The internet exploded recently when actor and former rapper Mark Wahlberg posted a sample schedule of his daily routine on his Instagram story last week. The post caught fire quickly when people saw how intense and fully-packed his days can be.
Several people have tried to emulate Wahlberg’s daily routine, including Spencer Althouse from Buzzfeed and Tom Usher, writing for Vice. They drew similar conclusions: Mark Wahlberg wakes up too early, eats too much, and his workouts are too punishing for us regular people.
The internet consensus agrees that Wahlberg’s daily routine seems a bit outlandish, but he’s not the first celebrity to have unusual daily habits. Mark Zuckerberg streamlines his busy days by wearing and eating the same things regularly and Richard Branson starts his days by swimming around his private island.
Even as a morning person, it’s hard to look at a daily routine that starts at 2:30 in the morning and call any part of it a good idea, but if Mark Wahlberg is happy and healthy, he must be doing something right. Here’s what we love about his daily routine:
He wakes up early.
Granted, it’s very early, but we’ve written before about the benefits of waking up earlier. Plenty of successful people start their day before the sun rises and claim it gives them time to themselves to pursue what matters to them.
He eats frequent, healthy meals.
According to his schedule, Mark Wahlberg eats a whopping seven times a day: Four meals and three snacks. Smaller, more frequent meals can help regulate your blood sugar more effectively than binging once or twice a day. Wahlberg’s diet is also notoriously healthy, with high quantities of protein and vegetables. No complaints here!
He exercises daily.
Mark Wahlberg works out twice a day for over two and a half hours total. That’s over 20 hours a week! And it doesn’t even include his morning golf or any other physical activities he does while working. The American Heart Association recommends much, much less exercise for typical adults. About 75 minutes of moderate exercise per week is enough to maintain good health. If there’s one thing we learned doing this blog, it’s that Mark Wahlberg is far from typical.
He schedules leisure time.
Mark Wahlberg loves golf. He loves it so much he makes it a part of his daily routine. When most of us are slamming our snooze buttons, Wahlberg is teeing off, and we couldn’t be more proud of him for it. Leisure time gives our minds a chance to rest, which frees us up to be more productive and creative during work times.
He connects with his spiritual beliefs each day.
Even if you aren’t religious, taking a moment to reflect, pray, or meditate can have an outstanding positive effect on your mental and emotional health. Oprah meditates for 20 minutes each morning. The Dalai Lama meditates and prays for five hours! Meditation and prayer help us slow down and remember to appreciate ourselves and the world we live in.
He gets enough sleep.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep every night. Wahlberg is on the lesser end of the scale, admittedly, but he’s still within range, and some people just need less sleep than others.
The Takeaway
While Mark Wahlberg’s daily routine is unattainable for most adults, there are still elements within it that can be beneficial for everyone. For as hard as he works, Wahlberg understands the importance of downtime, too. He schedules and commits to regular relaxation and leisure, eats well and enough, and gets his body moving to keep himself in good shape. These habits help keep his work-life balance in check and help him be the successful person he is.
As a company that specializes in helping people build healthy habits just like these, we certainly can’t complain about Wahlberg’s daily routine, even if his version is more extreme than what we’d recommend.
The good news is, you can also have an effective daily routine without working nearly as hard. Just download the Fabulous app (it’s free!) and sign up for The Unexpected Journey today to start building a fabulous morning ritual from the ground up.
