4) Lifestyle Design (Building Sustainable Routines)

Optimize daily rhythms (engineer your day)

Your morning sets the tone for everything. Start with 500ml of water immediately upon waking—you're dehydrated after 8 hours of sleep. Get 10-20 minutes of sunlight within the first hour; this resets your circadian rhythm and improves sleep quality that night. Here's a counterintuitive tip: delay your first coffee by 90-120 minutes. Caffeine blocks adenosine (the sleepiness chemical), but in the first hour of waking, adenosine is naturally clearing. Drinking coffee too early causes the afternoon crash. For deep work, use 90-minute blocks with your phone in another room—not silent, not face-down, physically elsewhere. Your evening routine matters too. Follow the 3-2-1 rule: no food 3 hours before bed (digestion disrupts sleep), no work 2 hours before bed (your brain needs wind-down time), no screens 1 hour before bed (blue light suppresses melatonin).