Master Your Habits: Timing, Sequencing, and Upstream Routines

So, let's talk a little bit about timing and habits and sequencing because I I do think that it's an important lever that

you can pull on for building habits. So, first is as a general rule, I think the earlier in the day you do something, the

better odds are that it's going to happen. The the more of the day that goes on, the more real estate there is

for something to interrupt you, for somebody else's agenda to get put on top of yours, for somebody to need something

or an emergency happens, it's just you decrease the likelihood that the habit's going to occur. So generally speaking, I

think stacking a group of habits earlier in the day is probably good. Um, having said that, there is definitely there are

24 hours in everybody's day, but each hour is under different levels of control for you. So I think the question

is not like do you have enough time, the question is which of your hours are within your control or which of your

hours can you shape better than others. Some hours are a lot more in your control than others. It's like if you if

you have somebody who doesn't have kids, then meditating at 7:00 a.m. might be a great time to do it. But if you have

like toddlers running around and trying to get pants on your kid, then you know that's not a good time to try to do that

habit. And so, um, you need to figure out which of your hours are under your control. And then there's also circadian

rhythm stuff and trying to time things up, especially physical things like working out or whatever, like sure. So,

we can try to do some optimization there if you know if you have the control over that hour. But um the other thing I

think that is important to ask is which of my habits are upstream from other good things happening. So for me I know

that probably if I was going to pick the big pillars of what really makes a good day for me. Do I get a workout in? Do I

read? It really doesn't even have to be long. It could just be five minutes. But do I do I do do any any reading? Um and

then do I write one sentence? Those are my those are kind of my my like measures. Now, of course, once I for me,

the hardest part is choosing what to write. Once I actually pick what I'm writing about, then it's easy for me to

get going further. So, I know that there's a lot more that comes after that one sentence, but those are those are

kind of the big professional ones that I'm like, if I do those three, I usually have a pretty good day. The reading and

the writing are easier for me after I work out. So, the workout is kind of the lynch pin one. I

>> Why do you think that is? Is it that you dispel a certain amount of nervous energy?

>> I think some of it is just the post-workout high. I kind of have that clarity, you know, an hour or two after

I work out. So, that I think that helps. I think some of it is also um I like to work out, not early in the morning, but

in the morning. Um and I don't know, it just like gets me going for the day. It like changes my whole it changes my

state. >> Um I feel I feel more energized after that.

>> What time do you wake up and what time do you tend to work out? Not that people should map exactly to this, but I'm just

curious. >> Good caveat. Um usually I'm waking up around 7. Uh, and usually I'm working

out around 10 to 11:00 somewhere around there >> for me. And certainly there are some

data to support this, but also other timings that um >> 3 hours after waking or 11 hours after

waking seem to be ideal times to out. >> So I'm kind of around that zone. >> Yeah, that's interesting.

>> I mean, I think that I did not know that mentally and physically uh >> probably due to changes in body

temperature and circulation of, you know, that morning cortisol rise that wakes people up. We hear so much about

cortisol being a stress hormone. We forget that >> morning cortisol needs to be very, very,

very high in order to have low cortisol at night. If you don't, you have this kind of flat cortisol curve, as they

call it, sets you up for insomnia, anxiety, a bunch of things that are really bad. Cortisol has gotten a bad

rap. And I when you exercise and you probably quadruple your cortisol levels, at least during the workout and and

afterwards, depending on the workout. >> So, if you're stacking all your cortisol earlier, it's like a wavefront for the

rest of the day. And I'm guessing that's probably what you're tapping into. It's interesting. Yeah. So that that makes

sense. That adds up to me as an explanation. >> Um and then the other thing is the

writing is way easier if I do the reading first. >> Um I So here's here's just kind of two

little philosophical thoughts about it. First is um almost every thought that you have is

downstream from what you consume. Uh and so when you choose who to [clears throat] follow on social media

or which podcast to listen to or which book to read or what YouTube channel to watch, you are choosing your future

thoughts in a sense. You know, whatever fills up your feed is going to spark the next thought that you have next week or

a month from now. So you should choose very carefully what those things are. I don't think we usually put that kind of

weight on it. But if you want better, more productive, more creative thoughts, then you need better, more productive,

more creative inputs. And so, um, I had this thing happen where this was, uh, I've been writing I've been writing

online for 14 years now. And, uh, first couple years I had this pretty rapid growth and I got to 100,000 email

subscribers. And for some reason, once I got to 100,000, I got in my head about it. What I should have done was just

say, things were going well. Keep doing what you're doing. But instead, I was like, now a lot of people are paying

attention, so it has to be really good. So, I thought um, let me spend even more time writing and make it better. But in

fact, the writing got worse. And my theory now is that I was writing more, but I was reading less. And so I had

less fewer inputs, fewer sources of inspiration, fewer sparks for new, interesting, good thoughts. Um, and so

the writing declined. And now I look at it more like driving a car. You know, you have to take the car to the gas

station and fill it up with gas. That's like reading. But the point of having a car is not to just sit at the gas

station all day and just stay there and keep filling up. you also want to drive and go on an adventure and go see some

things, which is what writing is like. But if you never stop, then you end up stranded on the side of the road. Um,

and so they kind of they work well together. So if I get the workout in and then I read, if I'm reading something

that's good, uh, that is like um, and I would define good as relevant to what I am trying to write about. If I read

something that's relevant to what I'm working on, I almost can't stop myself from writing. I'll only get like two or

three pages in and I have to stop. I gotta, you know, just riff on a bunch of stuff that it's sparking or bubbling up.

So, um, if I do things in that sequence, it's usually a pretty good day. >> That's awesome. So, that's like a kid

who's watching baseball and it's an awesome game and then just like runs outside and just has to play with his

friends. He's like, "Let's get a game together." As opposed to a lot of people who just want to just be passive

consumers the whole time. I was surprised to hear that you don't just get, you know, dropped into the reading

and just stay with it, stay with it. It's really a springboard or as you said, it kind of preloads your your

brain for doing your best writing. Joanie Mitchell um I think used to paint as a preamble to writing and and

singing. And I have a good friend who's a he's both a musician and a and a producer and he'll get up early in the

morning or sometimes in the middle of the night and he'll just draw, go back to sleep, wake up and then he produces

music all day. He's been doing this for gosh 50 years. 50 years. >> Yeah. Nearly 50 years. Um and Yeah,

that's right. And it I guess turning 50 myself is kind of staggering. Some of my he's older than I am, but it's um

>> it's incredible, right? It's like you guys are describing this process of of of loading up your mind and then

pivoting to the thing that really matters most, which I think is super impressive because most people get stuck

in the thing that feels easiest >> and and that someone else provides. Most people are consumers, not creators. But

I think most people want to be creators, >> but they don't know how to do it. This reminds me a little bit of um like David

Epstein some of his work on range and you know like uh exploring broadly and how that how having a range of either uh

sports activities or intellectual pursuits can make you better. They a lot of times they say experts are T-shaped

right they have they broad they read broadly but then they have a narrow vertical where they're they uh

specialize. Um and the big takeaway that people have from this a lot is that it's the top of the tea that really matters.

I need to read w more widely. I need to look, you know, around the world and expose myself to lots of things. But I

actually think the stem of the tea is incredibly important. It is the it is the precursor to the top of it mattering

at all. And what I what I mean is that the fact that you have an area where you are focused on, the fact that you have

an area where you are specializing gives the broad range of things that you're exposing something to latch on to,

right? And so by by having your area of expertise or just by it doesn't even have to be an area of expertise, it

could just be a mission or a project, an objective. So for me, the objective is the next thing that I'm writing. And

then as I explore broadly and listen to podcasts and read books and look at things, that's always sitting in the

back of my mind. And so I'm it's always there ready. It's like an antenna waiting for a signal. And then as I read

widely, well, that thing that project that I have, it's forcing me to pick up on different stuff. and that I start

pulling that and I start connecting it. I feel like creativity is very rarely is it actually an original thought. Mostly

what it is is the synthesis of two things that had not been previously connected. And so by having your project

or your area of expertise, you have something you're focused on and then you read widely and you look for interesting

things that can connect to it. And so I just that's what I'm doing the whole time. I'm reading and then I'm like,

"Oh, this would apply to that." And I just can't help myself to start to write about the connection or write about the

the overlap between those things. [music]