A challenge myself over the next few months - continue to find ways to improve this newsletter.

This week is 25 weeks in. I genuinely enjoy the weekly practice and discipline of consuming the content and doing the work to get these issues out. I hope one little thing here and there over the past 6 months has stuck with you to help nudge you towards taking positive action in your life.

As I reflect on areas I can improve, I consistently come back to a few pillars: I want to make these as concise, but as content-rich as I can. They don’t tend to be short reads - as I get better as a writer, I want the content to reflect these ideas in less fluff as well. Promotional activity - Good content on deaf ears does no one any good. I want to get more consistent with sharing ideas on additional platforms. Self-creation - As time goes on, I want to actually help make some of the content and resources that get shared here.

All in all, I want this to be a valuable resource for others. Part of that comes down to getting feedback and not becoming stagnant, as with most areas of our lives. Over the next few weeks, I am going to experiment with some different forms of content length, to gather feedback on the effectiveness of the read and a comparison to current issues. We’ll reiterate from there, and keep the trial-and-error process rolling. Thanks for being along for the ride -

Brain - 3 Dimensions of a Morning Routine

I was having a conversation with someone the other day about consistency, getting in the gym on a normal basis, getting reading done, etc., and the conversation stayed mostly around how to get all of these things done day and day again.

I’m a fairly self-aware person I like to think. I understand the areas where I am weak and the areas where I am a little stronger. It’s the areas where I am weak that I have to try to overcome with structure and discipline.

For example, I know these things about myself:

• If I don’t get into the gym in the morning, chances are exponentially higher I won’t get it done that day. I love the gym - but relying on energy and motivation after a long work day doesn’t do well with me. It has to happen when I wake up to get the day started. I want to work out, which in my head, helps reinforce the need to get my ass up every day and get it done

• If I wait until bedtime every day to get my reading done, it’s a 50/50 chance I get it done. I like to get my reading done pre-workout in the morning so that any reading throughout the rest of the day is the cherry on top

• If I have a good workout in the morning, I am much more likely to stick to my diet to a T. Why put in all of the effort to wake up early, go to the gym, lift heavy weight, all to ruin it with some bad meals? Motivation in lifting and diet go hand in hand

• I function best when I wake up at the same time. It’s hard to get out of bed at 5 AM for the first few weeks. It gets easier over time. Where most people struggle, myself included, is getting up at 5 a few days, and sleeping to 7 - 9 on others. Your body gets into a rhythm, and once you get in a solid sleep cycle, that resistance in the morning goes away. For me, weekends are the same. I don’t struggle Monday at 5 if I don’t sleep until 8/9/10 on the weekends and throw that rhythm off

When I think about my routine, it’s always been heavily weighted on success in those first 3 hours of the day. That time is my time. The work phone is not ringing and I have no other responsibilities. If I do well in those first three hours, I have a good headspace to function well for the remainder of the day. Some people aren’t “morning” people, and can get their work done in the evening equally as well. For most, I find that the conversion to a morning routine can be made, if a commitment to working on it consistently for a month can be made to start.

This article in Forbes talks about the 3 dimensions of a morning routine, while also laying out the case that we are all biologically different and for some it is not the most effective. The 3 dimensions:

1. Me Dimension: Individualized Nutrition, Mindfulness, and Physical Movement

   1. Prioritize movement, nutrition, and mindfulness to enhance your physical and mental well-being.

2. We Dimension: Impact on Daily Life

   1. Ground yourself in your role, whether as a leader, contributor, observer, or contractor.

3. World Dimension: A Collective and Global Impact

   1. Contribute to creating a gentler, collaborative, and empathetic world through your daily practices.

I like to think of the morning routine as more than a commitment to myself, but a commitment to others too. If I am to show up my best version at work, I know what I can typically do to stack the odds in my favor to do so each morning. If I work out, I am typically in a better mood and a better partner at home. If I am reading and consuming positive content in the morning, I am typically in a more positive headspace for the day.

Life is fast and often tiring. Willpower comes and goes. A solid routine can be the guard rails you need to stay on track. Identify areas like mine above where you know you struggle, design a routine to work around them, and then the most important part - commit to being a person who shows up every day and does what they say they are going to do.

Body - Free Resources for Lifting Weights

To help break down the barriers to getting into the gym, I always try to keep a running list of good resources that are available online to learn the fundamentals and to get new ideas for workouts. So much of having meaningful workouts in the gym is simply knowing when and what lifts to do, but also knowing how to effectively do them.

Here are some of my favorite places to go for inspiration in the gym:

• Instagram:

  • Brian Decosta - Plenty of posts with videos of complete workouts

  • Davis Diley - Great for the “how to” of lifting

  • Charles Glass - Retired BodyBuilder, Focus on best ways to do movements

  • Marcus Filly - Functional bodybuilding (Weights + Cardio)

• Websites:

  • Muscle & Fitness Free Workout Routines

  • Ideas for Free Home Workouts

  • HumanFit Project - 30 Free Workout Plans for Beginner to Advanced

• YouTube:

  • Jeff Nippard - Science of Lifting

  • AthleanX - Great “How To”s for Movements

  • Fitness Blender - Home / Minimal Equipment Workouts for Beginners

Instagram tends to be my favorite place for fitness-related content. Follow a few of the accounts above, and you’ll get served recommendations for other accounts with equally good information. Just a word of caution - don’t fall victim to paralysis by analysis. Find some resources you feel you resonate with and trust, take their suggestions, and go get to work.

Book - Revisiting Atomic Habits

If you’ve ever inquired about some good self-help / personal development books to get your reading journey started with, then chances are you’ve received the recommendation of Atomic Habits from James Clear. This book has been littered throughout previous volumes of the Superset, but just this week again, I found myself sifting through the highlighted pages (seemed like every page was covered in yellow ink).

Of all business books, this one consistently provides the little spark I am looking for when I go to the shelf for inspiration. It’s painfully simple, which often leads to simple reminders about how and why I am or am not doing certain things.

Every goal we set, task we take on, and things we prioritize can be boiled down to the daily habits needed to set ourselves up to be successful in those buckets. This book doesn’t just provide the how, but it provides the why, all while not reading like a textbook. Here were a few of the quotes that stuck out this time through. I can’t recommend reading this one enough if you haven’t already.

• “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”

• “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.”

• “When we repeat 1% errors day after day by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results.”

• On France’s breakthrough at the Tour de France: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by one percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

• “Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.”

• “Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe.”