Three tiny guardrails changed everything.
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
By Jeanette Brown
I didn't set out to "biohack" my 60s. I wanted steadier mornings, fewer reactivity regrets, and enough energy to serve clients without feeling wrung out at 8 p.m. After a tough caregiving season and a year of migraines, I rebuilt my days around a simple idea: treat the nervous system like a business asset. When it's calm and well-slept, decisions are cleaner, relationships warmer, and work lands faster. When it's overloaded, even brilliant strategy skids.
Three tiny guardrails changed everything.
First, light before caffeine. The moment I wake, I go outside for 12-15 minutes - balcony, sidewalk, par. One importnat thing is that I have no sunglasses on unless it's painfully bright. That morning light anchors circadian rhythm and drops the noise in my head. Only after that do I make coffee. Within two weeks, my midafternoon crash eased, sleep arrived when it should, and my focus blocks felt like a lane, not a battle.
Second, a 10-minute close at day's end. I set a timer, tie off any two-minute loose ends, write tomorrow's top three on an index card, stage the first step (open the doc, paste the link), shut the laptop, and plug my phone to charge outside the bedroom. It's boring on purpose. The ritual tells my body "we're done," so my evening belongs to me, not my inbox.
Third, a 24-hour repair rule for friction. If a launch wobbles or a conversation lands badly, I circle back within a day: name the impact, take responsibility, offer a concrete remedy. It keeps stress from lingering in the tissues; the body doesn't have to hold unfinished business.
Those habits only stick inside a sane container, so I use a calendar that protects them. One urgent lane with a clear response window; everything else batched twice daily. Two 90-minute focus blocks that match my real energy (late morning, midafternoon). I cap live sessions at three groups a week, keep Wednesdays quiet for thinking, and book a one-week reset every eighth week—on the calendar like a client so I can't negotiate with myself.
Travel tries to break routines, so I keep a portable version. I call it the first-hour anchor: after landing, I walk in daylight for 25-30 minutes and eat a warm, savory meal on local time before I look at email. That single hour, light plus food, moves jet lag out of my bones. It's not glamorous. It works.
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