For many years I had focused on making sure that I got "the minimum" accomplished each day. The concept was that by the end of the day, no matter what, I would get certain things done each day. That would help me feel better and ultimately make sure that I was putting my commitments and priorities first. The challenge with this idea is that often I find myself at the end of the day, tired, grumpy, and just going through the motions to do the bare minimum so that I can go to bed saying that my commitment was done. One day becomes two days becomes many days in a row of this same behavior, and then what I end up with is mediocre results.
Along the way I started to realize that the earlier in the day that I got my commitments done, the better I performed and also the more I enjoyed what I was doing. The general idea was that I could try my best to get things done as soon as I can. However, the demands of life and business would slowly creep into my early morning hours, and I would find myself right back into the same situation as before: 11:30 pm, doing pushups.
Ultimately what this means is that I have to compartmentalize the day and I have to treat certain time blocks as sacrosanct. The early morning hours, from 5 am to 9 am, are to be guarded by a vicious three-headed junkyard dog. Nothing is allowed in without express approval and going through my approval, and when I do approve that, I need to do so with a conscientious consideration that I am trading this meeting or appointment for what is the most important and precious to me.
The worst is overnight travel. I get scheduled for an early morning flight or something and have to be on the road at 5 am. Hard to keep your morning routines under that condition. This can be solved for, by the way, it is just not that convenient. I could take the afternoon flight the day before. However, I am always pressed for time and trying to cram things in which causes me to "borrow" from my early morning hours to accommodate flight and travel plans. This is a withdrawal with serious consequence, and it can be looked at no other way.
When you choose to interrupt your routine for another engagement, that is a choice, and it is important to know what that choice is costing you. When I get done from a few days of travel, I feel wiped out, and it takes me a few days to really recover. Always in retrospect, I realize that I should have just flown in the day before and left the day after. Reserve an entire day for travel. I know that sounds excessive, but is it? I pack in my days, overload myself, and borrow from myself and my family to accommodate other people’s requirements. The wrong party is bending here, yet I am always the one to bend.
If you decide that the time from 5 am to 9 am is absolutely off limits and you enforce that, then you have to make decisions accordingly. It may seem impossible now, but after a few months of enforcing this, people will accommodate. They will just stop asking. They will bend, you just have to force the issue. People always walk around the yard with the three-headed junkyard dog that is frothing at the mouth, and so they will also walk around the time that is important to you. You just have to make the choice to defend it. Which, by the way, if you have guarded and protected time, then use it for that purpose. Sending people emails at 6 am does not indicate that you are actually using that time for valuable personal things. It indicates that you are available.
So, as we navigate our days, perhaps the real invitation here is to consider what truly matters to us, and then, with a gentle but firm hand, carve out the space to honor those things. It’s not about rigid rules or perfect execution, but about a continuous, thoughtful dance with our priorities. When we consistently show up for what we’ve deemed essential, we’re not just checking off boxes; we’re building a life that feels genuinely aligned with our deepest intentions, one intentional morning at a time.
