Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck every day. Mark Zuckerberg wears gray t-shirts. Tim Cook wakes up at 4 AM and follows the exact same routine. Warren Buffett protects his calendar so fiercely that Bill Gates wrote admiringly about it.

These aren't quirks. They're systems designed to reduce decision fatigue and conserve mental energy for decisions that actually matter.

In this episode, I walk you through a proven framework to identify your Daily Non-Negotiables—the 3-4 specific actions that, if you did them without fail, would make success unavoidable.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN:

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• Why the most successful CEOs follow strict daily routines (and it's not what you think)
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• The three-part framework: Vision → Priorities → Non-Negotiables
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• How to turn vague goals into specific, measurable daily actions
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• Real examples of strong vs. weak Daily Non-Negotiables
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• Why 40% of your life is already on autopilot (and how to make that work for you)
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• How to build a backup plan so your habits actually stick
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THE FRAMEWORK:

Part 1: VISION - Who are you becoming? Identify the version of yourself one year from now at your absolute best.

Part 2: PRIORITIES - What three areas create the most leverage? Focus on the growth areas that move you toward your vision.

Part 3: NON-NEGOTIABLES - What's one specific daily action for each priority? Build habits that are specific, measurable, brief, repeatable, and valuable.

THIS IS A GUIDED EXERCISE:

I walk you through each step with pauses for you to think and write. By the end of this episode, you'll have your three Daily Non-Negotiables identified and ready to implement.

YOUR GOLDEN HOUR:

Protect your Daily Non-Negotiables. Block the time. Set up tracking. Build the system. Small actions, repeated consistently, compound into massive transformation.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

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• Steve Jobs' wardrobe simplification strategy
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• Mark Zuckerberg's decision-reduction approach
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• Tim Cook's 4 AM routine
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• Warren Buffett's time protection
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• Jack Dorsey's themed days
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• Duke University research on habitual behavior
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• The average person's 35,000 daily decisions
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Whether you're running a $100K business or building toward $1M, this framework will help you engineer success through consistent daily action.

This is BusinessIsGood—practical business growth strategies for Canadian entrepreneurs who are ready to move beyond survival mode and build businesses that thrive.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

A Toronto entrepreneur just made a $12,000 hiring mistake—not because she lacked experience, but because she made the decision at 4 PM after already burning through her mental energy on dozens of smaller choices throughout the day.

This is decision fatigue, and it's costing Canadian business owners far more than money.

Your brain has a finite amount of decision-making energy. Every choice you make—from what to eat for breakfast to whether to approve a budget—drains that battery a little more. By mid-afternoon, you're running on empty, but that's exactly when the big, important decisions usually arrive.

Research proves this isn't just in your head. A famous study found that judges granted parole to prisoners 70% of the time in the morning, but less than 10% in the afternoon. Same judges, same cases—the only difference was decision fatigue.

In this episode, Chris Cooper explores what decision fatigue is, why it matters for Canadian entrepreneurs, and how to train yourself like a mental athlete to make better decisions when they matter most. You'll learn six practical strategies for preserving your decision-making energy and discover how non-negotiable habits can eliminate dozens of daily choices.

According to a 2025 BDC survey, 36% of Canadian business owners report that mental health challenges interfere with their work at least once weekly. For entrepreneurs under 40, that number jumps to 60%.

Your Golden Hour task: Track every decision you make this week. You can't fix what you can't see.

This episode sets up the next discussion on Daily Non-Negotiables and the Golden Hour system.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/

Starting January 5th, 2026, tens of thousands of Ontario government employees return to the office full-time, with Alberta following in February. Major banks and corporations are rolling out similar mandates across Canada. But are we solving the real problem?

Canada's productivity crisis is undeniable. Our GDP per capita has fallen to 75% of the US level (down from 90% in 2010), and we're second only to Italy in G7 productivity decline. Business productivity dropped 1% in Q2 2025—the sharpest decline since 2022.

The instinct is to blame remote work. But the data tells a different story: 77% of remote workers report being more productive at home, yet 85% of leaders don't trust it. The real issue? Most managers never learned to manage without proximity, and most employees never developed the self-management skills remote work requires.

For decades, managers relied on presence as a proxy for productivity. Remote work exposed this weakness. Meanwhile, 61% of remote workers say they need more training, but only 70% receive it. The result: some thrive remotely while others work 65% more hours and burn out.

The solution isn't about choosing remote versus office—it's about intentional skill-building. Managers need to learn outcome-based management. Employees need time management and boundary-setting skills. Organizations need to design work models deliberately.

This week's Golden Hour challenge: If you're a manager, define what "good" actually looks like for one person's role. If you're an employee, track where one full workday actually goes. If you're an owner, identify your biggest productivity drain.

The businesses that build these skills will dominate. The ones arguing about chairs won't.

Connect with Chris Cooper:

Website - https://businessisgood.com/