Automate your mornings. Watch the gains over time.

A morning routine is the thing, right? Every productivity guru talks about it. You need one. That's the way to success!

But really, I'll double down on it. Knowing what you're doing each morning—not a cognitive knowing but an automatic knowing—gets the day started faster with less energy and more excitement. You ever heard of decision fatigue? Yes, decision fatigue is bad. The idea is that we only have so much capacity for decisions each day. We get exhausted when we make too many decisions. So, cut out the ones that are unnecessary.

When you have a prefixed morning plan, you cut out that decision fatigue. You don't think to yourself, What am I going to do this morning? You don't spend that energy wondering what to do, what the right order is, or whether you're hungry. You avoid a whole decision tree—a whole decision forest. Who needs that first thing in the morning?

Let's take it a step further. Don't just have a morning routine. Write it out! Actually declare it. Have it fixed—you know what it is, and others, if they were to watch your routine, would know if you performed it faithfully or not.

Let's take it another step further. Don't just have it written out. Have the environment prepared! Have your coffee in a fixed place, your gratitude journal in another, your breakfast materials in another. But know where they are without needing to think, Where did I put my journal? You should be able to get to them with your eyes closed.

Let's take it EVEN further! Rehearse it! Do this outside of your morning hours—actually run through it in a non-morning hour so that you've got it in your muscle and mental memories. Just like any athlete runs through their routines, this morning routine is its own practice that deserves a few run-throughs to automate.

This is what can get you up and running in the morning. It sounds really intense to some, but it can be so simple. The idea here is just to remove the decisions, remove the friction of getting the day started, and just get going without thinking. Get that overthinking brain out of the way and seize the day!