2 Rules for Morning Routines

There’s a lot of noise about “what successful people do” to start their days… and a thousand people trying to cash in on selling you the dream of being a better person because you drink the right kind of coffee.

We have some experience with mornings. Between Ryan and Andy, 32,493 of them so far. We’ve tried just about every schedule, tool, hack, and routine you can imagine, and what we’ve found is that getting the most out of each day comes down to two rules:

1. Spend a bit of time early in the day on whatever is most important to you
2. Set yourself up for success in whatever activities you have planned

The specific activities have changed as our needs and priorities have changed through the years. We’ll share some of our favorites and a few that didn’t seem to help at all. Most importantly, this episode is about figuring out what’s essential for you to get done ASAP every day so you can be effective and enjoy your life. Once you know that, you can create a clear and simple routine that gets you kicking ass.

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Resources mentioned

• Kids vs. Fitness
• Turn Your Brain On
• 7 Types of Top Stretching Methods to Find What’s Right for You

Ryan’s Morning Routine Template

Transcript of 2 Rules for Morning Routines

Andy: We are recording. Hot diggity. All right. Welcome to the GMB show, the Grab My Banana podcast. I am Andy, and Ryan is with me. And we are going to spend the next few minutes talking about some good stuff. So today we’re going to talk a little bit about routines. This is something that was requested and it’s actually a pretty interesting topic because we’ve talked about this a little bit before. We’ve even written a kind of day in the life article of Ryan, which was a snapshot about like four years ago.

Ryan: Yeah, it a while ago. Yeah.

Andy: Changed a bit, haven’t they?

Ryan: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah.

Andy: Yeah. So I think that that’s something that’s going to be interesting to talk about, how some of our routines change. But also how we try to make things automatic and make things regular and repeatable so that we can, you know, get the stuff that is necessary and important to us in. I also think it’s pretty interesting that, the last year or two, it seems like people are really fetishizing routines.

Ryan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You do see a lot of that on the inter webs recently.

Andy: Yeah. A few weeks ago, I think it was going around, Mark Wahlberg’s morning routine. Where he basically like, it’s like I’ll wake up at 3:00 AM, first workout, it’s two hours. You know, pound 500 grams of protein. Second workout, it’s three hours. You know, it’s like something nobody can do. So I think it’s hilarious that there’s all of these websites, there’s books related to these optimal morning routines. There’s articles about like billionaires do this before 5:00 AM and if you don’t, you’re a loser.

Ryan: Yeah. Yeah.

Andy: So I think it’s really interesting to talk about routines, the impact they have in our lives, and how we think about them. And we have a lot of them. Everyone has a lot of them. This show, though, let’s focus on morning.

Ryan: Morning. Yes.

Andy: Morning routine. Cool.

Ryan: Yeah. And this is a big one too, just like you said. I mean obviously everybody has a morning. You know, whether that’s a good one or a bad one, it’s up to you. But you know, that is a big topic of how you start your day. And people, you know, you must do this or you should do this or whatnot in order to have a productive day. Really though, it comes down to what’s good for you. Right? So figuring out what’s good for you, which is a tough one. So what is exactly what you do, Andy? Because every single day is the same. Right?

Andy: Right. So I think that something that’s really important is, I know for Ryan and I, we don’t really look at a one day level of granularity on this. Because we have different events with our work, which we’ll maybe a little bit more details later, we have different things with our families. Different things where we have activities starting at different times almost every day of the week. We have different things that we have to do every day. So I kind of have an idea of what I think is sort of like my kind of best stock routine on days that I can do it. And then I try to keep it adaptable.

Andy: So my basic routine is that I like to wake up a little bit before the rest of my family does, but I’m not trying to wake up at like 5:00 AM or anything. I really mean like 10 minutes before I know my daughter’s going to be up. Just enough time that I can actually, you know, like open the curtains. Ideally, get a little bit of sunlight in my eyes. You know, go to the bathroom, have coffee going, and feel like I can actually speak intelligently and not be like, oh, you’re up. You know.

Andy: That is really the most important thing. And as my family is waking up, I like to sip some coffee, chat, talk about things, watch my daughter watch TV. And we’re very optimized around our TV usage. And then I’ll write a few things about what I want to do that day. I’ll kind of plan it out. I’ll have my to-do list from work stuff, I’ll have my calendar out. And I just kind of go down and write out my schedule for the day. That’s the one thing I really do every morning. While I’m having some coffee, kind of chilling with my family, is I’ll write out what I’m going to do. And that forces me to make some decisions about what’s important to that day, what I’m going to do, what I’m not going to do, and where I need to be, what I need to prepare, all of that stuff.

Ryan: Right.

Andy: And I try to do that and then I kind of shower, dress, and go into whatever I need to do.

Ryan: Oh, that’s good, man. Yeah.

Andy: Yeah.

Ryan: So not necessarily like it has to be this or something. So it’s pretty flexible in terms of like depending on what’s going on. I’m sure like with me too, it’s like it’s not that every day is the same for us. You know, might have like an example, my son right now is sick and so I had to take him to the hospital this morning. Right? So I mean, you know, you got to be a little flexible for that. So, yeah.

Andy: You’re like, son I know you’re sick, but I have 20 minutes of transcendental meditation and yeah, I’ve got to write my 750 words. And also I’m going to do my cardio. After that I swear I’ll take you to the hospital.

Ryan: Yeah. Well, but the good thing is, is we’re up like at least three hours before so we can get all that done before he wakes up, you know.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: But, yeah.

Andy: And so what’s you standard, though? I mean, so I also know that your daughter has swim practice a few times a week and that’s super early.

Ryan: Right.

Andy: So on the days that are not that, because I’m sure on those days you probably just wake up and go to swim practice.

Ryan: Yeah. A lot of people think Saturdays and Sundays, maybe they’re hopeful for the weekend or looking forward to the weekend. It’s a little bit different in our house. I wake up about… It depends on actually like the weekend, if we have a swim meet or not. But typically I’m up at 4:45 and having to take my daughter to swim practice. That’s on the weekends. So Saturday, Sunday is basically for me, it’s like when I don’t get any sleep. So therefore I really make sure that I’m actually in bed earlier than normal the night before. So I actually love Mondays. Mondays, to me, are wonderful. I can actually sleep in. A sleep in to me means like 7:00, maybe 7:30. I don’t wake up like I used to, where I would have a a handstand session or something in the morning. I don’t do any of that anymore.

Ryan: And so really, to be perfectly honest, all I do is, I try to wake up before my wife. Well, I could guess just before my family, a little bit beforehand. Little bit different reason than you. Not because I want to write stuff out. It’s simply I want to have time by myself in the bathroom where the kids aren’t banging on the door. And that sounds funny, but really that’s what it is. And so I try and just wake up, go to the toilet, and be out of the toilet before they come banging on the door saying, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Really that’s where I am in my life right now. And so-

Andy: But I think it’s great because this is the difference between a 25 year old routine and a 45 year old routine.

Ryan: Oh, absolutely man. Yeah.

Andy: When you live by yourself and you have very few responsibilities and you can just do what’s the best. Great. It’s amazing. You should use that. You should use that freedom and you should do that and you should optimize everything to the degree you can. But-

Ryan: Yeah, man.

Andy: Yeah.

Ryan: But as you get older, that bathroom time, I mean, you know. And for fellow dads out there, and even mothers, you know what I’m talking about. We’ve got five people in my house and we got one toilet. So that should just explain everything. But yeah, in the morning, to be perfectly honest, nowadays, I don’t try and plan out my day, I don’t look at mail, I don’t do anything. I go to the toilet, then everybody gets up, and I sit at the breakfast table. I have my coffee, the kids eat their breakfast, they go to school, and then I walk to my gym. And my gym is what, two minutes away. So you know, depending on the days, I might be in here like 8:30. And that’s when I sit down and say, okay this is my day.

Ryan: I’ve got my whiteboard, plan that out, make sure that I’m prepared for the stuff that I need today. But what I’ve really been trying to do is focus on separating my work from my home life. Now that my gym is very close, I can do that. It used to be where I was constantly on. But really that’s it. And so as far as routines and things like that, I don’t have one anymore. It’s simply me waking up as late as possible, for me. And really just trying to relax as much as possible before I start the craziness of the day. That’s it. That’s really it right now.

Andy: That’s cool. So I think it’s really important. So you mentioned that your gym is a very close to your home. So you recently moved your studio, which has been a major change in a lot.

Ryan: A lot, a lot.

Andy: And definitely affects your routine a lot because you’re not spending… How much time were you spending getting to and from when-

Ryan: Yeah, so on my bicycle was a leisurely bike ride of 25 minutes. And in the rain, you know, I would not ride my bike. So that means that I would have to walk. And so that was a huge difference. So there was those days, and I bring up the rain issue, because there were days where I couldn’t shoot videos or take photos because it was raining, because of the light in the studio as well. Simply getting back and forth and whatnot. So nowadays, it’s so much easier because I can just… Two minutes. It doesn’t matter if it rains or whatnot. We’ve got things set up so I just walk in and if I need to shoot something I’m ready to go. Stress-wise, so much easier. I even leave my computer at the gym now, which is pretty crazy. So I don’t even take it home with me unless I want to like download something from the pirate bay or something. Don’t tell anybody I said that.

Ryan: So yeah. And so that’s the big difference. And so really it’s a matter of setting up things to make sure that I’m able to do and live the way that I want to do. So routine and habits, I mean when it comes down to it, I think that’s something that we should be looking at. Instead of thinking you have to do something, just think about what’s going to make your life easier for what you need to be doing.

Andy: Yeah, absolutely. So first I just want to hone in on leaving your computer at work when you go home is, for me, this has been like the number one life hack of all time. Because, again, being somebody who runs the business and works for himself, ostensibly, what that means a lot of times is that you’re always working.

Ryan: Yep.

Andy: And, you know, in the early years of GMB we had to be.

Ryan: Oh, absolutely.

Andy: Because that was the only way to get anything done.

Ryan: Oh, yeah.

Andy: But if I take my computer home, I will work on it.

Ryan: Me, too.

Andy: And I don’t want to be doing that. I want to be spending time with my family when I’m at home.

Ryan: Right. Exactly.

Andy: And I want to be relaxing and I want to be able to turn off and be able to get good sleep. And so then when I up in the morning, then I am able to be relaxed and not rushed and all of that. So in terms of morning routine, too, this also has a big impact. I also want to highlight, quickly, that Ryan, both you and I are very lucky in that we have workplaces that we can both walk to. You in two minutes, me in like 12 minutes.

Ryan: Yeah, I was going to say that. Yeah. Yeah.

Andy: So this is, unfortunately, not the situation that most people in the world find themselves in.

Ryan: Right. Right.

Andy: So it’s important to understand, also, so then a lot of the things that you and I specifically do are probably not as accessible, not viable for a lot of people. And so that’s one reason why I think it’s really important for when you’re looking at routines and stuff to focus less on the tactic and the, oh I have to use this app and I have to spend this many minutes doing this or whatever. To really look at the principles of what’s happening that make that a good routine, rather than the actual pieces of the routine that a person does.

Andy: Because if you look at the people whose routines are published online or in books or whatever, why are their routines published online or in books? Because they are probably notable people that do not live in the same universe you do. They are actors, business leaders, academics or whatever, that don’t have the same life situation that most people have. And a lot of times if they’re like well-known authors or actors or something, they also have a whole shitload of money you don’t have. So they can-

Ryan: And people to help them to do that stuff.

Andy: And people to help them to do that stuff. But yeah, this was another one that was posted recently. It was like part of Beyonce’s routine. And people were like, yeah, but she also has a personal staff of 20 people helping her do all that stuff.

Ryan: Absolutely. It’s like another example would be if we look at an actor who gets, you know, jacked, ripped, cut, whatever, for a particular part. Okay, yeah, they’re getting paid millions of dollars to look that way. They have a nutritionist, along with someone to cook the food for them, I’m sure. You know, masseuse, personal trainer, whatever. There’s a lot of other moving parts that I don’t have. Andy, you might, that I’m not aware of.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: But no, I mean it all comes back down to you and maybe using that person’s routine as an example and giving you ideas, but don’t think that you should be using that person’s routine without fully understanding exactly what all the moving parts are. And so like you said, you know, rather than thinking of like that tactics and it has to be a certain way, no. Think of like where you want to go with this. And just to bring it back to me and some of the things we are also talking about with some of our staff members as well is, like, does it match my lifestyle? Is this actually helping me? And the other thing with me is, I’m looking at just relaxing. Because when I’m going to work, I’m going to work. And so that’s why making sure I have that separation. So as far as for me, too, with the routine in the morning, if something doesn’t happen, hey that’s cool.

Ryan: And making sure that I don’t get stuck in thinking that everything has to happen, and if it doesn’t happen, I’ll have a crappy day. And I hope that made sense, what I was trying to say. But basically, you know, understanding that things will happen. And not getting so attached to having-

Andy: Right. So resilience in your routine.

Ryan: There you go. There you go. Exactly.

Andy: Exactly kind of like what’s underlying what I was saying at the very beginning too, right? Is knowing that it’s going to be different.

Ryan: Yeah.

Andy: Like today your son was sick. You can’t make that wait for your routine. Your routine has to be adaptable to that.

Ryan: Right. Right.

Andy: So when we’re asked about this, and this is also a good place to mention that this topic was requested by members of our Facebook group, our podcast sort of board of directors, of people there. So if you’re interested in the show and want to keep up with it and want to help us choose what to put on the show next, if you’re listening to this, then find that Facebook group and join it. It should be findable from our Facebook page, GMB, and also from our website’s podcast page.

Andy: So when people are asking about this, they were really asking about like changes of routines and some of the things. But the more we talk about this, and as you and I and the rest of the company have been talking about this over the last few days, I think one of the things is that the routines always change. But again, instead of specific tactics, it really comes down to some certain principles.

Ryan: Right. Right.

Andy: And so you and I, last time we talked about this, came up with like two main principles of routines for us that help us choose what they are. So that’s what I want to talk about next.

Ryan: Cool.

Andy: The first one is that we, rather than trying to do a whole bunch of stuff, we’re trying to plan our morning routines around really spending a little bit of time on something that is very important to us.

Ryan: Yes. Yes.

Andy: Right? And so for you, that might be getting your workout in. It might be, you know, getting a good breakfast, if you feel like you feel better with a good breakfast. It might be any number of things. But I mean, Ryan for you and I, it mostly ends up, lately, being spending time with our families.

Ryan: Yeah, exactly. It used to be for me, like I said, the handstands and even meditation was a big thing with me. But right now, you as well, it’s family. I want to just be there with my family in the morning.

Andy: So aside from the handstand and meditation, what are some of the other sort of morning top important things that you’ve had in the past then?

Ryan: Definitely. And this is something a couple of our staff members mentioned as well, and that is journaling in the five minute journal.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: And this is something, years ago, I mean a couple years ago I started doing this, this five minute journal. And still do it. I don’t do it in the morning. I do it, again, when I get to work. But that, I think, is something too. It’s great. I really think that if you haven’t checked out the five minute journal, it is something… Something similar as well, there’s a lot of other things out there that are similar, but that’s an example. Journaling and taking the time to just think for you, for whatever that might be. We talked about planning a day. It might be simply thinking about are you being true to yourself, or whatever you need to do. Okay? But I think taking the time to sit down for yourself, even if it’s just a couple minutes to do, I think that’s one thing.

Ryan: Other thing too, moving your body a bit. Okay? And I’m not saying exercise. I’m not even telling you to stretch or anything like that. But think of it like opening up for the morning and then just kind of-

Andy: Shaking out the cobwebs.

Ryan: Shaking out. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, it’s like my dog when she wakes up, first thing she does is she kind of stretches. I do that in the morning as well. I mean, as soon as I get out of bed. I actually have a certain way I get out of bed that over the years I’ve just done that. I don’t immediately do a crunch when I sit up. I’ve gotten to the habit of curling into a ball on my side and then opening up my body and then I crawl back into the ball, roll over, and then I roll out of bed.

Andy: So basically you get out of bed like pretty much any person who’s ever had back pain. Because if you have back pain, that is the only way you can get out of bed.

Ryan: Didn’t even think of that. And maybe this is a preventative kind of thing. I don’t know. But I mean I’ve just always thought, okay, doing that’s probably not going to be good way to get out of bed, so I’ve always done that. So, you know, drinking a glass of water, that’s the other thing too, that I don’t even think about. It’s on my nightstand. The night before I prepared it. And I don’t put lemon, I don’t put anything in. It’s just a fricking glass of water that I make sure like I wake up, I do my thing, I sit on the edge of my bed, and I chug that glass of water and immediately I go to the toilet.

Andy: I wake up and immediately pound a shot of bourbon.

Ryan: There you go. But see? Liquids, right? That’s what matters.

Andy: Very important. It’s very important.

Ryan: Again, if that’s something that you need, great. I mean, you know, it’s why it’s difficult, I think, for the two of us and we’re a bit hesitant about saying exactly certain things that we do. Because it’s got to fit you, if it works. If I miss my glass of water or whatever, you know, I’ll just drink my glass of water later. It’s fine. But it’s little things to help you start the day off right, whatever that might be.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: You know, you’re never going to go wrong with a little bit of mobility in the morning, a little bit of gratitude in the morning. You know, when people, they say they woke up on the wrong set of bed. All right, change that. Change it. You have the opportunity to just say, oh man, you know, I don’t know what’s going on. You and I have been talking about this past couple of months. Recently I have these nightmares. Don’t know what’s going on. But the thing is, I don’t dwell on it all day long, you know? I’m like, wow, I had another nightmare again. That’s really kind of messed up. All right. Whatever. Move on with today.

Andy: Yeah, so this is, I think, a really good point to sort of transition. So you know, focusing at least spending a little bit of time on whatever is most important to you in your life right now, right?

Ryan: Yeah. That’s what it is.

Andy: So it doesn’t have to be any optimal number of minutes or before you do anything else. You can go to the bathroom first, it’s cool. But at least spending a little bit of time on whatever is most important to you in your life. Because if you wait until later in the day, you might not get it in. So go on and spend some time in the morning doing whatever that is. But then the next thing is, like you mentioned, no matter how you wake up, if you didn’t get enough sleep or if you’re not a great mood, you had a nightmare, someone in your family is sick or whatever. However you wake up, the other second, like key principle really, of what I think is important in the morning routine is that you need to do something to set up the rest of your day.

Ryan: Yes.

Andy: For whatever success looks like for you. I don’t like setting yourself up for success. It sounds like it should be on like a self help poster or something. But whatever it is for you that you need to be ready. So like you mentioned, like changing your attitude, doing something that releases that stress or makes you more optimistic. A lot of people find that writing some things that they’re thankful for, that gratitude journaling idea, works pretty well for them. For me, that’s really the logic behind, like I said earlier, where I kind of write out my schedule for the day.

Ryan: Right. Right.

Andy: That way I know what’s coming and I can make sure that I’m prepared for whatever that is. You know?

Ryan: Mm-hmm. Interestingly enough, kind of the flip side of that, that I’ve done over the, at least the year, I know, is focusing on the things that I shouldn’t be doing. So for example, I don’t want to check my phone.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: I really do not want to do that. Because I know that there’s going to be something on there that might trigger something where I’m just like, ah crap, you know? And then, I don’t want to start my day off that way. That’s why I hold off until I get to the office now, or gym, or whatever you want to call it, studio or what, to start my day. And so that’s an example of setting yourself up for success.

Andy: Yeah, absolutely. I mean because we all have things that either feed into our energy or feed into what we’re trying to do, or we have things that we know if we see it, we’ll be thinking about it all day.

Ryan: Right.

Andy: For a lot of people I know, it’s like political news or something.

Ryan: Sure. Sure.

Andy: And you know, I’ll hear people talking about it like, oh I opened up Twitter this morning and saw this and it’s just ruined my day. And I believe it. Because that stuff is important and it’s challenging. And we all have very, very strong opinions and emotions about what’s going on in the world. Or maybe now all of us, but many of us do. And so when you see something early in the day, it gets you riled and then you can’t let it go. Because we get that emotional tension that makes it very hard for us to then actually focus on anything else after that.

Andy: And so when you hear people talk about not checking email in the morning, not watching the news in the morning, stuff like that, it’s all about trying to try to postpone… Like a lot of people, I’ve heard call it like the vortex, right? Postpone the vortex. Don’t get sucked into whatever energy is out there. You know. Hold off as long as possible so that you can be in control of where your attention is until you absolutely must open yourself up to the possibility that something’s going to wreck it. You know?

Ryan: Dude, we’ve already got so much drama going on in my house between the kids that the last thing I need is to open up and just expand upon that. Anyway. No. They’re good kids, but yeah. So yeah, that’s a great thing to say. And again, you know, so many different ways you can do that, you know, meditate, whatnot. You got to just find something that’s going to be good for you. And that’s where actually looking at other people’s routines can be helpful, because you can draw ideas from that and find what’s good for you. Test something out. If it’s not working, cool.

Ryan: Give it some time though, I will say. Don’t think that if you try something a couple of days and don’t feel that it’s working, you should quit. Stick with it a little bit. Just like we say in GMB, it’s like anything, you know, with stretching or whatnot, you know, follow along, give it time, and allow it to start working. So be aware. I think awareness is really like everything. It comes down to being aware of what’s going on with you and what you need. And sometimes it’s tough to know that. So, yeah.

Andy: Yeah. And this is something that we talk about a lot at GMB too, is you know, physically also just being aware of where your body is at, how you’re moving, how things feel makes a huge difference. And so when you’re talking about routines or habits and things like that, just even knowing what you’re doing and understanding why and what works for you.

Ryan: Absolutely.

Andy: The other thing that you and I do a lot, and this is also something that’s so true in training as well, is that we’re not trying to fit everything into a perfect daily template. And this is a question that we get about training programs all the time too. Like is this workout balanced? I need to have the exact same amount of reps of pulling movements as pushing movements. No, you don’t. You know, the thing is, and this goes for nutrition, goes for exercise, it goes for routines, it goes for everything, 24 hours is actually not all that long a period of time for your body. You can go a week or more without eating food.

Ryan: Yeah. Yep.

Andy: You know. It’s not good for you. But the body is made to adapt over more than a single sun cycle period of time. Right?

Ryan: Yep.

Andy: So don’t worry if you can’t fit everything in. You don’t have to have the optimal routine for every day. But if there’s something you like to do, like working out for example, two or three times a week, plenty for a lot of people. For many, maybe even most people. Right?

Ryan: What’s interesting, sorry to interrupt. It’s interesting you brought this up. So something, and this started in October of last year for me, and that is… You know me, you know. I used to train hard and it’s just all out and pretty intense and everything. And something that has changed considerably in my life is the way that I look at pretty much everything. And not thinking that I need to do everything every single day. So what did I write in my journal? I made a decision and all I wrote down was, a couple of times. Now what does that mean? It might be a couple times a week, it might be a couple times a month. And the thing is, is instead of thinking that I need to cram something in every single day, is just do it a couple times, but really, really appreciate when I’m doing it, and enjoy when I’m doing it, and be happy with that.

Ryan: And so this, for example, Brazilian jujitsu, a lot of people, you know, they know that I do Brazilian jujitsu now and might think that I train like five, six days a week or something like that. Honestly, yeah, over the past couple of weeks it’s kind of what I was doing. But you know, as of last year, October I decided, I was like, you know what, once a week, maybe twice a week is good enough for me now. I’m not going to be, what, international athlete or something like that. No. That’s good enough for me. Hiking. I also love hiking, but that doesn’t mean that I’m like, I’ve got to do this, you know, every whatever or whatever, you know. A couple of times a month, you know, do it is great. What I’m getting at is maybe looking at, rather than thinking of something every single day, look at weekly. You know, maybe looking at monthly or something.

Ryan: And so kind of taking some of that stress off yourself and thinking that something has to be done. Set something up so it actually… You’re not only looking forward to it, but it feels really good when you do it. And I think sometimes we can get into thinking that we need to do a particular habit and set something up and yes, a week or two weeks into it, you know, great, you’ve done it every single day. But maybe you stop and stop enjoying it, or it’s not good for you because you’ve been trying to cram it in. So I’m just trying to say it’s really take a look at is this really good for you? And figuring out a way to do it that’s going to supplement your life, rather than changing your life to just try and do that.

Andy: Well, sure. I mean if you really think about it though, it makes sense too, because if I look at all the things I like doing, and let’s say I’ve got practicing martial art, I’ve got some, you know, stretching and mobility work. I’ve got playing guitar, I’ve got spending some time with my daughter, playing the Mario app on my phone. I’ve got reading books, I love reading, I read a lot. If I tried to make sure I do all of those things every day plus like meditation and eating food and actually showering, then I would probably have like seven and a half minutes of each. All right?

Ryan: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.

Andy: I could probably deal with seven and a half minutes a day of playing guitar, though it’s not nearly as much fun as if I play guitar for 30 minutes twice a week.

Ryan: Yeah.

Andy: Because for 30 minutes you can rock out and have fun, right?

Ryan: Absolutely.

Andy:But I can tell you for a fact, if I told my daughter, well, you’re seven and a half minutes is up for the day, she would be rightly pissed. You know?

Ryan: Now mind you, too, yeah. Yeah. And the thing too, some of you might be listening and saying, well wait a minute though, but you and GMB are saying, if we want to do something, we need to spend time on it, a little bit of time every day and do it. Yes, okay, that is. What we’re getting at though, is what are those priorities? What is like, what do you want to really be focusing on? Yeah, it’s great to do all this stuff. But coming back to, you know, when I mentioned Brazilian jujitsu and things like that, those are things that I want to continue to do the rest of my life.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: And I’ll just spend a little bit of time here, a little bit of time. I’m not looking at becoming absolutely like mastering something, you know.

Andy: BJJ is not the most important thing in your life.

Ryan: It’s not.

Andy: So you don’t need to prioritize that every day.

Ryan: Exactly. Exactly.

Andy: Right.

Ryan: And that’s what we’re getting at. Yeah. And so, you know, spending like an hour, an hour and a half playing guitar when you want to, you know. That’s great, you know. And I think there’s a lot of things in our life, all of us, that we have where it would be beneficial to take a step back and really truly look at what is really important and kind of letting go. And not quitting something, but just giving ourself permission to say, you know what, it’s okay if I only do this once or twice a week. Perfectly fine.

Andy: Yep. Absolutely. So we talked about a lot of things today, but to kind of wrap up the main points that we’ve discussed, is that routines need to be flexible and they need to serve you. Trying to model someone else’s routine when you’re not living their life is probably just… Well, it’s not good. You shouldn’t be comparing yourself to other people. So our main principles, first are to spend a little bit of time doing whatever’s most important to you in your life, right? Go on and spend some time doing that early in the day and make sure that you prioritize that early in your day.

Andy: The second one is to try to do something that sets you up for the rest of the day. Whether that’s like planning your schedule, eating breakfast, doing something to change your mood, like writing in a journal or whatever. But doing something that prepares you for the rest of the day to go well. And then over the course of a week, decide which big boxes you want to tick off, rather than try to divide everything into tiny, tiny little slices of time that you get in every single optimized second of every day. Right?

Andy: And finally, number one life hack, leave your computer at work. Don’t take your work home. Separate that. You know, when you’re at home, spend that time just being at home and doing other things you want to do that aren’t work.

Ryan: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Andy: Ryan, hit us with one final tip.

Ryan: All right. So before we started chatting, Andy and I, he brought up this idea and I thought it was, yeah, this is pretty cool because it’s talking about balance. Okay. Now here’s the tip. In the morning when you put your socks on, from now on, stand on one foot and put your socks on. Put your sock on that other foot. Thing is, ever since I broke my ankle, this is something that I’ve been doing every single morning. And it wasn’t until Andy brought up the balance thing before we started chatting that I remembered that I do this. And this is a way in the morning for me to kind of get set. Okay, I stand on one foot and I put my sock on. It really lets me know if I’m pretty tight that day. It assesses what’s going on.

Ryan: And also it can kind of give me a little bit of a laugh because typically I kind of fall over to the side or something like that. It allows me to actually just be like, hey let’s start the day off with a little fun thing and not get attached to it, thinking that if I can’t balance the day is going to be bad or something. So just try and put your sock on. Try that. Little tip for you. And I think that you’ll find that it’ll help change the way that you look at the rest of the day.

Andy: And final thing here. For anyone who’s ever watched a video of Ryan doing some hard ass shit, like one arm handstands or any of that stuff, and said I will never be able to move with the kind of strength, skill, and grace of this man, just imagine Ryan in his boxers try to put on his sock and falling over.

Ryan: In the dark. In the dark, by the way. Yeah. So there you go.

Andy: There you go. The mystique has been ruined now.

Ryan: Yeah.

Andy: You can rest easy knowing that Ryan is a normal human.

Ryan: Guru status gone.

Andy: Over. All right.

Ryan: Over.

Andy: Thank you for listening to and/or watching and/or being a part of in general, the Grab My Banana show. Cheers.

Ryan: Thanks everybody.

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