Several months ago
I came across the 5 a.m. podcast
and my eyes just lit up
because for someone who has started their day at 5 a.m. for nearly the past decade
I wanted to hear all about the 5 a.m. podcast and Jeff Sanders
so I am really excited to have Mr. Jeff Sanders
the author the host of the 5 a.m. miracle joining me today
we're going to be talking about mornings
how we can get the most out of our mornings
and the benefits to our productivity
the benefits to the rest of our day by waking up bright and early
so Jeff thank you so much for joining me
well thank you Scott decide to be here today
so tell me a little bit about yourself Jeff
tell me a bit about your story
and how did you get into helping others be more productive
it's a great
Jeffs story
Question
and whole thing kind of happened by accident for me
I was working a day job about probably 6 years ago or so
and I had my full-time job
I was building a side business
which is what I do now with my podcast and blogging and all the other things I do
but I also had a marathon to train for
and so with a nine-to-five job side business marathon training my life was just crazy busy
a lot to get done which is like most people
we all have busy lives
but I was trying to figure out how do I fit these pieces of the puzzle together to make everything fit
and the only answer I could come up with was to wake up earlier
to go for my morning run
and then that would become my new system to get to my day
at that point I was not an early riser
this was kind of like a foreign concept
it sounded like torture
but yet I realized that this is the only way that I can squeeze everything in
so I got up early one morning
went for a run
and just fell in love immediately
like not only I loved running
but I realized there's something magical happening early in the morning during sunrise
like there's something that is better that's happening there that I was not experiencing
and so I continued to wake up early to train for my race
and then over the course of the next few months I finished the race
but I still wanted to get up early
and I wanted to use that time for other projects
and so it became just this habit of mine to wake up and utilize those morning hours for something that was important to me
and then once I started to do that to blog about it
talk to my email my followers about it
I realized there's a podcast here
there's something that I could share on a bigger scale
about these simple concepts of waking up early
being productive
having healthy habits in your day
you know just simple concepts
but ones that have a really dramatic effect on how much you get done every day
fantastic
you know I have a very similar story of myself when I first got into running
again find the time
where do I find the time
and whether it's running whether it's a new passion
it can be very difficult to find that time
in fact when I first started running
and similar to you started training for a half marathon and then a full marathon
I had two young kids at the time
and no joke for about a two-year period
they didn't even know that dad was a runner
because I was waking up so early
well I had I had finished my run
I had taken off my sneakers
I had showered for the day
and I think one morning my four-year-old son said
dad you you like to jog
I mean this was two and a half years after training that most mornings or many mornings early in the morning
so so fantastic stuff
so you know when it comes to waking up early
I find that there's a lot of people who would like to do it right
a lot of people would like to wake up earlier
it may have been a New Year's resolution
and maybe something that they wanted to pursue
what do you find are some of the biggest coals that stand in people's way from making that jump or making that adjustment
I think most people wake it
Mental shift
Up early
is it's a mental shift
right
we all have these like simple habits that we've over time has become the way we live
and so we come to believe that the way we live now is the only way we can live
and I think that you know my story is a simple example of I was not an early riser
and then I became one
and so there was something that happened to make that possible
and I have found that the simplest thing to do
is to find something that you really want to do with those early morning hours
right
the last thing I want them to do is to you know watch a video of some guy who has a podcast and be like this guy said I should get up early so I'm going to do it
right
that's never going to stick
and maybe one day it will
but long-term the motivation
the reason to get up won't be there
and so like I begin what my story was to wake up early to go for a run to make sure I time for that thing I was passionate about
and so for most people that's the key thing
you find that thing that you want to do
and all of a sudden it's not difficult to go to bed a little earlier
to wake up a little bit earlier
to use your time a little differently
and all sudden those obstacles
those excuses you've made for yourself don't really apply anymore
because now you're looking forward to doing something that you've not been able to do up to that point
so for me it's very simple
you find that thing you want to do
and they just you build the time in for it
and ideally that time will be earlier in the day
where now you can have that focus time to get those things done
so you're saying waking up early to binge watch Netflix probably isn't a motivator for a lot of people
or wake up early to aimlessly surf via the internet probably is not going to get a stick
find something valuable
find something that means something to you
that's going to be your motivator in the morning
yeah
Search the internet aimlessly
Totally
an exact point about waking up to come you know search the internet aimlessly
I've had people tell me that's what they did
and they email me like why can't I be more productive you know at 5:30 in the morning
I'm like well what do you actually do at that time
and are those activities motivating of themselves
like do they cause you to think like I actually would love to be out of bed to do this
if you're not like legitimately excited about what that thing is
like it's not a good fit
you know obviously we really spend too many hours of our lives watching you know Netflix or surfing the web
and there's plenty of time to do that in the evening if you want
but ideally your morning hours are used for those most effective highly productive activities
so speaking about the evening
or speaking about the night before
and let's say someone wants to make that shift or make that adjustment
do you have a particular routine that you follow
or do you have some things that you suggest to people that they do the night before so they can set themselves up for a great morning
that's
Do the night before
A great question
because really an ideal morning begins the night before
and so for me the key thing is an evening boundary
so for me personally that means 8:00 p.m.
and at 8:00 p.m. everything has to stop
that means there's no more television
there's no more computer
no more phone
all electronics have to be shut off
because otherwise I will keep working
I will keep watching TV
it will just continue right
and I'll end up going to bed at midnight instead of you know 9:30
and so then my next morning is torture instead of a lot of fun
and so I'm trying to make that next morning as easy and as fun as possible
so to do that I have to actually be in bed and asleep by a certain time
so for me it's usually 9:30 or 10:00
and so to make sure that I'm actually in bed and actually asleep
there has to be this very definite shift between doing things and then slowing things down to prepare for bed
and so for me yes 8:00 p.m. boundary works well to cut those things off
and then I can shift into you know take a shower
read a book
and then go to sleep
take the simple activities that don't require you know a lot of electronics or distractions or things that would hold me back
and then ideally during that time
I'm also making a simple to-do list for the next morning
so I can write down like at 5:00 a.m. tomorrow
I'm going to do these three things
as long as I know ahead of time what those are
I don't have the excuse to not do them
because the next day I get up
my workout clothes are set out
the book I want to read is right there
whatever I need is ready
so there's fewer boundaries or fewer obstacles to get over when I get to the next morning
you know I love that suggestion of spending some time with your to-do list the day before
which is going to be at least you know several hours before you actually get to that day
I think there's a real benefit of having that separation
it often gives us a bit of a higher-level view of tomorrow
as opposed to starting the day with the to-do list where you know you may just be a half hour from that next meeting or some other crisis that's going to fall on your plate
so I love that planning out your to-do list
getting your workout clothes
getting yourself set up for a great day in the morning
now I'm sure you've come across a number of people who maybe identify themselves as night owls
you know they stay up quite late
midnight or maybe well beyond into the early parts of the morning
and maybe they've done this for some time
what do you say to those who feel that maybe getting up earlier is overrated
or that you know they shouldn't consider making that change
what do you say to some of those individuals
well it's a great question
What are you doing with your time
Actually
I live in Nashville
in music city
so a lot of musicians have these very late nights
and it's kind of built into their career
so for those people
they have kind of just like a lifestyle that warrants itself to later
you know
later sleeping patterns
and so that's one side of the equation
as your actual lifestyle will say
I have to stay up late
the other side of the equation are people that have been using to do so for just whatever reason
and so regardless of which one you which you fall into
it's about intentionality
about choosing how your time is spent
so you could say
would you have a 5 a.m. wake-up call sounds like torture
I'm not going to do it
that's fine
but then the question is
what time will you commit to getting out of bed
and when you get up
what are you going to do
and it really can be that simple
you don't have to
you know
wake up when the Sun gets up to make your day effective
but you do have to know
when I get up
here's my plan to make my day effective
and so if you are a night owl and you want to stay that way
I'm totally fine with that
it's just my question of
but what are you doing with the time you have now
if you're staying up till 3 o'clock in the morning just to you know
do whatever it is you happen to be doing
it's like that's less appealing I think
than saying
I was up till 3
but I was doing these things
and tomorrow morning
this plan here might
you know
it's all laid out
ready to go
it's a very type A approach to all this
but like
I think that that allows you to say
I'm being intentional with my time
I know what I'm doing
there's a plan for it
there's a reason for it
I find that those people who have thought about it ahead of time
ultimately
I think they end up choosing to wake up earlier by default
because they see over time
that actually works better for their energy cycles
it works better for their focus
there's fewer distractions of other people
so it's really about self-awareness
and knowing what's best for you
and then when you know that
make the right choice from there
I think that's so true in terms of what you're engaged in later in the evening or in those final hours of your day
you know
if you happen to be an author
and you find yourself doing your very best work late at night
and you're writing many, many pages
well that's great
but I think
you know
there's a pretty large percentage of people who are staying up later and later
and they're not actually being that productive
right
they're not really engaged in activities that are pushing themselves forward or pushing their careers or helping their families
whatever it may be
it's often something a little less
so I love how you've touched on
you know
those motivating tools
and how
yeah
sometimes it's our lifestyles
or a new goal
whether it's a marathon
whether it's something else big
a big change in our lives
that may make that adjustment possible
now how about when it comes to technology or tools or applications
is there anything in particular that you use or possibly recommend that make mornings that much easier
well it's a great question
What tools do you use
that you're a big fan of Trello
I use a similar system called Nozbe at n o ZB e
it's basically glorified to-do lists
it's a task manager
and basically what it allows me to do is structure my day in a way that makes sense to me in a list format
so I for a long time I used calendars
now I kind of have this hybrid model between a calendar and a to-do list
or the to-do list kind of wins out
like it's the thing that tells me here's the order that I'm going to do my day
and here the things I'm going to work with
and I can shift those things around very easily
so Nozbe for me allows me to do that
there's a lot of applications that are similar to that
Asana is one of those
Todoist is one
it isn't the tool to me though
isn't the point
the point is that you find the system that allows you to work with your brain
and you can think
you see it
you think this is how I want to operate
this is the way that I like to position my day
and make the puzzle work right
because a lot of tools I'll utilize
and go this is not the way my brain thinks
this is not how I want to go about my day
and I find one that I like
it's like oh snap I got this
let's do this
and so you find that tool that works for you
you find the one that allows you to organize your time
and then you stick to that tool
this is the biggest thing I see people do all the time
they'll get a new app
they'll use it for two days
and they're like this tool sucks
like it doesn't though
because you didn't invest enough of your life into it to really get the value from it
and so what I found was what's best is you pick something that you think is a good possible tool for you to use
and then just dive in 100%
so when I you know onboard myself into Nozbe
I put every personal
every professional goal in my life
every task
everything was in there
and then I committed to it for at least 30 days
and said I'm going to give this thing a real legitimate shot
and 30 days later
like it was just part of my lifestyle
it was the thing I wanted to continue to use
because I understood the program
I knew how
I knew all of its you know features
I know how to use it well
and I had optimized that system for my life
and I think that's a really big missing piece with technology
is that we just want to go
download a
say it's a cool app
and then we delete it the next day
or we just forget about it
like you really gotta dive in and say this is my tool
this is the thing I'm gonna commit to
and when you do that
that's where the value really shows up
I think that's so true
it's so easy to download something new right
and there always is something new right
there's always going to be something new in the App Store
or the Google Play Store
there's certainly no shortage of productivity apps
and yeah you have to invest in it
you have to dedicate yourself to at least an appropriate trial period
before you can say I'm going to go on to the next thing
so Jeff I know you're known for the 5 a.m. miracle and the podcast
and being sort of the morning guy
but I know you also help people out in productivity
much more beyond just getting up early
so what is some of your best productivity tips for the rest of the day
what's sort of something that you recommend to most of your clients
when it comes to getting the most out of the rest of their day
not just their morning
it's a great question
I mean a
Focus blocks of time
lot of the same strategies that I use in the morning actually can be applied later in the day
as an example of that focus blocks of time
something I know you're a big fan of
I know that this is a thing that works wonders in my own life
which really just says I'm going to carve out a set of time where I am distraction-free
or I can guarantee that I will do one specific task until it's completed
or until the timer runs out
either way I have a block of time where I'm not gonna have a phone call
I'm not going to have a co-worker knocking on my door
I'm not going to have distractions that most of us just kind of unintentionally let into our lives on a constant basis
and so you have to really be intentional about this
to say I'm going to guarantee a certain block of time
usually for a very important task
or one that requires a lot of creativity
or one that requires a lot of thought
because those are the tough ones that need a distraction-free environment
and so when you have those built into your day
or what it's like you know
as soon as you get to the office by 9 o'clock you're on your first focus block
and then after lunch the next focus block
you can get those into your schedule on a routine
and then you can tell your co-workers like hey guys don't talk to me from 9:00 to 10:00 I'm not available
and they will listen
and hopefully they'll do the same thing with their own work
and the next thing you know the whole office culture
everybody is having their focus time
and that everybody is getting more stuff done
and so for me like that's a phenomenal way to say we're all going to get more done
because we're not going to distract each other
and try to do our best work
yeah there's something really powerful about being deliberate with your time
rather than just being dictated by the next email
or the next phone call
or something else that comes across your desk
no matter what your working situation
whether you are self-employed
or whether you work for a large organization
I mean you're in control right
it's your job
it's your life
it's your career
sometimes we need to start acting like it
so I love that
be deliberate
block out some time
block out your schedule for your most important work
well Jeff it's been absolutely fantastic having you here on simple tivity
where can people learn more about Jeff Sanders and the 5:00 a.m. miracle
well great question
thank you for the show today
I love the fact that it's a chance to be here and talk to you
Jeff Sanders dot com is the website
my podcast the 5 a.m. miracle is on iTunes
find my book the 5 a.m. miracle also on Amazon
so over the web just Google me you'll find me
fantastic Jeff
well thank you again for joining us today
and you know for the rest of the viewers here on simple tivity
whether you're watching this bright and early at 5 a.m.
or late in the evening
we hope that we've given you some food for thought
I know Jeff has given me some great ideas
how I'm going to maybe change
adjust some of my evening habits
so I can have even that much more of a powerful morning
and remember being productive does not need to be difficult
in fact it's very simple
