In this interview, prolific angel investor Gokul Rajaram explains that his most impactful habit is exercising five to six days a week. He outlines a personal hierarchy—health first, then family, then work—arguing that health is foundational because it prevents becoming a burden to loved ones and enables greater productivity and happiness. Rajaram recounts how a longer commute to Square nine years ago forced him to carve out time for exercise before driving, a routine that has persisted for nine years. The conversation highlights how consistent physical activity creates a trickle‑down effect on energy, enthusiasm, and overall performance in both personal and professional realms.
What tiny habit or routine has had the biggest positive impact on your life? And this could be at work, at home, any, any angle.
For me, it's been exercising 6 days a week. 5 to 6 days a week has had the biggest impact because I've seen that I always believe the hierarchy of anyone, any individual, should be health, then family, then work. Why not family before health? Because if you're not healthy, you become a burden to your family and you can't, you can't help them. And so your health is actually very, very important. Then your family, because you can't help you. And then finally work. And I think many of us who have families and who work quite a bit ignore health, and you don't realize how much just focusing on your health has a trickle-down effect on making you just happier, more productive. Even things that you don't feel excited about, you feel more excited if you are if you're healthy. So being able to just have some kind of exercise 5 to 6 days a week on a consistent basis has been the most transformative thing I've done. Probably a common thing I'm sure many people have said on your show, but for me, it started when I was starting to commute to Square 9 years ago, where I realized that my day, I would no longer just have a— I live in the South Bay area. I would no longer just have a 15-minute commute. I would have a 1-hour commute, which means 2 hours of my day was taken up— 10% of my day was taken up by commute. So I needed to really find time to exercise before getting into the car. And I started doing that, and that persisted, hopefully, thankfully, over the last 9 years.
Yeah, I feel like exercise is one of those things, counterintuitively too, that, you know, a lot of people don't have time for it. And yet what I find is when I make time for it, it actually gives me time back in the day because, to your point, I'm more productive. I show up just in a better version of myself.
Look, it's a date with yourself, essentially. And so give yourself a treat. And if you can do a one-on-one with someone else, why can't you do a one-on-one with yourself? Put a half an hour.
