Before Jay Shetty became one of the most followed motivational voices on the planet — before the bestselling books, the podcast with billions of downloads, the wedding officiation for his close friends Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez — he was a monk. He lived in an ashram in India, woke before dawn, and followed a daily discipline most people would consider extreme.
When Shetty sat down with Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO, he didn't talk about morning routines in the superficial way most influencers do. He went deep into the why behind each practice, the neuroscience supporting it, and — most importantly — how anyone can adapt monk-level discipline to a normal, busy life.
Here's every actionable takeaway from that conversation, broken down so you can start tomorrow morning.
Shetty's core argument is that your morning doesn't just set the tone for your day — it sets the tone for your life. The first thoughts you think, the first inputs you consume, and the first actions you take each morning compound over weeks, months, and years into the person you become.
"The way you start your morning is the way you start your life. Not metaphorically — literally. Those first 60 minutes are when your brain is most impressionable, most open, most programmable. Whatever you feed it, it will run that programme all day."
— Jay Shetty, Author of Think Like a Monk
This isn't just motivational fluff. Research on cortisol awakening response (CAR) confirms that the brain is in a unique neurochemical state in the first 30-60 minutes after waking — more suggestible, more emotionally reactive, and more prone to establishing default thought patterns for the rest of the day.
Shetty wakes between 5:00 and 6:00 AM — not because there's something magical about early rising, but because those quiet hours before the world demands your attention are the only time that truly belongs to you.
"You don't have to wake up at 5 AM," he clarified on the podcast. "You have to wake up before your responsibilities do. If your kids wake at 7, get up at 6. If your first meeting is at 9, get up at 7:30. The point is creating a window where no one needs anything from you."
Actionable takeaway: Set your alarm 60 minutes before your first obligation. Non-negotiable. This is your protected time.
Before meditation, before journaling, before water or coffee — Shetty does breathwork. Specifically, he practises a technique from his monk training: four counts in, hold for four, four counts out, hold for four (box breathing). He does this for approximately 10 minutes.
"Your breath is the remote control for your nervous system. Most people wake up and immediately reach for their phone, which is like plugging into anxiety before your feet even hit the floor. Breathwork does the opposite — it tells your body: you're safe, you're calm, you're in control."
— Jay Shetty, Author of Think Like a Monk
Actionable takeaway: Before you touch your phone, sit up in bed and do 5-10 minutes of box breathing. Four counts in, hold four, out four, hold four. Repeat. That's it.
Shetty meditates for 20 minutes every morning, but he was quick to demystify the practice. "Meditation is not about emptying your mind," he told Bartlett. "It's about observing your mind. You're not trying to think nothing — you're trying to notice what you're thinking without getting dragged into it."
He uses a simple mantra-based technique: silently repeating a single word or phrase to anchor attention. When the mind wanders — which it will, constantly — you gently return to the mantra. No judgement. No frustration. Just return.
Actionable takeaway: Start with 10 minutes. Pick a word — "calm," "peace," "here" — and repeat it silently. When your mind wanders, come back. That's the entire practice. Use an app like Insight Timer if you need a bell.
Shetty journals every morning, but not in the way most self-help advice suggests. Instead of listing three things he's grateful for (which he says becomes mechanical and meaningless within weeks), he uses a three-part framework:
"Gratitude only works if it's specific and slightly uncomfortable. If you're writing the same three things every day, you're not practising gratitude — you're filling out a form."
— Jay Shetty, Author of Think Like a Monk
Actionable takeaway: Get a physical notebook. Each morning, write one taken-for-granted blessing, one yesterday moment, and one person appreciation. Takes five minutes. Changes everything.
Shetty doesn't do intense workouts in the morning. He walks, stretches, or does light yoga. His reasoning: the morning is for the mind. Heavy exercise floods your system with cortisol and adrenaline, which can actually undermine the calm, centred state you just created.
"Save the hard workout for the afternoon," he said. "Morning movement should feel like you're waking your body up, not punishing it."
Actionable takeaway: A 20-minute walk outside or a simple yoga flow. No earbuds, no podcast. Just you and the movement.
The final piece of Shetty's routine is consuming something intentionally educational — reading a book, listening to a specific podcast episode, or reviewing his notes from a course he's taking. The key word is intentional. Not scrolling, not browsing, not passively absorbing whatever the algorithm serves.
"The difference between learning and consuming is intention," Shetty explained. "When you read a chapter of a book you chose, you're investing. When you scroll Twitter, you're being spent."
Actionable takeaway: Read 10-15 pages of a non-fiction book each morning. Highlight one idea. Write it in your journal. Done.
If there's one rule that ties Shetty's entire routine together, it's this: no phone for the first 60 minutes after waking. No email, no social media, no news, no messages. The phone stays in another room, on airplane mode, or simply untouched.
"The moment you check your phone, you hand your agenda to someone else. Every notification is someone else's priority. Your morning is the one time where your priorities come first. Protect it like your life depends on it — because your mental health does."
— Jay Shetty, Author of Think Like a Monk
Bartlett admitted on the episode that this was the habit he struggled with most. Shetty's response: "That's exactly why it's the most important one. The thing you resist most is usually the thing you need most."
Shetty acknowledged that going from no routine to a 90-minute monk morning is unrealistic — and counterproductive. His advice for beginners:
"Build the habit first," Shetty said. "The duration doesn't matter. The consistency does. Five minutes every day beats 60 minutes once a week."
In a world of AI overload, infinite scrolling, and chronic burnout, Shetty's message is both ancient and urgent: the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your attention. And the quality of your attention is determined by how you start each day.
This wasn't a conversation about productivity hacks or morning routines that look good on Instagram. It was about building a relationship with your own mind — starting with the first hour of every day.
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