1.9 – Recap

This blog is structured by weekly topics. Every Thursday, the week’s topic is summarized with clear and actionable implementation steps. You can find all these summary posts in this category.

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Recap: Early-Morning Reading

This blog is all about mastering our superpower of consistency to awaken what Einstein called “the most powerful force in the universe”: compounding. Information is a very interesting application of this awesome force.

Since we live in the information age, our value to society is strongly influenced by the quantity and quality information we have fully internalized.

Note the use of the word “internalized” here. Just reading or hearing something is not enough. It must be understood on a deep level and ingrained through application and experience. 

These days, how smart you work is more important than how hard you work. Don’t get me wrong – working hard is still important. But it’s the intelligence with which you direct your productive powers that really makes the difference. 

Simply put: those with lots of high quality information deeply internalized in their minds can direct their productive powers more intelligently. 

Smarter productivity leads to exposure to more interesting environments and information. Gradual internalization of this new information then leads to even smarter productivity. And so the virtuous cycle continues…

The checklist

Getting this virtuous cycle rolling takes plenty of patience and consistency, but it really is very simple:

  1. Find something interesting or inspirational to read or listen to and buy it.
  2. Commit to 5-10 minutes of absorbing this information every morning.
  3. Once you finish a book, make your own summary:
    • Focus on tangible things you can implement in your own life. 
    • This is crucial to ensure that you internalize the new information. 
  4. Stick to this habit for the long run and see how much more interesting your life becomes 🙂

I’d venture to say that regular consumption of educational material is one of best predictors of success today. In my experience, it’s also one of the easiest habits to form and maintain. Please give it a try!

Have an inspired day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

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Recap: Morning Movement

OK, let’s wrap up our third weekly topic: establishing an early-morning exercise habit. 

The previous two weeks talked about establishing a consistent sleep pattern and getting an accountability buddy. Both these strategies make it easier to get out of bed bright and early each morning. 

This week’s habit ensures that we manage to switch ourselves on once we are actually up. In combination, these three habits can work wonders for your daily productivity!

The checklist

So, without further ado, here’s the summarized guide to establishing a good morning exercise habit:

  1. Select your movement of choice, considering the following criteria:
    • It should be easy to do regardless of the weather
    • One session should be quite short (10 minutes will suffice)
    • You should be able to see yourself enjoying this activity
  2. Get some equipment (e.g. a yoga mat) and instructions (e.g. a highly ranked app)
  3. Make space for exercise in your morning routine
    • This mostly means getting up 10 minutes earlier 😮
    • Never try to squeeze anything into your morning without deliberately making space first!
  4. Develop a 1-minute Lite version for crazy or uninspired days
    • It’s critical to stick to the habit even during your worst mornings

So, there you have it! May mastering morning movement motivate many marvelous minds 😀

See you tomorrow!

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Recap: Accountability Buddy

Awakening your own superpower of consistency demands that you master your mornings.

Early morning is the only period of the day when you have full control over your time. And this control can be leveraged to proactively steer your life in the right direction. 

Those who don’t take proactive control are simply blown where the winds of life take them. As they inevitably crash into life’s many obstacles, a primitive “fight or flight” mode kicks in, sapping tons of energy for little or no reward. 

Breaking free of this mold requires a strong catalyst to push you to take action and claim your mornings. An accountability buddy could be that catalyst (it was for me). 

The checklist

So, here’s a simple guide to finding and maintaining a good accountability buddy:

  1. Select someone who can fulfill this role. If someone doesn’t come to mind right away, maybe some options listed in Monday’s post can help. 
  2. Ask this person to try this experiment with you. If they hesitate, suggest a week-long trial period to give an easy out if it’s not working. 
  3. During the conversations, focus on the following:
    • Keep it short. Be conscious of your accountability buddy’s time and end the conversation while both parties are still enjoying it. 
    • Keep it positive. See it as your mission to give your accountability buddy a more positive outlook on life. 
    • Show genuine interest. Keep track of important developments in your accountability buddy’s life. Ask for their opinion on important subjects and think carefully about the insights they share. 

Alternatively, you could simply leave a short comment on this blog every morning. I’m very interested to hear more about any practical challenges you face with these suggestions. You could also just say “hi” 🙂

In time, I hope that we can get several people commenting each morning. This could turn into a nice little community of accountability buddies making sure that everyone’s up bright and early!

I really hope you give this a go! In my experience, it sure is worth it 🙂

See you tomorrow!

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Recap: Consistent Sleep Pattern

The more I write this, the more I believe it: consistency is a true superpower!

This superpower gives you control over what Einstein called “the most powerful force in the universe”: compounding.

Compounding is best known in investment circles (see the video below this post). But the same principle applies to all facets of life, be it health, wealth, skills, creativity, relationships, confidence, or career.

Like the Force in Star Wars, compounding holds tremendous power, but it also has a dark side…

Yes, we’ve all been in those slow death spirals where we blindly stumble from one self-destructive choice to the next. That’s the dark side of compounding in action. 

Wielding the power of compounding for good demands only one thing: consistency. 

And the most fundamental building block to master consistency is a consistent sleep pattern. Gaining full control over your morning is the key to unlocking all the compounding wonders of our world! 

The checklist

OK, now that I got that off my chest, here’s a simple checklist for building this launching pad for your life:

  1. Define your sleeping window.
    • The window should end one hour before you must go to work.
    • The window should be at least 8 hours wide (preferably 9).
  2. Set recurring reminders on your phone both for the start and the end of your sleeping window.  
    • Set the sleep time reminder 30 minutes early so that you have time to wind down before bed. 
    • Gradually reshape your social obligations so that you never miss your sleeping window two days in a row. 
    • For optimum results, don’t skip the weekends 🙂

Going to bed this early feels weird at the start, but you’ll get used to it faster than you might think. Meanwhile, we’ll keep building an inspiring morning routine that will help you through this transition. 

If you still have not set that alarm, please take a moment to tell me why. I need to learn more about all the practical challenges to ensure that Supermorning can create maximum value. Maybe we can work something out that will also benefit others who face similar challenges. 

If I hear nothing, I’ll assume you’re in 🙂

See you tomorrow!

 

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