I try a week of Twitter founder’s daily routine: 5AM meditations, 7-min workouts, 1 meal/day
Ask someone who’s the head honcho of Twitter nowadays and you’ll likely hear “Elon Musk”. But long before he was the first name to come to mind, Jack Dorsey had been the best fit for that role.
Dorsey is the co-founder of Twitter and the ex-CEO of it too, but now his main hat is the CEO of Block Inc (previously and more popularly known as Square), another company he co-founded.
Regardless, we’re not here to talk about his many accomplishments, but rather, his daily routine.
I’ve tried quite a few (three) morning routines by the uber-rich and entrepreneurially successful in the past, but Dorsey’s was, by far, the most daunting.
Keep reading and you’ll know why.
5AM: Up and at ‘em
Over the years, there have been many differing accounts of what time Jack Dorsey wakes up, but that’s because he himself has changed things up over time.
The latest source is from 2019, when Dorsey was on a podcast with Ben Green. Here, he shared that he had adjusted his morning routine to wake up at 6:15AM.
However, the most popular answer online—and the most eye-catching one, I suppose—was that the entrepreneur wakes up at 5AM.
To challenge myself, I decided to go for the 5AM wake-up call too.
I failed this on the first day, which was disappointing, but not entirely surprising. I’ve grown so used to snoozing my alarm that I don’t realise I’ve gotten out of bed to get my phone from the charging station until I officially wake up at 7:30AM.
To mitigate this, I changed my alarm ringtone to one of dogs barking to scare myself awake. Pro tip.
Waking up at 5AM at times feels like an out-of-body experience. Why am I doing this, I wondered. What is it all for?
Well. For this article, I suppose.
5:30AM: Zen time (but not really)
You might think that meditation is calming, but have you ever tried sitting criss-cross applesauce for an hour straight, with no lumbar support, trying to “clear your mind” and “focus on your breathing”?
You read that right. An HOUR of meditation.
Dorsey used to meditate for way shorter, at 30 minutes, but this hour of meditation just felt non-negotiable considering how into it the Twitter co-founder is. The man has gone on 10-day detoxes where he meditates nearly the whole day away.
Admittedly, I tend to either fall asleep or just zone out completely in daydreams while doing this morning meditation, especially when I opt to lie down instead of sit up.
Have I managed to find nirvana during this practice? Unfortunately, no, I don’t think I have. (I mean, has Jack Dorsey?)
6:30AM: Seven-minute workout, times three
After my meditation comes the seven-minute workout. A concept popularised by The New York Times, Dorsey uses an app called Seven which has a plethora of seven-minute workout routines.
Downloading the app, I am offered an annual subscription at RM79.90. Thankfully, I was given a seven-day free trial of the app, which I gladly accepted.
The app was actually one of my most favourite things about this routine. Most of the workouts were easy to follow, and the seven-minute format makes things feel a bit more digestible.
The app would pick out routines for me, such as Full Body, Calorie Burn, Low Impact, and Bikini Body. Instead of doing the same routine thrice, I picked out a few others to try such as Yogalates, Yoga Stretch, Quick Starter, Belly Burn, and more.
7AM: Icy-cold shower
Usually, Jack Dorsey first goes for a sauna session using something called SaunaSpace, which was interestingly devised in Columbia, Missouri, where I studied (Dorsey is also from Missouri himself).
Sadly, I do not have a sauna barrel like he does, so I just skip right to the exciting ice-cold shower he takes right after. His barrel also chills to around 3 degrees Celsius, but I can barely make enough ice for my usual iced coffee, so a cold, cold shower will have to do.
And trust me, it was already shocking enough being smacked by cold water that I suspect is around 10 to 15 degrees moments after a workout.
I’ve talked about hating showering in the morning before because of the humid feeling it leaves me with, so I think the extreme cold showers help with keeping the humidity low.
7:30AM: Let’s get caffeinated
After the cold shower, it’s time for coffee. To be fair, he doesn’t say whether this is an explicit part of his morning routine, but I don’t think I can make it out of a day that started at 5AM without having some coffee in my system.
To be fair, I did check for whether or not he’s even a coffee person, and judging by responses he’s given during an AMA session on Product Hunt, it’s safe to say he does (or did) drink coffee.
8AM: Leave for the office
Now, Dorsey usually does something crazy, like walk a whole hour (five miles) to work.
Not to make excuses for myself, but due to a combination of Malaysia’s sweltering heat, our underdeveloped pedestrian system, and the fact that it would take me three whole hours to get there, I chose to not do that.
However, my usual commute does involve around 20 minutes of walking (and 30 minutes of standing on the LRT), so that’s good enough for me.
9AM: Work begins
Work actually starts at 9:30 for me, so I opted to spend my first half an hour in the office doing random tasks such as caring for our office foster cat, Cocoa (who is up for adoption at the time of writing, by the way).
Dorsey’s work life, like his personal life, is very structured, and he has mentioned that his days are themed.
So, Tuesday is for product, engineering, and design. Wednesday is marketing, growth, and communications. Thursday is partnership and developers. Friday is company and culture.
Basically, his days are 24-hour blocked. Since my job scope is a “little” different, I wasn’t able to put this into practice.
12:30: Working through lunch
Dorsey practices the One Meal a Day (OMAD) lifestyle, which is basically a kind of intermittent fasting. I’ve tried these diets in the past, but as a foodie, this was one of the least fun parts of the routine.
For my mental well-being, I still took a small break around lunchtime as I watched my colleagues all leave. On some days I also opted to consume something small, whether it be a drink or a meal replacement from a homegrown brand I’ve reviewed in the past, Oatler.
Honestly, it wasn’t so much the food or hunger that got to me, but the fact that I wasn’t able to connect with my colleagues. Lunch isn’t just a time to nourish the stomach, but to nourish your social needs, too.
So, on one of my work days, I actually opted to eat lunch instead of dinner, and I actually much preferred that.
7:30PM: The one meal of the day
After clocking out at 6:30, I make my way back home.
Dorsey shares that dinner is usually “a really big meal” with a lot of protein and greens. He never explicitly said that he doesn’t eat carbs, but I’m assuming it’s not a major food group for him.
So, for the bulk of the work week, my dear sister would prepare some protein and vegetable-heavy dishes such as salads, which I actually really enjoyed. Thanks, sister!
9PM: Another cold shower and meditation session
Dorsey takes all his showers cold, so after another painfully icy time in the bathroom, I would settle down to do my second hour of meditation.
The night meditations were a lot less sleepy than the morning ones, but admittedly, I still couldn’t stay focused for the full hour as I would start to get restless. In my opinion, a short 10 to 15-minute meditation would have sufficed.
10PM: Digital journaling
Dorsey shared that he has been journaling since he was 14, a habit he tries to cultivate daily as he’s wrapping up the day.
He uses the Notes app on the iPhone, since it’s very searchable and accessible. I did the same, taking down random notes like things I have to accomplish the next day, or ideas that popped up in my head during the meditation (which seems counterintuitive, but oh well).
11PM: Lights out
By 11, any energy reserves I had been desperately holding on to would be completely gone. I usually fall asleep very easily anyways, but the sleepiness or fatigue usually isn’t as intense as it was during this week.
-//-
Dorsey is a man of discipline and structure, and his morning routine is a reflection of that. It’s not just a morning routine that he happens to have, but one he has tailored, trimmed, and perfected over time. It has been intentionally designed to support his lifestyle and wants.
Due to our differences in lifestyles then, there were elements of the experience I liked, such as the Seven app, and ones that I really despised, AKA the hour-long meditation.
Meditating for an hour is largely just not worthwhile for me, and a 10-minute guided meditation is much more reasonable.
While the OMAD diet wasn’t as bad as I imagined, I’m reminded about how much I love having lunch with my colleagues, so if I ever do want to try out intermittent fasting again, I would not choose lunch to skip.
I think perhaps for a leader like Dorsey, being somewhat of a lone wolf is doable, but for me, whose work life heavily involves my teammates, missing out on lunch with them somehow felt… sadder.
The biggest surprise was how energised I was even waking at 5. The endorphins from the workout and the icy bite of the shower were some of the highlights of my days, and they might just be habits I’ll try to cultivate.
- Read more articles in this morning routine series here.
- Read more articles we’ve written about entrepreneurs here.
Also Read: Role-play as Friends characters & gossip over endless coffee at this coworking pop-up in KL
Featured Image Credit: Jack Dorsey / Vulcan Post
Magic: The Gathering’s Lord of the Rings set – what we know so far
Fans of Magic The Gathering is treated with another brand crossover in its upcoming Beyond The Universe set, and this time from the mega IP Lord of the Rings.
With Wizard’s most recent video stream, here are some of the details we have gathered so far for the upcoming Lord Of The Rings: Tales Of Middle-earth set.
On flavour with Lord of the Ring, there is a new mechanic called “The Ring Tempts You” which will be introduced to the game.
Whenever a player uses a card that includes the phrase “the Ring tempts you,” that player immediately places The Ring emblem (above) into play. The emblem contains four abilities, which are listed below:
- Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.
- Whenever your Ring-bearer attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.
- Whenever your Ring-bearer becomes blocked by a creature, that creature’s controller sacrifices it at the end of combat.
- Whenever your Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player, each opponent loses 3 life.
On top of the new mechanic, players will also see the following returning mechanics:
- Amass, which lets a player create a creature token and power it up every time a card reads “Amass X.” In this new set, cards will allow players to amass Orc Army tokens.
- Sagas, which are enchantments that have one action when they enter the battlefield, and then during the controlling’s players upkeep, they gain a lore counter and perform another action. Once all actions on the card have been completed, the Saga is sacrificed.
These are also some of the characters which will be included in Magic’s Lord of the Rings set:
- Gandalf the Grey
- Gandalf the White
- Frodo Baggins
- Samwise Gamgee
- Aragon
- Arwen
- Gollum
- Sauron
- Radagast the Brown
- Tom Bombadil
- Faramir
- Èowyn
- Balrog
- Boromir
- Nazgûl
- Merry
- Pippin
- Rosie
- Gimli
- Galadriel
- Legolas
- Gothmog
- The Witch-King
Cards we are excited about
Of course, our favourite part, cherry picking which cards are our personal favourites. While the previews of the cards just begun today, these are some of the cards previewed which caught our attention:
The full gallery of the set for the cards previewed so far can be found on Wizards of the Coast’s gallery page.
If you are a fan of Magic: The Gathering, or of Lord of the Ring and trying to learn MTG, this new set is definitely a great place to start. Here are some important dates to note:
- Card Previews: May 30-June 9
- Commander Previews and Decklists: June 8
- Complete Card Image Galleries: June 9
- In-Store Prerelease Events: June 16-22
- MTG Arena Digital Release: June 20
- Global Tabletop Release: June 23
- Launch Party Events: June 23-25
- Bundle: Gift Edition Release: July 7
- In-Store Celebration Events: July 7-9
Pre-release events are also opened for sign up in local game stores around in Singapore.
Also Read: A first look at MTG’s brand new set March of the Machine
I Love Yoo! made 5-figure profits in its first month, here’s how it went on to go global
There are many reasons why yoo tiao (or you tiao or cakoi) is popular in Malaysia. There’s just something about the airy, crispy, slightly greasy, and fried snack that many of us can’t get enough of, I believe.
Commonly found at roadside stalls in morning and night markets, one brand set off to innovate how yoo tiao was sold by making it available in our shopping malls.
I Love Yoo! was created in 2007 by a couple of co-founders who launched the first outlet at the Food Republic at Pavilion, Bukit Bintang.
An iconic piece of fried dough
Yoo tiao, also known as Chinese doughnuts, have long been part of daily life in China and have a rich tradition in Chinese culture.
According to legend, there was a traitor named Qin Hui who orchestrated a plot to frame a celebrated and patriotic general named Yue Fei.
The story goes on to say that grieving and angry people made two human-shaped pieces of dough representing Qin Hui and his wife, and fried them in boiling oil.
Later this representation evolved into two pieces of dough joined in the middle, which is how yoo tiao is made today.
The founders had apparently been inspired after they realised that some traditional Chinese favourites were in the midst of being forgotten.
In a 2019 interview with Sihat Malaysia, Gian Lim, who is one of its co-founders, said, “We are the first ones to bring this snack into shopping malls to have a better, hygienic, safe, and comfortable dining area for customers to enjoy our food.”
Meanwhile, co-founder Jeffrey Leong shared, “The management was looking for vendors to sell fried snacks, so we went in, and the rest is history.”
Leong was in the film industry for 18 years before he ventured into F&B, but has had previous experience running a food court, AsiaOne reported.
Knowing next to nothing about preparing yoo tiao, Leong and Lim did on-ground market research by visiting traders at famous street food spots. But it didn’t work out the way they had hoped for.
“None of the traders wanted to teach us how to prepare yoo tiao. We finally hired a local sifu with experience working in Hong Kong,” Leong told AsiaOne.
Spreading the love
A number of I Love Yoo! outlets have been halal-certified by JAKIM and they plan to ensure that all of their outlets follow suit in the future.
According to Leong, he wants everybody to enjoy his product. “The management was looking for vendors to sell fried snacks, so we went in, and the rest is history.”
“With this, we attracted more Muslim customers. Moreover, 40% of our staff are also Muslims,” he explained to Sihat Malaysia.
But, it is not without struggle, as shared by their halal executive and manager Mohamad Hairull Anuar.
Back in 2019, he shared, “We are still waiting for JAKIM to finish the process of certifying all of our outlets. We are not allowed to advertise our brand as fully halal until we have received the certifications for all our outlets.”
It’s a worthwhile struggle though, as the chairman of I Love Yoo!, Datuk Ahmad Zaki said to Sihat Malaysia, “We want to make I Love Yoo! something that is truly Malaysian by adding the Muhibbah aspect into our brand name.”
So, besides the halal certification, the brand has also added a lot of Malay and Indian dishes like rendang ayam, hot chicken masala, and dried curry laksa to their menu.
These coexist with the traditional Chinese fried snacks such as yoo tiao, sesame balls, fried buns, porridge, soya bean, and taufufah which are all freshly made by hand daily, something that the brand prides itself on.
AsiaOne reported that the pastry dough is prepared in a central kitchen and sent to stores all over Peninsular Malaysia, while for outlets in Sabah and Sarawak and overseas, they send standardised ingredients in containers every week.
“We like to use the traditional way to prepare our food, which is to have all the items in our menu made from scratch,” Lim told Sihat Malaysia. “It adds that nostalgic feeling that takes our customers back to their childhood memories.”
The brand also prides itself on using Malaysian local products such as palm oil in their frying process.
According to the 2019 interview with Sihat Malaysia, I Love Yoo! outlets change their frying oil every day to ensure that they do not reuse used cooking oil, which they sell to a vendor. The money from the sale will then go back to their staff, an incentive made to encourage them to change the oil and dispose of it properly.
Sharing the love elsewhere
Within the first month, it was reported that the outlet had drawn thousands, made five-figure profits, and in the subsequent months not only doubled the number of patrons, but also their profits.
“We were lucky as business was good. We broke even on our initial investment of RM150,000 within six months,” Leong told Sihat Malaysia.
Since then, I see that their gamble has paid off as plenty of other I Love Yoo! outlets have been set up at strategically-located shopping malls nationwide.
They have even opened up outlets in neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Brunei, Sihat Malaysia reported.
“One of our unique selling points is our affordable price. I believe we are one of the places selling the cheapest food in shopping malls,” says Leong.
Meanwhile, Lim expressed that he is proud of what they have achieved so far and hopes that the brand can continue to expand.
“In addition, we have received positive feedback from other ASEAN countries and they have expressed their interest in bringing the brand into their home country.”
“Right now, we are negotiating with interested parties in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The brand really has grown bigger than when I founded the brand more than 10 years ago,” he shared.
But that was in 2019, and it seems as though these plans have yet to materialise.
Passing by I Love Yoo! outlets in various malls, I see that they have their loyal patrons, but based on personal observation, the quality of their franchise stores can be inconsistent. A quick Google Search will also show how many outlets all over Malaysia do not get more than a 3.5-star rating.
There are some complaints not just about the food, but the overall cleanliness and management of the stores. This might be an area that I Love Yoo!’s executives could look into tightening up, as it would be a pity for a few bad apples to ruin what they’ve worked hard to build.
Also Read: This M’sian brand has sustained itself with just one fizzy honey beverage for 6 years
Featured Image Credit: I Love Yoo!
After converting to Islam, Mohd Chan started a halal Chinese F&B chain that now has 4 brands
“We are a family, no matter our background.”
A quote attributed to Dato HJ Mohd Chan, it might sound like a cliched statement, but it might be one that personifies his business quite well.
Dato HJ Mohd Chan is, as you might’ve guessed, the founder behind the Chinese Muslim F&B Group, Mohd Chan Group.
First established in 2007 according to its website, Mohd Chan is a halal chain of restaurants that serves up Chinese dishes, particularly Cantonese-style ones.
The founder’s goal is to share “colourful Chinese culture” through his restaurants’ food. In order to share these dishes with all Malaysians, of course, they must be halal—something the Dato finds especially crucial as a Chinese Muslim.
A personal journey
Hailing from Gombak, Selangor, Mohd Chan had converted to Islam around the time he launched the restaurants.
A father of three, he shared with mStar that one reason he was attracted to Islam was because of the discipline in its teachings.
The man also revealed that a big struggle he experienced was convincing his surrounding community that the Islamic religion he adheres to is not just saying two words of the Shahada, which refers to professions of faith.
That’s why the entrepreneur always wears his skullcap wherever he goes.
“Because at first, many people didn’t believe that I had embraced Islam, especially when I wanted to run a Muslim Chinese restaurant,” he told mStar.
Mohd Chan said he never forced his family to convert as well, but his wife embraced the religion three months after him, and later on, his children also followed suit.
While writing this article, we noticed that the website, which had originally described the Mohd Chan Group as a family-run business, has since removed that terminology.
Formerly, the wording was: “Mohd Chan Group is a family-run business that holds our founder’s philosophy close to heart”.
Now, it reads: “From the opening of the first Mohd Chan Restoran in 2007 until today, we have grown to the Mohd Chan Group you now know and love, but one thing remains the same, our founder’s philosophy that we still practise.”
Cooking up halal Cantonese dishes
In a promotional video, Dato HJ Mohd Chan shared that the uniqueness of Mohd Chan is its menu—a combination of Cantonese-styled cooking with local tastes.
“Why we do that is because it’s suitable for our local people,” he explains.
Popular dishes served include Ikan Stim Thai Chili Lime, Siakap Goreng 3 Rasa, Crabmeat Soup with Abalone Slices, and Classic Butter Prawn, among a plethora of other dishes.
The restaurants have a central kitchen that produces parts of the recipe such as the sauces and paos, which are then distributed to all the Mohd Chan outlets.
“We also ensure that the food quality is there, we also ensure that the food is halal, that’s why we insist on having a central kitchen, to take care of all the food, sauces, and ingredients,” Dato HJ Mohd Chan said in the video.
Diversified offerings
Today, 16 years since opening the first Mohd Chan restaurant, the company has expanded to over 19 outlets across its four brands.
Aside from Mohd Chan Restaurant, there is Mohd Chan By The Garden, Mohd Chan Dim Sum, and Mohd Chan Express.
Currently, there is only one outlet for Mohd Chan By The Garden in Melaka, which seems to offer an elevated experience with a more extensive menu.
Meanwhile, the Mohd Chan Dim Sum outlets focus on dim sum, obviously, which are small Cantonese dishes, typically enjoyed as a brunch item.
These restaurants carry an assortment of such dishes, including Chicken Mai, Shanghai Dumpling, Golden Salted Egg Bao, Loh Mai Kai, amongst other classic dim sum dishes.
Over at Mohd Chan Express, simpler, grab-and-go-type items can be found. The menu at these express outlets includes Curry Noodle, Asam Laksa, Steamed Dim Sum, Oden, Pau, and more.
Excluding Mohd Chan Express, the three other brands offer catering services too.
Hot meals aside, the group has also expanded to sell ready-to-cook meals.
By segmenting the market and offering tailored options for each demographic, they are better able to capture audiences across the socioeconomic spectrum.
Popularising Chinese Muslim cuisine
While halal Chinese restaurants are more common nowadays, it’s still quite hard to find a reliable brand with halal certification.
Looking up Mohd Chan on the JAKIM halal directory, Mohd Chan Dim Sum Sdn Bhd and Mohd Chan Food Sdn Bhd are both registered with halal certifications.
One thing that does set Mohd Chan apart is the story and personality behind the brand.
Dato HJ Mohd Chan’s own religious journey as a Chinese person converting to Islam helps to solidify the branding behind his restaurants and their food, since he is adept at providing truly Chinese dishes while understanding the importance of keeping them halal.
With his story, he is able to create an experience that caters to Muslims and Chinese alike, and just about anyone who wants to enjoy a Cantonese-style meal that fits local palates.
- Learn more about Mohd Chan here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian F&B businesses here.
Also Read: Role-play as Friends characters & gossip over endless coffee at this coworking pop-up in KL
Featured Image Credit: Mohd Chan
