Gents Weekly: Morning Routines to Start Strong
Issue #19: The manliest newsletter on the internet • May 18, 2026
Welcome to issue #19 of The Gents Weekly, a newsletter for the modern man.
Every Monday, you’ll receive a weekly roundup of inspiring ideas + products to help you become a better man.
Brought to you by the men of Gents Journey — Dean Bokhari, Stephen Seidel, and Matt McManus.
📝 THE MESSAGE
A timely piece from the gents.
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How to build a healthy morning routine
A healthy morning routine has four core components: (1) physical, (2) mental, (3) emotional, and (4) spiritual. These are the four sources of energy that each of us is born with.
Think of these four core components as wheels on a car:
When all four wheels are in good shape, the tires are evenly inflated, and all have good tread depth – the car runs like a dream.
But if you catch a flat or let your tires go bald – you’ll be in for a bumpy ride.
That’s how I like to look at life:
If I want to thrive, I’ve got to ensure I’m taking care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
If I neglect just one of these four core sources of energy, I won’t be able to perform at my peak consistently.
And for me, that would be unacceptable.
So, I developed a healthy morning ritual that helps me grow (or maintain) in each of the four dimensions.
Here’s what it looks like:
1. The Physical Component
Unleash your physical energy—nourish and activate your body to prime it for a successful day.
Examples to help you create a healthy morning routine:
Drink a liter of water immediately upon rising
Walk outside
Jump up and down to wake your body up
2. The Mental Component
It’s just as important to exercise your brain as it is to exercise your body. Learn something new or do at least one thing each morning to sharpen your mind.
Examples to help you create a healthy morning routine:
Read
Work on a puzzle for a few minutes
Do something that challenges you to stretch your mind
3. The Emotional Component
This is about addressing your emotional and social needs by checking in with yourself and connecting with people you care about.
Examples to help you create a healthy morning routine:
Start your day by asking yourself, “How do I want to feel today?” Then answer the question in your mind, or journal it on paper.
Envision a successful day ahead. How would you like to feel today? What kind of emotional energy do you want to bring to your work, to the people you interact with? Imagine every outcome you have planned for the day as working in your favor.
Connect with someone you care about.
4. The Spiritual Component
Unleash your spiritual energy by doing something that allows you to reconnect to your purpose, your faith, or your Why.
Examples to help you create a healthy morning routine:
Meditation
Prayer
Think of three specific things or people in your life that you’re grateful for — and truly allow yourself to feel it. To cultivate a sense of intense gratitude is a powerful spiritual experience.
Create Your Own Healthy Morning Routine
Use my PIESpread framework to create a healthy morning routine of your own.
PQ: Physical energy—What’s one thing you can do each morning to activate your physical energy?
IQ: Mental energy—What’s one thing you can do each morning to activate your mental energy?
EQ: Emotional energy—What’s one thing you can do each morning to activate your emotional energy?
SQ: Spiritual energy—What’s one thing you can do each morning to activate your spiritual energy?
P.I.E.S.
☝️ Use this acronym to remind yourself of each of the four core sources of energy you need to rise and thrive—each and every day.
— Dean Bokhari
Co-founder, Gents Journey
Share this with a friend who could use it.
📰 THE MOMENT
Sh*t that’s happening now, ICYMI
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This Week’s AI Prompt: Morning Routines
How you start the day determines how you live it.
Most guys don’t have a morning routine. They have a morning scramble.
Hit snooze. Check phone. Scroll. Panic. Rush. Coffee. Out the door. Surviving, not thriving.
And then they wonder why they feel behind all day.
Your morning sets the tone for everything. If you start reactive, you stay reactive. If you start intentional, you stay intentional.
This prompt helps you build a morning routine that actually works—not the Instagram version with 47 steps, but something simple, sustainable, and designed to set you up for success in every area of life.
THE PROMPT:
Copy everything below and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude:
I want to build a morning routine that sets me up for success—not something complicated, just something that works. Help me figure out what to add, what to subtract, and how to make my mornings actually matter.
Help me:
1. Audit my current morning (Be brutally honest)
- What does my morning actually look like right now? (Walk me through it minute by minute)
- When do I wake up? What's the first thing I do?
- How much time do I waste? (Phone scrolling, hitting snooze, etc.)
- How do I feel by the time I leave the house? (Rushed? Calm? Stressed? Ready?)
- Am I setting myself up to win the day, or am I already behind?
2. Identify what I need to SUBTRACT (Cut the bullshit)
- What's draining my energy in the morning that doesn't serve me?
- Phone scrolling? Snooze button? Skipping breakfast? Rushing? Chaos?
- What habits are making my mornings harder instead of easier?
- What do I need to stop doing immediately?
3. Identify what I need to ADD (Build what matters)
- What would make me feel strong, focused, and ready for the day?
- Do I need movement? (Workout, stretch, walk?)
- Do I need stillness? (Meditation, journaling, quiet time?)
- Do I need fuel? (Real breakfast, water, coffee ritual?)
- Do I need planning? (Review my day, set priorities, clear my head?)
- What ONE thing would change everything if I did it every morning?
4. Design my ideal morning routine (Keep it simple)
- What time do I need to wake up to make this work?
- What's my step-by-step routine? (Keep it under 60-90 minutes max)
- What's non-negotiable? What's flexible?
- How do I protect this time from distractions, kids, work, chaos?
5. Make it sustainable (Don't let me overcomplicate this)
- What's realistic for my life right now? (Kids? Work schedule? Partner's routine?)
- How do I start small and build up instead of trying to do everything at once?
- What's my "minimum viable morning" on days when shit goes sideways?
- How do I track this without obsessing?
Here's what my morning looks like right now: [Describe it honestly]
Here's how I want to feel by the time I start my day: [Paint the picture]
Don't let me build something I can't sustain. Make it simple, powerful, and realistic.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The AI is going to help you strip down your morning to what actually matters. It’s going to show you what’s wasting your time and what would change everything if you added it.
By the end, you’ll have:
A clear picture of what’s working and what’s not
A list of habits to cut immediately
A list of habits to add that actually move the needle
A simple, sustainable morning routine (not a 2-hour Instagram fantasy)
A backup plan for when life gets chaotic
WHY THIS MATTERS
How you start the day determines how you live it.
If you start reactive—phone first, snooze button, scrolling, rushing—you stay reactive all day. You’re behind before you even begin.
But if you start intentional—movement, stillness, fuel, focus—you show up differently. You handle stress differently. You make better decisions. You win more often.
Your morning is the only part of the day you fully control. Everything else? That’s life coming at you.
This prompt helps you take that control back.
Run this prompt. Build your morning. Win the day.
Drop one thing you’re adding or subtracting from your morning this week. Let’s see who shows up stronger.
— Matt McManus
Co-founder, Gents Journey
Mornings Matter
👊 THE MOVES
Media for men.
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Watch | The Optimal Morning Routine by Andrew Huberman
In the video above, Andrew Huberman explains something powerful: your morning routine doesn’t just start your day — it shapes your brain, energy, and focus.
The way you wake up matters.
How quickly you grab your phone, rush out the door, skip movement, or overload your mind with stress all impact how you show up for the rest of the day.
Survival Mode vs. Intentional Living
Which one are you: Gent A or Gent B?
Gent A lives in survival mode.
The alarm sounds, and he immediately jumps out of bed, already behind. He splashes water on his face while brushing his teeth, rushes to wake up the kids, throws on clothes, and watches the clock count down.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
Fifteen minutes and counting … to get out the door.
He runs downstairs and grabs whatever breakfast he can find — maybe a Pop-Tart, maybe nothing at all. Coffee becomes less of a pleasure and more of an emergency, whether from the kitchen or the nearest drive-through.
Before the day even begins, he’s exhausted.
Now he’s reactive. Dragged from one obligation to the next. Constantly putting out fires. Living inside a “busy” schedule he didn’t intentionally create for himself.
But Gent B?
Gent B begins intentionally.
His preparation starts the night before.
His clothes are already laid out. Breakfast is prepped. The coffee pot is filled and ready to brew. His phone is across the room so he has to physically get up instead of endlessly scrolling.
He reviewed his priorities the night before and knows exactly what the most important thing is to tackle first — before decision fatigue has a chance to creep in.
Then he starts his day with purpose.
Maybe it’s a walk. A workout. Stretching. Prayer. Gratitude. Sunlight. Movement that turns into motivation.
Because when you live intentionally, problems stop feeling like attacks and start feeling like opportunities guiding you toward growth.
He looks at the man he’s become in the mirror and says:
“Today is going to be a great day.”
Here’s a question from our Journey Deck: What’s one positive affirmation or mantra that you frequently use and why? Share and comment below.
Start Strong
So which one are you: Gent A or Gent B?
And if you’re closer to Gent A, where can you improve?
Tonight, try one small change: prep tomorrow’s clothes, write down your top priority, or place your phone across the room.
Small habits create momentum.
Momentum creates confidence.
Confidence changes lives.
How you start your morning shapes your growth, because as Robin Sharma says, “Own your morning. Elevate your life.”
Momentum isn’t accidental — it’s intentional. And that choice is yours to make every single day.
Let us know your morning routine, mindset shift, or favorite habit hack in the comments below.
— Stephen Seidel
Co-founder, Gents Journey
🔗 MEANINGFUL MENTIONS + MAGIC LINKS
Fun stuff you’ll dig about our theme of the week.
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💻 REAL MEN HAVE A COACH IN THEIR CORNER
Stop playing small, step into the man you know you are.
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We’re looking for ten men who want coaching and guidance to level up in life + work. If that’s you, fill out this form, and we’ll be in touch.
Until next week,
—The Gents
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