The Modern Man

Hi reader,

Welcome to the Modern Man weekly newsletter, the place where you can become the best man you can possibly be. And absolutely boss it like Roy Kent from Ted Lasso…

Setting Up Your Morning for Success

1. What most Men do..
2. The 3 steps
3. Free Training

We’re going to chat about the typical morning I can relate to in the past and what a lot of the Modern Men do when they initially join. 3 steps to create a morning that serves you with energy whilst being able to get shit done.

PLUS a free training to help you map out your own morning.

1. What most men do…

A snapshot of an aspiring high achieving man. He sets his alarm for 5:00am expecting to get up and smash the day, get a workout in, maybe even do some meditation and/or journalling.

The plan to get up and at it before work starts so he can seize the day and feel accomplished by 7am. maybe even get some good work done before the ‘normal’ workday begins, so he feels like he’s got a headstart.

This works for 2 days and then on the 3rd, the alarm goes off. He’s absolutely knackered from getting up 2 hours earlier than usual and going to bed too late.

So he falls back to sleep, wakes up after the 4th time hitting the snooze button, rolls out of bed after checking his emails, messages and getting caught scrolling a little.

Time seems to disappear when he notices he’s got next to no time left before he’s gotta leave. Jumps into the shower (if there’s time). Quickly grabs a bowl of granola or snack bar and then he rushes out the door and makes his way to work.

Feeling rushed, tired and a bit frustrated he didn’t get up earlier.

Does this sound somewhat familiar?

You wouldn’t be the first. I’ve been there. Alongside the numerous amount of Men I’ve coached.

And it’s absolutely okay. Sometimes that our expectations do not meet reality and getting up at 5am isn’t feasible, or even necessary. We’ve just been sold the 5am hustle club dream.

It’s all good. We don’t necessarily need to get up that early to get good shit done, also it may not even be in our best interest to get up that early according to sleep research and our circadian rhythm.

2. 3 Steps to set your morning up for success.

In order to wake up feeling energised, clear and enough time to do the things we want to in the morning it would be a great idea to follow these 3 steps..

1. Start the night before -
   
   A great morning starts the night before. How do we expect to feel great at 5am if we’re so used to going to bed after 11pm.
   
   It’s just not going to happen. We need to incrementally shift our circadian rhythm..
   
   Try going to bed 15 minutes earlier each night in a down-regulated state. And that means, chilling the F out before bed.
   
   Less stimulants, phone screens, late hard workouts and late dinner.
   
   More relaxing activities like breath-work, reading and a nice cuppa herbal.
   

2. The morning energy combo -
   
   This is simple. If we want more energy and to feel great, we’ve gotta start off on the right foot from a physiological perspective and to energise our mitochondria.
   
   This is my combo at the moment, I always notice a dip in energy and mental clarity when I don’t do this. And I haven’t been as on it recently so I’m speaking from current experience.
   
   It can be adjusted to be done in as little as 15-20 minutes if needed.

   
   1. Hydrate with water, electrolytes and a greens powder.
   60 secs
   
   2. Breathwork; Wim Hof or similar style.
   5-15mins
   
   3. Walk/Move outside in direct light.
   5-15mins
   
   4. Hot/Cold contrast shower. Flip it to 20 seconds ice cold and 10 seconds hot (better for blood flow).
   5mins
   

3. Be adaptable -
   
   Our mindset is key to success in any endeavour and I know if you’re a high achieving man reading this that you want to do everything to the absolute max. Anything less feels like a failure…
   
   This is a great trait because it gets the best out of us in what we take part in. However it can stop us reaching our full potential because we stop doing things or don’t even start when the reality of our situation does not meet our expectation of what we think we need to do in the given endeavour.
   
   So it’s important we take time to check in with our mindset. It’s important that there is a strong reason to get up and smash the day, otherwise what’s the point? We just won’t do it. Trust me, I’ve experienced and heard it a lot.
   
   Are we giving up on something because we’re fixated on the ideal?
   
   Take the 5am start example. We wake up at 5:30 so we decide to fuck it off and stay in bed because it was ‘too late’ to do it all?

3. Free Training

Hopefully that’s given you some insight into changing and setting up a morning for success rather than disappointment and frustration?

If you want to dig deep and figure out what could be the perfect morning for you feel free to watch the free training below.

I’d recommend grabbing a pen and paper and getting stuck in. Create some clarity around what could work for you and then run the experiment.

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways we can help you: