Video summary
Arthur Brooks outlines an evidence-based morning routine designed to maximize both well-being and productivity, a dual goal essential for his creative profession which involves writing books, teaching, speaking, and hosting podcasts. He argues that winning "the first battle" of the day requires waking up before dawn, noting that rising when the sun is warm signifies losing focus immediately. While acknowledging individual chronotypes like being a night owl, Brooks emphasizes that these are largely environmental rather than genetic, suggesting everyone can train to be an early riser despite the natural urge to sleep in. He stresses using alarm clocks consistently and warns against letting perfect conditions become the enemy of good progress, especially when dealing with extreme daylight hours in places like Helsinki during summer. The core of his routine begins immediately upon waking with substantial physical activity outside without electronic devices. Brooks recommends walking for an hour before sunrise to achieve a sense of transcendence, which he believes wakes up the right hemisphere of the brain necessary for meaning and mysticism. For those who prefer lifting weights or working out in gyms like Lift ATX or Venice Beach, these activities can be integrated if done outdoors or at home, though Brooks personally utilizes his basement gym from 4:45 to 5:45 AM before attending daily Mass with his wife. He clarifies that the specific path—whether Catholicism, Vajrayana meditation, or other practices—is secondary; the primary objective is aligning the soul and body through transcendence to optimize brain chemistry for high performance. Nutritional strategy plays a critical role in sustaining this state of focus throughout the morning hours. Brooks avoids consuming calories until after his initial workout but takes specific supplements including 15 grams of creatine monohydrate, electrolytes, salt, and a multivitamin before engaging with caffeine. He explains that for the first ninety minutes of the day, the adrenal system is in charge rather than adenosine receptors, making early caffeine consumption counterproductive as it can lead to mid-afternoon slumps. Instead, he waits until after church or his morning walk to consume about 350 milligrams of caffeine from a single bullet, often brewed using hot water through charcoal briquettes for an Indonesian-style coffee that suits his palate. Following the physical and spiritual preparation, Brooks prioritizes protein intake immediately upon finishing his initial activities, aiming for between 60 and 70 grams in one large bolus consisting of whey protein mixed with unflavored fat-free Greek yogurt, berries, nuts, and additional protein powder. This high-protein breakfast is crucial not just for muscle synthesis but because the tryptophan found in dairy aids mood management while the amino acids support sustained dopamine production in the prefrontal cortex. He notes that this dietary protocol effectively extends his capacity for deep creative work by roughly 100%, allowing him to maintain four hours of focused attention equivalent to pharmaceutical interventions without relying on ADHD medication, ultimately achieving a state where he is both happier and more productive than if he followed standard routines.
Read the full video transcript
Take me through your if you were to
create an evidence-based morning
routine.
>> Yeah.
>> Maximizing well-being. What would it
look like?
>> So, I maximize both well-being and
productivity. So, this is really really
important because I have I'm in a
creative profession. I got to write,
think, speak, [snorts] teach. I got to
work every day on on having creative
output because I have a weekly column
and I write books and I have to give
talks, etc., etc.
>> Your output's terrifying.
>> And and it's uh and I have a podcast. I
mean it's like you and it's it takes a
lot of work in this whole thing. So I
need to be super productive and that
means my brain has to be optimized for
that and I want to alleviate high levels
of negative effect. So number one is the
Brahma Mahorta which is in Sanskrit
means the creator's time that has been
around for 6,000 years. And the whole
idea is if you get up before dawn you've
already won the day because that
actually gives you better concentration
better focus and better creativity. If
you get up when the sun is warm, you've
already lost the first battle. And now a
lot of people are like, "Yeah, my
chronotype. I'm a night owl." No, I used
to think I was a night owl tool, too. I
was actually just a musician who drank
too much.
Morning larks. [clears throat]
The chronotype is probably 60%
environmental and only about 40%
genetic. So, everybody can be a morning
lark. It's harder for some. I never get
up without an alarm clock. Ever. Ever.
Ever. Ever. And year after year after
year I still have to I would sleep in if
I could. But that's the first battle and
that's really a big swinger in in
improving your
>> negative. You've really started off with
a difficult one that especially if
you're in summer somewhere and you think
oh that's 4:30.
>> No. No. Of course if you're in Helsinki
in July you're not going to be able to
do it [laughter] because no sleep.
>> That's right. You got to get up. You got
to get up before you went to bed.
[laughter]
>> So I mean your results may vary. You got
to you got to figure out how to I mean
that you never make the perfect the
enemy of the good on this. The second
part of that is what you do first thing
and that's substantial physical
activity. Exercise is really important.
So a lot of guys will write to me
22-year-old guys graduate from college
feel aimless don't know what to do feel
really depressed living with mom
whatever. I say okay you don't have to
go to the gym and pick up heavy things
and do something insane like your
routine. I recommend getting up a half
hour before dawn and walking for an hour
without devices outside. Walk not on the
treadmill, outside, hear the crunch of
the gravel under your feet. No devices.
This will give you a sense of
transcendence. It will wake up the right
hemisphere of your brain, which is what
you need for a sense of meaning and
mysticism. Um, it it's important. I
mean, it's great to listen to modern
wisdom, but not during the walk, right?
And doing that while the sun comes up
has special benefits. Hubberman talks
about that an awful lot, but there's
it's very well studied that this is
really important.
>> Okay. So, combine these two for me. If
you're saying that it's great to pick up
heavy things and some people like to
pick up heavy things, but you're also
saying it's great to be out on a walk
outside like
>> those are incompatible unless you're
working out outside.
>> I know,
>> right? And and that's great if you can
actually do that if you've got an
outdoor gym because you know you're
>> Lift ATX. Shout out Lift ATX in Austin,
Texas.
>> Venice Beach, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. So
So and so you got to make choices along
those lines. I have a gym in my house.
So I go downstairs to the basement from
4:45 to 5:45 every day. Um, I get about
I take about one one day off per month
because of travel. So, I'm on the road a
lot. Then I clean up and I go to mass
every day and that's important to me.
These are my religious beliefs. And and
by the way, I go with my wife. We go to
6:30 mass every day when I'm home. And
I'm home about half the time.
>> And here I'm in Austin, Texas. I'll go
to mass tomorrow morning at 6:30.
There's a church near my my there's like
being Catholic is great. It's like
Starbucks. It's a complete franchise
system. [laughter]
It's the same every place. There's one
in every corner. It's unbelievable.
>> Exactly what you're going to get.
>> Yeah. Exactly right. Um so, but that's
important to me. But that the whole
point is not Catholicism. The whole my
path is not the only path. The point is
transcendence and transcendence by
getting smaller and making the universe
larger. For some people, vaposa
meditation works really really well. But
that's that's getting soul in line with
body first thing in the morning. And
there's a lot of neuroscience research
that talks about why that's so so
important because I'm driving toward
high a high high well-being and high
productivity. Those are the twin goals.
And doing this alignment really works.
Really helps a lot
>> because by seven then you're you're
ready to and I haven't taken any
nutrition yet except for you know 15
grams of creatine monohydrate and a you
know electrolyte some something salty
and
>> Yeah.
Um, so I'm not getting any calories.
That's when I apply the psycho
stimulant. That's when I apply the
caffeine because you don't want to use
caffeine to wake up. You want to use
caffeine to focus. Yes,
>> we all know about how the the A2A
adenosine cycle works,
>> right,
>> in the brain. No doubt everybody in your
show knows about this.
>> I piped on about it. Look, I got a ton
of [ __ ] because for a long time,
Element, that's been a great partner on
the show and I [ __ ] love them. Uh,
>> they're terrific. My big pitch was for
the first 90 minutes of the day, your
adenosine system isn't what's in charge
your adrenal system is. And salt acts on
your adrenals more than it does. If you
want to [ __ ] about with cortisol and you
want to like increase that using
caffeine, but so many people have a mid
>> afternoon, early afternoon slump and
then need to crank the caffeine lever
again. But this is
>> they drank their caffeine too early.
>> Correct. Yeah. Just but just push it. I
I'm telling you, New Year's resolution,
>> push it back by 2 hours, by 3 hours, and
just see what happens. Especially if
you're using something like Newtonic as
well, cuz the elenine is going to smooth
out. Oh, just take a You don't need to
use Newton. Take Althenine capsules with
your morning coffee.
>> And if you are really really tired,
>> you can go harder on the coffee, but the
althenine will smooth out the
if you add 10 plus grams of creatine in
>> you're in good shape. you're because
it's the the creatine monohydrate the
newest research says it's
neuroprotective that's not just good for
you know muscle protein synthesis so
it's really I mean creatine is one of
the most studied supplements
>> super product
>> super product and and I take a
multivitamin I do all the stuff that
you're that sensible people do
>> okay so you're up before the sun
>> yep up before the sun hard workout
>> which is 75% resistance 25% zone 2
>> mhm [clears throat]
>> and then I'm going to be active for the
rest of the day so I I get another five
miles of walking over the course of the
the rest of the day which is important.
>> Go to mass, go to church, which is or my
meditation
>> 5 miles like 10,000
>> that's 10,000 steps. I just don't like
saying 10,000 steps cuz it's so hackne
you know.
>> Oh okay. You just got to do it
differently.
>> You got to I got to be different.
>> I got to be me anyway. So I come back
from once we come back from church
that's when caffeine that's when
caffeine entered the picture. And I use
about 350 milligrams of caffeine a day.
It's usually
>> it's not a small amount.
>> It's not a small amount. It's in one
bullet. I grew up I grew up in Seattle
dude. I grew up in near the only
Starbucks in the world.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah. So, I'm used to burnt coffee. For
me, the best coffee is like hot water
through charcoal briquettes. Okay.
>> You know, it's like if you
>> if you made something called Indonesian
ashes, I would buy it.
>> Okay. [laughter]
>> Anyway, so then um and then I take first
pro take first protein. I try to get
between 60 and 70 grams of protein first
thing in the morning. And that means
>> whey protein with with Greek yogurt and
berries and to get the micronutrients
with the berries and the nuts in there.
And that's all I've that's the only
nutrition I take until the middle of the
day when I get another bullets of
protein. But that Greek yogurt has a ton
of tryptophan in it. And tryptophan is
real good for mood management.
>> What's your favorite brand of Greek
yogurt for this?
>> Um I like Well, Fay is great. Trabani is
good. Um
>> Trabani is lovely.
>> OOS is is nice.
>> Mhm. Okay. So there's not it's not like
there's something that you found that
doesn't have the
>> unflavored fat-free Greek yogurt. It
sounds joyless, but you know when you
put some delicious berries and nuts in
it, it's the best thing ever.
>> If you make some good protein powder in
with it, too.
>> Yeah, for sure. And and you spike it
with protein powder, you get up to 70
grams of protein, and that's a big bolus
of protein. So, you're getting the right
the amino acid that you need. And all of
that is really good for focus. And so I
get 4 hours of an appropriate amount of
dopamine in my prefrontal cortex,
equivalent to what I would if I were
taking medapanyl. I mean, if I
equivalent to taking um an ADHD
medication, right?
>> And you can't get four hours of I mean,
if you're doing creative work, generally
speaking, you can you can expect 2 hours
a day. You can extend that by about
100%. If you design your your protocol
to to make your brain chemistry work the
right way, I'm happier and productive.
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