Hey, everyone. Welcome back to The Test Lab. I am your host Jazmine Reed-Clark.

And this is the space where I take on different challenges to live a healthier, more budget friendly lifestyle. And in today's episode, I am tackling the Billionaire's Morning Routine. If you're unfamiliar, no problem.

Let me fill you in. According to online sources, Elon Musk along with other people who have a lot of money, hire a brain coach because that's a thing, to optimize their AM hours in the name of productivity, efficiency, and a morning routine. So I am tackling that.

Now a fun little thing that we are throwing into the mix is I recently started a new full time job as a campus recruiter. So I am doing this up against a completely normal 8:00 to 5:00 routine. So before doing any spoilers, let me know in the comments below, do you think a billionaire's morning routine is realistic for a not even millionaire, like 1,000, like barely in the double digits thousandaire.

OK, great, all right, excited to see what you guys think. All right, let's go. So you may be curious what is the Billionaire Morning Routine.

So happy you asked. First, of course, you want to wake up early. After that, you are going to recall your dreams and make up your bed.

After your bed is made and tidy, you're going to drink a tall glass of water. Take some vitamins and probiotics. And move into your breathing exercise.

When you're done with your breathing exercise, take one to two minutes of movement. Take a cold shower. And begin your normal morning routine.

So getting dressed putting on makeup and making your morning tea. When you're done with tea, you are going to move into writing in your journal about everyday life. But that will be followed up by a to do list, a to feel list, and a to be list.

And rounding out your morning routine is reading for 20 to 30 minutes, making a smoothie, and finally, starting your day. It is the night before my first day of this Billionaire Morning Routine challenge. And I did a little bit of math.

I wrote down everything I have to do, how long I think it's going to take. I do have the added challenge that my New Year's resolution is training for a 10K. So tomorrow, I need to get my training in just because of when the light is out.

So I have to wake up 3 three hours early tomorrow. Now typically, it'd be more like two. But I still think that's ridiculous.

But yeah, and it's already 7:30. So I need to go to sleep in like a minute. So see you guys at around 5 AM. [MUSIC PLAYING] OK, I have woken up so step one is we're calling my dreams.

And I typically have pretty vivid dreams. But I only remember the last part. And I was just like in our old neighborhood.

And I was just taking the trash out. Id on't know. Maybe that just means I need to get rid of the trash in my life.

But I'm going to write it down and move on to the next step. Truthfully, I have already failed at this challenge because if I'm going to get up this early, and it's also during wintertime. So it's like cold outside.

I need coffee. So I'm back in bed, drinking some coffee. I'm realizing that must be why I'm not a billionaire.

I make concessions. And Elon Musk, he doesn't. [MUSIC PLAYING] I know walking your own dog is not a part of the Billionaire Routine. But we've got to make modifications.

All right, next up is drinking water and taking vitamins. [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, just got done with my cold shower. Hence, the Whoville hair. So not as bad as I was expecting.

Not too bad. OK, I just did it slightly below lukewarm. But I had to do it out of order because my husband's got to get in the shower.

So now I get to do my breathing exercise and one to two minutes of movement. [MUSIC PLAYING] That was very intense. I was not expecting it to be that intense. [MUSIC PLAYING] Breathing exercise, horrible. Doing squats for two minutes actually feels great.

Next up, I need to put some tea on the stove and then go ahead and get dressed. I have about 20 minutes. I'm already behind.

Yes, that is my bad. But we're going to power through. So here's my tea.

I did a green tea. And I won't have time to do a smoothie. So I thought a protein shake was the best alternative.

Yet again, I needed to do a little modification. I am running really low on time. I won't have time to do the full morning routine.

But while my tea was on the stove, I went ahead and did my to do, to feel, and to be list. And I can go ahead and put that up right here. Now I'm going to get dressed, put my makeup on.

But I got to be honest, this doesn't really seem possible. I got up early, too. But I have other responsibilities, like my dog and my own physical health.

But I will try again tomorrow. I'll get up even earlier. [MUSIC PLAYING] All right, it is currently 4:15. I'm going to try to do this routine again, except earlier.

So I have to head over to some training in for the 10k I'm training for. OK, I'm feeling good. It's 4:15 in the morning.

But this better work.  It is exactly 6:00. I try to be at my work desk at 8:00. So we have exactly two hours to make this happen.

So let's go. [MUSIC PLAYING] I am dressed for the day. I just made my tea. So now I need to write in a journal, write a to do list, a to feel list, and to be list.  All right, next is my reading time.

And this is what I'm currently reading, Codependent No More. 10 out of 10. Now I have my smoothie. The final step, peaches.

And I don't know, like a medley of fruit. But mostly, peaches. And three minutes to spare.  Today is Wednesday.

And I have technically woken up late. It's a little after 6:00. So because I am strapped on time, I am going to pick and choose parts of the Billionaire Morning Routine and do the Millionaire Morning Routine.

And I'll do the things that have actually had an impact on me throughout the day, the things I thought back and was like, oh, I'm actually like really happy I did that this morning. So I'll take you through that. We're going to save time.

And we're still going to get a lot done. So first up, staying in bed. But I will drink the water.

That actually really does help. Then I read. And coffee instead of tea.

The last thing I will do, some movement. Then I'm going to get in the shower, cold showers. Those did help.

So I'll do one of those. Then get ready. And then start my day.

I can honestly feel the effects of not having done the morning routine-- not because I think there's like magic sauce in that morning routine. Moreso, I lacked intention with it. I was like, OK, here's what I want to do.

So I am righting my wrongs, making the smoothie I didn't make this morning. And OK, I can admit it. There is something to getting movement and feeling accomplished before I start my workday that just helps me stay in a more focused mindset.

So I will try again tomorrow.  All right, for Thursday's update, I did almost all of the routine. The only thing I didn't get to was the reading. Don't really feel that bad about that.

I mean, I like to read at night more, anyway.  All right, it is Friday. I am in my chair on time. And I was able to get everything done.

But I think it was because I was able to rely on my spouse to take our dog on his long walk. But I want to talk about that more in my reflections. But for now, got it done.

Sitting down. And ready for the final day of the workweek.  All right, the week is over. The challenge is done.

Here's what I felt was the most effective or beneficial to my well-being. Getting a little bit of movement. Maybe not necessarily writing in a journal, but just being more mindful about how I want to feel and what I want to do that day, the goals I want to accomplish.

And finally, yes, as much as I do not want to admit this, making up my bed does make a huge difference. But after this, I want to talk about some of the reflections I had through the week. I journaled about how I was feeling and some of the different revelations I had or different reminders I had during this challenge.

The first and the most prominent being that time is a luxury now. That's not to say that you should put all of your stock or none of your stock into time. However, I do believe that it is more valuable of a currency than money is.

And this was only proved, having to spend somewhere between 90 to 120 minutes in the morning, just proved to me the different sacrifices that come with being productive and a part of hustle culture or being the best version of you in a capitalist society. For me, personally, that meant sacrificing time with loved ones, my dog, and my husband, but also time with myself. So it just proved to me that time is a luxury.

And it should be spent with so much intention, more so than we do with money. The next revelation that I had was something that honestly I'm not having to confront on a regular basis. But I'm sure many of my friends and TFG viewers do, which is having a support system is a privilege.

Now for me, in order to get some parts of this morning routine challenge done, I relied on my husband to take our dog out for a walk, feed our dog. And that is like this big compared to those who have children or other responsibilities outside of children. So I thought it was a really humbling and sobering reminder that actually, we don't have as many hours in a day as Beyonce because we don't have as many assistants or nannies.

And really, we are all just doing our best. And it's a privilege to have support and to have help and to have people who even give a damn about our mental well-being and everything that we are trying to accomplish. The final observation that I made this week was do what honestly relates back to your goals.

So I know for some this billionaire challenge wouldn't even be hard or difficult. But what I learned or what I'm walking away with Isn't that I want to incorporate all of these components into my morning routine, but rather, where can I do things that are multi-functional. I was able to inspire my husband to get up early.

So now we can actually enjoy our coffee together and get our movement in together without feeling like we have to sacrifice the time and quality time that we spend with one another. I also realized that I really enjoy reading, not necessarily in the morning before. I have to read a crap ton of emails.

But it made me realize I want to be more intentional with my nighttime routine and have that be a part of my daily routine. So what I'm ultimately walking away with is time is a luxury. Being intentional with the time that we do take and to never take our support system for granted.

Because ultimately, it is a privilege. With that said, I am Jazmine Reed-Clark for The Financial Diet. This is The Test Lab.

Let me know what challenge you would love to see me take on next. And I will see you guys in my next video. Bye.