 We talk a lot about routines and we're going to talk about how to jump start your brain morning routine evening routines because I mean really the success that everyone is desiring it's hidden in our daily habits right first you create your habits and then your habits create you but one of the things that a bad habit the most successful people they have their to-do list and we all have our to-do list but I've also noticed that some of the highest achievers they have a not to-do list you know what I mean they have a list of non-negotiable things they will not indulge in because you know we've all read the book good to great you say no to good so you can say yes to great right and a lot of times when you get more and more successful you suffer from this opportunity stress right you get more and more offers more and more opportunity and you can't say yes to everything and that's a big challenge because then you have so many windows open on your computer and even if they're minimized they still take up energy and they take still take up space and memory and you wonder why you're fatigued all the time you wonder why you don't have the mental energy to do the things that you need to be able to do so digital distraction and on the top of your not to-do list should be not checking your phone in the first thing in the morning and I know everyone's listening to me and and automatically so many people are just like oh my god you know like I hate you know I hate this guy but the first hour of the day the reason why you don't want to pick up your phone is because and we're all guilty of this is because it rewires your brain for two things number one it rewires your brain for distraction when you wake up first thing in the morning you're in this relaxed alpha creatives it's a very suggestible state right you just woke up and so you have to be very careful and protect and stand guard to your mind from outside influences because number one the first thing you see on your phone you're watching these cat videos and you know everything that's going on social media you're getting these dopamine flood which is building your distraction muscles because when it comes to focus focus is like there's a focus fitness if you will and you have focus muscles but you also have distraction muscles and a lot of people their distraction muscles are way overdeveloped because of picking the phone up first thing in the morning but the second reason for a neurological reason why you don't want to pick up your phone the first hour of the day is because it also rewires your brain for reaction it's training your brain to be reactive and so you know as you know you get you go through your phone you wake up in the morning pick up your phone you get one text one voicemail message one you know email and all of a sudden your day shot like it puts you in a bad mood and you carry that mood throughout your entire day and that's a big challenge because you know if you're just fighting fires then you're just on the defense if you're just trying to fulfill everyone else's needs without going through like what's going to help me to win this day to own this you know this day to be able to make it the best then um then you're you're reacting and I have a friend Brendan Brashard he says your inbox is nothing but a convenient organizational system for other people's agenda for your life I mean you guys know what I mean so you're training your brain to react and you can never have an incredible day if you're just reacting to things right so for me I wake up in the morning and when I just start journaling and I write down three things I want to accomplish personally that day three things I want to accomplish professionally and it's different every single day but I always begin with the end in mind one of my favorite books of all time is this book called Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and we've read this book some people like I have that book and it's sitting on my shelf and it becomes shelf help not self help right because nobody's actually like reading that book because so many people buy books and I have the I like to encourage people to read at least one book a week because the average person reads about two maybe three books a year but what I love about reading number one is the best exercise you know for your mind and you know it's like reading is to your mind what exercise is to your body it's an incredible workout and the most people they don't take the time to read but the other reason I like to read is if somebody has decades of experience in leadership, negotiation, entrepreneurship, fitness and they put it into a book and you can sit down in a couple of days and read that book you can download decades of experience into days and that's a huge advantage right because leaders are readers so when I'm writing what I need to accomplish I'm writing three personal things three professional things but this book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People one of the habits of highly effective people is actually put first things first put first things first meaning I believe that the most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing the most important thing is to keep the most important thing because a lot of people have a fear of failure or fear of success you know my fear has always been I don't want to succeed at things that don't matter it wasn't so much about failing it's about getting really good at something that didn't make a difference and Stephen Covey talks about it like you're really good at climbing the ladder of success only to get to the top and realize that it's leaning on the wrong wall and so if you begin with the end in mind so I'm thinking about my friend Clay Bear has this phrase about champagne moments you know in sports it's very clear when you're popping that champagne what has to happen your criteria and for me I think about if I'm coming back you know at night and somebody asked me how my day was and I was like I crushed it today you know what had to happen working backwards in order for that to happen and I think about three things professionally three things personally and so I write that down first thing in the morning and then I don't check my phone until I get one of those checks done just at least one thing you know and then I get some positive momentum for example but that's the reason you don't want to check your phone it's training you to be distracted and it's rewiring your brain to be reactive and you can't be successful and fulfilled if you're just giving up the sovereignty your power to some something outside of yourself