Dave Mull

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Category: success

  • Morning Routine

    COVID has touched our lives in so many different ways. From sickness, loved ones lost, jobs, education, freedom and more. It’s also given some an opportunity to step back and really look at their life. Their job situation, their health, their finances, their future, their day to day. Many have used this time to learn new skills or to grow in others ways. For me, it’s been a great time of reflection. The lack of needing to travel or commute for work as allowed me to really find a new focus in my life. I credit a lot of that to my daily morning routine and being purposeful and disciplined into building habits to support it. I’ve pieced mine together from several different books and other leaders to build what I believe works for me. I’ll share my routine and schedule below, but beyond the actual routine the benefits from this have been a renewed focus on my health (mental and physical). It’s also been a turbo charger for my productivity and drive. I highly recommend finding what works for you, get disciplined around it for a least 30 days and see how great you feel.

    5:00 – 5:45 AM – Wake up, COLD Shower, Breakfast and Coffee

    I’ve found waking up early, before anyone else in the house to be one of the most powerful actions you can take. This is a hard habit to form, getting out of bed on a cold morning when you really don’t have to, at times sucks. But when you so quickly start to see the benefits and the freedom you have during this time which then unlocks more time later in the day. You will start to love and enjoy these early hours.

    After waking up, first thing I do is jump in the shower. For me its the best way to start the day. I start off with hot water to settle in and lather up. But then turn it to as COLD as possible to rinse off (for at least 30 seconds), work through the shock and really wake up. I’ve read there are health benefits to a cold shower and those are easily found via a google search. But I also believe the mental benefits that come from doing something you really don’t want to do that early in the morning builds GRIT and toughness. It rewires your brain to accept and at times enjoy the hard stuff. It takes me back to my triathlon days and how much I dreaded getting into the cold pool at 5:30 AM at the YMCA. But as much as I dreaded those mornings, I never once regretted those mornings.

    Next is breakfast and coffee and I like to focus on taking in protein first things in the morning. I don’t really have a preference for how, but find that making it easy is what’s best to stick to. For me that is Adkins products such as their bars or shakes. It’s easy, they taste good and have good levels of protein. I also love eggs, cooked almost any way but usually save that for the weekends.

    5:45 – 6:15 AM – Meditation & Journaling

    I’ve really taken to my morning meditation practice. There are so many great ways to meditate and wether it’s through prayer or a mindfulness practice nothing has been more beneficial than this for me. I’ve used everything from the CALM app, Peleton Meditation, Apple Fitness+ Meditation, non guided with nature sounds and more. I have to say I love them all. I enjoy rotating through instructors, platforms and methods. Some days I really need some guided support and maybe I want to focus on gratitude or happiness or energy/positivity. And other days I just want to focus on my breath and really center myself. Regardless to how you do it, doing it is what matters. The skills and the mental muscle developed through a mindfulness practice will have positive effects on all aspects of your live. I love it so much I’ve found myself also wanting to do it more, longer and working it into my day. Wether it’s to prepare for a meeting, presentation, coaching session or anything else. If you get your mind right, focus on the current moment and the goodness to be found in it. You will be better for it.

    I like to next go right into journaling. I like this because there are a lot of great thoughts that walk their way through your head during meditation and sometimes I want to make sure I capture them. Wether it be an idea or a thought I don’t want to lose, this has helped me not dwell on it during meditation but go deeper into it after. I’ve also found a structured journal helps me. I use “The Best Journal Ever” which can be found on Amazon. I really like how it starts off the page with a quote, then moves into 3 things you are grateful for that day (I have a hard time limiting to 3), then your personal affirmation for the day followed by blank space for journaling.

    6:15 – 7:00 AM – Side hustle, blog writing or some deep work

    I’ve really enjoyed adding this to the mix the last couple of years. I’ve done everything from setting up an LLC and doing tons of market research around real estate. To starting an Ecommerce drop shipping coffee business called www.connectcoffeecompany.com. I’ve also learned a lot about angel investing through crowdsource funding on platforms like SeedInvest. All of these have opened my eyes to a lot of alternative investing strategies and ways to add additional income streams to my life. Not only do I really enjoy it, I’m learning a ton and helping set up my families financial future.

    I also really like writing and have a goal to write a book one day. Until then I am working on this blog thing to share my experiences in hopes others find value in it as well. Establishing a website on godaddy.com and using their built in WordPress application for blogging has been really easy and a fun experiment. I’ve also played with shooting some short videos on the same topics to post to my YouTube channel and other social platforms. Video editing is something I’d love to learn and get better at it, but it takes a significant amount of time. So I’ve also started using upwork to find a video editor I can work with to create those videos. He’s doing a great job and I’m really enjoyed doing that.

    All of this can be deep work, but sometimes I need to use this time to dive in on some of my “day job” work as well. This quiet time in the morning with my headphones on really being able to focus in on some important work has been really great for me.

    7:00 – 7:30 – Reading, News, Investing (learning time)

    For this block I really like to focus on learning something new. Weather that be market trends, CNBC daily insights, a podcast, book or audio book. Sometimes I like to take this in while walking on the treadmill, but other days I enjoy a nice morning on the patio enjoying nature a bit. I enjoy mixing it up but whatever works for you is value add to your life.

    7:30 – Whenever 🙂

    This time is really focused on my career job. I’m lucky to do something I enjoy that I’m passionate about. I don’t see this as “work” but as something that is making a difference. Whether that be for the Medicare members we serve of the team members I lead, coach and mentor. I enjoy hard work and like everyone, adding value and being appreciated makes all the difference. I also enjoy using my finance degree and MBA to help advance my career and in my day to day. It’s challenging, rewarding and pushes me to be better every single day. I’m thankful for my career so far.

    Wrap up

    I hope you take some insights from my routine and experience with it. I’ve toyed with it over the years to find what works for me. People will tell you that they have it all figured out, their way is the best way. I don’t believe that. I think we all have different situations and have to figure out what works best for us individually and for our families. It can also change as your lifestyle or stage of life changes. I look forward to the day I can have more freedom, play more golf, go fishing more, enjoy the outdoors and all that. But that day will come, enjoy the moment and live each day to the fullest!

  • Top 5 Leadership Insights

    I’ve been very lucky in my career to experience some really great leadership as well as some truly terrible leadership. I believe both help you grow if you see them as learning opportunities and embrace a growth mindset. There is always something to learn whether it be things you would like to model or things you definitely do not want to model. I also know that as important as leadership is to me, I’ve not always shown up as the best leader in all situations. I’ve also read things from people like Gary V about the importance of hiring slow and firing fast. While that may be great advice, wow is it hard!!! After 20+ years of experience either being led or as a leader, here is my top 5.

    #5 – Honesty

    Sometimes being honest is really hard. I have at times struggled with the hard truths, sharing things that people may not want to hear and that may cause uncomfortable situations. As a young leader I wanted to avoid this and felt like “kindness” was how I would avoid these conversations. What I’ve come to appreciate and learn is that kindness is found in the honesty, even if it’s a hard and uncomfortable truth. And although my truth may not be the person you are leadings truth. It is most valuable for all parties to share it and be open and honest about performance and other challenging conversations. The only time better than yesterday to have these conversations is today. Being honest is being kind if you do it right!

    #4 – Be mindful of what you tolerate

    There is a saying, that the fastest way to cause a great employee to disengage is to allow a bad employee to get by with bad behavior. I’ve experienced this first hand as a leader and as an employee. The longer we make excuses for bad behavior or experience excuses made for bad behavior, the harder it is to build and nurture a great culture. I’ve found it’s extremely important to confront bad behavior early and often. Set a standard that this is not welcomed or tolerated. It will be difficult at times but will pay off in the long run!

    #3 – Every team member is different

    One thing I really love about sports, both playing them growing up but also coaching them as my kids grew up is that every person is different. This makes leadership hard but always extremely rewarding. What drives, encourages, engages or motivates one person may be very different from the next. Lazy leadership misses this fact and doesn’t care to take into account that each person has their own needs, desires and goals. As leaders we must know our teams, our associates as people. What makes them tick, what drives them and really work to understand these things so that we can show up in way that is best for them.

    #2 – Intimidation is OUT

    For a long time leaders would often lead out of fear or intimidation tactics. It was the hammer vs. nail approach. The leader was the hammer and the employee was the nail. Those days are long gone and leaders and organizations that fail to pivot will find themselves in a very tough spot soon if not already. Todays job market is extremely tight, top talent has so many options for employment. With remote work becoming more of the norm, even location restrictions are a thing of the past. Leaders that can embrace leading in an engaging and supportive way. By facing situations with curiosity and supporting team members as people helping them to grow and reach their own goals will find a much more trusting and engaged workforce. This leads to lower turnover, higher productivity and overall more business success.

    #1 – Integrity

    Integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” This shows up in many different ways in the workplace. One way that I’ve experienced this many times is showing up the same way in meetings no matter who is in attendance. If it’s the board, the CEO, your boss, your peers or your employees you are the same person with the same message. I’ve experienced leaders playing the political game that is always felt by the organization as a whole. Also, personal conduct matters. Who you are in the office, outside the office and everywhere in between should be an accurate and consistent version of who you are. Similarly, holding people to different standards than you hold yourself to or that senior leaders are held to is a road to failure. No person should is every so important that they get by with low integrity behavior.

    I share all of these because leadership is something I am very passionate about and find great joy in while constantly learning and growing. Helping others and an organizations mission to succeed, grow and prosper is something I find as a calling. All of the above can be areas of failure, all of the above will go through seasons but if we learned anything from “Good to Great” and the history lessons of business, it’s that leadership and embracing the value of it along with a growth mindset is required for long term success. It takes real leadership to focus on these things at ALL levels of an organization to truly make a difference. People are often afraid to speak up, afraid to share their truth and their experiences. Create a culture where that is expected and rewarded where people feel safe. It’s been well documented that culture eats strategy for breakfast. And culture starts with and ends with LEADERSHIP.