The case against morning yoga, daily routines, and endless meetings

This makes a point against the "CEO morning routine" kind of approach, but from my point of view, it is not that different from that perspective on life. It still talks about "proactively moving towards #1 or top 25%", "be so good they can't ignore you", "10x work", "something extraordinary" etc.

Take that direction if that's what makes you tick. I've decided that that's not how I want to live my life, quit a 'prestigious' position, left the competitive career, and I now work as a teacher with "10x personal satisfaction".

What's funny is I've never been a routine guy but I've fallen into becoming one.

I run 6 times a week because I feel significantly better when I am running every day. The reward for me is so significant that getting myself running requires 0 mental effort or preparation. I live in a very hot and humid climate, if I run even at 8 am it's so hot it's uncomfortable. Because of this I'm waking up and running at around 6:30 am.

I also fall asleep at 11 pm like clockwork. Not because I have a schedule but because I'm so tired I have to sleep then.

I commit code to github almost every single day. I actually really just enjoy programming.

I should become a hustle culture influencer

the "CEO Grindset" or "daily routine" stuff I see on Youtube and Medium has always struck me as a sort of peacocking for a certain level of the office crowd.

I once worked a construction equipment maintenance job. Basically we'd roll out of bed at 5 am, climb into a big truck, and drive out to wherever someone called us to fix everything from dump trucks to excavators. I cant remember a consistent day, ever. Some mornings its pouring rain and breakfast is a slim jim from the truck stop. Other days youre driving so much it hardly feels like anything is getting done. I started making lunch about calorie counts instead of time of day, and eventually got to just taking a couple of cliff bars for lunch tucked into my overalls. I guess coffee was consistent. we filled four thermoses at the truck stop and that used to cost us about $20. after we fixed the air hose in the parking lot we got all our coffee free. i digress. I didnt have a routine, no "stoic virtue" stuff. the only thing i did religiously was the vehicle check in the morning.

People who obsess over a pattern or "grindset" in life rarely do the work necessary to fulfill the ethic of that said routine. They miss the forest for the trees. Theres way more meaning and reward to being adaptable and resilient than there is in worshipping a pattern or coddling a routine.

Without strong routines and habits my life would be a mess and I would still be working at McDonalds. With ADHD I need routines and habits to not fall into the abyss. Maybe it works for some people, but not me.

E: also I used all those habits and routines to achieve my own goals and run a business for a decade.

The author lost me when he started talking about "10x work."

I don't need to be more productive. I accomplish plenty in both my work life and my real life. If anything, I need to accomplish fewer things and spend more time living in the moment.

This is silly. You do the routine stuff so that when the "10x" opportunities come, you are fit to execute on them. It's like saying pro athletes shouldn't spend all that boring time in the gym - just score some points! Maybe the author is trying to point out that it's easy to think that the routine stuff is the ultimate point, which is fair, but I fear (young) people will read this and think (as I used to) that all they have to do is go with the flow and be naturally brilliant.

I'm a routine guy, so I'm biased, but I find myself agreeing with the values in this post, while feeling that a routing enables those values. For example,

> This is why I’m so positive on sending outbound emails to interesting people, hosting dinners and events that bring together smart folks...

I find that I'm much better at this kind of proactive outreach when I have routines that push me towards this.

The non-routine approach tends to break down when you need to collaborate IME (though many companies are successfully asynchronous).

There are several conflated ideas in conflict here. First lets be clear and define 10x work as work on something very impactful, say a business idea, an important piece of art, or a scientific breakthrough. My model here could be Richard Feynman for example. If you 'stumble' on one of these ideas (e.g. after potentially years of routine, hard work training you to have a) the skills required to act on it and b) the knowledge to notice it) the by all means, drop the routine and let the excitement take you. Any project such as this will have such a phase. Note however that the routine 'grind' (hate that word) was required to get there, and at some point, the proof of concept will be done, and the routine will be required again to keep it going and get it fully out into the world.

I used to hate routine by my kids showed me how necessary it is. Maintenance is essential to life. Routines get the maintenance done, and free up your brain to have ideas and energy for the hard work. An observation: Where I work there is a Nobel laureate who takes walks at almost the same time every day (past my window). I would think he knows about '10x work', and also about the utility of routine.

The only case I see is against "10x" and overachievement in general. My morning yoga routine keeps me in shape and healthy. It's very pedestrian, I don't try to improve much, but it works. Maybe people should learn to relax a little and think about what's really important.

From the article:

  Our careers are defined by the highest moments of its biggest upside swings.

The "highest moment of biggest upside swing" can be likened to winning a jack pot. A not solid career or life advice.

In my opinion, our careers are defined by the "area under curve" of achievements.

Bruce Lee gradually became a megastar by exercising and learning, gradually, not by hitting someone's head in a convoluted flying rotating high knee kick that is not repeatable at all.

The little daily things add up, not doing exercise can significantly impact not only your weight / insulin levels, exercise is to release endorphins for the day to help make better decisions and live a happier life. Daily routines of the .05x stack up. That's the point. 1% better a day in any given area of life is still better than 0. Who cares about the 10x, why is that even a factor? Just be a good human and contribute the most you can, when you can.

For what it's worth, the most productive people I know seem to do basically no planning, but respond to almost everything immediately in the moment. Replying to emails as soon as they see them, making a phone call to have the conversation right now, etc.

By focusing on speed, they are able to accomplish a very large amount and never let a backlog build up. In some ways this feels closely aligned with the author's point. But these people are also spending a lot of time on what the author would call "1x" work (replying to emails, etc).

This also depends on the kind of work you do. If you’re an influencer/contractor/consultant/executive, I can maybe see what he’s talking about it but if you’re a skilled IC or creative… Imagine telling Lebron James what’s really holding him back is his routines.

Sound like the writer didn't like routines and created the logic backwards from there. There are many things in life that are low impact on their own, but have a cumulative effect. Yeah yoga in the morning isn't 10X... I guess the only option is to be a chump or go straight to max dosage of anabolic steroids.

Unfortunately the article mixes the ends with the means.

The key trait that seems to stand out in the most highly regarded people in history is discipline: there is no "10x work" without hard, long term focus, which requires discipline.

"Routines" have the advantage of making that discipline easier. Does it mean they are sufficient? No, and this is where the article is right. Does it mean they are useless? No, it's just one way of achieving the level of discipline needed to do the "10x work" that the article focuses on.

Hindsight fallacy here, though the author sort of acknowledges the issue:

> "Imagine the thousands of tasks you did in the past year and sort them by impact. How many of them actually moved the needle?"

If you instead try to predict the impact factor or long-term result of a given task/activity in advance, how good would your predictions be?

> "However, I’m convinced that you can create an environment where 10x work is more likely to come up."

This sounds like the gambler's fallacy of retrospective determinism, which involves looking at historical data and seeing patterns, leading to the erroneous conclusion that these patterns dictate future outcomes. It ignores the inherent randomness and independence of certain events.

The argument for daily routines is that they keep you involved and engaged, so that if an opportunity does randomly arise, you're ready to run with it.

10x work is code for doing the fun stuff and ignoring the grunt work. For every person focused on 10x there are a half-dozen cleaning up all the not-fun work they choose to ignore. Fun 10x work is the stuff that has 10x positive impacts, but ignores all the grunt work that has 100x negative impacts when not done properly. Finding a way to shoehorn the word "AI" into your next product launch: Fun. Talking to Microsoft legal department about the implications of using AI in your product: not fun. Selecting new color swatches for product lines: fun. Sorting out labor contracts to avoid a strike: not fun, but monumentally more important. (See recent Westjet strike and resulting travel disruptions over a long weekend.)

One way or another, you will have a routine. We are creatures of habit. It can either work for you or against you.

This seems mostly a diatribe against chasing "productivity" in disguise, with anti-routine as the clickbait hook, bait-and-switch. Habits are powerful in part because they allow you to reduce overhead. If your auto-pilot routine is to doomscroll, why would this be less stressful than a yoga session?

> The question is how to create the most opportunities at achieving that, not how to execute perfect little habits.

Say, wouldn't it be nice if there was some tool we could leverage to do that?

Yoga and meditation isn't about advancing your career.

> Our careers are defined by the highest moments of its biggest upside swings.

The author makes this logical attempt to "refute the paradigm of fitter, happier, more productive routines as the secret to success" but starts with this completely subjective premise which is kind of hidden in this word salad sentence.

"Success" by other definitions can be greatly enhanced by routine and regularity. If I define my career by the time I have available to myself while making enough money the a routine helps tremendously. I can focus and get things done so I can stop working. That's success!

There's no "one size fits all" solution. Some folks work best when they highly structure their time, some folks with less or almost no structure. Experiment and find what works best for you.

Personally, I find it best to block out some time for things I want to get done and things I must get done. Those are my daily routines. :) Everything else, I fit in on the fly.

this was excellent https://youtu.be/TA5gYCCuYWs

Cal Newport tells stories about some amazing people in the past that we think of today as A+ players and very productive. But by today's standards, they would be considered loafers!

I always felt morning routines were a bit ridiculous, but the thing is if you have a regular job to you go to, you kind of automatically end up with a routine and it's easy to take that for granted, and on top of that there are so many external forces that ensure you keep working that choices don't matter very much.

It's a stark contrast when you're self-employed and there are zero things to provide structure to your days unless you them there yourself. It's a life circumstance that provides you with a lot more agency, and just how you structure the day can have a fairly tangible impact on not only your productivity, but also your physical and mental well-being

>Yet we routinely see people who are 100x or 1000x more productive than others

No, no we don't. And no, you don't either.

Are you conflating productivity with wealth? I routinely observe people 100x or 1000x wealthier.

I think routine enables or facilitates feedback and control.

If I do the same exercise routine for example, it’s easier for me to detect changes in my body (positive or negative) and react to them.

> a grinder might work 100 hours/week versus a mere 30 hours for an oaf.

I suspect many oafs do a lot less effective work than that during a week.

Source: have been such an oaf after a period of burnout

I felt like I would agree with this article more than I did.

I'm definitely one of those people who has fallen into the slump of do a bunch of the same things every day, rinse, and repeat, largely driven by the requests of others. I do despise it, but at the same time, I wish I worked some more routine into my day so I can make more progress on the things that matter to me. But largely I feel burnt out from the routine of others that is imposed upon me, and it causes an almost visceral reaction to adding more planned time to my day.

But I think where I really didn't connect was the framing. The "productivity" thing, as if my goal in life should be to maximize output. The author frames routine as a robotic state, but I'd argue productivity maximization is an even more robotic trait.

It's really okay to have some hours in your day where you both don't have a routine and don't "accomplish" anything.

Right. As usual, YMMV. Routines are an absolute necessity to stay grounded for those of us who are naturally unhinged enough to be unable to snap out of their 100x streaks. But, sadly, cargo cult is a thing. When people see 100x performance, they associate it with whatever outbound behaviors of the high performer. Alas, it’s usually a coping mechanism, not the source of prosperity.

One advantage of having a fixed routine, especially for thinks like your daily yoga practice, is that without a fixed ring-fenced slot other things will inevitably push it out of the way. “Today is a special situation, I just really need to do this thing … etc.” In my personal experience that leads to your practice (or whatever it is you want to do for yourself) becoming sporadic.

The cashier at the supermarket doesn't do life changing "move the needle", 10x heroics. Yet they need to get shit done.

Most of us need to get shit done so we keep getting out paycheck and not get fired. Routine is pretty much the only way to survive the chore long term. Push it to subconscious and don't think about it anymore.

>Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

Top25% is nowhere even close to being very good

Structure is meant to be broken. But the breaking of structure only works if you have it.

I struggle to have a good routine but spontaneity happens more often when I do.

If I go to the gym at 5:30 and do chores at 7 and go to work at 8 and eat lunch at noon and read at 6 and eat dinner at 7 and work on personal projects at 8 and go to bed at 10:30 then if something comes up I can say "I have an hour at lunch, lets meet" Or "I will skip my personal projects today and go to so and so's house"

If I'm just constantly chaotic then I'm always feeling harried and like I don't have time for anything. And even if I do make time for something spontaneous, then I'm feeling like I'm stealing time from myself even though I didn't really have anything planned during that time anyways.

Also 10x work is a silly idea to me. Progress happens in almost all areas because of consistency. Research, fitness, home life, relationships, work. They grow or produce or increase because you do them regularly not because you had some magical insight and suddenly need to disappear into a hole for a week to work on it.

His section on breaking routine feels like it completely misses the point.

"Serendipity loves randomness and hates routine"

There's also a saying that luck favors the prepared.

Rarely have a read a piece that is mostly well-written that resonates so poorly with me. It's like every insight he has is the opposite of my lived experience.

For me, routines are used to provide a strong stable foundation so i can take on new, unexpected, unfamiliar things on a daily basis, and stay resilient and mentally healthy. It is a means and not an end

Yeah! Embrace serendipity! Flip a coin to decide whether to take your antipyschotic today!

On a more serious note, I've found that routines are necessary for me to be happy. Once I've established a routine, I can break it, but if I don't have a routine, I'll usually just do nothing. I sense that the author is coming from the opposite perspective. He's probably a very conscientious and energetic striver and is trying to break free from that.

You often don't know which work was "10x" except in retrospect, so this advice is a little like recommending people only invest in the stocks that are going to go up.

Another way to put this is "live in the moment."

It takes a lifetime to learn to do that. Some people are lucky enough to be naturally that way.

“It is not the strength, but the duration, of great sentiments that makes great men.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

I am much better at identifying 10x work when I'm in a good daily routine. YMMV.

Robots do not need discipline or yoga/meditation training.

counterpoint: routines that help you be consistent over time benefit from long-term compounding which will eventually 10x whatever-is-important-to-you