Are The Crazy Morning Routines of Successful Billionaires Like Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Actually Saner Than You Think?

Crazy rich, crazy successful or just plain crazy billionaires?

If you’re interested in personal growth like me, then you have probably read countless articles or books on how the rich, famous, and highly successful people of this world have adopted extremely disciplined and sometimes bizarre and unimaginable routines so that they can achieve maximum results and stay on top of their game.

These routines can seem scary and often include habits that, for many of us mere mortals are not only unimaginable, but frankly speaking, seem weirdly extreme and completely undesirable.

For example, ice cold showers or morning baths.

But what if they aren’t so crazy?

What if they’re right and we’re wrong?

Now, I don’t know about you but I have never once awoken and thought yes great I’m now going to plunge into an ice-cold bath like Jack Dorsey of twitter fame because if it’s good enough for Jack it’s more than good enough for me!

Let’s be honest, it seems a tad extreme right? And perhaps a bit over the top or unnecessary? And yet, just maybe this highly productive super entrepreneur and founder of Twitter and Square is right!.

There is no disputing the fact that he is a mega billionaire who successfully created and managed one of the most popular social networking sites on the planet.

In comparison, most of us have created diddly-squat and we can’t even manage our own time. So what chance would we have managing a multinational like Twitter?

We often struggle with the basics of life and if someone asked us to go the extra mile and wake up early and take a cold shower, we would fail at the first hurdle of getting out of bed.

Let’s face it, if we can’t manage getting out of bed early, how can we possibly manage everything that is needed to be a success?

Jack Dorsey

It wasn’t dumb luck that made Jack Dorsey a billionaire. Dumb luck had nothing to do with it.

Right from the get go, he was different. He was a guy with a nose ring and a tattoo who bucked the system by never finishing his degree at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He transferred to the New York University but, he didn’t graduate from there either.

The fact that he chose not to graduate tells us a number of things about him.

It tells us that most importantly, he wasn’t afraid to be different. All that time and money spent on his education and yet he was bold enough to follow his dream and abandon his studies.

That was a courageous move and a true example of a pioneering spirit.

Most of us buy into “the system” and we often believe that if we don’t get good grades or we don’t go to a good university, we are already a failure.

We are too scared to be different. Not Jack.

He chose to turn his back on this outdated way of thinking. Instead he followed his intuition and gave the world a truly innovative and game changing method of communication.

His success can be put down to creativity, determination and faith in his ability.

But could his success also be partly due to his extreme morning routine of taking an ice bath/shower?

Wim Hof

Wim Hof, known globally as “The iceman” has amazed the world with his super human ability to conquer extreme environments.

His incredible mind over matter feats include:

• climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in just shorts,
• running a marathon above the Arctic Circle barefoot, with no prior training and in temperatures at -20,
• standing in a container while covered with ice cubes for more than 112 minutes,
• running a marathon in the Namib Desert without water.

Wim credits his remarkable abilities to meditation and breathing.

Mind Over Matter

I came across Wim a number of years ago and I was super impressed by his mind over matter techniques.

I wanted to know if I could step up my game and develop a few superpowers of my own, so a couple of years back, I decided to try the cold shower method myself.

I followed Wim’s advice and in the middle of a freezing winter, I gave it a go.

It was an interesting experience, but the short high gained from the shock of freezing water in a cold environment did nothing to make me want to keep repeating the experiment. I didn’t feel any stronger in my mind or gain any mental clarity.

Result, I abandoned the cold showers and returned to the hot ones.

It was disappointing to discover that I didn’t have the stamina or mindset to continue the routine, especially as a part of me wanted to learn more about making friends with the cold. I knew there had to be a payoff but, I didn’t know what.

Undeterred by my failure I improvised (or innovated!) and I took to exercising in the freezing cold instead.

I found this to be just as challenging and exceptionally invigorating. In fact, I loved it. There was something primal about exposing my naked body to the icy temperatures even if it was only for a few minutes a day.

I had discovered the payoff, and it was huge. It made me feel alive and more connected to nature. It was awesome!

Does that make me weird? Maybe, but then I would be in good company.

Weirdest CEO

Jack Dorsey was labelled the weirdest CEO in Silicon Valley and is the only CEO sacked for doing too much yoga. I mean seriously!

There have been top CEOs who have unashamedly abused their power and their positions and haven’t even been given a slap on the wrist! So go figure that one out.

Instead of calling him weird and shaming him for paying attention to his mental health, shouldn’t we be singing his praises for showing us a better way to live?

Meditation

There is now so much scientific evidence supporting the beneficial effects of yoga you would have to be a complete numpty to ignore it.

You only have to visit sites like the Heartmath institute to find tons of scientific research confirming that meditation is good for mind, body, & soul.

It’s not some weird spiritual practice, it is an incredibly powerful tool proven to reduce stress and increase mental clarity. In this respect the weirdest CEO demonstrated a healthy way to tackle stress and stay at the top of your game. Not bad for a weirdo!

Is he doing anything else that might actually help us?

3 Meals or 1?

It turns out that Jack is well known for eating just one meal a day.

People don’t like this, it bucks the trend. Most people believe that it’s normal to have 3 meals a day. And isn’t breakfast the most important meal of the day?

But have we always eaten 3 meals a day?

Apparently not.

A quick look through history shows us that eating 3 meals a day is a relatively recent phenomenon.

Go back to 17th Century Britain and two meals were considered sufficient in the royal households. If we go back a little further to the Romans we discover that one meal a day was the norm according to food historian Caroline Yeldham.

In an interview with the BBC Caroline stated that “The Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day.” She said “They were obsessed with digestion and eating more than one meal was considered a form of gluttony.

Dr Nakamatsu

Even in modern day times there are plenty of examples of people who eat and thrive on just one meal a day.

Some of them are just incredibly brilliant highly successful people like prolific inventor Dr Nakamatsu (famous for inventing the floppy disc, the cd, the fax machine etc. etc.). According to the professor one meal a day of no more than 700 calories is enough to guarantee optimum health.

For many of us mere mortals this is just a step too far and we would seriously struggle giving up our little food treats.

Secret Of Success

Jack Dorsey may have some habits that are not mainstream but at the end of the day he is the billionaire and those who criticise him are not. He is definitely marching to the beat of his own drum, but it seems to be a bloody good drum!

And that my friends is probably the real secret to great success, know yourself! It also brings me back to one of my favourite topics; the teachings of the ancients. One of the biggest lessons from the ancients is: Know Yourself!

Ancient Teachings

No matter which way I turn in life, I always come back to ancient wisdom and in all the ancient teachings we are taught time and time again that there is nothing new under the sun.

“What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done,

and there is nothing new under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 1:4–11

I’ve tried things my way and failed so now it’s time for me to go back to the old ways. Does that mean I will just be eating one meal a day. Well maybe not just yet.

What about you? Which of the success habits impressed you most and which one will you be trying out?

Let me know and if you need help creating new habits or try Atomic Habits, a pretty awesome book by James Clear. He gives a very clear plan for you to follow so you can create your own success habits you can find it here which is my affiliate link.

Live Strong, Love & Prosper

Caryn

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