Do you enjoy exercise or is it something you are constantly putting off? 26-year-old globetrotting property investor and businessman Christian Carbone has developed a fitness routine to maintain peak-energy and productivity throughout his busy workdays, which are often 14 hours or longer. Carbone, who is a two-time US Olympic Swimming Trials qualifier and a Harvard graduate, put together his first multi-million-dollar property deal before he turned 21—a byproduct of his serious discipline. Having trained from an early age to be an elite competitive swimmer, he attacks life like a swimming race, with a combination of instinct and strategy that goes beyond stamina. His path is a case study on how daily routines and habits have the power to transform and mold us, influencing not only our trajectory in the world, but how we get there—who we are at our core. We recently sat down virtually with the young millionaire to learn more about his winning formula.
1) Always be training for something.
The discipline to stick to a routine comes from being able to visualize what you want. Every day is an opportunity to realize that vision. If you don’t know what you are training for—if you don’t know what you want—then it is very hard to keep that discipline. Otherwise, you are just exercising, and there will always be something more urgent. Personally, I am training for life. The brain is a muscle. It needs oxygen, blood flow, nutrients. It needs to be connected to a strong healthy body to think quality thoughts, to survive a long time, to do all of the things you want to do. Outside of the vision you have for your life, the future is fundamentally unknowable, and you frequently have to change tracks along the way. I would rather confront the unknown in top physical and mental shape.
2. Train in the morning.
The morning is the best time to train. You get a better workout because your body and mind are fresh. While you exercise, think deeply about what you want, your trajectory in life, and how this day is important. It’s meditation. Imagine two people: one wakes up early, trains for an hour, and thinks about their day while training. They go for a steam, put on fresh clothing, eat a healthy breakfast and start their day sharp, and with well-developed ideas. The other person wakes up late, groggily drinks some coffee, jumps in the shower, and then goes straight into their day. The first person thinks faster and knows what they want. The second person barely has time to look in the mirror. Now imagine that compounding over time.
3. You don’t need a gym.
There are a lot of people who simply don’t exercise when a gym is not available. The truth is, while I love a great gym, I’m busy, and frankly, I find that I can still get a great workout without gym equipment. Go for a run, do ab exercises, do push-ups. The key is intensity, taking action—doing something. People often spend hours in aggregate on a single trip to the gym, but spend only a fraction of that time actually exercising. I would rather spend a whole hour exercising and use the extra time working on business deals.
4. It’s all about the lifestyle.
I am naturally a high-energy person, and I hate wasting time. So, for me a successful workout provides peak mental and physical energy throughout the day, to get the most out of every minute. To set yourself up for a successful workout, it all starts with your lifestyle—how you eat, how you sleep. For me this means seven hours a night and a diet loaded with high quality proteins and fresh veggies. An imbalanced lifestyle will be detrimental to your workout, your productivity, the quality of the decisions you make—your whole outlook on life. You never know when life is going to surprise you with a challenge, or an opportunity and you always need to be ready for both.
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