In this episode of the Morning Upgrade podcast I talk with Marek Truumaa about his morning routine, what happiness is, how to grow into the best person you can be and more.
In this episode of the Morning Upgrade podcast I talk with Marek Truumaa about his morning routine, what happiness is, how to grow into the best person you can be and more.
Ryan
Hey guys, it's Ryan real quick. So my mission with the Morning Upgrade blog and podcast is to raise the awareness of morning routines and personal development. And I now have two products that are also helped me with this mission. The first product helps you start a 20 minute morning routine. And the second product is a book that outlines how to use personal development, upgrade your life and business. You can get full details on both products over at morningupgrade.com. Thanks for letting me share and now on to the show.
Announcer
Welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast with Ryan Cote where we feature casual conversations with entrepreneurs about personal development and growth.
Ryan
Hey, Marek, how are you? Welcome to the Morning Upgrade podcast.
Marek
Yeah, hi. I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. How are you over there?
Ryan
I'm doing good. Timing this recording. We're experiencing a heatwave. So, but it is the summer so par for the course.
Marek
Yeah, we had the same here last week. So Celsius we have here so we're not sure what was it is in Fahrenheit,
Ryan
Yeah, like the mid-90s for us here and then just like every human. So that's uh, yeah, that's pretty hot. So why don't you tell everyone who you are, what you do for a living some of your hobbies where you're from? Just a little personal introduction.
Marek
Here, my name is Marek Truumaa. I'm home from Estonia, which is the eastern part of Europe, North-East Europe has next to Russia, which most people know. I'm currently still in fiber, hoping to become a full-time entrepreneur in a short period of next year, maybe hopefully, helping the biggest business conference organizer, a Nordic business forum to sell business forum, Europe and and Nordics. Specifically, my hobbies. I'm a lot into sports. So I work out a lot and run on the buy-side. And yeah, jogging and yeah, sports are the hobbies and personal development definitely as well.
Ryan
Yeah, before we started recording, you said you have a very intense, almost two-hour morning routine. So I deftly want to cover that well, for everyone listening to will condense that it's like a few minutes. And then I know with your side business, you're doing consulting and helping people with time management. I know you mentioned you to help some of your clients turn from night owls into early birds, which ties into this whole morning upgrade morning routine theme. So I definitely would love to pull some tips from you on that. So let's talk about your morning routine. And you said it's about two hours and got 16 things you do want to you quickly take us through what that looks like.
Marek
Yeah, I started with a five and a half years ago with SAS, the simple setups and push-ups. And now it's formed into 16 different activities. And I still do this exercise is every morning. So yeah, I usually wake up at five or even earlier. So I have an early riser myself as well. And then I started with a workout to my squat. And with the end, workout with five and a half minute planking exercise. Then I go through the exceptional life blueprint that I learned from John Assaraf, who helped me to build it up. So it's pretty much a workbook or has like your vision board type of thing where you go through your goals and your like affirmations and stuff like that. After that I drink three cups of water, ruined water, I like to drink a lot of water in the mornings because we lose a lot of water while we sleep. And then after this exercising as well. Then I take on my journal write down what is things to remember from yesterday, things to be grateful for. Then I visualize my big goal, which is at the moment is my dream house. And while I visualize my dream house, I also go to a breathing exercise that I learned from Tony Robbins which is the one for to ratio. So you breathe in, like for instance five seconds, then you hold for 20 seconds and breathe out for 10 seconds. So this is the breathing exercise. So after this breathing exercise, I go to another visualization type of exercise where I visualize leading energy through my body from my head to my toes and then back up again to it like five times. Then I go through 10 things that I'm grateful for each morning. After that, I revisit my big goals for the near future for the one-year period ahead. After that, I do a cold shower. I learned it from Wim Hof who's from my part of The world from Denmark. After two minute cold shower, I do inner sizing, which is also from John Assaraf. It is like it's like thing where you put the headsets on and you like to hear recorded audio that helps you to break your limiting beliefs and stuff that you accumulate data on your way here. After that, I write out three goals for my day and fill out the daily planner. So that's it.
Ryan
Wow. Yeah, I think you're gonna win the award for the most intense morning routine on this podcast. So, yeah, you want to love though I love how you. Like I mentioned when we first are recording, some of my guests have very intense morning routines, like yourself, get some guests that are that have very simplified morning routines. And I like to show my listeners are told my listeners or introduce to my listeners, the variety of morning routines because some people relate more to the simple morning routines and some people to the intense and complex morning routines. What I like about yours is that you've sounded like you've done a lot of research where you're pulling from Tony Robbins and other mentors and kind of crafting your own morning routine based on the research that you've done.
Marek
Yeah, I've definitely experimented with a lot of other things. So this, these are strict, and they all like have a specific why behind why I do them each morning. And they are hopefully helping me step by step to move closer to my dreams. So this is the reason.
Ryan
Absolutely. And how is it going to work? And you said you have another child coming on the way? How's it going, again, not to stick with your morning routine? Or will you do a revised more simplified version of what you just told us about?
Marek
We will see. So far with the first one, I've managed to do my morning Morning Routine quite nicely has allowed me to do it. But we'll see. If there's anything that needs to be caught, then I just need to revisit them with more critical thought and see what can be cut and what needs to stick. And definitely will stay there despite anything so.
Ryan
And I find with my own morning routine, I've gone through variations of it, where sometimes you think of things ways to do it better. Or sometimes situations like having a kid forces you to simplify it or change it and then all of sudden you find a better way of doing it. So yeah, I've definitely mixed up my morning routine a few times. And I think that's fine, you know, gotta find what works best for you.
Marek
Yeah, I'm 100%. behind that. So this is something that I share with my students as well that it's all about experimenting and finding the best rhythm for you.
Ryan
So do you have any other habits that so you've got this morning routine that you do? The rest of the day? Do you have any other habits that you can share with us that you rely on?
Marek
I have many habits, but maybe some point is falling asleep, I do a breathing exercise, which is different from the one I do in the morning. And this is a simple one actually, that everybody can do really easily. This is just that you breathe in five and a half seconds and breathe out five and a half seconds. So this really nicely comes down to my brain activity. And I do it like sometimes only like five or 10 times and then I'm flat out or I'm like completely out and already sleeping. So if anybody's having difficulties falling asleep, then definitely recommend it.
Ryan
Yeah, I think I mentioned this before on the podcast. I feel like breathing like deep breathing is such a secret weapon that not many people know about or think about like you breathe naturally throughout the day. But like being intentional about deep breathing and using the different styles out there, like the one you mentioned, or what's the guy you mentioned before the ice guy, the cold guy we met? Yes, he's got his whole program to write around deep breathing. Yeah, he does. So let's talk about I'm just kind of curious, what your opinion of like the meaning of life being fulfilled being happy, that whole category? How do you approach that personally?
Marek
I look at happiness, the way that if I feel that I'm doing or I've experienced something that I don't want to end, then this is happiness, whether I'm doing something from a work perspective that fulfills me, or I'm playing with my kid or traveling with my family or experiencing some new adventures. Whatever. I feel that I don't want to stop, then this is happiness for me.
Ryan
Do you intentionally look for those things and then try to structure your day to include them more? Is that your are you intentional in that way?
Marek
Yeah, definitely. I'm quite an aware person and I like to like the witness saw or monitor myself and my feelings and thoughts around different activities, how they make me feel. So definitely I made notes about things that make me happy and try to incorporate these into my daily routines as well.
Ryan
You definitely seem very in tune to, like your own personal growth. Obviously, the morning routine is evidence enough. But your other answers here are showing that you're really into like, how you feel and your personal growth. Have you always been that way? Or when did it start?
Marek
I used to be a road construction engineer, right, I studied one in the university and worked as one for seven years. In the seven years, I worked for seven different companies. And then the final one, I got fired on the spot. And then I like realizing that this is definitely not the path for me. So I need to find a new one and be a bit into personal development before I already before knew that there is more out for me that I'm getting from this job and read some books. And then I dive into like sales. And then thankfully, my first status mentor was or sales trainer was also into other areas. Personal development side besides sales, and there it started, like in 2015. Love it.
Ryan
So you had books you had a mentor sounds like and now you're you're at the point now where you're crafting your own morning routine digesting content from Tony Robbins and others. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, one more question for your mark. And then we can wrap up how people can connect with you. If they want to reach out and say hello. So my last question, you know, hinted at in beginning with your side hustle consulting business where you help people get time back, you said that you had to help some night owls become early birds, any tips around that that you can leave us with?
Marek
Actually, I do. And they are actually really simple as well. The thing about night owls and they are pretty much always like two sides of one coin. Some people like to have their own time in the evenings and some like to have it in the mornings. For me, there is a huge difference because you're way more productive in your mornings than you are in your evenings when you've had your whole day before it. So and to be able to have your own time in your in the mornings, there's definitely you just need to go to bed earlier. But this is something that might be challenging, challenging. But when you do it, step by step like and I recommend for my students to go to bed like 1030, the latest 10 to 1030. So it's not that early. And it still allows you to have your own time before your family goes to work. But the crucial thing here is is the sleep and the sleep recovery and to be able to recover quicker and more during your sleep. You can't eat at least two and a half to three hours before you go to sleep. So this is definitely tip number 122 and a half hours or three hours before you go to bed because you can't recover when your digestive system is working. And the other tip is no screens at least 30 minutes before going to sleep. So why do these screens, phones, computers, TVs, they like holding on to our brain activity so high that when you add paid and scrolling your phone, then you just can't get to sleep at least 30 minutes after that? So try to have your bedroom for sleeping and other rooms for other activities. So there are maybe two tips here.
Ryan
Awesome. And definitely tips everyone can follow. Yeah, no screens, no eating before bed. Try to get to bed at a reasonable time. 1010 30 Like you mentioned those are great tips. Or what's the best way for people to reach out to you Marek?
Marek
Yep, just simple as these through LinkedIn. If you just look for more, through more, I'm sure you will find my name spelled in the show notes. But to learn more about the program, and also about me where there are Peak Mornings in intro Instagram and Facebook handles are both Peak Mornings. And you can also just Google Peak Mornings Mentoring and you will find more information about that as well.
Ryan
Perfect. Well, thanks for everything you shared. It was great talking with you and thanks to everyone for listening.
Marek
Thank you, Ryan. It was a pleasure.
Ryan
Thanks for listening to the Morning Upgrade podcast. Please subscribe and review. And don't forget to visit us at morningupgrade.com for more content.