Bobby Witt Jr.’s discipline is next level: I know because I tried his daily routine

When I first decided to step into the shoes of Bobby Witt Jr. for a week, it didn’t seem like such a difficult experiment. The plan was straightforward: mimic a portion of the Kansas City Royals shortstop’s daily routine and see what insights I could gather about the habits of one of baseball’s rising stars.

Witt, just 24 years old and already an MVP runner-up, follows a carefully designed structure to his day. He integrates time for reflection, motivation, and mindfulness—all alongside a checklist of daily habits he tracks with precision. After speaking with his mental performance coach, Brian Cain, I chose three habits to follow over the course of one week: start each morning by listening to a motivational hotline and a podcast, journal, and practice daily meditation.

I didn’t expect it to be easy, but I also didn’t anticipate how quickly I would fall behind.

Despite my attempt being a simplified version of Witt’s demanding routine, staying on track became an uphill battle. I set phone reminders to keep myself accountable, thinking I could tackle these tasks in between work and other obligations. But life, as it tends to do, threw me curveballs. One evening, a phone call with a friend stretched past an hour. Another day, I had to work late and by the time I looked at the clock, it was well past bedtime—yet I still hadn’t completed my daily checklist. These small interferences piled up fast.

And all I was trying to do was three habits a day—Witt routinely knocks out 10 to 15.

I started wondering: How on earth does he keep this up every day?

The answer, I would later learn, lies in understanding the why.

“You’ve got to be motivated and remember why the great ones are great,” Witt told me during our brief conversation. “You’ve got to stay with it. It’s a long season, and your mindset plays a huge part.”

There’s a clear distinction between simply creating a routine and establishing habits that stick. So I reached out to Cain again to reflect on my struggle and ask how Witt makes it all work.

“Let’s be real—this is work,” Cain said. “Bobby puts just as much effort into developing himself mentally as he does into his physical training. That’s what sets him apart.”

One of the staples of Witt’s routine is a seemingly simple action: calling a “success hotline” each morning. The line connects to a pre-recorded message from Dr. Rob Gilbert, a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey. The call lasts just a few minutes, but its impact is powerful.

“You’ve reached the success hotline. I’m Dr. Rob Gilbert. Today’s message…”

For a decade, Witt has been dialing the number 973-743-4690 first thing in the morning. Cain has been doing it even longer, since 2006. He describes it as a “micro-decision”—a small, intentional choice that reinforces a commitment to growth.

When Cain and Witt first started working together, Cain encouraged him to stop focusing so heavily on stats and instead concentrate on developing consistent habits. That shift in mindset became the foundation of Witt’s mental game.

The two now maintain a shared calendar loaded with routines, systems, and daily goals—each item carefully designed to build Witt’s skillset over time.

“It keeps him present and consistent,” Cain explained. “It’s all about the relentless pursuit of becoming one percent better each day.”

For Witt, calling the hotline is just the first step in a string of micro-decisions he makes daily. I tried it myself on a Monday morning. The upbeat voice on the other end told me that I had all the tools I needed to succeed—I just needed a strategy.

“Strategy beats strength,” Dr. Gilbert said.

That message stayed with me all day.

Cain had joked that aside from his wife’s, the success hotline is the only phone number he has memorized. We laughed, but I couldn’t help but think about how seriously they both take this small daily ritual. For me, the call started to feel like a grounding anchor. Instead of aimlessly scrolling through social media when I woke up, I had a purpose—to hear that message and begin the day with intention.

However, it didn’t take long to realize that listening to a recording or a podcast was the easy part. The real challenge came in with journaling and meditating—activities that required time, patience, and focus, especially on chaotic days.

Cain had initially sent me a link to an app called HabitShare to help structure my attempt. The app is where Witt tracks his progress, with each habit laid out clearly in a daily checklist.

“It helps get your thoughts out of your head and into the world—into something tangible,” Cain said. “It turns your intentions into visible actions.”

He emphasized the importance of having a flexible, yet structured routine. “Structured means you have a plan, like a morning routine before you head to the field or start your workday. Rigid means it has to happen at exactly 4:45 every day—and that’s not the goal.”

Still, Cain warned that too much flexibility could lead to inconsistency. Missing one day was fine, but missing two? That was “habit suicide,” a phrase borrowed from James Clear’s Atomic Habits.

“If you slip up once, that’s okay,” Cain advised. “But the next day, you need to double down.”

Witt has lived by this mental performance system for about a decade. There wasn’t a single life-changing moment that shifted everything for him. It was—and still is—a steady stream of consistent choices.

“The habits are the foundation of everything he does,” Cain said. “When things aren’t clicking on the field, he doesn’t change the process—he stays consistent.”

Witt himself put it simply: “You do it every day, and it just becomes part of you—like muscle memory.”

And the results speak for themselves. In his third year in Major League Baseball, Witt put together a historic season: 32 home runs, 31 stolen bases, 45 doubles, plus both a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger Award.

“The goal is to win as many little moments as possible,” Cain told me. “Stack up enough of those moments, and you build not just a great season—but a great career.”

Still, carving out time each day to journal or meditate wasn’t easy for me. As I neared the weekend and prepared to travel with friends, I began to stress. Would I have time to stay consistent?

I missed one of my visualization sessions during that trip. I won’t lie—I felt guilty. “Habit suicide” echoed in my mind, and I knew I had to get back on track.

As strange as it sounds, keeping up with Witt’s simplified routine felt like a grind. I asked Cain if this kind of lifestyle was truly attainable for anyone, or if it required a unique personality.

“Excellence is a choice,” he replied. “The hardest part is getting started. Most people don’t even take that first step.”

By the end of the week, one thing was obvious: Bobby Witt Jr. lives with a level of discipline that most of us don’t fully grasp.

Cain’s words stuck with me as the experiment ended: “It’s not one massive decision that changes your life. It’s the series of small ones. Ask yourself: is this choice bringing me closer to my goal, or pulling me further away?”

It’s a question Witt seems to answer every single day.