If you’re here right now, reading this book, there’s likely a reason why. Right? 

Our guess is that you aren’t satisfied with where you are in life right now... 

Maybe you feel like there’s something missing and you want more. 

That’s why we started our journey. 

And we’re guessing that’s why you are too. 

But here’s the problem… 

Sure, you feel like there’s more to life for you, and you can imagine a new life for you and your family, but when push comes to shove… 

You don’t DO anything to change. 

Or maybe you do take action, but it’s not consistent. 

Want to know why that happens?  

Because most people don’t like change. 

In fact, most people fear change and they want things to stay the same even though they say they want to change.  

And it’s because people love comfort, security, and safety. These are essential for our survival as human beings, so it only makes sense. 

But it makes things difficult when we want to make lasting changes in our lives, like losing 20 pounds, making more money, or quitting a bad habit. 

But if currently, your comfort zone doesn’t look like your dream life, then you need to work hard to create a new comfort zone. 

Which will be scary… 

It’ll take work… 

But it’ll be so worth it in the end. 

If you want to live the life of your dreams, you need to create new habits. 

Habits like a productive morning routine so you can master your morning, win your day, and transform your life. 

There’s a quote I just recently heard from Thomas Edison, he said, “Success is based on IMAGINATION plus AMBITION and the WILL to work.” 

You can’t just imagine your new life. You also have to be ambitious and willing to work for it too! 

I love that! 

Notice there’s a gap between who you are versus who you want to be. If you want to be successful, happy, and healthy, you must close the gap! 

This reminds us of sports growing up… 

We played a bunch of sports, but our favorite was softball. 

In high school, our goal was to play D1 college softball in college. 

So we did what top college softball players would do. 

We went to lessons, we practiced, and we worked hard on our own multiple times a week to improve our skills. 

We were closing the gap between where we were as high school school players and where we wanted to be as college-level softball players. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t go D1. We were too late getting into the recruiting process. But we did end up playing softball in college. 

We went to a D3 school where we could continue to play the game we loved together, have fun, and get a quality education!  

Which brings us to the next point… 

Understand that happiness can come from achieving the goals you set out for yourself. But it also comes from the journey too. 

It comes from your daily actions of staying consistent and getting stuff done even on the days when you don’t want to. 

And if you’re serious about changing your life so you can experience more, you’ll find a way to make it happen, too. 

Life is meant for more than just getting by and settling. 

If you want the dream house, dream body, and dream income, you can have it! 

And it all starts with your morning routine. 

Why? 

Because all successful people have a morning routine. 

All successful people are consistent. 

All successful people work hard for their dreams. 

So that’s what you must do too! 

What’s The Missing Piece? 

Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about happiness, productivity, and fulfillment. 

In fact, we’ve been conditioned to be high achievers our whole life. 

Growing up, we did as many extracurricular activities that could fit into our schedule (I’m talking Soccer, Basketball, Softball, Karate, Tennis, etc.) while also going to religion class, Girl Scouts, playing an instrument, getting good grades in school, and eventually being in the honors programs in high school and college. 

It got to the point whenever we had free time, we thought there was something wrong. 

That’s still how it is today, actually. 

Now, all of this was great. It kept us out of trouble and focused on what really mattered. But the problem was this… 

Once we graduated college and we didn’t have a set schedule besides our work schedules, we struggled. We had to figure out how to be high achievers, stay consistent, and get everything done on our own! 

I’m not going to lie; the first couple of years out of college were rough. 

I gained weight because I was used to eating like a college kid but wasn’t playing softball six times a week anymore. 

I struggled to get up early. 

I didn’t have 6 am weight lifting sessions anymore, so why did I need to get up at the crack of dawn? Couldn’t I just go to the gym after work? 

And I felt lost and depressed with my life. I thought, “Is this really it? I wanted to graduate college so I could do this? There’s gotta be more out there.”

After struggling for so long, I decided a couple of things… 

I needed to work on myself… So I started reading self-help books. 

I had to continue learning and growing. That’s always been something I’ve enjoyed doing in school and I didn’t have that anymore. 

I had to find purpose in my life. Before I graduated, softball was my purpose, but now that it was over, what did I have to look forward to? 

I had to figure out a way I could work and live on my own terms. Basically, I wanted to quit my job and find a way to make good money from anywhere in the world. 

So those are all the things I did. And the way I did it was I created a morning routine that got me up out of bed and got me moving, working, and doing. 

I found that if I could get up and get going, then the momentum for being productive would carry throughout my entire day! 

On the days I slept in or missed my morning routine and workout, I’d feel behind, and my day would feel like it was out of my control. I don’t like feeling that way about things I actually HAVE control over. 

Over the years, I tried a bunch of different morning routines, and the one that I’ve had the most success with, and I’ve done for the longest time, was based on a foundational framework Patti and I like to call our GEM Guide Framework. 

The GEM Guide Framework is a foundation for success. 

It’s a foundation for health. 

And it’s a foundation for happiness. 

We call it GEM because it’s an acronym that stands for Growth, Energy, and Mindset. 

Which are the core 3 pillars that need to be in your morning routine and in your life in general to help you feel fulfilled, happy, and productive! 

In the next chapter, we’ll talk about the GEM Guide Framework and how using it will help you be more productive, too.