Marty Brickey, a consultant and serial entrepreneur based in Orlando, Florida, has formalized a personal rule that he says has shaped his decision-making for years: no strategy calls before his morning bike ride. The announcement is not a fitness plan but a sequencing rule, one that Brickey argues can have profound implications for how executives approach their work and their lives.
Brickey cycles four to five days a week and has decided to make public what was previously a private habit. He believes that the order of a day directly affects the quality of the answers a person gives, especially under pressure. "Early in my career I didn't have balance," Brickey said. "That wasn't a minor issue. It was a direct cause of a lot of loss. I don't say that lightly." His rule is specific: no calls involving a decision, a negotiation, or a hire before the ride is done. Informational calls are acceptable, but anything requiring a choice is pushed until after.
"A decision made at six in the morning, before I've cleared my head, is not the same decision I'd make at nine," he said. "I've tested this enough times to trust it." Brickey treats the ride as a fixed block rather than something that moves when the week gets busy. "The mistake people make is treating exercise like a reward for a clear schedule," he said. "I treat it like the reason the schedule works at all." He also credits long walks, separate from cycling, as a tool for pushing through self-doubt or stuck decisions. "When I hit a wall on a problem, I don't sit at the desk and grind on it," he said. "I walk it out. Most of the time the answer shows up somewhere in the middle of that walk, not at the start."
By naming the rule publicly, Brickey aims to challenge other founders and executives who skip the same step and pay for it later. "I'm not telling anyone to take up cycling," he said. "I'm telling them to put something before the phone. It doesn't matter what it is, as long as it happens first and nothing moves it." He is committing to keep the rule in place going forward and to talk about it when asked, rather than treating it as a private eccentricity. "If I say I have balance now, I should be able to point to what that actually looks like on a Tuesday," he said. "This is what it looks like."
The standard he holds himself to is whether the rule survives a busy week, not a slow one. "Anyone can protect their morning when nothing is happening," he said. "The test is whether you protect it when three people are waiting on you. That's the only week that counts." He expects to fail occasionally and views that as part of keeping the practice honest. "If I never break it, I'm probably not being tested enough," he said. "The point isn't perfection. The point is that the default goes back to the ride, not to the phone."
Brickey's announcement carries implications beyond his own routine. It underscores a growing recognition among business leaders that personal habits and decision-making rhythms are not separate from professional performance but foundational to it. By publicly committing to a rule that prioritizes a morning ride over early strategy calls, Brickey offers a tangible example of how executives can structure their days to foster better judgment and resilience. His willingness to discuss failures and the ongoing nature of the practice adds a layer of authenticity that may resonate with others facing similar pressures. In an era of constant connectivity, the simple act of putting something before the phone could be a powerful countermeasure to reactive decision-making.
