It goes deeper. Before I stopped drinking, I averaged dinner/drinks for 5 hours x 75 nights. That equaled 375 hours which converts to a full 15 days of drinking.

Half the time (37.5 times), I was out, whoever I was with, and I would stay out late and drink so much I'd be hurting for two days. When I added it all up, I couldn't believe how much time it was taking from my life that I could have used to focus on the goals I wanted to get after.

Here's some 4:30 Psycho math for you:

• 4:30 start – 15 days of morning productivity

• Stop drinking – 15 days back in the schedule

• Next mornings – 75 + 37.5 good days back 

Holy cow, I had to ask myself, are these numbers correct? Am I honestly giving myself back 142 days or 4.75 months of valuable time in my calendar?

Once I figured that out, I was on a roll and kept looking for more time to optimize. Then, I figured out that I walked to the coffee shop twice daily from my office. Each round trip was about 30 minutes, once in the morning and once mid-day. When I realized that, I just started drinking coffee at the office, giving me another 5 hours weekly.

30-minute walks x 2 a day = 1 hour x 5 days = 260 hours a year or 10.8 full days a year!

I wasn't done yet. Next, I saw that I drove to the gym five days a week, and my round trip was 30 minutes. Getting up early and quitting drinking gave me 142 days of valuable time. Those two changes gave me another 16.2 days, adding a total of 158.2 days of valuable time back to my calendar. When I stopped going to the gym, I just worked out at home, but now I'm back and only stopped in the beginning because I needed every minute of every day.

158.2 days is 5.27 months. Quitting drinking was the catalyst that gave me back a lot of time and the clarity to find even more. This is why it's incorporated into 4:30 Psycho—so you can find the time and clarity you need to change your life, too.

Life is made up of choices. Connected choices become habits. Subconscious habits are the most comfortable and can keep you stuck without realizing it. I permitted myself to implement this significant change, and 4:30 Psycho will help you do the same. 

  

  

At the core of everything is feeling good. This state of mind will build your confidence more than anything else. Whether you walk, run, crawl, work out, or jazzercize, it doesn't matter what you do but do something 30 minutes every day to make this daily commitment.

Just like your diet, don't obsess here. The idea is to build a little muscle, strength, and tone. But the bigger idea is to build a habit. You can say the same thing about your diet. You need to get used to taking care of yourself so that when you're older, you'll be able to take care of yourself. You want to be proactive here. Don't wait until you're pushing that boulder up the hill. Get in front of it. Control it. 

You probably have all sorts of thoughts on exercising, but let me help you out with a few ideas. 

Ride a bike. It's low impact, and you can use a mountain bike or road bike. I enjoy mountain biking in the woods and getting away from the city.

Take your dog for a walk—or your cat (I don't judge). Bonus to your pup for getting out there and burning off energy, and you for spending quality time while you get your cardio in. 

Go swimming. It's one of the best exercises out there for you. You're working out even though you don't feel like it. 

Watch a yoga class on YouTube. There are so many coaches teaching nowadays, and their videos and demonstrations are available everywhere. 

I could go on and on, but find what you like and do it daily. After a while, I swear you will want to do it. 

  

Work on life-changing projects from 4:30 to 7:30 am every day, so you can hang out with your family, friends & community in the evenings and on the weekends.

It doesn’t matter that we are busier than we have ever been in the history of time—or that people can get to us literally at any hour of the day through multiple channels. Our family, friends & community should never suffer neglect because we don’t have the self-control to direct where we put our attention or don’t block time with them daily.

I get it. It can seem like every issue that pops up is so important and must be handled at that very moment. But that’s actually not the most critical part of your day. That spouse or significant other over there missing you is. Your children wondering when you will play with them is. Excuses get old after a while, and maybe you get what I mean. If you do, it’s only more reinforcement that you need to make time for the people you love the most now.

This commitment is easy. You will make 3 calls a night or 90 calls across 30 days. Each day, you are going to call 3 important people in your life that you should nurture your relationship with. On each of those calls, you are going to invite them to coffee, lunch, or dinner, to take a bike ride, walk, or hang out in the evening.

The goal is to strengthen your relationships with the important people around you in hopes that when you are not around, you will be described as a person who cares.

  

You need to rest and recover every night. Part of getting up early is going to bed early. Being up and working at 4:30 am will make you tired around 8:00 to 9:30 pm. You have to go to bed in this window to complete this challenge.

As I was building out this challenge, I had to consider all the pieces I wanted in it and why. 

I think you'll agree with me that our sleep suffers more than any other aspect of our lives. We are so quick to sacrifice it and live with bad sleep—usually because we are trying to jam more into our days. Got a deadline? No worries, just give up a few hours of REM and get the damn project done. What about everything else that adds up in your life that robs you of your sleep—the nameless errands you run every day and week? The people who ask you for favors, and you say yes? All the holidays you just about kill yourself trying to make perfect? 

Learn to say no to some of this extra stuff. Practice telling people you can't do everything. You can always push out dates, too. We don't feel like we can, but we really can. I promise. 

You need sleep to heal your cells and inflammation, give you clarity, sharpen your memory and focus and fight off disease and germs. 

If you can't sleep well, try a meditation app, read before bed, turn off your electronics, and teach yourself to be alone with your thoughts. Take a melatonin if you need to. But the bigger picture here is that you are rewiring your circadian rhythm. Sure, the first day you wake at 4:30 am, you're gonna feel it. But that's the idea. By the time you go to bed, you will be so happy to be there that you should sleep like the dead. You know the sleep I'm talking about—the dreamless, black blanket dropping over you? Yeah, that's the one. That's what awaits you when you live this challenge. So even if you have to fight through that first day (and you will), stay awake until bedtime. That's when you get your reward. The next day? That will only be a million times better. 

  

Sure, it flies in the face of what everyone wants lately. Now, people are slaves to their computers and how many likes and comments they get. We can take action for the wrong reasons because we want attention. We want validation and accolades for living well and making good decisions. 

It's like going back in time to when we did things for the right reasons—to help, to make life easier for other people, and to serve as examples of how we should be living. What would it feel like to do something without expecting anything in return? Integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Committing to scarcity in this area of your life is living the right way even when no one is looking. Because you are living for yourself and the way you have always wanted to. 

Rejecting what other people are doing might be challenging, but getting your head right and staying on the right path is yet another reward waiting for you with the 4:30 Psycho Challenge. 

Clamoring for attention through social media and comparing ourselves to other people tends to make our lives look worse than they are. We can fall into the trap of comparing every moment of our lives with the highlight reel of someone else's. When you read it that way, you know that's not fair to you. Seeking attention, or even just wanting attention for doing what you know you should, is not the way you want to live. I don't know anyone doing this who is happier. Even the so-called influencers who look like they're living a dream life are in the trap—they have to beat themselves at their own game every day. They have to wait for the acceptance and love that really doesn't have much meaning anyway. 

When you change what you're doing here, you won't want to go back. You won't be hungry to check your socials or let people know what you're up to. Now, don't get it twisted; share your achievements to inspire other people, but don't climb on the pedestal and beat your own chest. Remember the people helping you. Lift them up. 

  

At first, it might not "feel" good, but remember that successful people do things every day that don't feel good. That’s why they are successful. Their feelings don't make their decisions. Getting to success is boring, and you have to accept that. 

So many times, we stop ourselves from moving forward by getting lost in our emotions. And not that feeling things is wrong. We want to acknowledge our feelings, but we don't want to let them stop us.

"Boring" is included in those emotions, by the way. Building a business and embarking on a new way to live isn't always exciting. But growth is found in being boring. It's found when you put your head down and, without any fanfare, keep working. Haven't you had enough of wanting more? So many of us feel that way but never do anything about it. I was sick of myself and my habits. If I can do this, I know you can do it, too. The little steps are actually the big ones. They lead to your whole life becoming an unrecognizable routine filled with habits that make you feel better and proud of yourself. Once you tap into the formula, you will want to share it with others. That's what 4:30 Psycho will do for you. Give yourself time, grace, and no excuses.

That's enough talk. It's time to get to work. 

Repeat these commitments every day, and in 30 days, you will be a new person, guaranteed. See you at 4:30 am, you Psycho. (Hey, I've been called a lot worse!)