This episode of The Tim Ferriss Show podcast is a bit of an experiment. Most the time, I interview world-class people, and I ask them many, many questions to try and figure out what makes them good at what they do.
Many of you have wondered what would happen if I flipped the script and had to answer my own questions. In this episode, I decided to do just that and answer one of your most common questions: what does your morning routine look like?
What you’ll find here are the five things I’d like to accomplish within the first 60 to 90 minutes of an “ideal day.” If I can hit at least three of these items, then I’ve won the morning. And, as the saying goes, “If you win the morning, you win the day.”
Let me know if you like this type of episode by responding to me on Twitter (@tferriss) or Facebook. Please let me know if you want more, never want to hear this type of podcast again, or suggest another question you’d like me to answer.
Enjoy!
Want to learn more about morning routines from a world-class entrepreneur? Listen to my two-part conversation with Tony Robbins. In the episodes below, we discuss Tony’s use of cryotherapy, his daily priming ritual, and how to get out of a slump.
This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last 2 years and now has more than $2.5B under management. In fact, some of my good investor friends in Silicon Valley have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it’s all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams.
Check out wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they’ll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they’d put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Or, as I would, you can set it and forget it. Well worth a few minutes: wealthfront.com/tim.
This episode is also sponsored by 99Designs, the world’s largest marketplace of graphic designers. Did you know I used 99Designs to rapid prototype the cover for The 4-Hour Body? Here are some of the impressive results. Click this link and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run…
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What other questions would you like me to answer on the podcast? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for the episode links…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Dandapani’s website
- Transcendental meditation
- Vipassana meditation
- Headspace meditation app
- Calm app
- Tara Brach and her thoughts on meditation
- Sam Harris and his video on the psychology behind meditation
- More about hanging techniques from Ido Portal
- My pull-up rig and Teeter Hang Ups Gravity Boots
- Lynx Teeter Hang Ups P3 Back Stretcher
- One of Breville’s tea makers and the Adagio utiliTEA
- Rishi-Tea Simple Brew Loose Leaf Teapot
- My tea ingredients:
Pu-erh tea | Turmeric ginger | Green tea
- Check out my blog post and video on making my Titanium Tea
- The Five-Minute Journal
- A look at my morning pages
If you like this type of advice and want more of my insider tips and tricks, as well as the latest of what I’m enjoying, please subscribe to 5-Bullet Friday.
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than one billion downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
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Tim your chinese is hilarious but pretty good!
I love these little podcast episodes. I love to hear your interviews with other top performers, but one reason I listen to you is because of your experience with optimizing or enhancing everything about your life, so its great to hear your answers to some questions that you would normally ask people you interview. Keep up the great work!
Liked hearing about your tea routine, you should try Matcha, it’s great! Instead of waiting 5 minutes for my boiled water to cool down though I just add some cold water in afterwards. Now I feel like a dirty cheat! 😉
I loved this episode… cant wait my trip back home tonight to listen once more… 🙂
I write to you from Athens, Greece, to say that I am tickled pink, by this interview wiith Tony Robbins.
Hi Tim,
Thanks so much for your work! You have been a huge inspiration to me. Since I read the Four Hour Work Week, I was infected with the desire to go out and proactively sculpt my lifestyle. As I have begun the path to kick off my own business, I have found your resources extremely valuable. Your approach reminds me on a daily basis that anything is possible and you provide breadcrumbs to help me find my way.
With great appreciation,
TJ
My morning routine:
1. Some form of caffeine
2. Walk dog (and crawl for 100 yards or so midway)
3. Meditate for 20 minutes
It’s amazing how much it fucks with my day when I don’t meditate. I would go so far as to say that meditation is probably my #1 most important habit (other than getting plenty of sleep).
I would be interested to hear what kind of meditation you are doing these days Tim.
Thanks for all that you do!
Thank you very much, very interesting episode.
Greetings from Spain!
Interesting angle 🙂
Thanks a lot for letting me / us in telling us about your morning rituals.
Don’t ever stop producing these podcasts, it would be a great loss for all of us.
Thanks!
Nicolai
@Tim- maybe a silly question but what brand of tea (?) press are you using in this photo? Thank you!
Absolutely love this Tim! Would love a lot more of this type of thing.
Loved this style podcast. Short, great tips and helpful tools for the everyday life. Always looking for good life hacks!
[…] Block out at least 60 minutes in the morning before checking e-mail to work on your #1 most important/uncomfortable to-do. Here is Tim’s detailed morning routine. […]
So true about the external distractions. I can’t focus unless my environment is together.
“A lot of my drive comes from constant dissatisfaction.” That is so fantastic because it applies to many who are ambitious.
Hi Tim, Many thanks for the consistently great content! I like to listen at 1.5 times the speed, but don’t find this function with Libsyn. Can you advise how I do this? Regards, Mary.
Rituals are important! They are crucial elements in a journey to get things flowing in all activities. It is nice that you are sharing yours. They are very inspiring. Thanks!
As a fan from China, I have to say your Chinese in recommending Long Jing Tea and Li Xiaolong, is fantastic ! Hope to see you doing more activities in china.
I was really keen to hear the 5 things, but you lost me somewhere between the Optimal lead-in, the lengthy punt for Wealthfront, and by the time you got to extolling the virtues of 99 Design I figured my time was better spent getting up and having a shower. A transcript or written summary would have been helpful for those of us who don’t have enough hours in the day to listen to advertising ad nauseum 😉
Thanks a lot!
Awesome man love it love green tea and yesi do meditste and journal just keep going .love you .
Great show Rick! A late subscriber here, just came across a podcast you were invited to in NPR: Freakonomics radio.
On this topic (5 Morning Rituals That Help Me Win The Day), at what time do you usually start your morning?
Thanks,
Pape
You asked if this was a good idea for an episode. In short: yes! You’ve become one of the people you initially sought out. Congrats.
Hey Tim!
Where does breakfast come into this? Assuming it’s still the best move to eat 30g of protein within 30 min of waking up.
Hi Tim
I wasn’t sure where to ask this, but I just signed your writer agreement for guest posts, and now I can’t find the correct contact e-mail to send my pitch to. Would you be able to direct me to this link? thanks!
love this huge-little podcast.
love how you’re precise and honest (and right on, in my opinion) about TM.
wish there was links to all the brands and gadgets you mention 🙂
love this huge-little post.
love the precise honest way (and right on, in my opinion) you talk about TM.
wish there were links to all the brand/tools you mention….
🙂
I used to take a 10-day Vipassana Course. And I am practicing it every morning. It really changes my life.
Tim, I was unable to access the transcript to this podcast…after entering my email address I was lead to a lead pages thank you and that was it…no transcript…please help!
Never thought tea could work as good as coffee, if not better! Gona give it a try this week.
Thanks to your post, I recently started the 5 minute journal and allways making my bed before I leave the house.
Great stuff. Well delivered. Thanks.
Who needs energy drinks or canned oxygen? A Tim Ferriss podcast charges my battery, zero calories, and is vastly more engaging!!
Love your “5 Morning Rituals…” AND it solved a puzzle from childhood – WHY my dad (no military background) insisted on everyone making their bed before ever stepping out of the room. To this day it’s as automatic as brushing and flossing.
My 6th morning ritual: anything from Tim Ferriss.
Magic.
This is fantastic, thank you! I love the super practical aspects of this post.
great podcast! It would be great to see transcripts of your podcasts for those of us who are visual learners~ very helpful to those of us who need that visual reinforcement.
I am so grateful that people like you exist. You are one of the great reasons that life on earth gets better. I am working hard on making the world a nicer place for many as possible and your content helps me go further and faster. Cheers!
I have always been told and even seen many of posts relating to the importance of Morning routine or rituals . No doubt one should kick off the day in the best possible manner , but what if someone (that would be me ) is not accustomed to waking up early in the morning . I tried too many times to get on track. Later i found that late nights are fine to do any work as there are less distractions in night ( because everyone is asleep ) .
I believe it depends on person to person at which time of day they are comfortable .
Disappointing that the actual content didn’t start until over 6 min in.
First time listener probably won’t listen again. It took 6 minutes of listening to you drone on before you got to the point of the episode….
Thanks for the all detailed explanations and interviews about what goes into your body. I am also interested in what you put outside your body, on your skin, such as lotion, oils, etc. What’s in your shower or near your bathtub? How do you shave/trim? What products / tools do you use. Do you get regular manicures / pedicures, or DIY all of it? Peace.
Hi Tim, Wealthfront you recommend, but i live in europe, would you recommend any other for people living in europe(spain)
Thanks ,
good work¡
I purposely do NOT make my bed, when one makes their bed it allows the bed to stay warmer thus allowing the mites reproduce more. I was in TM years ago, they gave me a mantra to say, you don’t need their mantra, you can just pick out a word to say for yourself. Some people believe that it is a cult that manipulates vulnerable people. TMer’s are told that if they get good at meditating they can fly across the room, this is no joke. I met people who were in TM and believed this, look up International Cult Studies Association.
Is this a comedy podcast? Is this for real? 1. Just hang from the monkey bars in a park free. 2. just use a $2 tea pot. Funniest content i’ve heard for yonks. Love it lol!
I disagree with your grapefruit shot. I don’t do caffeine, soda etc. I’m 48, 135lbs, work too much, sleep perfect and still have high blood pressure. You cannot combine my lisinopril with grapefruit. Do your homework before you give advice please and thank 2.
Nice info. Practicing Padmasana is very good yoga poses for night shift employees and it brings peace of mind and strengthens the digestive system.
Never, ever make your bed. You need to update your 5 rituals.
http://www.lifehack.org/317021/scientists-tell-you-why-making-your-bed-disgusting-and-bad-for-your-health
Me n my mites are quite cozy together! ha!
Tim – Your morning routine is creeping me out, down to the tea recipe! Replace hanging with toothbrushing and our mornings run parallel. I’ll tack on journaling and I ought to be making my millions any day now!
Hi Tim,
Are you doing your cold shower before the TM meditation or after ?
Are transcripts available for deaf and hearing impairedd folks?
Tim – helpful tips. In Jan I started a company I am running and I am also in the process of hunting for a muse. My operation is just me and a team at Brickwork. Enjoy hearing about others who manage business and life with a small operation, my goal is to keep it small while having a big impact. Love this type of insights, as well as others related to working on your own. Helpful to talk about successes and pitfalls of being truly on your own or just a small team. Thanks!
Good podcast about your morning routine, thanks Tim. TM doesn’t want you to FOCUS on the mantra though, it’s just the correct angle you take and then you let go, very effortless, no concentrating — which is why I still do it, after 38 years, haha. I’m way too lazy to focus or concentrate, sine that is what I do the rest of the day.
Love your work, but I’m not really a podcast guy. Any chance you’ll provide more written content? Thaks!
Wondering if doing a 20-30 minute yoga session in the morning could tick off meditation and decompression?
Thanks for the introduction to Wealthfront.com/Tim. Their website only offers free investment opportunity for under $5,00, not $15,00 as your podcast states.
There shoudl be someone who makes an article out of his podcast. Can’t go through the whole thing
Please make bullet points summary
Hi Tim,
Thanks for sharing this amazing Podcast and the sharing the benifical pointers that why should we have morning rituals in our life,
Looking forward with your upcoming podcast.
To anyone struggling with developing the Morning Pages habit, try doing it right before bed.
For whatever reason, it became more accessible for me to write right before bed than it was first thing in the morning.
I developed the habit and wrote nightly for almost three years (800 entries). Try it and find what works for you.
[Moderator: promotional material removed per policy.]
Much love,
Max Willy