Summary

The author shares their experience following Tim Ferriss' morning routine for 35 days, detailing the benefits and steps of the routine, and emphasizes the importance of 30-day challenges for habit formation and personal growth.

Abstract

The article recounts the author's personal journey adopting Tim Ferriss' morning routine, as outlined in "Tools of Titans," for over a month. The routine includes waking up early, hydration with lemon water, tea consumption, and focused task prioritization. The author customizes the routine to include lukewarm lemon water and uses tools like Notion for organization. Key benefits experienced include increased productivity, energy, focus, and a sense of accomplishment. The author also provides a link to a list of 30-day challenges and recommends Ferriss' books for practical life tips. The article concludes with the importance of taking action and the potential transformative impact of such routines on one's life.

Opinions

The author believes in the power of 30-day challenges as a method for sustainable habit formation and personal development.
They find Tim Ferriss' morning routine effective for enhancing productivity, energy levels, and focus, particularly highlighting the importance of tackling the most uncomfortable task first.
The author suggests that consistent practice of such a routine can lead to a better mental state and overall lifestyle improvements, even if the exact results may vary from person to person.
They recommend using productivity tools like Notion or a simple excel sheet to track progress and stay organized.
The author values the teachings of Tim Ferriss and other accomplished individuals, encouraging readers to read Ferriss' books for further insights.
They advocate for the importance of focusing on the process rather than just the results, emphasizing that efforts are more important than immediate outcomes.
The author promotes the use of physical timers, like the Pomodoro method, to enhance focus and suggests physical activities such as walking, napping, meditation, or stretching to refocus when distracted.
They endorse the specific Pu-erh black tea that Tim Ferriss drinks and imply that it may contribute to increased energy levels

I Followed Tim Ferriss’ Morning Routine for 35 Days

Here’s what I learned. Tim → The 4-Hour Work Week Gentleman!

If you win the morning, you win the day. — Tim Ferriss

If you don’t know the gentleman, he wrote these books: The 4-Hour Work Week, Five Minute Journal, Tools of Titans (source of this article), Tribe of Mentors, 4-Hour Chef, 4-Hour Body, etc.

To learn and implement from the most accomplished people in life is part of my 30-day challenge to build healthy, productive, and sustainable habits. I have completed 17+ 30-day challenges, including Tim’s, this year.

List of 30-Day Challenges You Can Start Today

Pick anyone to change your lifestyle!

medium.com

If you apply step-by-step Tim’s routine, you will definitely see results in one or all of the following four ways.

i) productivity increased

ii) healthy habit of drinking tea

iii) energy boosted, pretty much all-day

iv) The most important, focus improved (my mission was to increase focus and get a couple of things done first thing in the morning)

How to follow any routine, and, most importantly, why 30-day challenges?

The 30-day challenges are really powerful. Instead of achieving the massive goal, I try to break it into tiny parts, usually 30-day challenges. If I don’t like the challenge in 30 days, there is a high probability I won’t do it in the long run.

I use the productivity tool Notion (it’s free) to organize my life. If you don’t like to use the Notion tool, I highly recommend creating an excel sheet.

You can take a print to put on the wall or simply use it online. Here is a complete article to get more insights — my list of 30-day challenges.

What Tim’s morning ritual can do to your body and mind?

Boost your energy level
Improve your focus
Boost your productivity
Make you feel better/accomplished day by day.

Here is Tim’s morning ritual step-by-step

I customized the routine (a little bit) according to my plan, as he did not consume lemon water first thing in the morning; I added lukewarm lemon water.

Here we go. (Just read these steps once; I oversimplified the steps for the sake of learning.

Wake up one hour earlier than screen time (computer work), and I mean absolutely no screen for one hour in the morning.
Drink a tall glass of water (I customized it a bit and added fresh lemon)
Make tea; Tim Ferriss likes this tea; I’m sure it’s available at every corner store. I ordered over Amazon, but it’s pretty fast delivery in my area.
Sit down with a cup of tea, a pen, and paper.
Write 3–5 things that are making you the most uncomfortable.
Here is the powerful question, for each item (step#5), ask yourself if this is the only thing I accomplished today.

a. Would I be happy if I only accomplished this task today?

b. Will this priority make all the other to-dos unimportant or easier to tackle later?

c. Anecdote: I used the “a” and “b” all the time in my full-time job, especially the b on prioritizing work.

7. Now, just look at the ONE item you selected in the previous step.

8. Block out 2–3 hours to work on that particular task! That’s it

a. Here is a bit hack I implemented to boost focus. I used this physical timer like the kitchen timer or the Pomodoro method. I started to work in 25 minutes intervals followed by 5 minutes break. My attention span has increased. Therefore, I use 51 minutes timer followed by 10 minutes break.

9. I literally turned off my phone and absolutely no social media, even before trying this new morning routine by Tim.

10. Tim says, after all, we are humans; therefore if you get distracted, don’t freak out — just gently come back to your ONE to-do thing.

a. Hack — when I get distracted, I do anyone of them based on how much time I have.

Go for a long walk.
Or Take nap
Do meditation to refocus
20 squats or pushups on the spot
Stretching (if you can choose just one and don’t have enough time, I highly recommend this merely 12-minute stretching exercise)

key takeaways (summary)

The routine lowered my stress, and it’s obvious that you will be a bit relaxed when you are done with the most challenging task of the day.
I never had this tea (Pu-erh black tea). Maybe its the tea or my long walks that helped to boost my energy level
I highly recommend trying this routine if you are unfocused, procrastinating, and feel less intentional.

Conclusion

What we fear doing most is usually what we need to do. — Tim Ferriss

If you keep looking for a miracle to change your life or mornings, it’s not going to happen. There is a possibility Tim’s morning routine would not work for you.

All you have to do is take the first step!

Seth Godin ( a great blogger) always says to believe in the process and not be result-oriented. Efforts are way more important than results. You may not get the desired results, but I am sure you will be in a way better mental state than never trying.

I simply wanted to improve my focus and am always knowledge hungry to learn more from highly accomplished people like Tim Ferris.

Article source: Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris

Recommendation: I highly recommend reading these books by Tim (Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors); there are many practical tips to boost your life from highly accomplished people.

Keep optimizing your life to live your fullest.

Thank you for reading; follow me, and clap a couple of times.

To get access to unlimited stories, you can also consider signing up to become a Medium member for just $5. If you sign up using my link, I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you). Thank you a million times!

This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of the affiliate links, the writer may receive a small commission.

Join Medium with my referral link - Sufyan Maan, M.Eng

Read every story from Sufyan (and thousands of other writers on Medium). Your membership fee directly supports Sufyan…

sufyanmaan.medium.com