The ancient Greek philosophers would ask, what makes a wise person wise?
There is no concrete, objective answer to that question. All we can do is find someone who is wise or healthy or successful and ask them questions. What are you doing to stay in such great shape? How did you lose weight and get shredded? How did you build a successful company? How have you found purpose and inner peace?
People want to know the secrets to a better world.
While I do not have all the answers, and I am always learning, it is great to share with other people the habits and tips we have picked up over the years that we have found extremely helpful in improving our health and well-being.
As a Libertarian, I find it crucial to be healthy and disciplined.
I won’t go into my weekends, because they can be capricious and not bound to any routine, but I've developed a solid work week Monday –Friday that I follow quite consistently.
Here is a day in the life of one Libertarian:
Wake up at 5:30 am
I like to get up early. I don’t have to, but I do it anyway because I’ve found that all the old timers were on to something. A certain serenity can only be found in the early morning hours when the sun starts coming up. The morning is my favorite time. Nothing beats those first 4 hours of waking life. If someone is curious about getting healthy or becoming successful, one of the first things I advise is going to bed early and getting up early. It sounds simple and cliche but it is incredibly effective.
Make Tea & Prepare Food for The Day (5:45 am - 6:30 am)
The first thing I do as consciousness begins to fully develop is turn on the tea kettle in my kitchen. I will drink herbal tea throughout the day using the hot water from the Keurig, but my first cup must be scalding hot. You may not want it that hot if you are making black or green tea, but for herbal tea it is essential. The hot temperature infuses the herbs with the tea. While my tea is steeping, I will prepare food for the day. As someone who practices intermittent fasting, I eat two meals per day. During the week I only consume whole foods both raw and cooked. I try to incorporate novel foods each week and alternate what I eat to promote maximum gut health.
Reading & Journaling (6:30 am - 7:10 am)
While my 2nd cup of tea is almost finished steeping, I like to spend a little time putting the week into perspective with some pre-workout reading and journaling. It is just as important to exercise the mind as it is to punish the body at the gym. I start by writing in my journal. The only thing that I journal is what I am grateful for. I do not plan anything, do not think about work, and do not think to worry about anything. It is just a time that I get to press pause on life and decompress. It only takes me 10 minutes or so to write a few things down to record the gratitude I feel. Even in dark times, it is always important to be grateful. After that, I dig into reading a bit. I like to read history, science, philosophy, transgressive fiction, and business. My annual minimum is 30 books.
Meditation (7:10am - 7:30 am)
Stress is a son-of-a-bitch. I have learned over the years that meditation is something that has to be part of your life like brushing your teeth or eating. It is enjoyable and cathartic, but it is also a skill that needs constant honing. During the workweek, I like to practice two distinct types of meditation. One is focusing entirely on recalibration. I will do diaphragmatic breathing exercises and simply block everything out except for the sound and movement of breathing deeply. It removes you from the fight-or-flight instinct and lets you get out of the way while your body heals itself. The second type I like to do is mind and body isolation. I focus on specific areas of the body that are tense or are in pain for some reason. Giving each stress or pain its own time helps a great deal.
Walk the Dog (7:30 am - 7:50 am)
Walking, while not quite aerobically effective, is great for the soul. It is good for dogs, and it is good for us, too. Everybody wins. I try to get out a few times a day to break up the monotony of designing and writing all day, but my early morning walk is mandatory. I need to get as much sunlight as possible for genuine vitamin d. Being outside is great and the walk allows me to warm up and stretch out before I hit the gym.
Lift Weights at the Gym (8:00 am - 9:30 am)
There is a trifecta of health that is needed for optimal success. Picture a tripod, if one of the legs is broken, it will fall. Eating healthy, meditation, and exercising complete the tripod. Some people choose to do one or two of those, but seldom all 3 consistently. It can be difficult to maintain, but if you’re able, it will yield the best results. Cardio is my least favorite, but I love lifting weights. My regimen is for 5 days alternating muscle groups with a longer recovery on the weekends. After lifting, I will do a 20-minute cardio session, either in endurance or high-intensity intervals. Sometimes even if I am having an awesome weekend, I can’t wait to get back to the gym on Mondays.
Breakfast & Emails (10:00 am)
When I get back from the gym, my workday begins. While most gurus recommend not doing anything while you eat and focusing intently on the activity, which is sound advice, I am old school. I will sit at my desk and have breakfast while going through piles of emails. It is a ritual I have become accustomed to that I cannot say has any negative side effects. If I am eating slowly and calmly, it’s all good. I always try to avoid eating hurriedly as it is one of the leading causes of digestion problems. I never check emails or worry about work before breakfast. From 5:30 am to 10:00 am must be stress-free and peaceful.
Work for 6-8 Hours
Some entrepreneurs strive to work as few hours as possible with the maximum results, which is perfectly fine. If you can get things done in a shorter amount of time and optimize your returns, that is fantastic. All the workforce in the world should move toward greater efficiency and fewer working hours. The 4-day workweek is a splendid notion. People should have time to enjoy life. I love working, and I do not mind putting in longer hours if I have completed the rest of my daily tasks.
Dinner (Usually around 5:00 pm)
When my wife and I were looking to buy our first house, our realtor was showing us some listings. One of those salt-of-the-earth good ol’ boys, no-nonsense old-timer. He walked us through the kitchen and gestured to my wife about how nice it was. I said, “Nah, man, that’s my jam”. He kind of looked at me funny but it was all good. I love cooking. I’m deeply inspired by world-class chefs and how they can turn ordinary foods into masterpieces. It is indeed a form of art and science that I find to be therapeutic. Cooking my meals helped me break my fast-food addiction years ago and I have never looked back. It is worth the investment.
Nightly Entertainment (6:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Of course, it cannot be all about work and fitness. We also need time to socialize and to cut loose. Each night I like to find something entertaining to do. Sometimes my wife and I will just sit in our chairs like Edith and Archie Bunker and watch something on-demand, other times we will go out. Trivia nights, bingo, dog parks, shopping at the mall, back-alley boxing matches, whatever we feel like. A little window each day to do something fun helps me wind down.
Read & Meditation (9:00 pm - 10:00 pm)
I like to save an hour before bed each night to get back into reading and meditating. Some nights I will meditate longer, other nights reading dominates. No use of phones or television, just a room all to myself to prepare the mind for death’s half-brother: sleep. It is good to decompress at night as well as in the morning. When people are having trouble sleeping at night, I will often suggest reading. It is the best natural sleep aid available.
7 Hours of Sleep
Following the circadian rhythm is something I am profoundly grateful for. Spending 7 years in my 20s working a labor job on the night shift, isolated from the world and my loved ones, I was unhealthy and miserable. We must do what we must do sometimes, and it will build character in the end, but when I finally got the opportunity to get on a good schedule, I took it. Going to bed early during the week is critical for optimal health. The body knows that it is supposed to follow an internal schedule where we sleep at night and are awake during the day. Adhering to that primal system is imperative for me. I always aim to get 7 hours of sleep per night.
I hope that sharing some of these insights into the daily life of a libertarian can help others. We all have different situations. Kids, family, jobs, relationships - it can all be stressful.
There is no perfect schedule for any one person to follow. The purpose of sharing this information is to inspire others to organize and de-clutter their lives, get healthy, and live as optimally as possible.
We always have to tweak things but developing some standard best practices in our lives will help us immensely.
For more ways to improve your health, check out: Cycle Between Cuts and Bulks for Optimal Physique.
