell. And it's virtually dust free because it's manufactured with a specialized de-dusting process. Less dust and no fuss.

• 19:47Lewis Howes?

  PrettyLitter arrives safely at my door in a small lightweight bag that lasts up to a month. And now that I get litter bags auto shipped, I don't have to deal with last minute trips to the store and shipping is free. But above all else, here's why PrettyLitter. is a pet parents hero. It's a health indicator. Pretty litter monitors my cat's health by changing colors when it detects potential underlying issues and you won't find that kind of innovation in conventional litter. Get the world's smartest litter without leaving home by visiting pretty litter.com and using promo code greatness for 20% off your first order. That's pretty litter.com promo code greatness for 20% off. Pretty litter.com promo code greatness.

• 20:31Lewis Howes?

  It also helps you improve your memory. So having the same routine has helped to show that it will improve your memory when you have the same routine consistently. Now you can switch up your routine. You can try things over time, but having something that's similar, I'm going to do these things, these three things every morning. It really helps you increase your memory. You're far less likely to forget things that you need to do because you know you have your day, your morning and how it's going to start. So you don't have to spend a lot of brain power on it later. Ah, I gotta still work out. I gotta remember to do this thing. I gotta do this thing over here. Like you don't need to think about it because it's the first thing you do and you get it out of the way. So it's really helping you boost confidence in my mind.

• 21:16Lewis Howes?

  This morning I got up early. I breathed into some meditation. I made my bed and I did a hard workout. And now I came here to the studio to talk about this. And for me, I feel confident. I feel like, man, I've accomplished so much before 10 a.m. Right? I've already done so much, all the things that I care about, I've done and I feel more confident. So this is what's, this is what's powerful. This is what's available for you is gaining. If you feel like you're not a confident person, if you feel like you doubt yourself, if you feel like you're unsure of yourself or you're insecure, spend time for an hour, hour and a half in the morning, doing some of these things and trying them, doing things that are uncomfortable for you, you're going to build confidence in the first hour and it'll go into the rest of your day.

• 22:01Lewis Howes?

  So I'm far more confident in my skills and abilities as a creator, as a partner, as a friend and as a leader, because I know I've put in the things that I care about first thing. So you want to think about, how can you make? Your morning routine and habits actually stick. This is a question I get a lot. And you don't want to throw everything on your plate at once. Okay, I'm gonna do 20 things in the morning routine to optimize my day. It's gonna be exhausting. You're not gonna be able to do it. So we want to start small. Try two or three things in the morning. Don't go for hours, but just try two or three things. What are two or three things that take five to 10 minutes that you can do?

• 22:44Lewis Howes?

  And track it for seven days and make it the most important thing that day. If you say, I'm gonna do this first thing in the morning. Really think about it the night before. I'm gonna do this first thing in the morning. You do it every day. If you want to have a, you know, check it off or an X off a calendar or mark it somewhere on your phone to track it. You're gonna see every day you do it, you build confidence. You're gonna be being your word, which builds integrity with yourself by just following through on these things. You're gonna feel more productive after that first hour. So start small and take it one day at a time. Start with seven days. Don't say, I'm gonna do this for the rest of my life. This is my new routine. No, I'm gonna try this for seven days and see how I feel. And then once you complete that, say, okay, let me try this for another seven days.

• 23:29Lewis Howes?

  And then keep doing it consistently, seven days at a time. I really recommend finding an accountability partner that you can check in with every single day in person or even just a quick text message. So whether you're, you know, in a relationship and you're waking up next to someone and you say, hey, can we do these three things for seven days? And just try it out as an experiment and you guys keep each other accountable. If you're living alone, text your best friend and say, hey, for the next seven days, I want to challenge myself. If you want to join me, let's, let's challenge each other. And I'm gonna text you every single morning that I completed this. Can you hold me accountable? This will support you. Accountability is key. Accountability is key. I like to pay for accountability because it's even more commitment.

• 24:13Lewis Howes?

  So if I just have a workout partner, we'll commit to each other. But if I pay for a trainer or a coach, I show up every time. So you want to stack the odds in your favor, whatever that looks like for you. And if you don't want to coach right now, if you can't afford that, that's fine. You can have an accountability buddy or a friend and that works too. You could also post about it on social media and track your progress there and say, hey, guys, I'm going to do a challenge and here's what I'm committed to. That could help you be accountable as well. And if you know people who are waiting to see what you're sharing every single day and how you're going to run your morning routine, you're more likely to get out of bed and do these things because you don't want to let people down. So that's something you do is have the accountability. And there's lots of different stats out there about how long it takes

• 24:58Lewis Howes?

  to create a new behavior or to make it more automatic and more of the norm for yourself. But I've, I've seen the recent studies say it takes 66 days for a new habit to really stick. So what I would suggest is break it down into week at a time. So seven days, I'm going to do this. Just don't say, I'm going to do this for 66 days. Say for the next seven days, I'm going to do this and then do it another seven days. And think of it in week chunks, not months and years, which can seem overwhelming. And you've got to decide what you can commit to for at least 66 days so that it can really become part of your day where you eventually don't even think twice about it. So I get up and I make my bed every day because I've been doing it for so long now.

• 25:43Lewis Howes?

  I've scheduled in my workouts in the morning. Most of my workouts are in the morning. Some days I schedule it later in the afternoon based on my work schedule, but it's scheduled in. So I'm getting it done most of the times in the morning. You know, I'm drinking a glass of water before I have coffee or tea and I'm scheduling the most important things in first, scheduling and meditation. It's just part of the routine because I've done it for so long now. So people ask, what does, what does my morning routine look like? So I try to go back to the basics. You know, I've tried advanced things. I've tried tricky things. I've tried to biohacking extreme stuff. But what I've found works is the basics, the fundamentals.

• 26:28Lewis Howes?

  Just like it works in everything, the fundamentals are key. Something that I'm a big, big fan of is perspective. Every breath I'm taking right now is closer to my last breath of my life. Every day that I wake up, it's getting me closer to my last day of my life. And I hope I live a very long time, happy, healthy and fulfilled. Mission driven, purpose driven. That's my intention. But every morning I wake up, I wake up and I just say, "Thank you. Thank you for another day. Thank you for another opportunity to live my life, to experience connection with people, to experience the magic, the wonder, the adventure

• 27:09Lewis Howes?

  of this world. It's an incredible thing, what we're doing. We are a speck of sand floating around in a globe that is in infinite space, an infinite universe. And we are here, for whatever reason, to experience life. Thank you for another day. It gives me perspective. I woke up. A lot of people did not wake up this morning, and I got to wake up to experience it. Thank you. It puts gratitude in my heart. It makes me in a positive mood. And I don't know many people, in fact, I don't know anyone,

• 27:51Lewis Howes?

  who is negative, that lives a good life. Again, back to the fundamentals. People say, "Well, attitude is everything." I believe it's true. When you come from a place of negativity, or lack, or insecurity, fear, scarcity, frustration, anger, resentment, holding a grudge, when you come from that place of being, you attract more of it. When you come from a place, even if everything is going wrong in your life, and you are frustrated, when you come from a place of positivity, people are drawn to you. You're a magnet for opportunities. You're a magnet for love, fulfillment, joy, financial success. You are, become a magnet for more opportunities in your life

• 28:34Lewis Howes?

  when you have a positive attitude, an attitude of gratitude. All these things, which are fundamentals, basics, these are things we were taught in, growing up in elementary school. All these things are key, and it's something that I continue to live by because it continues to bring abundance in my life. Fulfillment, people, opportunities, connections, to help me improve my mission in my life. So say, "Thank you for another day," and express gratitude, and carry that throughout the day. Yes, there's gonna be times where you're frustrated and sad and hurt. You're not gonna be a robot, but I'm telling you, the more you can focus on this as the foundation for your life, the more opportunities will come your way.

• 29:18Lewis Howes?

  So that's what I do is the first thing, say thank you. The second thing is I make my bed. We talked about before, making my bed cleans my space. It sets me up for the later in the day, gives me delayed gratification, which I get to practice consistently. When I make my bed now, I'm not rewarded until the end of the day. Okay, I made it, but I get to experience the joy of a clean space, pulling back the covers, putting my pillow down at the end of the day. So it's making a deposit now that I don't get the cash until later at night. And that helps train us to do challenging things now that will pay off months, years, decades in the future by being consistent.

• 30:02Lewis Howes?

  And that simple act of making your bed is a powerful thing. I think about my goals and my dreams and what I need to create today to get closer to that. If we don't have an aim, Jordan Peterson talks about this in his book, 12 Rules for Life. If we don't have an aim, then we are wandering and no man's land. If we're not clear on what we want to create, where we want to go, what our focus is, where the target is, then we're in this wandering desert where things go to die, where vultures come to pick at you and attack you and take you down because you're not moving in a clear direction.

• 30:44Lewis Howes?

  You're wandering in a circle, you're sitting still, you're stuck. And that's where things go to die. This is where the vultures of life come to attack you. Negative people, negative opportunities, sickness, disease, bad decision making goes there. So you want to think about your dreams, your goals, your aim. You want to have a clear aim. And this doesn't have to be, well, my dream for the rest of my life is this. It can be, what's my aim for this week? What's my aim for this month? What am I trying to do today to get a little bit better and a little bit farther in my life? I think about my dreams and my goals and then I have a schedule that supports this.

• 31:29Lewis Howes?

  And that's what's really key. I'm practicing gratitude because the rest of the day isn't guaranteed. I don't know if I'll be here in an hour. In a minute, I don't know. The body could shut down at any moment. I hope I live a long, happy, healthy, fulfilled, purpose-driven life. That's my intention. I'm setting myself up to live that way. But there is no guarantee, zero guarantee. So it's something I think about, practicing gratitude. And that's really the main things that I really think about. And the easiest, and people ask, well, what are the easiest and most important habits to start building? Going back to the basics, making your bed, drinking water. The first thing I do is I drink a tall glass of water.

• 32:13Lewis Howes?

  Most people drink coffee right away or tea. Tall glass of water. What that does, your brain, your cells need hydration, the first thing. Putting something else besides water in your body first is not the optimal way. The brain needs to get activated through water. It feeds off water. So drinking water first will wake you up, will make you sharper, give you energy, give you clarity, give you focus. So I do this, then I sip on a bulletproof coffee after that. But water is the key ingredient for a healthy life. Then I'm making my bed and I'm focusing on how can I get eight hours of sleep? I don't get eight hours, I don't get eight hours of sleep every night.

• 32:58Lewis Howes?

  I try to, I try to focus on it, but life happens. Sometimes it's six and a half hours, sometimes it's seven hours. My goal is always eight hours. And again, this is not going to be a perfect routine every day. Life happens, but when you set yourself up for structure and success, you'll be more likely to accomplish it and feel more productive. Every time I follow this routine and I do it, I feel like I have a great day. Even if the rest of the day doesn't work out as planned, at least I spent the first hour meaningful, doing the things that matter. So getting eight hours of sleep, from all the longevity experts, from all the doctors, from all the health experts, the brain experts,

• 33:36Lewis Howes?

  this is about recovery, recovering your mind, allowing your mind to dream, allowing your mind to cleanse itself, your body, your cells to heal. You need this time, especially with the demands of what a human being has today. Over a hundred, a thousand years ago, there's more demands and stress than ever before. Going for a walk if you're not used to exercising. I like to exercise. I like to push myself and have structured pain. But if that's not where you're at in your life right now, then go for a walk. Get a brisk walk. 10, 20 minutes is key. Question people have is describe how you were before and then after you developed strong routines.

• 34:18Lewis Howes?

  For me, when I don't have my routine in place, or if I'm traveling and my routine's off, I can feel my day is off. And before, when I didn't make my bed, when I'd get up late, when I'd not sleep well, it was just, again, I wasn't as productive, I wasn't as clear, I wasn't as focused. I could still get things done and have good days and things like that. It's not like my day was gonna be horrible if I don't have my morning routine. But I just didn't feel like I was living up to my fullest potential. And I'm a big fan of getting as close to your full potential as you can on a consistent basis. We're human beings. We're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna fall off things, we're gonna slip here and there.

• 35:01Lewis Howes?

  But before, I wasn't really able to have as much clarity and focus, structure. It just held me back. And structure always supports me in moving forward. So in terms of mindset, health, everything, it's been a lot better with morning routine. And when I started to develop some habits and routines, I felt better waking up each day. I was able to focus more on my business, my relationships, and everything started to get healthier and stronger. So that is the answer to that question. And it's okay to get off track sometimes, but I found that this, this two-day method by YouTuber Matt Diavella that I really liked.

• 35:43Lewis Howes?

  He has this two-day method, and we'll see if we can find this video and link it up in the description. But Matt says that he never skips the thing you're trying to accomplish more than two days in a row. So again, life happens, you're traveling, you're up late, you had to get up early for something and you didn't get to do your morning routine. Don't do that two days in a row. And this is something that's important. Again, it may be... Something as simple as going on a 30 minute walk. And one day it's raining and so you don't go. But the next day, you've got to find a way to take that walk. Even if it's raining and even if you're not set up for success.

• 36:22Lewis Howes?

  And you don't feel like going, you can never miss two days in a row. So that's key in, in that strategy with Matt. So I hope this gave you some insights on the morning routine and how to set up your day for success. Again, the fundamentals are key. Get to the basics. Try two or three things for seven days in a row. Don't make big commitments in your life. You're going to do this for the rest of the year, your whole life to say, okay, I want to try these three things for the next seven days. And we also wrote a book. We have an entire guide called The Millionaire Morning. And you can go to millionairemorning.com and you can get this short little guide.

• 37:07Lewis Howes?

  It's teaching you everything you need to know about how to break free of the mindset that you can't make millions. About the 10 steps to develop a millionaire mindset. The top habits of millionaires that you can do every single day. Talk about the money math and how to create a plan to achieve your financial goals and the keys to building the right relationships to grow your business. This booklet has been powerful for so many people. And if you want to have the optimal morning routine for your life, then make sure to follow the things we talked about in this video. But if you want to learn about how to earn more money with your morning routine, then this book will support you in figuring out the strategies of what millionaires do in their morning routine to help them earn more money.

• 37:52Lewis Howes?

  Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope you enjoyed it. If you want me to do more solo rounds, just send me a message over on Instagram and let me know, at Lewis Howes over there, that you want me to dive in deeper on more solo topics from the way that I think, the way I observe life, the things that I've done to build my business, my brand, my health, optimizing, you know, it's been over eight and a half years, interviewing some of the most incredible minds in the world. I've been able to apply some of these things to my life. So if you want more from me solo, let me know, send me a message. Message and also if this is your first time here, welcome to the School of Greatness family. We're so grateful you're here. Please spread the message of greatness to a friend. Text someone right now this link. You can copy and paste the link wherever you're listening to podcast or the full show notes link is LewisHowes.com/1130 with all the other info

• 38:37Lewis Howes?

  there that you can get on this episode as well. You can text that to someone, post this on social media. Make sure to tag me wherever you're posting it so I can be aware of who is listening and what you got out of this. Also subscribe over on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave us a review. I'd love to hear your thoughts on what inspired you the most. So leave a review over on Apple Podcasts as well. And I will leave you with this quote from Lao Tzu who said, "Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny." That's right. All these things build one upon another. It all builds to shaping who you are and the life

• 39:21Lewis Howes?

  that you're building for yourself. And at the end of every day, you want to look back at the day and ask yourself, am I proud of the life that I'm building in this moment? Am I stacking good moments to create the life of my dreams? If so, amazing. If not, it's okay. You've just got work to do and we're here to support you in doing that work every single day on the School of Greatness. I'm so grateful for you. Thank you for showing up today for yourself. Thank you for learning and applying something new. And I want to remind you, if no one's told you lately, that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And you know what time it is? It's time to go out there and do something great.