When your success comes from others’ success, there’s no such thing as a typical day.
Nobody knows that better than David Brownlee, one of the country’s leading business coaches. His work with companies like McDonald’s, Amazon, HP, CVS, Google and more happens behind the scenes. But his fingerprints are all over the steps those brands are taking for success in sales, service and scales.
Brownlee founded his own firm, The Brownlee Group, in 2012 after working for one of Tony Robbins’ companies for a decade. Now, Brownlee’s work is everywhere it needs to be: on his YouTube channel, in his bestselling books, on the LinkedIn Learning platform, in his keynote speeches and in one-on-one sessions. Whatever he’s teaching, he’s learned the lessons himself and puts them to good use with a disciplined approach to his own work-life balance.
After years in the entertainment industry, Brownlee found himself at a crossroads. “It was a lot of stress but a lot of fun,” Brownlee says. “But I felt like I was missing purpose in my life…. That’s when I discovered coaching. There was something cathartic about helping somebody else.
“We all set goals,“ he adds, “but you need to be able to close that gap between the goal and where you’re starting…. Trying to figure out a system has been the science project for the last decade.”
In a video call from his office in Pacific Beach, California, Brownlee broke down his workday into specific blocks. This is his way of guiding his purpose and productivity.
5:30 a.m.: Pray
When Brownlee wakes up, he’s careful not to touch his phone. Instead, he prays—not intercessory prayers but prayers of sincere thanks.
“I pray to God and give Him actual gratitude,” he says. “Whether it’s the people in my life or the material things I have, when you put yourself in that gratitude space, there’s something real about connecting with gratitude that affects how you feel.”
6 a.m.: Meditation
Brownlee sets aside 16 minutes for meditation to quiet his mind. “It’s detaching and not having to think about anything else, which is hard for me,” he says.
He admits that his mind was all over the place when he started. “Whether you’re religious or not, something that’s spiritual connects you to something higher.”
7 a.m.: Fathering
Since Brownlee’s wife is a professional athlete, she is out of the house by 4 a.m. So every morning, he makes breakfast, wakes up his kids and gets them to school.
“I was a latchkey kid in the ’80s, so I was 8 years old and my sister was 4,“ he recalls. “I’d put her on my banana seat bike and ride her to preschool before going to my elementary school. My parents were teachers, so they missed a lot of stuff.“ He made the choice then not to miss a thing. “I want to bring them to school every day, make them breakfast, chaperone events—everything.”
8 a.m.: Gym time
“I believe in the MBS rule of mind, body [and] soul,” Brownlee says of his fitness routine. He lifts weights and does cardio before heading to the office. “I’m as ready as I can be for anything that’s coming.”
He is also an avid stand-up paddleboarder, which means that if the California weather cooperates—which it often does—he might work that into his wellness regimen as well.
9 a.m.: Goals
There have always been and always will be goals. “I’m such a believer in goal setting, but it comes with a caveat,“ Brownlee says. “I have an annual goal, quarterly goals, monthly goals, weekly goals and then daily tasks. They’re all connected to the bigger goal.“
He meets these goals using his blocking system. “I block time as if it’s a meeting, usually in one- or two-hour blocks. And those don’t move…. They are inked.”
12 p.m.: Calls
Putting “calls” on his workday schedule frees Brownlee up to make calls at their designated time. This almost guarantees that calls don’t interrupt morning and afternoon blocks. Talking one-on-one with clients is always his top priority, as it should be—but he’s at his best when he’s had a productive morning first.
1 p.m.: Lunch
It’s an old-fashioned concept, but a full lunch hour can still work in a modern entrepreneur’s day. “Where I have lunch will change, but I always have lunch blocked out for an hour,” he says. “If somebody’s local and I can do lunch, then it’s like a double whammy. I can eat lunch and have a meeting.”
2 p.m.: Content
When he’s focusing on his morning workout, Brownlee’s mind often comes up with new ideas that he wants to share with his followers. He hopes that whatever has inspired him will inspire others. Afternoons are his time to create this content with his production team. “I tell my video, lighting and sound people that I’m going to shoot content… and then they’ll start working on editing it,” he says.
3 p.m.: Strategize
Brownlee takes a bit of his own advice when it comes to taking a moment—or more—to bask in and build on a success. “If you’re a high achiever, you’re achieving, you’re achieving, you’re achieving—and even if you hit your goal, you don’t take time to celebrate it because you’re on to the next goal,” he says. “I was talking to executives today, and I had them take an assessment so I can see where the disparities are between who they are and who they have to be at work.” Once you can determine that, you can find a better balance between the two.
6 p.m.: Family
Family always comes first, especially after a busy day for the kids, mom and dad. “You have time for yourself and time for family,” he says. ”I take my daughter to gymnastics, I take my son to basketball or soccer, then we’ll do homework together. Once the kids are down, my wife and I really get our alone time.”
He’s working on bringing his A game to date nights with his wife. Up next is Lady Gaga in Las Vegas.
8 p.m.: Review
While so many busy executives might go to bed thinking of what the following day holds, Brownlee “end[s] the day by reviewing the day. If something rough happened during the day, I think about what I could have done differently. Then, I always try to pick out something good that happened in the day, too,“ he adds. “Because when we go to bed, the last thing that’s in our mind is the thing that we’ll think about in our subconscious when we’re sleeping.”
Photo courtesy David Brownlee
