Background: This is my own version of a daily self-renewal morning routine, mainly inspired by The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book by Stephen Covey. I’ve subsequently found similar routines, but with different activities, in the 20-20-20 formula / victory hour within the 5am Club by Robin Sharma and the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. This is possibly iteration 7.0 of such a routine, and my most sophisticated iteration so far, since experimenting with the first unsophisticated and experimental (but tremendously effective) iteration in October 2021; with subsequent off and on periods since then.
Context: Ideally I wake up at 6am and start this by 6.30am. This allows me to complete the hour on weekdays before getting ready for work. On weekends the start time is the same but the end time is flexible depending on how extensively I want to dive into some of the activities.
Status: As of Wednesday 30 September 2026, I’ve maintained a 6am wake up time and completed some variant of the morning Daily Private Victory practice, for 75 days consecutively.
Activities:
| Daily Private Victory practice activities and category | Monday to Thursday (c.1 hour) | Friday (c.1 hour) | Saturday and Sunday (c.2-4 hours) | Bare minimum fallback [*] (< 10-15 mins) |
| Journaling (Mind) | – Mind dump on paper journal | Same as Monday to Thursday | – Mind dump on paper journal Optional additions: – Dissecting specific important events or activities from the week – Breaking down anything in detail that is preoccupying my mind more than it should | – Mind dump on paper journal (c.2-5 mins) |
| Reading (Mind) | – Reading non-fiction book (pre-screened and pre-inspected) | – Reading Economist articles (ideally completing The World This Week section plus starting on Leaders section) | – Reading Economist articles (completing Leaders section, Briefing section and Business section over the weekend) – Reading non-fiction book (pre-screened and pre-inspected) Optional additions: – Screening or inspecting new non-fiction books that I haven’t read before (link to screening / inspection process) | – Skipped |
| Movement (Body) | – Essential lower back rehab / prehab exercises (prescribed by physio) – Rotating additional exercises based on 6 day routine of upper, lower and core movements; using bodyweight, kettlebells and bands | Same as Monday to Thursday | Same as Monday to Thursday | – Quick lower back stretches (c. 2 mins) |
| Planning (Mind) | – Adding, reviewing or organising top priorities for the day in calendar (as all day events) – Checking the calendar for the day (events, time blocks and time containers) | Same as Monday to Thursday | – Adding, reviewing or organising top priorities for the day in calendar (as all day events) – Checking the calendar for the day (events, time blocks and time containers) Optional additions: – Reviewing or editing action plans for goals or obligations – Reviewing organising systems (ie master task list) – Reviewing calendar entries for the next 6-12 weeks and adding big rocks where relevant – Carrying out planning for the upcoming week – Carrying out planning for the upcoming month, quarter, half year or year | – Skipped |
| Alignment (Spirit / Mind) | – Reading personal mission statement – Reviewing medium term vision end point | Same as Monday to Thursday | – Reading personal mission statement – Reviewing medium term vision end point Optional additions: – Reviewing list of guiding principles – Reviewing other vision statements | – Skipped |
| Stillness (Spirit) | – 5 mins of meditation on Calm app | Same as Monday to Thursday | – 5 mins to 30 mins of meditation on Calm app | – 1 min to 2 mins of meditation on Calm app |
[*] the bare minimum fallback starts with journaling because the journal contains the logging of the start and end of each activity and a very brief list of what I did for each activity for looking back in the future; used for days when I’m sick or have an important appointment or deadline – the idea is to minimise this as much as possible
