In this six‑minute YouTube monologue, the speaker explains why many people experience a pronounced energy dip between 1 PM and 3 PM. The core argument is that consuming caffeine together with sugary or artificially sweetened drinks early in the morning creates an artificial spike in cortisol and insulin, which then crash later in the day, leaving you fatigued and craving more caffeine. The speaker illustrates the normal cortisol curve versus the caffeine‑induced curve, and shows how the insulin spikes from sugar or sweeteners compound the problem. To fix the crash, the speaker recommends waiting 60–90 minutes after waking before drinking caffeine, preferably as plain black coffee, optionally sweetened with a tiny dash of maple syrup. This timing lets cortisol rise naturally, keeps insulin low, supports a fasted state for fat burning, and stabilises energy. Additional advice includes timing carbohydrate intake around workouts (pre‑ and post‑exercise), eating a high‑protein diet, getting sunlight, staying active, and maintaining a consistent sleep‑wake schedule to protect circadian rhythm. The talk ends with a motivational mantra: regularly ask “what would my future self want me to do today?” to encourage disciplined choices and long‑term health and productivity.
Chapters
So there's a very specific reason that around 1 to 3 PM your energy levels completely fall off, and most of it has to do with the caffeine consumption that you're having earlier in the day. Specifically, if you're having artificial sweeteners, syrups, lattes, any kind of sugary drink in the morning with caffeine, that is the worst thing that you can do for your overall energy. Now, the science behind it is that your cortisol should naturally spike in the morning. I'll put a graph just like this. This is what it should look like. But when you artificially spike it with caffeine, this is what it looks like. As you can see, the graph is showing that it artificially spikes that cortisol and it stays elevated throughout the day. If you pair that with sugar, like whether that's some sort of artificial sweeteners, whether that's syrups from Starbucks, whatever it may be, that's also spiking your insulin. In an ideal world, you only spike your insulin before and after you work out. I could go way deeper into that, but essentially the reason is because that way you can use the energy for working out and you have the carbs afterwards to replenish the glycogen and actually fill up your muscle stores and help you build muscle. Now, going back to the insulin levels throughout the day, that is directly tied to your overall energy. So when your insulin is spiking and lowering and spiking and lowering, what that does is your body has to use that for energy and it's giving you that sort of, uh, sugar crash. That's the reason that as kids, you know, we would all get sugar crashes and eat too much. So the main reason that when you have caffeine and sugar together, it artificially spikes your cortisol and it artificially spikes your insulin, and then later in the day they both come crashing down together, and it creates that feeling of like, I have no energy, I need more caffeine, I can't function without it. The way to fix that is really, really simple. First of all, find yourself a good black coffee. In an ideal world, you wait 60 to 90 minutes before you have any caffeine. This way the cortisol naturally spikes on its own, and that way you don't get that artificial spike and it doesn't stay as elevated throughout the day. If you can wait 60 to 90 minutes and just have some black coffee, for one, it's also a natural hunger suppressant, so you won't feel as hungry throughout the day. You can delay that a little bit, which is also another benefit. Can optimize, uh, fat burning and keep you in that fasted state, because when you're fasted— that's another topic I could go into just for days on. But when you go into that fasted state, your body's able to use fat for fuel. Your insulin is actually low. You can burn fat rather than the insulin and the carbs in your body. If you do feel like you need some sugar, you need something to change the taste of the black coffee, because I know it can be quite an acquired taste, just a dash of some maple syrup. So all you want to do is you get a cup of some black coffee and just a dash. You don't really don't need that much because it's pretty strong. That way it won't spike your insulin as much. You mix that around and it tastes absolutely phenomenal. There's a deep, like, nutty, sugary taste. Oh my gosh, I genuinely— it's so good. I love it. And I just have a tiny bit about 1 to 2 hours after I wake up. But if you change that and only that, your energy levels will be completely different throughout the day. Because again, naturally your cortisol levels should rise and then steadily fall all the way until around midnight., and then you want your cortisol to be extremely low in the middle of the night so you can get into that deep REM sleep. When you artificially spike it with caffeine first thing in the morning, again, it's, it's artificially spiking your cortisol and it stays elevated because your body doesn't know to— it, it throws off your circadian rhythm. Your circadian rhythm should be set to when you go to sleep and, uh, when you wake up every single day for that cortisol, those cortisol levels. Then timing that up with the proper sugar consumption and insulin control, It's an absolute game changer. And of course, there's all the other nuances of your diet and how you should be approaching your day-to-day life. I mean, very general basics. If you can stick to this formula, you focus your carbs before and after your workout, you eat a generally healthy diet high in protein, you get out in the sun, you stay active. I mean, genuinely, that's all you need to do to one, feel amazing, look amazing, get the results that you want and be super, super happy with your overall body, with your mind, with your health. Stay consistent with what you know needs to be done, right? I, I always say this, and this is kind of my mantra, is what would yourself tomorrow tell you to do today? Ask yourself that all the time, all the time. Whether it's you go to grab a pint of ice cream, you feel like you don't want to work out, you are too tired and you don't wanna take care of your family or you wanna just rest rather than go play with your kids, ask yourself, what would me tomorrow tell me to do today or right now? Because 99% of the time, yourself tomorrow is gonna tell you, get your lazy ass up and go play with your son who you don't have that much time with. 'Cause realistically, that time slips by. Or he's gonna say, go get your ass up get to the gym because I want this, I want to succeed. I know in the moment you're tired, you're hungry, you don't have the energy, but every single time you're gonna be so incredibly happy that you did, that you did go, that you worked towards your goals. 'Cause we really don't have that much time here. We don't have that much time on earth. We don't have that much time in our youth, in our middle ages, wherever you are in life, you can look back and I guarantee you'll say, damn, that went quick. The last 5, 10, 20 years went by in a blink of an eye. And now you have to ask yourself, are you going to continue wasting it? Are you going to continue letting yourself do the easy things, you know, take the easy route, sit down on the couch and watch TV rather than go play with your kids, rather than succeed, rather than work on your business, rather than go to the gym? Or are you going to actually do those things? Are you going to step up, become the man that you want to become? And the best way to do that is ask yourself, what would me tomorrow want me to do today? Whatever that answer is, I want you to stick to it. And I know that was kind of a tangent on the caffeine, but it goes back into the fact of like, I mean, what would me tomorrow tell me to drink and eat today, right? Me tomorrow would say, okay, have this black coffee because it's gonna help keep me stable energy throughout the day. I'm gonna be able to work, I'm gonna be able to get, you know, more done, be more productive. The list goes on, right? The more that you can keep that in the back of your mind, the more successful you will be. 10 out of 10, 100 out of 100, every single time. Yourself tomorrow will want you to do what's best for you today.
