Riley LeSueur

Husband & Dad

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@Cernovich What's a book that has influenced your philosophy on parenting?

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@zachmelloh26 Roth IRAs / power of compound interest.

One of my biggest regrets is making pretty good money for a high school kid and not investing any of it.

Wasn't raised in a financially literate house, wish I would have been taught back then.

[Dickie Bush 🚢 @dickiebush]

Here’s a full, in-depth breakdown of my daily routine during intense working periods (after years of experimentation):

[5 AM to 11 AM] Morning priming and deep work

I start my day early for two reasons:

• I enjoy the morning quiet
• It's when I think best

First thing I do is a quick 10-minute “priming” with some light mobility. Nothing fancy here, just calling to mind some things I’m grateful for, visualizing myself going about the day, and getting the blood flowing.

Then, I dive straight into some deep work.

This is typically writing, building, reflecting, or strategizing. The early morning is by far my most creative and focused time of the day so I try to capitalize on it.

A few high-level notes on this 6-hour window:

• I don’t use an alarm to shriek myself awake at 5 AM. I use a “dawn simulator” that slowly brightens the room and gently wakes me up. Easily the best $100 purchase I’ve made for waking up in a good state.
• I fast during the morning until 11 AM. No real reason other than it’s one less decision and I feel more focused. Electrolytes, sparkling water, and espresso (with the occasional cappuccino if I’m feeling dainty)
• I have social media / messages / Slack disabled during this time. I go out of my way to protect my morning attention because I know how valuable this time is when compounded over the long run.
• I typically have one 90-minute work block, then two 60-minute work blocks for a total of 3.5 hours of work. Not every day is this productive, but it’s always the standard I am trying to meet. I break up these work blocks with a walk between coffee shops or around the block.

Last and most important note on this block:

I plan the next day’s morning work before I let in all of the other distractions of the day. Just a few bullet points outlining what I want to work on next so I can start the next morning with momentum.

[11 AM to Noon] Breakfast, messaging, admin

I break my fast around 11 AM with 6 eggs & some lean protein (zero carbs). This keeps my energy stable throughout the rest of the afternoon.

While I wait for my breakfast, I’ll open up my phone and do one big message sweep.

• Slack
• iMessage
• WhatsApp
• Social media DMs

My goal here is to capture all of the open loops that greeted me into one long list for me to work on later.

Other than quick responses that take less than a minute, I try to avoid “solving” anything during this time. I’m just trying to get a lay of the land for where my attention needs to go in the business for the rest of the day.

An important lesson I’ve learned on this period:

Checking these loops at 11 AM is no different than 7 AM—except I get 3 hours of deep work done.

Very rarely do I find a message that I needed to urgently respond to earlier in the day.

I’ve designed our team communication around everyone shutting loops at the *end* of the day that guarantee they can work heads-down in the morning, just like I do.

[Noon to 3 PM] Meetings & calls

I keep 12 to 3 blocked for meetings & calls (and only on Monday to Thursday).

A list of activities that fall during this time:

• Video filming
• Employee 1:1s
• Team meetings
• Project updates
• Vendor meetings
• Group training calls
• Catch-ups with friends
• Guest podcast appearances

Anything I know will be more efficiently discussed with a group gets thrown into this slot.

A few notes on meetings & calls:

• 40-minute and 20-minute meetings ONLY. I have a Calendly that books only these two types of meetings. This allows me to most efficiently use these 3 hours. 30-minute and 60-minute meetings are wastes of time. Every 30-minute meeting could be 20 and every 60-minute meeting could be 40.
• There is always a way to efficiently use this time. Having this “container” for meetings has opened my mind to all the ways I could fill it. Coaching my team with a quick huddle, reaching out to someone new and jumping on a walking call, giving my mom a ring, etc. I used to despise meetings because they would crush an entire day for me, but having them all batched over 3 hours has changed my mind about them.

[3:30 PM to 5:30 PM] Athletic training

At this point in the day, I’m wiped intellectually, but energized physically.

So I save my training for this part of the day, always blocking 2 hours to do something.

Right now, I’m lifting 3x per week and doing yoga/Pilates 3x per week. But it’s always one of the following activities:

• Yoga
• Lifting
• Pilates
• Boxing
• Jiu-jitsu
• Long walks
• Physical therapy

I schedule everything I do “actively” during the week into this block.

Again, it creates a container that I have to fill in some way with exercise (and I go out of my way to protect this time).

Also, gyms are empty at this time before the average person gets off work. The only other people in there are those in complete control of their calendar, who I enjoy getting to meet and connect with.

[5:30 PM to 6:30 PM] Closing work loops

Post training, I keep an hour “buffer” to log back into my phone / laptop and shut the day down.

I like to do this in a different environment than the one I take meetings or do deep work.

It’s subtle, but this is usually a “boring” hour of admin work. So sitting outside and watching the sunset with a fat, ice-cold bottle of San Pellegrino makes it much more enjoyable.

Once those loops are closed, I “log out” of work by leaving my laptop & work phone in our studio which is downstairs of my apartment. This prevents me from constantly checking Slack/social media at the end of the day when I’m looking to wind down.

[6:30 to 9:30] Eat dinner, wind down, read in bed and fall asleep

Not much interesting going on here.

I pick up dinner from a healthy bowl spot & post up outside to let my brain destimulate.

Then, I’ll take a walk around the block before I head upstairs to shut down the day.

Shutting down the day involves:

• Completing my “EOD survey” to distill what happened and what I learned
• Showering/taking supplements/prepping my stuff for the next day
• Mobility & foam rolling
• Reading in bed

Then, I wake up the next morning and do it all over again.

To recap, from Monday-Thursday I operate like this:

• 5 AM to 11 AM: Deep Work
• 11 AM to Noon: Breakfast & admin
• Noon to 3 PM: Meetings & calls
• 3 PM to 5:30 PM: Training
• 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM: EOD admin
• 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM: Dinner & shut down

When the weekend rolls around, the only real change is I don’t take any meetings.

Mornings stay pretty much the exact same and I move my training block to the afternoon. Then, I’ll spend the rest of the day doing whatever social activities I’m feeling. I don’t “take days off” because I’m living the exact life I want to live. “Taking a day off” to me would be doing things I don’t want to do, which doesn’t make much sense.

Another important nuance: this routine is what works for me in my current situation.

Take the parts that work for you and discard the absurd parts that don’t.

Thanks for reading and I hope you found this valuable.

Hit me with any questions or takeaways in the replies—I’ll read & reply to every one of them ✊

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@dickiebush Dedicating mornings for deep work and being strict about no meetings until the afternoon has been an absolute game changer for me.

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@BarretNobelFit Excited to be in the group💪

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@LeadershipAcad1 100%

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@endaomentdotorg @0xcryptotax @Giveth @StoutAdvisory Thank you! Charitable Solutions was on my radar, I will reach out.

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@0xcryptotax @endaomentdotorg @Giveth Thanks! Keep in touch when you get accredited I can send a lot of business your way.

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@jmventurelog Amen to that.

I owned a mobile auto detailing business for 6 years and it was great exploring parts of town I had never been to and finding hole in the wall restaurants.

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@TheJacobTurner Great post. It’s eye opening to see how much athletes save in taxes when traded to a team in a state with no income tax. Eg. Chris Paul saving ~$15m when he went to Houston.

[Kieran Drew @ItsKieranDrew]

Most people suck at writing.

But if you use these 10 writing secrets, I guarantee you won’t:

🧵

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@ItsKieranDrew Great to thread!

[Riley LeSueur @rileylesueur]

@financialgirl @ForbesFinanceCl Great article! Using DAFs to separate the timing of the tax deduction from when the funds are deployed to charity helps clients optimize their tax strategy AND their philanthropy. It’s a win for clients and the charities.