For the past few years, I’ve been really into podcasts. Surprisingly, they’ve even taken precedence over watching television (except, of course, 90 Day Fiancé…). My podcast journey started with paranormal, history, and true crime shows, as I apparently enjoy scaring the fuck out of myself while hiking alone in the woods (something I did frequently when I lived in western Washington) or driving on a dark and desolate farm road at night. However, as I’ve gotten more into manifesting my best fucking life, my podcast library has now grown to include shows related to personal development, health and fitness, entrepreneurship, and news commentary on current events. 

 One of the podcasts that I listen to every day is “Real AF with Andy Frisella.” If you haven’t heard of it, “Real AF” started out as “The MFCEO Project” in 2015, and it was the #1 business and entrepreneurship podcast in the world. When the Covid lockdowns began and all of the woke communist bullshit started overtaking America, Andy transitioned his podcast to “Real AF” in 2020.

While “Real AF” still focuses on topics related to business success and personal development, it also highlights current political issues. Andy and his co-hosts talk about serious problems threatening American freedom, and they expose the truth behind the lies being told by mainstream media. Regardless of the topic being covered, I find that I am always inspired to work on bettering myself, and I constantly come away from an episode with that pumped up “fuck yeah!” feeling. Listening to “Real AF” for the past two years has been one of the most influential factors in me deciding to go public with speaking my truth and standing up for my beliefs as a patriotic American.

One of the concepts Andy frequently addresses on his show is developing personal excellence. After listening to multiple episodes discussing this topic, my overall takeaway is this: Personal excellence involves consistently improving yourself in all aspects of life. It’s not enough to “try” and half-ass something. You have to actually “do” the work and do it well. Developing confidence is also crucial to personal excellence because confidence is the key to mastering skills, and the more you master skills, the more you start to feel like the master of your own life.

Andy also talks about how pursuing excellence keeps you from becoming lazy, and it contributes to developing resiliency. People who half-ass things typically end up giving up and quitting. People who pursue excellence get back up every time they fall. They adjust course or regroup, and they continue to persevere until they succeed. This perseverance leads to resiliency, which in turn leads to positive transformation, which ultimately results in increased confidence and mastery of even more skills. Not only is this important for success in business, but it’s also critical for succeeding in life in general.

To quote something Andy says often, “Personal excellence is the ultimate rebellion.” This concept has never been more important or more appropriate than right now, during this period of uncertainty and change in America. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you will, but I firmly believe our current federal administration is hell bent on making the American public weak and completely dependent on the government. If this doesn’t scare you, it should. Weak, dependent people are easier to control. People who are resilient and living a life of personal excellence are not.

So, I asked myself, what am I doing to pursue personal excellence and create resiliency in my own life? If I were to answer that question fully, this would be another long ass novel of an article, so I’ve decided to focus solely on talking about my morning routine, as this is probably the most important part of my day.

When I left my law enforcement career, it was in large part because I felt like I was no longer making a difference in my community, but I also had the desire to simplify my life. I want to make it clear that simplicity is not to be confused with mediocrity. I have no interest in leading a mediocre life. On the contrary, I believe I am just starting to discover my true potential and come into my true power. I am also learning about the incredible capabilities that humans have to manifest greatness, and it is my strong belief that developing personal excellence is key to becoming great.

As I mentioned above, one of the things I’ve done to work on personal excellence is committing to a daily morning routine as a means of developing consistent positive habits. I started this process when I discovered Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning” program several years ago, and over time, I’ve tweaked it into something that I feel is more personally applicable to my life. I won’t go into too many details, but here’s the gist of my morning routine:

• Get out of bed when the alarm goes off without hitting snooze.
• Listen to some positive affirmations or a short motivational podcast while I get dressed for my morning workout and take the dogs outside.
• Make a cup of coffee and sit down at my desk for 10-20 minutes to read whatever personal development book my book club is focused on this month, while subliminal affirmation music is playing in the background.
• Exercise for a minimum of 45 minutes.
• Sit outside in my backyard and spend a few minutes in gratitude for all of the amazing shit in my life while watching the dogs run around and destroy my grass.
• Stay in a high vibe state of mind by listening to another inspirational podcast or more subliminal affirmations while I pack up my lunch, shower, and get ready for work.
• Make sure I’ve had at least 60 oz of water before 9:30 am.
• Set my intentions and visualize the kind of day I want to have before I leave the house.

Is this a lot of shit to do early in the morning? Yes, and it takes me at least an hour and a half. Do I always want to get up early to make sure I have enough time to complete this routine before I head to work? Fuck no. I would love to spend that extra time sleeping. But I’ve come to learn that having the discipline to complete these morning tasks and being committed to continually improving myself on a daily basis benefits my overall health and well-being. And yes, I am committed to this routine on weekends and days when I’m not working (although sometimes I do sleep in a little bit later).

One might argue that it’s easy for me to stick to a morning routine because I don’t have a job where I have to wake up at dark o’clock to be at work by 8:00 am, and I don’t have kids. In theory, I suppose that’s true, but in reality, it’s really not. I have two high-maintenance dogs that demand my attention in the morning, and I will soon be adding some goats to the mix, which will require carving out some additional time. I currently wake up at 6:00 am so that I can get my morning routine done and be ready to go by 9:30 am. Is that a luxury in terms of time? Yes, I suppose it is.

However, for years, I had inconsistent and ever-changing schedules, working 10 or 12-hour shifts that often turned into 15-hour shifts, and I still made my morning routine a priority (even when I was working graveyard shift and my “morning” started at 4 pm). Admittedly, my morning regimen at that time wasn’t as extensive as it is now, but I had a committed routine, nonetheless. When I became a detective and I had to be at work at 7:00 am, I would wake up at 3:30 am to make sure I got all of my morning shit accomplished before leaving the house at 6:15 am. Sometimes it sucked, especially because I typically only slept 4-6 hours a night, but I got it done.

I would be lying if I said I’m naturally a morning person because I’m definitely not. Getting up early is something I’ve had to train myself to do, and even though it’s gotten easier over the years, it’s still often a mindfuck when my alarm jolts me awake. There are times I want to throw my phone across the room when the alarm rings, especially after I’ve finally fallen into a deep sleep after waking up 6 or 7 times during the night. Almost every day, I am tempted to hit the snooze button several times and go back to bed. And, I am still in the habit of setting multiple alarms for fear of sleeping through the first alarm and not waking up. Of course, it helps to have dogs who’ve come to expect 6:00 am breakfast and will forcibly wake me up with a paw smack to the face if don’t get out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off…

My point is this: Personal excellence basically comes down to a matter of priorities and what’s important to you. I choose to make myself and my morning routine a priority, even when I don’t feel like it, because to me, that’s a crucial element in setting myself up for success and achieving personal excellence. By being disciplined in committing to a daily morning routine, I feel like I am taking responsibility for my life and my life experiences. I am choosing to take action and create better habits for myself, first thing in the morning, even when it’s the last thing I feel like doing.

I may not be in control of everything in my life, and the rest of my day may occasionally turn to shit, but having this consistent morning routine has resulted in me developing the resiliency to tackle the rest of my day from an entirely different perspective. By the time I leave for work, I feel accomplished, energetic, and in a high vibration instead of feeling tired, cranky, or rushed.

If you don’t already have a morning routine, I highly suggest starting one. Although it may be difficult at first to get in the groove of waking up extra early to fit in whatever comprises your routine, creating habits that set you up for success at the start of your day makes all the difference. If you don’t know how to begin, I highly suggest checking out “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. It’s a fairly simple program, and there’s even an app to help you stay accountable. If you have trouble even getting out of bed, look into “The 5 Second Rule” by Mel Robbins. She wrote an entire book on how counting down from 5 to 1 can help you change bad habits and form new productive ones.

Whatever you choose to do in your morning routine, come up with things that challenge you. Personal excellence isn’t something that comes easily. It requires you to put in work, and sometimes that work seems really fucking difficult and overwhelming. But the results are worth it. Get your ass up early and start down your own path of pursuing excellence.

Unapologetically Outspoken,

Tara

PODCAST UPDATE… The Unapologetically Outspoken Podcast is up and running! We intended to air the first episode on September 5th, but we were too excited to wait, so our debut episode aired this morning. Go check us out. New episodes air Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays!