Shawn: Hey BioTrust Nation, this is Shawn Wells and I’m back with Tim Skwiat, my amazingly smart and good-looking partner in crime. Hey Tim.

Tim: Hello Shawn, hello BioTrust Nation.

Shawn: Yeah, and we’re here to do a list. I think you’ll find this one fun. 7 Things Happy, Healthy People Do Every Morning. So, people love lists. People love being happy. People are being healthy, people have morning routines. So, we’re going to dive into the top morning habits of successful people.

Tim: Love it.

Shawn: This is like the combination of everything good. And this is written by Marc Chernoff, and it’s from Marc and Angel Hack Life website. So we’ll have a link to that in the show notes and we’ll have a full transcription of the show, and links to any products, citations, videos, or anything we mentioned will be in there, including the top morning habits of successful people. So if you want to check the show notes at BioTrustRadio.com, you can.

But there’s a quote here. It says, “When you get up in the morning, think of what priceless privilege it is to be alive, to breathe, to think, to learn, to love, and then make the day count.” I like that.

Tim: That’s awesome. What a great attitude to embrace the day. And I like how you talked before about the morning, like there’s just a sense of hope. There’s a sense of that newness to the day and just kind of wiping the slate clean, so to speak, and that’s why I think these morning routines are so important and so relevant is just because it’s opportunity. It just awaits. And to start the day off the right way and really helps you own the day, win the day, get the most out of the day. That’s why these morning habits of successful people are so important. But it does start with attitude. It starts with conscious effort. We’re in control of our day.

And I think that’s probably a big thing for most people. The morning time or that first part of the day is they have the greatest control over their day before the chaos sets in. And so, while you still have control over your day, make the most out of it.

Shawn: Yeah it can get away from you. You talked about that one Navy Admiral, right? That the most important morning habits of successful people is making your bed.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And that’s how he triggers the start of his day is making his bed.

Tim: Exactly.

Shawn: Again, it starts with scheduling and therefore control, like you were saying, and conscious thought about accomplishment. And that just is like a series of dominoes. Like your day can get away from you like dominoes and your day can go the right way and you can feel accomplished like dominoes. It just depends on which way you want to go with it.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: It can just be pure chaos, if you just let it be. But if you say consciously, “Okay, I’m going to get up at X time. I’m going to take some time to stretch. I’m going to take some time to do some deep breathing exercises, do some gratitude work, maybe in a journal. Do some meditation. And then I’m going to go exercise at the gym. And I’ll have a protein shake and then do my hot and cold shower, and then go to work.”

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: Then okay, like that’s the first two hours your day, let’s say, and you seem pretty regimented, you seem pretty accomplished. You’ve accomplished a really good workout, you’ve had something that nourishes you mentally and physically, you’ve set aside time and you’ve scheduled things. I mean, it really feels like you’re planning your day and you’re knocking it down, and you’re doing it well. And that literally can happen in the first few hours of your day. Like it does set the tone, set the pace for your entire day. So just something to think about.

Tim: Yeah, just building up some momentum, right?

Shawn: Exactly.

Tim: Yeah. Just to kind of add to that too, Shawn, is that that you’re the morning habits of successful people probably start the night before. Because I can already see like other parents being like my alarm goes off and it’s go-go-go, getting the kids ready for school. Well, maybe if you went to bed an hour earlier, you could schedule that hour for yourself in the morning before the chaos sets in. So, my point there is that getting yourself into bed at a respectable time allows you to get the sleep you need so that maybe you can get up a little bit earlier before your day is out of your control, so to speak.

Shawn: Yeah, I think that we talked about this before, too, that humans are the only animals that force themselves to stay up when they’re tired.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And it’s because we’re saying we need to be up until this time. We’re watching a show or movie or sport event and we’ve got to stay up late and watch this. It’s so important. Is it that important? No. We’re in the day and age when you can record it.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: Chances are, more than 50% of the time if you record something you won’t go back and even watch it. And you thought like, “I need to see the end of this,” or whatever, “and then I can go to bed.” Well, that’s a really good test right there. If it’s sitting in your DVR, I guess, and it just sits there for weeks, then it probably wasn’t that important for you to stay up and watch.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: So that said, let’s get into the list. Number one on the list of morning habits of successful people, They wake up with a sense of gratitude. “In other words, they start the day with love in their hearts and their minds and they’re truly appreciative of their life, and all its priceless idiosyncrasies. They practice small acts of gratitude in the morning by expressing thankfulness directly to the people they care about and to the immediate circumstances: health, opportunities, etc. They could so easily take for granted.”

I 1000% agree with this. I love that this is first on the list of morning habits of successful people because gratitude is everything. I’ll tell you what, the phenomenon of dreading your birthday’s makes me so angry. And it sounds cliché when people are like, “Well, it’s better to be like another year older than the alternative.” I agree. That’s true and it sounds cliché, but it is so true. There’s so many people. You look in the obituaries and more than half those people aren’t dying of old age. They’re dying in car crashes, from diseases, dying shortly after birth.

There’s so many situations where life is just so fragile and we just, we do, we take it for granted. And we take it for granted that the people we care about will be around us as well. And life is fragile, and we should have so much gratitude. Even for when people complain about the mundane in their life. Man, like at least you’re living. Yes, there’s some mundane things you might have to get through, but at the same time, you’re going to see your child in the evening, you’re going to see your wife, you’re going to go play volleyball or [chuckles] go workout or whatever, and there are things that you certainly look forward to in the day. There are things that enrich your life. And the alternative really is that those things aren’t even there. And you should be so thankful that they’re there. And if you are just—I’ve said this before too—if you’re even listening to this podcast, chances are you should be very thankful.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: You’re not in some third-world country, you’re not in some sex slavery scenario, you’re not deaf, you’re not super-hungry or in some war-torn area. You’re doing pretty well. If you’re listening to this podcast, you probably have a computer or a phone. You have a decent job, most likely. You have food in your stomach, you’re educated, and you’re healthy, for the most part. I mean, I don’t know everyone’s health per se, but I mean the chances are you’re doing pretty well if you’re listening to this podcast.

And I’d like everyone to think about right now what they’re thankful for. And you’re welcome to even pause this episode right now and think about that and maybe come up with a list. And I would say get yourself a gratitude journal and start getting into this practice. I’ve talked about this before, too, that there was a guy that was on Tim Ferriss and he did that experiment that was an Old Testament biblical experiment, where he was ceaselessly thanking God for all the things that went right. And he said some of the stuff he had to do in the Old Testament was a little crazy about beards and certain clothes and all this and that, but he said that was the most profound one. He wasn’t even Christian or Jewish, or anything. I think he was actually just fully non‑religious. But he said that was a powerful one is that so many things, so many things go right in the day and we focus on the one out of a hundred. But the fact that the elevator’s working, your car is working, you have food, you have your friends around you, you have your health, you have a working phone. You can call people in an emergency if something goes wrong.

I mean, there’s so many things like “wow” like we should be thankful for. You know, you get in your car in a hot day and you got air conditioning. I mean, there’s so many things that are really a blessing, that we just take for granted and say that’s the way it is. You know, you get frustrated when you can’t go to the place you wanted to go for lunch at or someone cuts you off in traffic, and it’s like is that really a big deal? Is it really in the big scheme of things? I mean so many things that you have in your life that are good, start making a list of them, start focusing on them, start putting your thought there. It’s the glass half full versus half empty. Be the half-full person and your life will feel fuller.

Tim: Yeah, absolutely, Shawn. I mean, we talk so much about mindset on this show and how everything comes back to mindset. If you want to switch that mindset from that negative self-doubt, self-criticism, just overall negativity, to being positive, focus on the haves not to have-nots. Start with one thing, one person. Kill two birds with one stone and give someone a call just out of the blue, or write a handwritten thank-you note to thank them for something very specific. It makes a tremendous difference in their life, but it also gives you that fulfillment of gratitude and really shines that beacon of positive light into your own world. Kind of building on one of the things we were talking about there, I think we suffer as a society from a lot of entitlement, and that also feeds into the have-nots kind of thing. They have a nice little quote here it says, “The more you count your blessings, the more blessings there will be to count, and the happier you’ll be,” and I think that’s a perfect way to sum that up.

Shawn: That’s a great way to say it. Yeah, a phenomenal point. It’s so it’s so foundational, I think, for us. This is where I think mindset truly happens. If you start from a place of gratitude, then you’re starting from a place of success. When you’re thankful for all the things that you have that’s good in your life, then you realize you’re successful. Therefore success begets success and you’re not trying to achieve success, you already are successful.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: You already have so many good things. Now you’re just trying to get those one or two things or get better at these few things. But 99% of your life is already amazing.

Tim: Absolutely.

Shawn: Stop complaining about it.

Tim: And that Law of Attraction really sets in. Not just the universe throwing stuff at you, but people. I mean, no one is really attracted to that person who’s a cynic and just constantly negative and just, like you said, just not grateful. But people that are grateful attract, like they’re saying, more blessings, but also better people in their lives.

Shawn: Yeah, yeah. Totally agree, Tim. And you’re an embodiment of that. They begin anew, is number two on the list of morning habits of successful people. And this kind of goes hand-in-hand with like, I mean we’ve talked about this over and over, is that the morning is so pivotal. We said this at the intro of the show like how important your morning is, that it sets the pace for the day. That it’s everything starts anew. Like they’re saying that it’s a fresh start. It’s that fresh start, and it really sets the tone. So, they begin anew.

It says here, “They know it’s a brand new day to start over and do something different. Yesterday may have been a complete bummer for them, but today is a new day for learning success and adventure.” I like adventure because it keeps it fun.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: “Realize this: Live now. Not before, not later, just now, in the moment you’re in.”

Tim: That’s awesome. I’m going to just continue to read because this next series of sentences really stuck out to me. It says, “Inhabit your morning completely. Do not rent it out to the past. Do not let your history interfere with your destiny. Let today be the day you stop being a victim of yesterday’s circumstances and start taking action toward the life you want.”

I think that was really salient to me because like that entitlement, that feeling like a victim thing, I see it in myself sometimes and I know that I’m not alone. And it just doesn’t help at all. It doesn’t really attract the right people around you. It doesn’t really help you get further towards the goal-line, like we’ve talked about. But embracing that mindset, that this is this is the day, this is the day it’s going to happen, is the first step towards it happening. It doesn’t just magically happen because you have this great attitude, but it puts you in the position to make things happen.

Shawn: Yeah, there’s one more sentence here, “Break free from the poisonous victim mentality and embrace the truth of your greatness.” Whoa. Yeah, that’s really well‑written. Props to these guys. I like the “poisonous victim mentality.” So true. And that really is that skeptic, that glass half-empty kind of mentality that we’re talking about that is poisonous. Meaning it not only spreads throughout your day, throughout your life, but it sends ripples into other people’s lives. And you’re just manifesting horribleness in your life by not having the right attitude and gratitude. So, for sure.

And they mentioned. “Read The Book of Awakening,” which I have not read. I mean given the way this is written and the fact that they recommend that, I might check that out.

Tim: So, we’ll link to that in the show notes, for sure.

Shawn: So the next one, number three on the list of morning habits of successful people, They use self-inquiry, meaning asking questions of themselves, to affirm a purposeful start to the day. “Steve Jobs’ morning routine used to start by looking in the mirror and asking if today were the last day of my life—and this is pretty profound because, as most people know, Steve Jobs died of cancer—if today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today.” That’s profound. And Benjamin Franklin asked himself each morning, “What good shall I do today?”

“I challenge you to come up with questions that keep you on track and push you to live a purposeful life. Here are three questions I often ask myself: what would I like to remember about today?” That’s a good way to kind of forcefully set your tone is like what kind of memory will be left from what you do. “How will I sincerely honor my own desires and truth today?” That’s all about integrity, which I love. That’s profound in and of itself, so that’s well done, too. “What can I do to make a positive difference in the lives around me today?” So, that’s very similar to what Benjamin Franklin wrote about what good shall I do today, but I like the little edition about “in the lives around me,” making you more cognizant of, again, that effect, that impact, the ripples you have on the people around you that we aren’t an island and that we do greatly affect the lives of the people around us, for the better or for the worse.

So, we decide. We decide whether we’re going to have a positive impact on people around us today or a negative one. And it’s not just necessarily going out of your way to have a negative impact. It’s just your attitude sometimes. When your head’s down and you think like it’s just about you, when you’re selfish and you’re negative, you’re still impacting people greatly around you.

Tim: Right, absolutely. I mean, we give off energy, negative or positive, right? And I think that last question really resonated with me because it’s a good reminder to me. I want to be a great person today. I want to live with integrity. I want to lift others up around me. Because it’s selfish, to be honest with you, that feels good to me. My drive to try to be a great person is very selfish, and I’ll admit that. But it makes me feel good, but the benefit is that others feel better about themselves and have a better day as well.

The golden rule. I grew up Catholic. The golden rule always resonates with “Do unto others as you would want to be done unto yourself.” You know, you have to go into that knowing that not everyone is on the same page as you, necessarily. So, invest your time wisely in others. But just being a good person and leaving that mark. I said lifting others up and leaving them better off than how you found them is a really important thing.

Shawn: I feel like there’s a lot of times people have—I don’t know what the non-golden rule would be [chuckles] like the dirty rule, the blackened rule, [Tim laughs] would be like do unto others before they can do it unto you.

Tim: [laughs] Yeah.

Shawn: [laughs] You know, it’s that kind of mentality, unfortunately. But yes, I totally agree with making the difference in lives around you with the golden rule. It’s so important. Man, like it’s the whole pay it forward phenomenon. You may think it’s hippie and it’s woo-woo and all that stuff to say “pay it forward” or set that positive energy rolling, but man, you can literally watch it move through a room. Like in my favorite book The Four Agreements, he talks about being black magic. You can watch like a comedian make a whole room laugh and light up and cry, and feel certain things. The same way, you think you don’t have that effect just like a comedian or a movie or like some of these things. You do. You really do. Like when you’re at work like that pissed off, skeptical, sarcastic attitude that you’re throwing out there, it’s just eating up anything positive from happening around you.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: You are literally manifesting what you want. You’re saying I want negative, so bring it. And you’re going to get it, by the heaps.

Tim: Yeah. Exactly.

Shawn: So, be mindful of that. I think there’s a bumper sticker or something like that that says a paraphrase, “Don’t be a jerk.” It uses a different word than “jerk.” But you know, man, it’s really that simple sometimes. Like why do you have to be like that? Can’t you just be cool? Can’t you just be nice to people?

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And you’ll find like even with the like “fake it till you make it” thing, that when you do it, even if you’re not completely in that mode, it’s amazing. You’ll still get positive back and you’re still building in a positive direction. You’re still moving down the field, like we were talking about.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: Instead of going that wrong direction by throwing out negative energy, and certainly getting plenty of it back. So, number four on the list of morning habits of successful people, They read something positive, and this makes sense. I mean, that’s what we’re here to do for you. So I think if you’re listening to BioTrust Radio podcasts, it’s not reading per se. You can look at our transcriptions on BioTrustRadio.com. [laughs] That sounds like a commercial. [laughs] But read something positive and/or listen to something positive, and that’s great. Like I’ve told, you like on my Facebook, I set up my first 15 to be all motivational quotes from people like Tom Bilyeu, Goalcast, and stuff like that. And then I also have science‑related articles. It doesn’t matter what area of science, I love the “we found something new” thing. So, like on Mars they found water and it could mean new life and CRISPR gene editing research, or whatever it is. And this is like what’s in my Facebook. Most people are like, “My Facebook’s full of political stuff and religion, and I get upset.” Well, change it. [chuckles].

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And now when I go to mine, I find it very enjoyable, and it’s things I get excited to learn. And then I pass on those articles and say like, “Hey, here’s a really cool thing that I found that there’s some monkey that’s in Africa that has a second tail and …” I don’t know what it is, but it’s something that’s fascinating. Or they found some ancient life that they thought has been gone for tens of thousands of years, and they were wrong. And I love that stuff. Anyway, read something positive, and like I said, I not only include kind of new and interesting news, because a lot of news is just negative.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: And if it is political, and it is murders and rapes, and all this stuff, that can just weigh you down. That’s why I love learning science news. I mean, yes, I’m a scientist, but I enjoy just finding out new things. And I feel like that stimulates the brain in a positive way, in a creative way as well. But like I said, the other thing I have in my feed is inspiration, and I think that’s so important, again, for mindset and gratitude. And then sometimes giving yourself that little push you need. You could get over that hump of how am I going to make today a great day? How am I going to accomplish something that other people around me say is too hard for me, or that I don’t have the abilities to do? And just a little inspiration in your day and it’s funny how much you can accomplish. It’s all mindset, like we always talk about.

Tim: Yeah, absolutely. The other idea of reading something positive is just it to kind of be that external ray of sunshine to help maybe shift that mindset, if you’re not naturally like that morning person who just wakes up on the right side of the bed. But some people might read scripture or something like that, but just some something to kind of get help building.

Shawn: How about creating positive content?

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: I feel like we try and do with this show, but you can write articles, you can do a blog, you can do a podcast, you can just talk to people.

Tim: Yeah, I was going to say talking to people.

Shawn: Storytelling and just connecting with people, and just tell positive things and talk about positive things that have happened in your life. And listen to people and give them positive perspective on their problems, and just be the good person.

So, number five on the list of the morning habits of successful people, They follow an effective morning routine. This is one of the huge morning habits of successful people. We keep talking about how important the morning is, starting your day anew and all these kinds of things, starting with trying to control your day before it gets out of hand in a chaotic way. That’s why, I think I’ve talked about this, that Tim Ferriss essentially boiled down the two things that successful people have in common. They have some type of meditation, prayer, gratitude journaling, or something in the morning, typically, or last thing at night. And then they do have a morning routine. Those are the two morning habits of successful people that are really in common. So that’s how important it is, too. And really, both of those things can tie together with the morning.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: So, that’s how profound the morning is and why these morning habits of successful people are so important. You can judge a lot by someone’s first hour of the day. If you tell me what someone did in the first hour of the day, I can probably tell you what type of person they are, how successful they are, how in control of their life they feel, whether they’re depressed or not, just how their life is going. And really, as your life goes, your health goes; mental and then physical. So, I could tell you a lot just by that first hour, I bet, of the day.

Tim: Yeah. I mean, if you’re organized in that morning routine and you’re doing these morning habits of successful people, chances are you’re going to be more organized throughout the day. And like we talked about, this word “momentum,” this this idea of moving down the field, moving down the hill. This is the way to get things started. This is the way to get things moving and really build up your confidence and your attitude, and your mindset.

One thing that that Marc mentioned in this article that I thought was really profound was “Make as many decisions the night before as you can, so you don’t have to waste your decision-making prowess and power that morning.” So, some things like what do you eat for breakfast, if you eat breakfast? Can you get your coffee ready, so all you have to do is push the button in the morning?

Shawn: There are some machines that will do that automatically, but you have to preload it.

Tim: Yeah, exactly. You know, and have your outfit picked out, so you’re not wasting time on that, and things like that.

Shawn: Well, and it also empowers you. I know like one of the popular ones that I’ve heard about is to give yourself less excuses in the morning. Like when you say like, “I’m going to skip out on the gym. I feel a little tired.” If your bag’s already packed, you got your shoes set out, and everything is just sitting there, that’s like one less thing that you’re like, “Well, okay.” You literally don’t have to, like you were saying, make the decision and spend time focusing on it. But two, you’re looking at it, it’s tangibly there, and you’re like it’s looking back at you and you’re like, “All right, let me go to the gym.”

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And so there’s just less excuses. So I like that, too. You know, morning routine and these morning habits of successful people are just massive. And literally, I would say look into some morning routines and think about things like stretching, meditation, deep breathing, doing some of those games like Lumosity or Elevate, doing some morning reading. I wouldn’t focus on anything too negative, and I don’t really like watching TV first thing in the morning. I think TV, especially with news, is too sensational. I prefer getting the news by reading it, where you can kind of control your emotionality, and it’s not as sensationalistic. Yes, there’s clickbait, but I feel like it’s not as assaulting to the senses. Like honestly, news is just as bad as reality TV and some of these things that are just so bombastic and sensational because they literally are trying to incite your emotions, most of the time, in a way that it’s just not similar to me when you’re reading something. So, those are some things I would recommend to start your day.

Tim: Can I butt in there? Jump on in.

Shawn: Yeah.

Tim: So, three things, [chuckles] if I could offer some suggestions for morning routines. One would be hydrate. Make sure you get some water.

Shawn: Love that.

Tim: And even maybe some electrolytes in there, even before you drink your coffee. You’ve been going a long time without water, and even if you’re not waking up drenched wet, you have been losing fluid during the nighttime. Two, sunshine. Get out and get some sunshine; ten minutes, preferably, or more, just to help set circadian rhythm. And along those same lines, that you talked about stretching, but getting some movement would also be important. Not to be intense exercise. In fact, some people might say that may be better for later in the day. But just getting some movement to help set circadian rhythm and help clear out some of the cobwebs and get things going.

Shawn: That’s great. That’s awesome. I totally agree with that. Thank you, Tim. That was true, so hopefully everyone can do those things. They’re not too hard to do. And it doesn’t have to be, like Tim was saying, like you hitting the gym for an hour. I mean, I do that, but it’s always like don’t make excuses. You don’t have to start with the most incredible morning routine ever. Just start.

Tim: Right. One thing, yeah.

Shawn: Just start where you’re at. Just do one thing instead of trying to jump into all these morning habits of successful people. Just do some stretching or just do a 10‑minute walk. That not too much to ask. Like you can go to sleep 10 minutes earlier and get up 10 minutes earlier, right? I mean to do some deep breathing and stretching or to take a little walk with your dog, or whatever it is, and get some air and some sun and start your day with a little movement. And that’s not too much. Or taking 10 minutes to do a gratitude journal and plan out some major things for your day that you want to also get done. I mean, is that too much, like if you do that last thing before you go to bed or first thing in the morning? I mean, ultimately these things aren’t too hard to do, and it’s just knock down one at a time. Just knock down one at a time, and then expand. From there you can make it more complex, you can take it up another level. But just commit to something that you can commit to and that you can stay with consistently. Make it a lifestyle choice, not like a decision in the moment.

So, the next one on this list of morning habits of successful people. This is interesting with Tim being a nutritionist and me being a dietician and sport nutritionist. They give themselves enough time to eat a wholesome breakfast. “You can’t possibly have a happy, healthy day if you feed your body garbage first thing in the morning, period. Your body is a temple. You are what you eat, so do not eat processed food, fast food, or all the filth the big processed food companies try and pass off as healthy.”

I agree. There’s a lot of granola bars that are just filled with honey and whatever, like really crap grains. There’s just so many of these breakfast foods that are essentially sugar.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: And ultra-processed, where it’s just like they’re saying. I mean, they’re basically recommending that you eat some whole food, paleo type way that makes sense. Just get back to eating whole food. And I would add the caveat, if you’re someone that likes to fast and it’s for breakfast, that’s okay. They’re just saying don’t eat garbage.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: Which is important, I think. If you’re someone that has been having like a coke in the morning or Starbucks that’s filled with sugar, and you’re having Monsters, or you’re having croissants and danishes, and all these things that are supposedly breakfast foods. You’re just loading up on sugar and stimulants, and you’re going to be in this spiral the whole day of exhausted and stimulated, and exhausted and stimulating, and exhausted and stimulated. And it’s just not a good place to be. So that’s certainly not what happy, healthy people do every morning.

Tim: Yeah, exactly, Shawn. So, the old the old phrase or question is, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” in the sense. Do you have to eat breakfast? Not necessarily. But what you choose to eat for breakfast is extremely important. Like you said, if you make the traditional breakfast choice of highly refined grains with a ton of added sugar on top, you’re going to ride that rollercoaster of glycemic variability into the morning, and then on to the rest of the day where you’re hangry, you’re tired, you’re irritable, and all that kind of stuff. You can’t focus. So, if you’re going to eat, choose something that helps level out your blood sugar levels and keeps you satisfied for a while. So probably, like you said, more of a paleo-ish or keto-ish type of breakfast.

Shawn: Yeah, there’s data on that, too, that you brought up keto. Or at least high protein. There’s some studies where high protein and then other studies that say high fat, but certainly the commonality here is, I would say, low-carb, especially low sugar first thing in the morning. You don’t have the low carb, per se, but there is data showing high protein or high fat breakfasts keep you fuller longer, happier, satiated. So, that’s just something to think about that, especially with high glycemic carbohydrates, you can ride that roller coaster that Tim was talking about.

Number seven on the list of morning habits of successful people, They move on gracefully to what’s most important, “As human beings, we are goal-oriented. We like making progress. When we accomplish one of our goals, we smile about it. That’s why the happiest people I know are also some of the most successful people I know.”

Tim: That next sentence, too, Shawn. It says, “And success is not something you have; it’s something you DO.”

Shawn: Boom! That’s really good.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: I totally agree with that. Meaning it’s a choice and it’s an active choice versus just this thing that like look if I get to this dollar amount or if I get in this neighborhood, if I get this car, if I get this suit, if I get this watch, then I am successful. It’s not so. It’s not so. It’s basically they’re saying success is something you win day-in and day-out. It’s a choice you make. It’s something you chase after. And success, I mean, I would say most people think success revolves around money or some kind of status, but I would argue that when he says that the happiest people he knows are some of the most successful people he knows, that I would say that happiness is success.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: Like is a Buddhist monk that is completely fulfilled, that loves his life, has like a simple clear mind, knows his purpose, is he not successful? What is the point of success? The point of success, to me, was to chase happiness. That’s why if you’re in this place where even if you’re making $1 million, $10 million a year and you’re depressed? You’re not successful. People will tell you you’re successful because you have money, but you’re not successful.

And we’ve talked about this, Chester Bennington who committed suicide from Linkin Park, or Chris Cornell from Soundgarden, or Anthony Bourdain, more recently. Some of these people that seem like they have it all. They have fans, they’re traveling, they have money, they have everything, right? It’s wrong. Like they don’t have success, apparently. Because success is happiness. So that’s what I would chase. That’s the mark I would use for success. And he says it’s something you do versus something you have, well that’s true. You don’t just have happiness. You chase happiness, you actively choose happiness, you create happiness for yourself and those around you. Therefore, when you do that proactively, then you’re creating success for yourself and for others.

Tim: Absolutely. And we talked about it in an episode earlier, I think was number three. We talked about it in the episode where we talked about you, personally, and then we talked about it in a productivity episode. It’s about purpose. It’s about knowing purpose.

Shawn: Your why.

Tim: And understanding your why, and chasing that. That’s where success is. That’s where the happiness is. So, and we talked about prioritizing within this like, moving on to what’s most important. Having a clear set of priorities that aligns with your purpose, that aligns with your vision, that aligns with the most important things to you in your life. That’s where you step to next as part of your morning routine and this list of morning habits of successful people. You don’t start chasing the fires or just do whatever comes up. Have a clear idea of what that next step is. Mark it off your list and then move on with your day.

Shawn: That’s it. Man, so that was all seven. Let’s see, afterthoughts. “Angel and I have our alarm set to the song Happy by Pharrell Williams. For us, it’s impossible to not smile when this song plays. This, combined with the other rituals above, set the tone for a productive, happy, and healthy day.” I like that. I am a huge music person. That’s another one to be cognizant of.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: It’s kind of like you, again, are setting the tone. If you have a lot of angry stuff and kind of negative stuff, and shooting and killing, and using people and abusing people, and all this kind of stuff like in the lyrics, I mean, it does have an impact on you. So, I like the idea of consciously choosing something, like this Happy song, that really makes you feel that way. And when you sing the words, you’re thinking happy thoughts.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: I mean, it’s hard to not, right? If I can ask you, I could probably go through 10 songs right now, and whoever’s listening, you probably could tell me a lot of the lyrics. So don’t tell me that these songs don’t have an impact on you, when you know the lyrics.

Tim: Right.

Shawn: You know the lyrics right off the top of your head. You can start humming that song and you can pop off some lyrics to me. So, if those words are rolling around in your head and you can repeat them and you can remember them and you can pull them back up, then what are you putting in your head? So, man, like just thinking consciously about each thing you do in the morning sets the tone for the whole day. Even down to the song that you play to wake you up.

Tim: Yeah.

Shawn: Yeah, just be conscious. Be conscious of how you treat yourself and how you treat the people around you. And that’s how I think you can be happier and healthier.

Tim: Amen to that, brother. Hope you guys enjoyed this list of morning habits of successful people.

Shawn: [laughs] Yeah, so hopefully you feel like we’ve treated you well and we’ve given you some food for thought, and you appreciate what we’re trying to do here on BioTrust Radio. You can check BioTrustRadio.com. You can share with your friends, you can rate us on iTunes or Stitcher. You can listen to us, not only on BioTrustRadio.com, where all the transcripts, links, and citations, and cool stuff are, but you can also listen to us on Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iTunes, and now Spotify, which is really cool. So, we’re spreading, which is cool. And we have you to thank for that. So, thank you again for listening, and we look forward to talking with you on the next show. Thanks a lot.

Tim: Thanks guys. Take care.