The Hours that Feel Like Home
28 Days of Asking: Day 6
I was up before 5 this morning. Dark outside. No coffee. Just out the door and into the car while the roads were still empty, headlights cutting through the last bit of night.
My morning gym meet time was 6:45. I got there at 6:20 because there was no traffic to fight. The gym was quiet. I hit the sauna. Then the plunge. I was ready for the day.
Nathan showed up and we got to it: 4x4 intervals. Four minutes of effort, heart rate climbing, extremities burning. Four minutes of active recovery, just enough to catch our breath before the next round. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
By 7:30 am, I was in go mode.
I went straight to my healthcare breakfast salon—a room full of people trying to make sense of AI in medicine. Complex conversations. No easy answers. Good contacts, interesting ideas, the kind of morning that fills the tank in my head and heart.
Now it’s Friday afternoon. Most of my calls done. Winding down. Ready for the weekend with my boys. And I’m noticing something.
Day 6: What time of day do I feel most like myself?
There are hours when I’m performing. Managing energy. Choosing words carefully. Showing up as the version of me that fits the room (adaptability is my second trait on the Clifton’s Top 5). It’s not fake, it’s just not the whole enchilada.
The whole thing showed up earlier. In the heat of the sauna. In the shock of the cold. In the effort on the rower when there was nothing to think about except the next minute.
That’s when I feel most like myself. Not productive-me or networking-me or dad-me. Just me. Before the world starts asking things of me. Before I’m responding to anything. Raw and awake in a way that has nothing to do with caffeine.
Last night was a slow unwrapping of a productive day. No rush. Just letting the hours settle. The other window (of less noise)—late evening, when the doing is done and there’s nothing left to prove.
Maybe we only get two windows. Beginning and end. Bookends where the performance drops.
Here’s what I’m sitting with today: What time of day do I feel most like myself? When does the costume come off—not because I’m hiding something, but because I’m not managing anything? And what’s different about those hours?
Is there a window where you feel more like yourself than others? Morning? Night? Mid-run? Mid-conversation? When do you stop performing and just exist?
