Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubrey Marcus

Summary

A no-bullshit book with tactical, science-backed insights on how to live a healthier, energy-filled, and fulfilling life. Many practices in this book have helped me boost my daily energy and productivity.

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Key Takeaways

The morning hydration and energy cocktail

Take 15 minutes in the morning to get your day started on your terms with three things: hydration, sunlight, and movement.

Start by mixing water, sea salt, and lemon together for a simple drink that will hydrate you after a night of sleep. Your organs will appreciate the hydration bath. Then, go outside to get a few minutes of sunlight, which helps regulate your circadian cycle.

Finally, find an activity that will get you to move for a few minutes. You can do jumping jacks, pushups, a wrestling match with your roommate, or any other movement-based activity that you enjoy. If you hydrate, get sunlight, and move, you will have a better morning and day.

Take a cold shower

The modern world is incredibly comfortable (heated floors, regulated temperatures, on-demand food delivery services, etc.). While this is convenient, most of us do not get exposed to enough discomfort. Some level of discomfort is good because it creates stress that helps keep our bodies healthy and strong.

So instead of taking a comfortable, warm shower every morning, take a cold shower instead. Not only will it have an anti-inflammatory and energy-creating effect, but it will also cause an acute stress in your body that builds strength and increases immunity. Further, the resolve it takes to get in the cold shower will increase your discipline and better prepare you to handle and excel at the many difficult things you need to do in your life.

If you really want to jazz up your cold shower practice, consider adding Whim Hoff breathing to the mix, which will help further strengthen your body and allow you to take polar plunges with ease.

What to eat in the morning

In the morning, eat simple and slow-digesting foods or nothing. Sugary foods spike your blood sugar and release a pleasurable, short-term dopamine hit. Once the quick fix wears off, you experience lower energy and tiredness, irritability, and hunger.

Good breakfast foods include scrambled eggs made with grass fed butter, black beans, greens or other vegetables, avocado, and coffee.

Fat is your friend, and complex carbs aren’t so bad

Fat is not the enemy as most of us have been told over the years. Sugar is the real enemy. So instead of pumping sugar into your body, consider a few foods with healthy fats. Whole fat yogurt, avocados (add lime, sea salt, and cayenne pepper), scrambled eggs with grass fed butter, and almonds are a good place to start.

If you’re going to have carbs, make them complex carbs, which are a slower digesting form of sugar that allows our body to better metabolize the carbs into energy. A few foods that work include potatoes, quinoa, and rice.

Happiness in your work

The peak income positively correlated with happiness is $83,000. So once you come near this income level, factors outside of money will drive the enjoyment and fulfillment you get out of your work. And it’s important you’re happy at work because happy people do better work and bring other happy people with them.

So instead of focusing on the grind, focus on enjoying your work so that you can also enjoy the grind. It’s not about how many hours you work, but how well you work. So find a mission you believe in, design a workspace you enjoy, and do good work on your terms.

Your mission and work

A mission is a strong, powerful why that guides the effort you put into different areas of your life. A mission can help you find meaning, spanning across your personal and professional life. When it comes to work, you can either find meaning in what you do, or you can use what you do to allow you to spend time doing what you find meaningful.

Posture and stretching

Sit and stand with good posture. Stretch often. That’s it.

Binaural beats

Binaural beats (a form of music) are frequencies that can our brains in different states. For example, while we are awake and conscious, we can use binaural beats to help put our brains in a restorative pattern that is similar to what we experience when we’re sleeping.

If you want to experiment with binaural beats, try out the 30 minute Earth Peace track here the next time you want to take a nap. I’ve had an incredible experience with this track. When I hit a midday lull, I lay down, put on an eye shade, and put this track on my Airpods.

While I don’t fully sleep, the track puts me in a semi-conscious state where my body is completely relaxed and my mind is still able to think through problems. At the end, I feel recharged and relaxed. And more often than not, I’ve thought through a problem I have. It’s awesome.

Drink ginger tea after dinner

Ginger tea helps with digestion! So if you’ve just had a big meal, throw some ginger tea back.

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