Saturday Edition: Going deeper this weekend on the morning routine that powers everything else.
Fifteen Minutes at 6 AM
That line has teeth. It is not a motivational poster. It is a warning. Most people nod, then roll into their day with nothing more than a mental checklist and a cup of coffee. That is how you burn daylight with nothing to show.
I start early. Before email, before meetings, before anyone takes a piece of me, I take 15 minutes. Just me and a notebook. One question: Where can I be most effective today?
Not what is urgent. Not what is loudest. What will move the needle? What single action has the biggest bang for the buck? I also ask: How can I make a difference today? Because busywork without impact is a slow death.
The 80/20 Lens
That 15-minute window is where I apply the 80/20 lens. Eighty percent of results come from twenty percent of effort. Most people grind out the 80 percent that barely matters. Those 15 minutes each morning are my chance to find the 20 percent that does.
It is not about more. It is about leverage. Cut the noise, double down on the signal.
Commuter Classroom
I have a 30-minute commute. Used to be wasted time. It became classroom time. Some days I listen to Audible. Recently I revisited Atomic Habits by James Clear. His reminder that small daily actions compound into massive long-term change hit me like it was brand new. It forced me to look at my own habits. Which ones are quietly building momentum and which ones are sabotaging it?
Other days I capture thoughts into Superwhisper. That is where CTRL-ALT-REINVENT was born. I was trying to harness three decades of work, side hustles, and blogging into something I could actually use to help others while helping myself. Those commutes gave me the space to connect the dots and map the blueprint I now share here. Dead time turned into seed time.
Ideas Do Not Keep Office Hours
One of my strongest ideas did not show up in the car. It hit me in a cold shower. That is where the idea for my weekly CTRL Signals came from. Ideas arrive when they want. The job is to be ready to trap them before they slip away.
That is why I capture thoughts. That is why I plan. A thought is just a spark until you capture it. Then it becomes fuel.
The Setup is the Win
Days do not fall apart because of what happens at 3 PM. They go sideways because of what did not happen at 6 AM.
Fifteen minutes of planning and thirty minutes of learning or thinking changes the whole day. Meetings stop feeling like interruptions. Priorities finally match your energy. By the time most people are still warming up, you are already moving on the work that matters.
Failure to plan really is planning to fail. Not in theory, but in the way a pilot would never take off without a flight plan. Why should we treat our days any different?