Gentlemen.

I personally believe that the actions that matter most in your life are the ones you do every day. It is your daily routines that shape the person you are in this moment, and the person you aim to become in the future.

In this post I will briefly present some of my personal routines, and then outline why and how i wanted to implement them into my life. Remember, the power of habits/routines lie in cultivating several positive ones, making them a permanent part of you. Over time the compound interest of all your habits will make you a better person.

1. Sleep

"Hey man, sleep isn't a routine, it's just sleep." Wrong.

Proper sleep is the bottleneck and mother of all good routines. Enough (more than 7 hours, no more than 9) and high quality sleep is paramount for memory, muscle restitution, the immune system, hormone balance, your overal health including how attractive you seem to the opposite sex, etc. Anything less than 7 hours is Terrible for you. No, you cannot save up sleep, and once you've got yourself a sleep deficit it takes a long time to pay it back.

There's different kinds of sleep and you need 'em all. The most important type (REM) you'll get the last few hours before you awake, being high/stoned (THC) or drunk (alcohol) inhibits some of your precious REM sleep, make sure you're sober when you go to bed. I try my best to get as close to 9 hours of sleep as I can.

If you want to learn more about sleep, I recommend you check out the book "Why we sleep", by Matthew Walker, here's him on Joe Rogan Experience.

Trouble sleeping? Try not using your phone/tablet/pc and turn down the lights a couple of hours before bed. Caffeine also stays longer in your system than you may think (5-6 hours). Try avoiding coffee or other caffeine-based things after 16:00. If you HAVE to use your pc for work related things in the evenings, install flux.

2. Lifting / Healthy Exercise

I know this is a widely discussed theme here on TRP, and there are lots of great guides already on how to lift. I wanna throw in a couple of words here myself, for good measure.

To me the key to physical fitness, was variation. Going to the gym is easy to start, but hard to keep up longterm where ironically the true results are. Not everybody is made for the gym. To me, following strict programmes and work-outs quickly becomes boring. In my later days, i've begun to enjoy it more and more, but if you're like me and have a personality that's not fit for long term repetitive work, there's great alternatives. Jogging/hill sprints, bouldring, swimming, crossfit, or martial arts like wrestling, MMA and boxing are all valid alternatives to lifting. The only criteria is that you physically exhaust yourself and enjoy doing it.

I personally do jogging, lifting and assorted martial arts (submission-wrestling and MMA) Jogging is probably what's done the most for me. I used to really really despise it, but after forcing myself to do it every morning as soon as I wake up, getting a watch that tracks my progress helped a lot, and it's dirt cheap. Thanks to this routine i managed to get rid of the last remnants of stubborn fat left from my chodier days.

Your body is like the tools in your garage, if you never use them or don't take proper care of them, they will rust. Being active drastically improves both how you look and boosts your self esteem. Attractiveness boosts everything from what quality girls you attract, to how much you get paid and in general how long people will stretch to help you. This is arguably timewise, one of the best long term investments you can do with your time.

There really is no excuse not to do it.

3. Yoga/Meditation

The esoteric time of meditation and yoga is over. Science has confirmed that this shit boosts pretty much everything, including focus, memory, immune system, etc. However the real value in this is control of your thoughts. That's right. What you think isn't really you. In fact, sometimes your thoughts come from a pathetic, scared, insecure and cowardly version of you. Everybody has this person within them. It's your mind trying to minimise risk to keep you alive. Practicing meditation/yoga will make you aware of the times you're torturing yourself with these thoughts. Once you're aware of this the process of awakening has begun and cannot be stopped.

Yoga is basically meditation with some nice stretching thrown in. As you're well into your lifting routine by now, it's nice to throw in some stretching to maintain full mobility and make sure your body lasts for a long time. My father, while he is a complete beta provider radical leftist, has practiced yoga for 30 years. He's 52, but looks younger than most 40-year olds and has 0 health issues. I want that.

Starting with this is easy. You buy a yoga mat and check out this girl. Not only is she a HB9, her guidance and descriptions of what to focus on when it comes to stretching as well as her reminders to keep your mind present and not wandering is great for people who are new to the practice. Also she has 100s of videos for everything. Some of the videos even target specific jobs. Try this one, it's so easy you can do it sitting in a chair.

Separating yourself from your mind will help you see through its tricks. Ever been on your way to the gym, but ended up at the store instead? Ever been about to go up to a hot girl for a nice chat, but ended up buying a coffee talking to your friend instead? That's your mind sabotaging your progress. Learning "mindfulness" through meditation/yoga will help you catch yourself at the moment of rationalization. The next time you prepare to go jogging, but you suddenly remember "how you also could play just two more rounds of CS:GO, after all you are just two wins away from a rank-up and three of your friends are playing", you'll recognice that, that is not you, but your mind. Disregard what it says.

But be warned, your mind can be extremely sophisticated in its rationalizations.

Conclusion:

I'd hate to break it to you, but Just taking a cold shower every morning is not going to change your life drastically. It is the sum of all your efforts that will do that. Do something for 30 days and it becomes a habit, do it for 90 and it becomes automatic, you don't even think about it any more, you just do it. Every positive habit you adopt and every negative one you rid yourself up, changes your entire life's trajectory.

Other habits worth mentioning:

  • To-do lists (I use Google Keep and have a list for daily routines, one for weekly, and one for monthly. Sort after priority and do the hardest tasks first while your willpower is still strong)
  • Knowlege consumption (Use time spent in your car or on public transport to consume relevant podcasts, audiobooks etc.)
  • Cold showers
  • Massages (If you have money, this is a worthwile investment. Spent some time finding the right therapist for you, and explain in great detail where you're hurt. If you are too poor to afford this, have one of your plates to do it to you, or even better, make sure one of your plates is a massage therapist. Value).

Edit: Adrienne demoted to a HB9