When self-care mornings backfire

Your morning routine is broken.

Not because you're doing it wrong. But because you're doing what someone else told you works for them. I tried all the guru stuff. The ice baths, the 5 a.m. productivity sprints, the meditation marathons. Some of it worked. Most of it didn't.

I spent years punishing myself with morning routines that looked perfect on paper but made my life worse.

Then I asked myself one simple question that changed everything. It's not about what you should do. It's about what serves the life you're actually trying to build.

Featured Story

I wasn't always a morning person.

When I started in radio at 18, I'd stand in the shower thinking about how long I could keep getting up at 4 a.m. Later in my career, I'd hit my desk by 5 a.m., pounding through my to-do list like my life depended on it. But I was miserable.

Then I swung the other way. Spent a couple years doing the personal development morning. Reading, meditating, taking care of myself before heading to the gym. I got in better shape. My bank account shrank. My future goals felt unreachable.

One day I got frustrated and asked myself one question. That question put everything in perspective. It wasn't about productivity or personal care. It was about something bigger.

Important Points

Traditional morning routines fall into two camps: personal development or productivity, but neither one serves everyone all the time.

The magic isn't in following someone else's perfect morning formula but in asking what serves the life you're designing.

Flexibility beats rigidity when your routine adapts to what matters most that day instead of following the same order forever.

Memorable Quotes

"Stand your butt up. Just stand up and then take a step in the direction you want to go and just keep going until you get it."

"Everything works to some level, but does it work for you?"

"What's the first thing I should do tomorrow morning that if I do, will allow me to live the life that I design?"

Scott's Three-Step Approach

Ask yourself the night before what one thing tomorrow morning will serve the life you're designing, not what's on your to-do list.

Build flexibility into your routine so some days it's work, some days it's wind therapy on a motorcycle, some days it's grandkids.

Stop punishing yourself with morning rituals that look perfect but make your life worse in the ways that actually matter.

Chapter Notes

1:02 - Your habits are your life, choose wisely

1:33 - Andrew Huberman and why ice baths are stupid

2:24 - Two morning groups and the satisfying third option

3:18 - Confessions of a guy who hated mornings

4:34 - Little fairies running through my fingers at 5am

5:21 - The one question that changed everything for me

6:42 - My actual morning routine without the BS

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