Gents Weekly: Routine Reset
Issue #29: The manliest newsletter on the internet • August 3, 2026
Welcome to issue #29 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.
↓
Habits + routines
by Dean Bokhari
It’s the final month of summer, and as your children prepare to go back to school, you’ll no doubt experience a shift in your daily rhythm.
And whenever that happens, it’s a good idea to review your habits:
Which habits do you want to protect and maintain as your schedule shifts?
Which habits do you want to build?
Which habits do you need to break?
Today, I’m going to share a preview with you from a Habit Building Challenge I put on for members of my personal development community, Club 12.
It’s about a concept called habit stacking - which is one of the best ways to build and maintain habits.
Here’s how it works:
You identify a current habit you already do each day, and then you stack your new behavior on top of it.
Habit stacking is known in behavioral psychology as an implementation intention. In one study published in the British Journal of Health Psychology, researchers looked at two groups of people trying to build an exercise habit:
Group 1: the group that simply relied on motivation, had a 35% success rate.
Group 2: the group that explicitly stated when and where they would exercise, had a 95% success rate.1
That. Is. HUGE.
Your brain already has powerful neural pathways built around your current habits—things like brushing your teeth, making coffee, or turning off your alarm…
With habit stacking, all we’re doing is piggybacking on top of those existing pathways.
Here’s a formula you can utilize for creating your own habit stacks:
After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
Some examples:
Reading: After I brush my teeth in the morning, I’ll read for 20 minutes.
Relationships: As soon as I get into bed each evening, I’ll tell my partner one thing about him/her that I’m grateful for.
Daily Planning: While I wait for my morning coffee to brew, I’ll write down my one most important goal for the day.
You can utilize habit stacking for virtually any habit you’re working to develop. Just keep in mind that the key to habit stacking is to tie your desired habit/behavior to something you’re already doing on a daily basis.
Actionable insights
Think of a habit you currently have. Identify one rock-solid daily habit you already do everyday without fail. (Brushing your teeth, making your morning coffee, etc.)
Next, think of a habit you want to develop. For today, we’ll use the tiny habit you created in Day 1.
Now, use the habit stacking formula to bring it together and make it happen:
“After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will do my [NEW HABIT/TINY HABIT].”
Ex: “After I turn on the coffee maker, I will do my 10 pushups.”
Ex: “After I brush my teeth, I will read one page of my book.”
— Dean Bokhari
Co-founder, Gents Journey
📰 THE MOMENT
Sh*t that’s happening now, ICYMI
↓
This Week’s AI Prompt: Mid-Year Reset
Half the year is gone. What are you actually doing every day?
You’re six months in.
January’s excitement is long gone. The habits you swore you’d build? Some stuck. Most didn’t. And the routines you’re running right now—sleep, food, movement, meditation—are probably the same ones that got you here.
Which is fine. If you like where you’re at.
But if you don’t? If you’re tired, soft, unfocused, or just... off? Now’s the time to notice it.
Not in some harsh, judgmental way. Just: What am I actually doing every day? Does it serve me? What needs to shift?
The good news: You don’t have to reinvent everything. Small shifts in nutrition, movement, sleep, and stillness compound fast. By year-end, you could be in a completely different place.
This prompt helps you audit your daily routine and build something that actually works.
THE PROMPT:
Copy everything below and paste it into ChatGPT or Claude:
I'm halfway through the year and I want to reset my daily routine. Not a complete overhaul—just smart shifts in what I eat, how I move, when I sleep, and if I'm taking time to be still. Help me see what's working, what's not, and what small changes could change everything by year-end.
Help me:
1. AUDIT your current daily routine (Be brutally honest)
- What time do you wake up? What's the first thing you do?
- What do you eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner? (Real answer, not what you think you should eat)
- How much are you actually moving? (Work out? Walk? Sit all day?)
- When do you go to bed? How's your sleep quality? (1-10, be real)
- Are you meditating, journaling, or taking any time for stillness? (Or is it go, go, go?)
- What's working? What's dragging you down?
2. IDENTIFY the one thing destroying your routine
- Is it sleep? (Can't fall asleep? Waking up early? Interrupted?)
- Is it food? (Eating trash? Skipping meals? Too much caffeine?)
- Is it movement? (Sedentary? Injured? Just not feeling it?)
- Is it mental stillness? (No meditation, no downtime, always on?)
- What's the ONE thing that if you fixed it, would change everything else?
3. DIAGNOSE the real problem (Not the surface excuse)
- You say "I don't have time to work out" — what's the real problem? (Motivation? Energy? Injury? No plan?)
- You say "I can't sleep" — what's actually happening? (Stress? Phone in bed? Too much caffeine? Racing thoughts?)
- You say "I eat bad" — what's driving it? (Convenience? Stress eating? No real food around?)
- Get to the actual root. That's where the shift happens.
4. BUILD your mid-year reset routine
- SLEEP: What's ONE thing that would improve your sleep? (Earlier bed? Phone off earlier? Blackout curtains? Cool room?)
- NUTRITION: What's ONE thing you could change? (Add protein? Skip the late-night snacking? Drink more water? Meal prep one meal?)
- MOVEMENT: What's ONE thing you could add? (Morning walk? Lunch-time workout? Bodyweight stuff at home? Even 15 minutes counts)
- STILLNESS: What's ONE thing you could protect time for? (5-min meditation? Walk without phone? Journaling? Just sitting?)
5. CREATE your commitment (Make it real)
- What are you changing starting TODAY?
- What's non-negotiable? (What won't you skip?)
- When are you checking in on this? (Week 1? Week 4?)
- How will you know it's working? (Feel? Energy? Strength? Sleep quality?)
Here's my current daily routine: [Walk me through a typical day]
Here's what's actually working: [What are you crushing?]
Here's what's destroying me: [What needs to shift?]
Here's my mid-year reset: [What's changing, starting now?]
Don't let me overcomplicate this. Help me see what one shift could change everything.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The AI is going to help you see your routine clearly—without judgment. It’s going to identify the ONE thing that’s actually dragging you down and show you how to shift it.
By the end, you’ll have:
A clear picture of your current routine (all of it)
The real problem identified (not the excuse, the actual issue)
Four micro-shifts (sleep, nutrition, movement, stillness)
A starting point for today
A check-in plan so you actually follow through
WHY THIS MATTERS
You’re halfway through the year. Half your time is gone.
But here’s the thing: You have six months left. Six months is enough time to completely reset your daily routine. To fix your sleep. To change your nutrition. To add real movement. To build stillness into your day.
The guys who do this by December? They’re not the same guys who did it in June. Everything shifts.
Small daily shifts. Compounded over six months. That’s how you end the year stronger, sharper, and healthier.
Run this prompt. Audit your routine. Reset it.
Drop ONE thing you’re changing starting today. Let’s see who’s resetting their routine.
— Matt McManus
Co-founder, Gents Journey
Six Months Left. Reset Starts Now.
👊 THE MOVES
Media for men.
↓
It’s Now or Never
Watch & Listen | Breathing Exercises for Anxiety | 2:1 Breathing Technique
What works without any effort on our part?
Well, it’s two: our heart and our breathing.
The video shares a simple breathing technique to help you shift your body out of fight-or-flight mode and back into rest-and-digest mode.
Give it a try; some results you might see: falling asleep after years of anxiety, lowering your blood pressure, fewer panic attacks, and using it every day before bed.
The truth is, most of us don’t need another productivity hack.
We need a reset.
When we slow our breathing, we teach our bodies that life isn’t an emergency.
Your Life is NOT an Emergency
If you’re like me, you’ve been going all summer-long, like the Kid Rock song.
The kids are up all night, the schedule’s shot, and your routines have disappeared.
You might find yourself losing your patience and reacting (to patterned behaviors), instead of giving yourself space to respond.
Sometimes my brain tells me life is an emergency, like the video below.
Growing up in a divorced home, I became a people pleaser.
I learned to smooth things over, fix problems quickly, and speed towards a solution. However, after lots of work on myself, I now notice when that voice in my head starts taking over, and I acknowledge him.
I call him “People-Pleasing Peter.”
Perhaps you have a voice in your head you can name too?
The moment I notice “People-Pleasing Peter”, I acknowledge him and take a breath to help myself respond vs. react, and give myself the grace to move forward how I would like to, not as my patterned response or the story I’ve told myself over the years.
Reset Your Routine
As summer winds down and you prepare to go back to school, consider implementing a simple reset for you (and your family).
Take inventory:
Sleep: Are you getting enough? Do you have a steady bedtime?
Nutrition: Are you fueling your body well? Nightly meals together?
Movement: Are you active every day? Do you work out in the morning?
Screens: Are you creating time to disconnect? Do you limit blue light?
Our kids don’t just need less screen time. They need more imagination … (and rest).
Try This: Begin your school-year routine one week early. Earlier bedtimes, consistent wake-up times, and fewer screens help create a sense of rhythm, security, and calm.
For me, the biggest domino is waking up earlier.
Waking up earlier, inspired by Robin Sharma's 5 AM Club, has become my daily routine reset, providing a quiet space to breathe, think clearly, and lead my day instead of letting it lead me.
Start small.
Move your bedtime back five minutes tonight.
Then five more tomorrow.
Sometimes the biggest reset begins with the smallest habit.
— Stephen Seidel
Co-founder, Gents Journey
🔗 MEANINGFUL MENTIONS + MAGIC LINKS
Fun stuff you’ll dig about our theme of the week.
↓
Until next week,
—The Gents
Inspired? Share this newsletter with another Gent you think it could help.
The Gents Weekly Podcast
The manliest podcast on the internet.
Listen & subscribe on
Substack | Apple Podcasts | Spotify