Three More High ROI Habits...That YOU Can Start Doing Today Ep 119

In a candid discussion, Alex shares his personal habits for maximizing productivity and maintaining a balanced lifestyle. He emphasizes the importance of reducing decision fatigue by wearing the same clothes and eating the same meals daily, which streamlines his morning routine and simplifies dietary choices. Alex also advocates for the significant benefits of getting ample sleep, aiming for nine hours per night to enhance mental clarity and overall happiness. He highlights the correlation between sleep, better decision-making, and improved well-being, suggesting that more sleep can be more beneficial than a higher income. Additionally, Alex touches on the importance of eliminating stressors, such as unnecessary apps on his phone, and systematizing daily life to focus energy on significant tasks. He concludes by encouraging listeners to adopt similar habits to optimize their lives and achieve their goals.

• Wearing the same outfit daily to avoid decision fatigue.
• The speaker has six identical gray shirts and blue sweatpants for winter, paired with red Tomics shoes.
• The choice of attire is based on comfort and ease, specifically shoes that don't require tying.
• This habit is about conserving mental energy for more important decisions.

"I actually wear the same thing every day. I change my shirts for content so that it looks different on the newsfeed, but I actually wear this pretty much every day. So it's a gray shirt. I've got, like, six of them. They're from Lulu." "It's just decision fatigue. So when I wake up in the morning, I'm not debating about what I'm going to wear. I just immediately put on the same thing, and then I can save as much juice as I can."

The quote explains the speaker's clothing habit and its purpose, which is to reduce the number of trivial choices made daily to preserve mental energy for more significant tasks.

• Consuming the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day to eliminate mealtime indecision.
• The speaker highlights the time and mental energy saved by not deliberating over meal choices.
• Consistent meals contribute to easier body composition management.
• The speaker suggests finding three enjoyable meals and sticking to them to simplify life.

"I eat the exact same thing every single day. So I eat the same breakfast, I eat the same lunch, and I eat the same dinner." "It's really just a question of how much, not what. So it just simplifies your life in that way."

This quote details the speaker's approach to eating and how it simplifies daily routines, focusing on portion control rather than meal variety, thus streamlining the process of maintaining body composition.

• Sleeping 9 hours every night as a non-negotiable habit.
• Emphasizing the rarity of oversleeping and the commonality of undersleeping.
• Citing research that supports the cognitive benefits of ample sleep.
• The speaker suggests that proper sleep enhances intelligence, problem-solving abilities, and emotional stability.
• Dr. Kashi's perspective is mentioned, stressing the importance of sleep over stimulants for combating exhaustion.

"Sleeping 9 hours every night. And so a lot of times, sometimes it's funny because Trevor, Dr. Kashi jokes about how people need somebody with a PhD and all these fancy things to tell them to do things that they should already probably do, which is like, yeah, you should probably don't eat like an asshole in his. Yeah. Like, people are like, I'm so exhausted, I'm using all these stimulants. He's like, have you tried sleeping?" "You are literally smarter when you have slept more."

The quote encapsulates the third habit's rationale, which is that sufficient sleep significantly improves mental faculties and overall performance. It also includes a humorous anecdote involving Dr. Kashi to reinforce the common neglect of this simple yet crucial habit.

• The speaker wakes up at 4:00 a.m. and finishes their day by 4:00 p.m.
• They use pre-workout supplements as a trigger to motivate themselves to go to the gym.
• Their workout session is from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• They have a consistent dinner routine, eating the same brand of pizza and ice cream with chocolate sprinkles every night.
• After dinner, they spend time watching Netflix with their partner, Layla, until 8:30 p.m.
• Despite common sleep hygiene advice, the speaker engages in screen time before bed without negative effects on their sleep.
• They prioritize going to sleep early, usually by 9:00 p.m., and wake up naturally without an alarm.
• The speaker emphasizes the importance of sufficient REM sleep, which occurs in cycles of approximately 80 to 90 minutes.
• They advocate for simple but effective strategies for productivity, such as reducing decision-making by wearing the same clothes and eating the same food.
• They label household items to minimize unnecessary thinking and use services like Instacart and Amazon's reorder buttons to streamline daily tasks.

"Alex wakes up at 04:00 a.m. It means Alex is working all the time. Not really. I finish my day at four so at 04:00 p.m. I'm done after four, I usually take 30 minutes to slowly sip on pre workout."

This quote explains the speaker's morning routine and how they use pre-workout as a psychological cue to ensure they exercise, despite not wanting to at times.

"And then after that, I eat the same exact brand, same exact digiorno pizza every single night. And I have a whole pint of caramel macchiato halo top. And I eat that every single night."

The speaker's dinner routine is mentioned here, highlighting consistency and simplicity in their diet, which may contribute to reducing decision fatigue.

"And then after that, leila and I watch one episode of whatever Netflix show we're watching at that point, and we're done at like 830."

This quote shows the speaker's relaxation routine and how they allocate time to unwind with their partner, Layla, as part of their daily schedule.

"And so when you go to sleep at nine, you've got 3 hours before midnight that you're asleep, and then you have another four, four and a half hours that you're asleep if you wake up at 430."

The speaker is discussing their sleep pattern and the importance of getting enough REM sleep within their schedule, which they believe contributes to their productivity.

"I think the biggest secret is to kind of piggyback on the last one that I made is, like, just got to go to sleep earlier for real."

Here, the speaker emphasizes the importance of going to bed early as a key to their success and productivity.

"And then I try and decrease all the decisions that I have to make during the day. So I wear the same thing, I eat the same thing."

The speaker explains how reducing daily decisions can help maintain mental energy and focus for more important tasks.

"Everything in my entire house is labeled. So every single light switch, I don't know if you can see it. There's little letters underneath of each one of those switches."

This quote demonstrates the speaker's meticulous approach to organization, which they believe helps them to conserve cognitive resources.

"We use instacart so we don't go grocery shopping. We have the buttons from Amazon, so if something runs out, we just hit the."

The use of services like Instacart and Amazon's reorder buttons is mentioned as a strategy to streamline routine tasks and avoid distractions.

• Adequate sleep is crucial for making better decisions and improving overall happiness.
• Being well-rested leads to smarter, wiser choices and a more positive presence in personal and professional settings.
• Sleep can have a compounding positive effect on a team and business performance.
• The simple act of getting more sleep might be more beneficial than complex strategies for culture and leadership improvement.

"80% of terrible hiring decisions are done because somebody's tired."

This quote emphasizes the significant impact that lack of sleep has on the quality of decision-making, particularly in the context of hiring.

"Maybe you just need to sleep an extra 90 minutes."

This quote suggests that a straightforward solution like additional sleep could lead to better personal and professional outcomes than more complicated interventions.

• There is a positive correlation between income and happiness up to a certain point, with people generally becoming happier as their income increases up to $70,000.
• Beyond the $70,000 threshold, there is no significant correlation between income levels and happiness.
• Money can help avoid pain and negative experiences, contributing to well-being.

"People who make $70,000 a year are happier than people who make $50,000 a year on average, overall."

This quote highlights the observed correlation between income and happiness at lower to moderate income levels.

"After that point, there's no real correlation between how much you make and how happy you are."

This quote indicates that beyond a certain income level, additional money does not equate to increased happiness.

• Adequate sleep can have a more substantial impact on subjective well-being than earning an additional $50,000 a year.
• Entrepreneurs often start businesses seeking happiness and fulfillment, which might be better achieved through sufficient sleep rather than solely focusing on financial success.
• Improved life quality can result from reduced stimulant use and increased sleep.

"Most people would be happier if they just slept 90 more minutes than if they made an extra $50,000 a year."

This quote underlines the significant impact that sleep has on well-being compared to the perceived benefits of higher income.

• The speaker's personal life improved with more sleep, leading to decreased reliance on stimulants.
• Stimulants may mask fatigue rather than enhance performance, making them less effective than rest.
• The speaker enjoys the routine of coffee but chooses decaf to avoid caffeine.

"My life improved when I slept more."

The speaker personally attests to the benefits of increased sleep on their overall quality of life.

"They mask fatigue more than they enhance, and so it just helps you operate in a shittier state better, rather than taking you from good to great."

This quote explains how stimulants can create a false sense of alertness without genuinely improving performance or well-being.

• The speakers adhere to a strict routine, including not making exceptions for social events like drinking.
• They avoid commitments that could disrupt their routine, such as tiring travel for speaking events.
• Routine is valued not for its own sake but because it reduces stress and reactivity in life.

"We do the same things every day, and we don't make exceptions for weekends."

This quote reflects the speakers' commitment to a consistent daily routine, regardless of the day of the week or special occasions.

"We don't take on speaking events if we feel like the travel is going to be tiresome because our routine is so important to us."

This quote demonstrates the prioritization of routine over potential professional opportunities when they conflict with personal well-being.

• Establishing rigidity in life can help focus mental power for decision-making.
• Comparing physical rigidity for power transmission in exercise to mental rigidity for decision-making.
• Importance of eliminating "micro drains" to maintain stability and focus.

You hold your breath so that you can be rigid, so that you can transmit power. And I feel like it's the same thing as, like, if we can make everything else in our lives rigid when we need to make decisions, we can output maximal power in one direction rather than being so unstable because we have all these micro drains that happen throughout the day.

The quote emphasizes the analogy between physical rigidity for strength in exercise and creating a similar mental rigidity to focus one's decision-making power by avoiding small distractions throughout the day.

• The speaker advocates for cutting off communications that cause anxiety.
• Emphasizes the importance of simplicity, such as wearing the same shirt or eating the same food daily to reduce decision fatigue.
• Systematizing life can lead to easier body recomposition and fitness management.

Do the same stuff every day, right? Like, if you have a shirt that always fits you, right, then just buy five of them and then don't think about anything else, right? Makes it easy. Eat the same stuff every day.

The quote suggests adopting a daily routine, like wearing the same type of shirt or eating the same food, to simplify life and reduce the number of decisions one has to make.

• Waking up without an alarm as a goal for better rest.
• Personal anecdote about feeling better after more sleep, implying its importance over other activities for well-being.
• Suggests that sleeping more can lead to happiness and better leadership.

Try and wake up every day without an alarm. That's the goal. And so for me, I do that by just going to bed early. And I don't really usually need much beyond seven and a half. Sometimes I need nine, and sometimes I'll sleep a whole nine... But that will literally make you happier, make you wiser, make you smarter than books will on the power of positive thinking.

This quote highlights the speaker's personal strategy for ensuring adequate sleep by going to bed early and how it contributes to happiness, wisdom, and intelligence.

• Advises to eliminate sources of irritation, especially from technology.
• Recommends labeling personal items to avoid wasting time and mental energy.
• Utilizing automation tools like Amazon buttons for routine purchases.

Take the mini dreams out of your life. So all the things that piss you off on your phone, don't put them on there... Label where you want to put your shirts, your dress shirts, all that stuff, so that you never have to think about. Like, put all those Amazon buttons.

The quote suggests removing small annoyances from daily life, such as unwanted apps or unorganized belongings, and using labeling and automation to streamline routine tasks.

• Life becomes automatic when mundane decisions are minimized.
• Allocating mental resources towards more significant tasks when daily life is systematized.
• The goal is to use one's "horsepower" for development and enjoyment rather than on trivial concerns.

And then after a while, life becomes automatic. And then you're basically running your human existence on autopilot so that you can use all of your horsepower to develop the big things, the fun things.

This quote encapsulates the overall message of the transcript, which is about making life automatic through routine and simplification, allowing one to focus on more important and fulfilling aspects of life.

• The speaker expresses appreciation for engagement and is open to creating more content based on audience interest.
• Encourages comments to gauge interest and provide direction for future content.

I always appreciate a, like, throw a comment if there's anything that you're curious about. I'm always happy to make more stuff in this direction if this is what you find interesting.

The quote invites the audience to engage with the content by commenting, which helps the speaker understand what topics are of interest and should be explored further.