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Thomas Frank Study Tips, My New (Better) Morning Routine

My New (Better) Morning Routine

- One of the most important lessons

that I've learned about productivity

is that the way you start your day really matters.

Waking up on time and going through a sequence

of healthy habits can give you the momentum

that you need to roll right into your work.

While waking up late or waking up without a plan

can easily lead to procrastination and wasted time.

So, today I wanna share the morning routine

that I've been using recently.

It's pretty simple, but it does involve

one pretty big change from the way that I used to do things.

Though we're gonna get to that later

because well, first things first,

I just have to get out of bed.

And these days I'm waking up at about 6:30 in the morning.

And I do this using a pretty simple trick.

So, if you saw my video that I put out a few years ago

about how I used to force myself to get up early.

I actually used to use a social media scheduler

to schedule a tweet that would go out

and tell people that I was being lazy.

So, to prevent this from going out,

I would have to get up before the tweet's scheduled time,

turn my computer on, and either move it to the next day

or delete it.

And for a really long time

this was an incredibly effective way to get up

at the time I wanted to get up

and go through my morning routine.

But when I tried to use it again earlier this year

I found that it no longer works for me

because it led to me actually waking up

in the middle of the night worrying

that I had slept through my alarm

or that something else had gone wrong

and the tweet had gone out.

So, this method was literally giving me anxiety

and negatively affecting the quality of my sleep.

So, what I'm doing now is a lot simpler,

but it's just as effective.

I just have a second alarm on an iPad downstairs.

So, I have to actually go downstairs from my room

and turn it off.

And that alarm is set for about five minutes

after my main one, which virtually guarantees

that I'm never going to hit snooze

and I'm always going to go downstairs

and get both alarms turned off and then get into my routine.

Next I feed my cat, I water my plants,

and I do some pull-ups.

I'm trying to gradually increase the number

that I do in the morning,

but right now I'm doing just about 10.

This is a good way to actually make sure I feel fully awake,

but it's also just another good way

to make sure that I stay in shape for rock climbing.

And quick tip,

if you're gonna use one of these door frame pull-up bars,

when you get one take an old towel

and wrap it around the contact points

with either a rubber band or some tape.

That way it doesn't damage your door frame.

Because these things can definitely do that

if you don't pad out those contact points.

So, once I've done those pull-ups I will go outside

for about a 10 to 15-minute walk.

And this is really casual, I'm not power-walking.

I'm not out there jogging.

I'm just going to get a walk because this was a habit

that I used to do every single morning

after I graduated from college

and I was living back in Iowa.

And I really just wanted to add it back in.

And while I'm walking, I'll usually listen to a podcast

or an audiobook.

Right now I'm listening to Wondery's excellent

Business Wars podcasts, specifically the biker wars series

about Harley Davidson,

along with Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

And both of these I highly recommend.

Though with Tchaikovsky, you're probably gonna wanna start

with Children of Time,

which is the first book in that series.

Once I'm back from the walk it is time for breakfast.

But before I get to cooking,

I first activate a little routine

that I created on my Echo speaker.

Alexa, start my morning.

- [Alexa] Today, there are two events remaining.

At 2 PM, there's podcast interview with the Rock

and at 3 PM, there's call Matt to brag.

- This lets me know what's on my calendar for the day,

it tells me the weather,

and then it starts a little morning routine playlist

that I created on Spotify,

which I'll share down in the description below

in case you're interested.

For breakfast, I will sometimes make a smoothie,

which I made a video all about a couple of months ago

and you can check that out in case you're interested.

But recently, I've just been sticking to a very simple wrap.

Eggs, cheese, bacon, and salsa.

And I'll also slice up an apple and, of course,

make coffee.

And funny little side note about that coffee.

A few months ago, I actually decided

to do a blind taste test pitting the craft-roasted,

expensive beans in a local grocery store

with regular, old Caribou coffee dark roast beans.

And when I did that, I was surprised to find

that I actually like the Caribou beans better,

which was interesting because they were literally

half the price.

So, doing that test actually showed me

that it's a good idea to do these kinds of tests

on a regular basis to make sure

that you're making logical choices

instead of just following mere signifiers of quality,

like price.

After breakfast, it is time to do some learning,

which usually takes the form of reading

though I don't always just read books.

Sometimes I do, but other times

I'll dig into a really long article.

For example, one that I read recently

was Ray Dalio's article on paradigm shifts,

which I found pretty difficult to read, personally.

But it actually led to me making some changes

in the way that I'm investing my money.

So, I'll have that link in the description below, as well,

for anyone who's interested.

I do think it is a pretty good read.

Anyway, once that's done, it is time to shower.

And in my bathroom, I actually keep

a small Bluetooth speaker and I use my shower time

as time for vocal practice.

About a year ago, I started actual vocal lessons

and I found that singing in the shower

is actually a great way to get some real daily practice in.

And in addition to that, I've also created

several different playlists on Spotify

that each target a specific type of practice in singing,

like high-range training, low-range training, et cetera.

So, it's really easy to build up a queue

and get about 20 minutes of real, deliberate practice in.

And this is a great compliment to the more lengthy sessions

I do when I have time and the actual lessons, as well.

And that's it.

When I'm done with all this, I'll usually start work at home

or if I'm doing writing or research I'll usually head out

to a coffee shop to do it there.

Now, one thing that you might have noticed is missing

from this morning routine is working out

or going to the gym.

And that's actually the big change

that I alluded to earlier.

After stubbornly telling myself

that I needed to work out in the mornings

for a really long time, I've learned through experimentation

that it's actually better for me

to work out in the afternoons.

This is a pretty big improvement to my routine

for a few key reasons.

Number one, I just get to work earlier

because I'm not going to the gym

for an hour or 90 minutes beforehand.

Number two, and this is actually more important.

This neatly solves the problem of the afternoon slump.

Now, I don't know if you get this,

but personally when it gets around three or four PM

in the afternoon, I usually get this wave of brain fog

and it becomes hard to focus.

And in the mornings, I don't have this problem.

I'm alert, I'm easily able to do my work.

But again, when it gets to late afternoon

that ability really starts to diminish.

So, by going to the gym in the afternoon,

I'm able to use more of my morning on work

and then going to the gym is actually a great way

to get rid of that brain fog

because I'm getting some exercise.

Finally, number three, I'm much more consistent

about putting in that learning time in the mornings.

When I was working out in the mornings,

I would often feel pressure to get right to work

after I got back from the gym

and I've learned from personal experience

that I'm much less likely to read during the evenings.

And I mention this because even though it's easy to skip

since it doesn't seem urgent,

I think having this habit of reading or learning

every single day is incredibly important.

For me, doing this keeps me from stagnating

since I'm no longer in school,

and no longer being forced to learn new things

by teachers and professors.

But it also often leads me to making connections

and getting ideas that I wouldn't have otherwise had.

And a lot of times this improves the quality of my work

and helps me grow my business.

That's why I think you should be making time

for this habit, as well.

And one resource that I'd recommend you check out

during this time is Brilliant.

Brilliant is a learning website

that takes an incredibly active, problem-centric approach

to teaching math, science, and computer science.

And because they take this active approach to designing

all their courses and their challenges,

when you're going through the material,

you're actually stretching

your brain's problem-solving capabilities,

becoming a more capable, creative problem solver.

Brilliant's library includes over 50 in-depth courses,

and they also have a feature called daily challenges

where every single day you can log in

and get a new problem in a different area

which can expand your horizons and your interests

and again, build that daily learning habit

and build your problem-solving skills.

So, if you wanna get started for free,

go over to brilliant.org/thomasfrank

and you're gonna get free access to those daily challenges.

And if you'd like to upgrade your account

and get access to their entire course library,

be one of the first 200 people to use that link and sign up

and you'll get 20% off your annual premium subscription.

Big thanks, as always, to Brilliant

for sponsoring this video and being a big supporter

of my channel.

And thank you for watching, as well.

If you haven't subscribed yet,

you can do so right there to get new videos

when they come out here.

You can also click right there to get a free copy

of my book on how to earn better grades,

or check out a couple of other videos on this channel

right here and right here.

Thanks again for watching

and I will see you in the next video.

My New (Better) Morning Routine Meine neue (bessere) Morgenroutine Mi nueva (mejor) rutina matutina 私の新しい(より良い)朝の習慣 A minha nova (melhor) rotina matinal Мой новый (лучший) утренний распорядок 我新的(更好的)早晨习惯

- One of the most important lessons - Uma das lições mais importantes

that I've learned about productivity que aprendi sobre produtividade

is that the way you start your day really matters. é que a forma como começamos o dia é realmente importante.

Waking up on time and going through a sequence Acordar a horas e seguir uma sequência

of healthy habits can give you the momentum de hábitos saudáveis pode dar-lhe o impulso

that you need to roll right into your work.

While waking up late or waking up without a plan

can easily lead to procrastination and wasted time.

So, today I wanna share the morning routine

that I've been using recently.

It's pretty simple, but it does involve

one pretty big change from the way that I used to do things.

Though we're gonna get to that later

because well, first things first,

I just have to get out of bed.

And these days I'm waking up at about 6:30 in the morning.

And I do this using a pretty simple trick.

So, if you saw my video that I put out a few years ago

about how I used to force myself to get up early.

I actually used to use a social media scheduler

to schedule a tweet that would go out

and tell people that I was being lazy.

So, to prevent this from going out,

I would have to get up before the tweet's scheduled time,

turn my computer on, and either move it to the next day

or delete it.

And for a really long time

this was an incredibly effective way to get up

at the time I wanted to get up

and go through my morning routine.

But when I tried to use it again earlier this year

I found that it no longer works for me

because it led to me actually waking up

in the middle of the night worrying

that I had slept through my alarm

or that something else had gone wrong

and the tweet had gone out.

So, this method was literally giving me anxiety

and negatively affecting the quality of my sleep.

So, what I'm doing now is a lot simpler,

but it's just as effective.

I just have a second alarm on an iPad downstairs.

So, I have to actually go downstairs from my room

and turn it off.

And that alarm is set for about five minutes

after my main one, which virtually guarantees

that I'm never going to hit snooze

and I'm always going to go downstairs

and get both alarms turned off and then get into my routine.

Next I feed my cat, I water my plants,

and I do some pull-ups.

I'm trying to gradually increase the number

that I do in the morning,

but right now I'm doing just about 10.

This is a good way to actually make sure I feel fully awake,

but it's also just another good way

to make sure that I stay in shape for rock climbing.

And quick tip,

if you're gonna use one of these door frame pull-up bars,

when you get one take an old towel

and wrap it around the contact points

with either a rubber band or some tape.

That way it doesn't damage your door frame.

Because these things can definitely do that

if you don't pad out those contact points.

So, once I've done those pull-ups I will go outside

for about a 10 to 15-minute walk.

And this is really casual, I'm not power-walking.

I'm not out there jogging.

I'm just going to get a walk because this was a habit

that I used to do every single morning

after I graduated from college

and I was living back in Iowa.

And I really just wanted to add it back in.

And while I'm walking, I'll usually listen to a podcast

or an audiobook.

Right now I'm listening to Wondery's excellent

Business Wars podcasts, specifically the biker wars series

about Harley Davidson,

along with Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

And both of these I highly recommend.

Though with Tchaikovsky, you're probably gonna wanna start

with Children of Time,

which is the first book in that series.

Once I'm back from the walk it is time for breakfast.

But before I get to cooking,

I first activate a little routine

that I created on my Echo speaker.

Alexa, start my morning.

- [Alexa] Today, there are two events remaining.

At 2 PM, there's podcast interview with the Rock

and at 3 PM, there's call Matt to brag.

- This lets me know what's on my calendar for the day,

it tells me the weather,

and then it starts a little morning routine playlist

that I created on Spotify,

which I'll share down in the description below

in case you're interested.

For breakfast, I will sometimes make a smoothie,

which I made a video all about a couple of months ago

and you can check that out in case you're interested.

But recently, I've just been sticking to a very simple wrap.

Eggs, cheese, bacon, and salsa.

And I'll also slice up an apple and, of course,

make coffee.

And funny little side note about that coffee.

A few months ago, I actually decided

to do a blind taste test pitting the craft-roasted, 공예 구이를 뱉어 맹인 맛 테스트를 수행

expensive beans in a local grocery store

with regular, old Caribou coffee dark roast beans.

And when I did that, I was surprised to find

that I actually like the Caribou beans better,

which was interesting because they were literally

half the price.

So, doing that test actually showed me

that it's a good idea to do these kinds of tests

on a regular basis to make sure

that you're making logical choices

instead of just following mere signifiers of quality,

like price.

After breakfast, it is time to do some learning,

which usually takes the form of reading

though I don't always just read books.

Sometimes I do, but other times

I'll dig into a really long article.

For example, one that I read recently

was Ray Dalio's article on paradigm shifts,

which I found pretty difficult to read, personally.

But it actually led to me making some changes

in the way that I'm investing my money.

So, I'll have that link in the description below, as well,

for anyone who's interested.

I do think it is a pretty good read.

Anyway, once that's done, it is time to shower.

And in my bathroom, I actually keep

a small Bluetooth speaker and I use my shower time

as time for vocal practice.

About a year ago, I started actual vocal lessons

and I found that singing in the shower

is actually a great way to get some real daily practice in.

And in addition to that, I've also created

several different playlists on Spotify

that each target a specific type of practice in singing,

like high-range training, low-range training, et cetera.

So, it's really easy to build up a queue

and get about 20 minutes of real, deliberate practice in.

And this is a great compliment to the more lengthy sessions

I do when I have time and the actual lessons, as well.

And that's it.

When I'm done with all this, I'll usually start work at home

or if I'm doing writing or research I'll usually head out

to a coffee shop to do it there.

Now, one thing that you might have noticed is missing

from this morning routine is working out

or going to the gym.

And that's actually the big change

that I alluded to earlier.

After stubbornly telling myself

that I needed to work out in the mornings

for a really long time, I've learned through experimentation

that it's actually better for me

to work out in the afternoons.

This is a pretty big improvement to my routine

for a few key reasons.

Number one, I just get to work earlier

because I'm not going to the gym

for an hour or 90 minutes beforehand.

Number two, and this is actually more important.

This neatly solves the problem of the afternoon slump.

Now, I don't know if you get this,

but personally when it gets around three or four PM

in the afternoon, I usually get this wave of brain fog

and it becomes hard to focus.

And in the mornings, I don't have this problem.

I'm alert, I'm easily able to do my work.

But again, when it gets to late afternoon

that ability really starts to diminish.

So, by going to the gym in the afternoon,

I'm able to use more of my morning on work

and then going to the gym is actually a great way

to get rid of that brain fog

because I'm getting some exercise.

Finally, number three, I'm much more consistent

about putting in that learning time in the mornings.

When I was working out in the mornings,

I would often feel pressure to get right to work

after I got back from the gym

and I've learned from personal experience

that I'm much less likely to read during the evenings.

And I mention this because even though it's easy to skip

since it doesn't seem urgent,

I think having this habit of reading or learning

every single day is incredibly important.

For me, doing this keeps me from stagnating

since I'm no longer in school,

and no longer being forced to learn new things

by teachers and professors.

But it also often leads me to making connections

and getting ideas that I wouldn't have otherwise had.

And a lot of times this improves the quality of my work

and helps me grow my business.

That's why I think you should be making time

for this habit, as well.

And one resource that I'd recommend you check out

during this time is Brilliant.

Brilliant is a learning website

that takes an incredibly active, problem-centric approach

to teaching math, science, and computer science.

And because they take this active approach to designing

all their courses and their challenges,

when you're going through the material,

you're actually stretching

your brain's problem-solving capabilities,

becoming a more capable, creative problem solver.

Brilliant's library includes over 50 in-depth courses,

and they also have a feature called daily challenges

where every single day you can log in

and get a new problem in a different area

which can expand your horizons and your interests

and again, build that daily learning habit

and build your problem-solving skills.

So, if you wanna get started for free,

go over to brilliant.org/thomasfrank

and you're gonna get free access to those daily challenges.

And if you'd like to upgrade your account

and get access to their entire course library,

be one of the first 200 people to use that link and sign up

and you'll get 20% off your annual premium subscription.

Big thanks, as always, to Brilliant

for sponsoring this video and being a big supporter

of my channel.

And thank you for watching, as well.

If you haven't subscribed yet,

you can do so right there to get new videos

when they come out here.

You can also click right there to get a free copy

of my book on how to earn better grades,

or check out a couple of other videos on this channel

right here and right here.

Thanks again for watching

and I will see you in the next video.