This morning routine is scientifically proven to make you limitless.

What if I told you that you could transform your life and unlock almost limitless potential, and it only takes about 15 minutes a day? In this video, I'm going to talk about something I've been looking for almost all my life: the Holy Grail of morning routines. After an enormous amount of research, experimentation, and trial and error, I think I finally have it.

This is the perfect, most ultimate morning routine known to man, built for efficiency, designed for productivity, all in pursuit of energy, health, and well-being. And best of all, it's all backed by science. There's a reason it's like a cheat code for life, and no, it's not waking up at 5 in the morning.

If you're new to the channel, welcome! We talk about the art and science of success, all mixed with a little bit of entertainment to make the medicine go down. This routine is like a stack of dominoes; once set in motion, it takes a life of its own. As long as you stick to the program, each domino knocks effortlessly into the next, complementing each other in a growing cascade of synergistic benefits. You'll soon see what I mean.

It all starts with the first domino: waking up. Get this domino right, and the entire routine falls into place. Get it wrong, and the entire thing collapses. There are three rules to the first domino: one, don’t negotiate with terrorists; two, the snooze button doesn’t exist; and three, get on the ground.

The "don't negotiate with terrorists" rule is about your brain. The moment the alarm goes off is the moment your brain starts negotiating. "Get up now! Are you crazy? It's warm, it's cozy. Just press snooze. It's only a few more minutes. You'll feel amazing, I promise!" Except it's never just a few more minutes, and afterward, you'll still feel like... that’s why you don’t negotiate with terrorists. There’s nothing to talk about.

If the snooze button doesn’t exist, I use an old-school alarm clock. Because one, it literally doesn’t have a snooze button, and two, it’s loud as heck. The secret is to keep it under your bed, so when it goes off, you have to literally get on the floor and reach in there with your full arms’ length. This is perfect because it automates the third rule: getting on the ground.

Here on the ground, the second domino begins: high-intensity exercise. Personally, I do push-ups, bicycle crunches, planks. It doesn’t really matter. The trick is to keep on exercising until you are literally wide awake. High-intensity exercise provides several immediate benefits. According to Dr. Abonski, an exercise physiologist at the Mayo Clinic, high-intensity exercises increase your peak VO2, how much oxygen your heart can pump throughout the body. This is the literal gold standard for cardiorespiratory fitness. Increased peak VO2 is associated with longer life and a healthier heart.

Furthermore, high-intensity exercise increases the production of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein that supercharges your brain, delays Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and promotes neuroplasticity—the ability of the brain to form new synaptic connections, perfect for learning, growing, and thinking. According to research in the Journal of Physiology, it only takes 4 minutes and can increase circulating BDNF by 4 to 5 times. In just 4 minutes, you can potentially quintuple your brain power! Holy smokes!

If stronger lungs, brains, and hearts don’t do it for you, consider the extra benefits of a boost in adrenaline. You get to wake up, jump-start your metabolism, get warm, make an immediate deposit into the bank account of small wins, and build insane momentum the moment you wake up. And once fired up, guess what? You’re perfectly set up for the third domino: a cold shower.

If you’ve done the second domino right, you should now be hot and sweaty. Get up from the ground, walk out of your bedroom, strip off your clothes, and head straight into the shower. If a cold shower sounds terrifying, don’t worry! The largest study of cold showers to date, a randomized control trial of 3,800 participants, shows you only need 30 seconds of a cold shower to reap its benefits.

Even better, you can even start off with a regular hot shower first. Those who took a daily 30-second cold shower for 30 days were 29% less likely to call off work due to sickness. A study by Jansen hypothesizes it is due to a slight boost in one's immune system. Other studies report benefits related to the reduction in muscle inflammation, soreness, and even improved muscular microvascular circulation, which again is perfect because you just blasted your muscles.

Some proponents even think it may be a potential treatment for depression. The theory goes something like this: the cold shower activates the high density of cold receptors on the skin, sending an enormous brigade of electrical impulses to the brain. The neurologic overload is thought to cause a gigantic release of natural endorphins as a protective mechanism.

All put together, there seems to be something there. The evidence could definitely be stronger, but if all it takes is 30 seconds and there’s virtually little downside, why not? At the very least, use it to one, further wake yourself up, and two, exploit it as a Level 3 habit to improve self-discipline and resiliency.

If you're not familiar with the three habit levels, a simple framework used for consistent personal growth, check out this video next! Once those 30 seconds are up, step out of the shower and head over to the fourth domino: the most important 5 minutes of your entire day. It’s called the Sacred Five.

In these sacred 5 minutes, you tackle the most important, most difficult task you have. There’s no better time to work on that thing you've been putting off. Right now, your brain is supercharged, you're alert, your adrenaline is pumping, and endorphins are everywhere. At this moment, you are quite literally at the height of your powers.

Your brain, chock full of BDNF, is primed, and since you haven't burned a single ounce of dopamine on other stupid things like scrolling social media, the full dopamine nerd stack is at your disposal. I talk about the concept of the dopamine power meter in this video, so check it out to get a deep dive on motivation.

When you bring down the full force of your mind and focus that supercomputer in your skull on these next 5 minutes, you end up doing the best work of your life. String together a consistent habit of 5 minutes a day, and you might just change your life. Again, it’s just 5 minutes. There should be no excuse not to. The barrier of entry is virtually zero; 5 minutes is rounding error. Even a baby puppy can sit for just 5 minutes.

But the power of just 5 minutes is sorely underestimated. Not only do 5 minutes a day add up quickly, you'll find yourself often working much longer than 5 minutes when your brain has a full stack of dopamine at its disposal, not to mention further boosted by four to five times the amount of BDNF! You’ll find slipping into a flow state to be incredibly easy—aka being in the zone.

It’s an incredibly rewarding mental state where you become fully immersed in the task at hand, a kind of effortless focus where you lose track of both time and self-consciousness. Once 5 minutes are up or you decide to exit the flow state, you are then ready for the final domino: the optimized reset.

Your brain and your body, quite literally firing on all cylinders, still have the entire day in front of you. To promote maximum long-term stamina and longevity, you need to optimize your rest and recovery. In other words, you need to recharge.

Speaking of recharging, the best way I recharge is with the world’s most advanced sleep mask invented by Manta Sleep. This video is kind of sponsored. After working the night shift as an ER doc treating all sorts of stuff like hangnails, mad cow disease, and kangaroo fever, all I want to do is sleep. But it's hard to do so when the sun ends up stabbing my eyeballs for 8 hours straight with its happy rays of sunshine.

And the birds? Oh gosh, the birds chirping away at the top of their lungs, trying to get laid with no consideration for anybody else. Nobody cares if you're horny, you stupid bird! That's why this sleep mask is clutch. When I put it on, I notice a few things immediately: one, because everything about this mask is easily adjustable, it’s incredibly comfortable; two, the C-shaped tapered eye cups put zero pressure on my eyelids; and three, even with breathable light fabric, it’s still able to deliver a complete 100% blackout experience.

And for the birds, I switch to the sound mask. It has Bluetooth speakers built right into the fabric. You can even adjust where the speakers are in case your ear holes aren’t where they're supposed to be. Those birds don’t stand a chance when I drown them out with some classic death metal lullabies. Manta Sleep has other versions too—a cooling mask, a steam mask, a silk mask, and even a weighted mask. This thing is a game changer!

Check out Manta Sleep in the description below and use code "Spoonfed Study" to get 10% off your Manta order. Now, back to the video. There are three mini dominoes for the optimized reset. The first mini domino is your body, so let’s fuel it.

The most efficient breakfast is one that requires zero prep—no cooking, no cleaning, just maximum health. I grab a cucumber, a bunch of baby carrots, some cherry tomatoes, a fistful of peanuts, and wash it all down with milk. If I'm feeling particularly hungry, I’ll eat an avocado and a banana as well, ensuring no processed food and minimal carbs eliminates food coma and keeps me alert.

If, for whatever reason, you cannot or don’t want to avoid carbs, one study shows that blue light after food reduced brainwave activity associated with drowsiness. Blue light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, the hormone that influences circadian rhythms in the promotion of sleep. Thus, to fight food coma, blast your face with blue light! You can do so with a sunlamp or, you know, just use that giant light bulb in the sky called the sun.

Speaking of which, the second mini domino is your mind. Your mind is like a cute little plant. To grow, you need to bathe that little guy in sunlight, feed it plenty of water, and let it hang out in its natural environment. I mean, think about it: where do you think you'll thrive more—stuck inside some dirty, stuffy room or in an open meadow surrounded by Mother Nature, blue skies, and fresh air?

There’s ample scientific evidence that exposure to nature is associated with improved cognitive function, improved executive function, and perceived restorativeness. Not to mention brain activity, cardiovascular disease, mental health, and sleep. In one study of U.S. students, those who engaged with green spaces for at least 15 minutes four times a week had higher quality of life, better overall mood, and lower stress.

A second study showed that this was also associated with a lower risk of depression, with a third study showing improvements even in ADHD with higher standardized test scores. This area of research stems from something called the biophilia hypothesis. It argues that humans have evolved with nature to have an affinity for it. Two major theories have come from this: the Attention Restoration Theory and the Stress Reduction Theory.

In the first theory, scientists believe that modern life has resulted in a depleted capacity to direct attention. Being unable to directly command your attention is that annoying phenomenon where you want to focus on something— you even know how important it is to do so—but for whatever reason, are not physically able to do it. It’s not your brain's fault; it’s your environment.

Given this, scientists have found that spending time in natural environments enables people to overcome this mental fatigue and restore their capacity to direct attention. The Stress Reduction Theory posits that being in nature also activates the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress and anxiety and general autonomic arousal.

All that’s to say, hopefully you have something green around you. If so, take a quick stroll outside and breathe in that fresh air. At a minimum, I’ll take my breakfast and sit by my open patio door, bathe in the sunlight, and focus on all the green trees and plants outside.

The third and final mini domino is your emotional health, i.e., your spirit. We've talked about this before, but the practice of gratitude improves your mental health and increases activation of the medial prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain used in learning and decision-making. We talk more about the scientific studies of gratitude in this video, so go there if you haven't seen it already.

Practicing gratitude isn’t just some hokey, woo-woo hand-waving nonsense. In fact, even 3 weeks of consistent gratitude practice results in long-term brain changes that influence how you see the world—real brain changes that can be detected with functional MRI studies. If you’ve been looking for the quickest shortcut to happiness, this is it. It’s literally the easiest and most efficient way to improve life satisfaction.

So as I’m basking away in the sunlight, chewing on fresh vegetables, enjoying the cool breeze, and smiling at the little squirrels waving tiny paws at me, I take some time to breathe, to relax, to savor this quiet little pocket of time. I’m grateful that I’m getting to enjoy yet another beautiful moment like this because for all I know, tomorrow is not guaranteed.

And just like that, the morning routine is done. I’m recharged and ready for another exciting day’s adventure, wherever it may lead me. This may all seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. It boils down to a few things: destroying the snooze button, 4 minutes of high-intensity exercise, 30 seconds of a cold shower, 5 minutes of deep work, and however many minutes it takes you to chew on carrots in the sunlight, surrounded by as much green nature as possible, all the while grateful for having woken up yet another day.

Altogether, that’s less than 15 minutes of total time. This entire routine is a concept I like to call the "Clean Morning." Notice that nowhere in this routine do you use your phone or scroll social media. In a Clean Morning, you don't waste time, you don’t play games, you don’t reach for Netflix. The only sources of dopamine you feed yourself are those that align with your long-term goals.

That means important work you care about, mindfulness, meditation, exercise, being in nature, and eating healthy. But don’t just stop there. Keep the momentum going. Get so far ahead in the morning that the afternoon isn’t even needed. This is how you do more in one day than most people do in an entire week. This is how you widen the gap and become your ultimate best self.

I hope today's video brought you some actionable value! If you want a reminder of the ultimate morning routine, I’ve created a beautiful canvas print that you can buy from the official Spoonfed Study store. Just go to spoonfedstudy.com.

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