The Routine That Finally Made Me Consistent

The reason you struggle to stay consistent isn’t because you’re lazy or undisciplined. It’s because your routine is built on clock-time instead of rhythm.

Clock-time = “Do X at 9am."

Rhythm = “Do the right thing when your brain is in the right gear.”

Clock-time forces you to work against your brain - doing the wrong thing at the wrong time - and nothing kills consistency faster.

So you miss a time block → feel guilty → think you’re the problem → rebuild the same rigid routine trying to make it “perfect.”

This was me for years.

Why this matters...

Your brain is not the same hour-by-hour.

It flows through predictable biological waves that determine:

- when you can focus

- when you can be creative

- when you crash

- when you should wind down

Clock-time ignores this and treats you like a robot capable of the same output each hour, forcing you into a day of prison-like structure with tight little time cages:

9am: do X

1pm: do Y

3pm: do X again

4pm: "oh you're crashing?! who cares" your clock-time routine says "you've still got XYZ to do".

But your brain doesn’t run on timestamps, it runs on waves.

For consistency to feel effortless, your routine needs to follow these waves.

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Here’s what they look like…

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Neuroscientists call the waves "phases".

And your brain cycles through 3 every 24 hours:

Phase 1 — 0 to 8 hours after waking

E.g. if you wake up at 7am this'll run between 7am-15:00.

Neurochemicals highest: dopamine, cortisol, norepinephrine

Use it for: deep focus, analytical work, hard tasks, high-stakes decisions.

Phase 2 — 9 to 16 hours after waking

E.g. 15:00-23:00.

Chemical shift: serotonin rises.

Use it for: creativity, brainstorming, out-of-the-box problem solving.

Phase 3 — 17 to 24 hours after waking

E.g. 23:00-until you wake up again.

Recovery mode.

Use it for: winding down, darkness, low stimulation, rest, sleep.

When you force a clock-time routine onto these biological waves:

- Your energy scatters

- Your motivation swings

- Your days blur

- Your routine collapses the moment you miss a single box

Which leads straight back to the loop from the intro:

You feel guilty for missing a box → collapse → search for a new routine → repeat.

Eventually you decide:

“I’m just not disciplined” or

“Routine just isn’t for me.”

But here’s the shift...

You didn’t fail because you lacked consistency.

You failed because your routine had no rhythm; no through-line connecting everything you do in a day.

Instead you just had isolated tasks fighting each other on a calendar.

Clock-time is friction.

Rhythm is synergy.

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The bigger picture...

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You think the way you do about routine because the internet teaches only two systems.

Both fail because they ignore your natural biology.

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⚠️ Extreme 1 - (The Discipline Fantasy)

Hustle bros online shout:

“Time-block every minute & NEVER skip a block.”

“Wake up at 5am or you’re a loser.”

You have to remember this whole style of ‘hyper-structured productivity’ didn’t come from biology.

It came from the industrial era.

Around a 100 years ago, when factories started popping up across countries and human productivity became the big boom, factory owners needed their workers to be predictable humans who run on clock time; not biological rhythm.

So it’s not the hustle bros’ fault they think like this.

We've all just inherited these clock-time routines from the industrial era and its what we now call ‘discipline.’

The other extreme, however, takes the opposite approach...

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⚠️ Extreme 2 - (The Taleb Fantasy)

The author Nassim Taleb says:

“If you know in the morning what your day will look like, you are dead.”

And he’s not wrong.

Humans evolved as improvisers; novelty and surprise keep us alive.

As he also points out:

“We are hunters; we are only truly alive in those moments when we improvise; no schedule, just small surprises and stimuli from the environment.”

Beautiful philosophy.

Until you try it in real life.

Because here’s what actually happens...

Most people don’t become free without routine.

They become chaotic.

Which is terrible for your mental health.

The neuroscience is clear: your brain likes having a steady rhythm. Take that rhythm away, and your mood falls apart (as anyone who's been unemployed or left uni knows :)).

Worse yet, chaos makes you default to the easiest dopamine:

- Scrolling

- Procrastinating

- Bingeing

Hence the saying:

“The devil makes use of idle hands.”

The bottom line: Taleb’s worldview only works if you already have elite self-regulation.

Most of us don’t.

The solution?

You need both:

- Stability and freedom

- Structure and spontaneity

Rhythm is the bridge.

Here’s the real relevance of the word:

Rhythmic routine means you work with your biology, not against it. You follow waves, not timestamps.

And here's the real upside...

Most routines are built for perfection, not humans.

They snap the moment you slip.

But rhythmic routines plan for:

- Off-days

- Low-energy mornings

- Fluctuating motivation

- Life

So when you miss a block, nothing breaks.

You don’t fall into guilt; you simply slide back into rhythm.

Rhythmic routine removes the shame that kills consistency.

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WHAT TO DO NEXT...

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FIND YOUR PERSONAL RHYTHMIC ROUTINE:

1) Find your daily energy windows.

You now understand your biology has a beat (the 3 phases covered earlier).

But here’s the caveat...

Some people focus better at 6am, others at 7pm.

Some get creative at night. Some way sooner.

We're all different.

So first of all, treat the 3 phases as a guide, not a cage.

Secondly, to find your personal rhythm, reflect on how you currently spend your days and ask yourself:

- When does my mind feel sharpest?

- When do I get restless?

- When do I feel most social?

- When do ideas flow naturally?

- When does my energy fade?

- When do I crave quiet?

Those moments are your real waves.

Your job isn’t to fight them; it’s to notice them and build around them.

2) Give each wave a purpose.

Once you see your natural waves, give each one a name, not a task.

Think of them like gears, for example:

- Focus Wave

- Movement Wave

- Creative Wave

- Recovery Wave

- Social Wave

- Wind-down Wave

Wave / window; whatever word works best for you.

Key shift:

You're not commanding yourself to “do X at Y time” → you're encouraging yourself to “get into this state of mind and body during this wave.”

This turns your day into flexible chapters, not little time-prison boxes.

3) Add ONE non-negotiable behaviour to each wave.

For example:

- Focus wave = one deep-work block.

- Movement wave = a workout or walk.

- Wind-down wave = screens off by 9pm.

- Your waves = flexibility.

Your non-negotiables = structure.

Think of them like anchors ⚓️.

Hit your anchors 80% of the time.

The other 20% = adventure days (planned deviation that keeps the system alive).

This combo: flexible windows + stable anchors, is what makes rhythm feel effortless instead of forced.

Here’s my real example to bring this all together…

I divide my day into four phases based on 4 principles:

1) Creative first, dopamine last.

Mode = focused, energetic, slightly stressed but in the flow state.

Rough time = when I wake up (naturally) to around 3pm.

Activities = deep work, reading, researching, writing, recording.

⚓️ Anchor: no social phone until after gym/NSDR.

2) Refuel + recharge.

Mode = mentally depleted after morning work, hungry, wanting to zone out.

Rough time = around 2-4pm.

Activities = eating lunch, recording a video, light reading, walking.

⚓️ Anchor: 1x nutritious meal before gym.

3) Train + transition.

Mode = physically energised, social.

Rough time = 3-6pm.

Activities = walk to gym, workout, talk to people.

⚓️ Anchor: 7-minute NSDR on my bedroom floor after the gym.

4) Connect + close down.

Mode = physically tired, mentally wandering, resting.

Rough time = 6-11pm.

Activities = using whatsapp, talking to friends, listening to music, cooking, eating, reading, walking, chilling on laptop, low lights, light admin.

⚓️ Anchor: one social window for calls + messages.

Notice: there’s no specific time stamps ("do x at y time"). It’s flexible. And each mode flows into the next:

Deep work → I'm mentally tired → I need food → I feel renergised → I can workout → tired → sleep → repeat.

Predictable phases.

Flexible actions.

One anchor per phase.

Rhythmic.

Now there’s one final thing to do that’ll make or break your rhythmic routine…

4) Schedule non negotiable deviance days

Pick one day per week where you intentionally break routine.

It will:

Reset your nervous system

Prevent burnout

Remove guilt

Keep the rhythm flowing

The paradox:

Deviating from the routine keeps the routine alive.

GO DEEPER: Why Deviation Works...

In case you missed the letter from 3 weeks ago:

Behavioural scientist Rita Coelho do Vale found that planned deviation boosts discipline long-term.

She split dieters into two groups:

- Strict: 1500 calories daily. No exceptions.

- Flexible: 1300 calories most days + one 2700-calorie “off day.”

Who lasted longer?

The flexible group.

They had:

- Stronger self-control

- Fewer emotional spirals

- Better rebound after slip-ups

- More persistence

Because they had a future moment of pleasure built into the system.

The strict group?

More likely to quit.

The lesson:

So long as it’s planned, it’s often good to be bad.

Oscar Wilde said:

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”

Benjamin Franklin said:

“A speckled axe is best… A benevolent man should allow a few faults in himself.”

And that’s why:

For more discipline, don’t try and avoid failure.

Schedule it.

To finalise...

You’re not undisciplined.

You’re not failing.

You've just never had a rhythm your body could trust.

Build that and consistency becomes effortless, and happiness grows by itself.

That's all for this week,

Thanks for reading,

Lew

P.s. i'll be uploading the video version of this letter tomorrow if you'd like more of an explanation :).

P.p.s. you can join the wait list for my upcoming product here.

P.p.p.s its freezing.

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