Miranda Lambert Hates Cardio and Does It Anyway. The Song She Co-Wrote Spent 24 Weeks at No. 1

The country star walks us through a Monday in the Journal’s My Monday Morning column. The part she hates is the part that carries the voice.

By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Sunday, October 11, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, October 10–11, 2026 weekend edition, whose market figures are the Friday, October 9 close (Review)

Key Points

Miranda Lambert, 42, lives in Nashville with her husband, a retired police officer.
She co-wrote and co-produced Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas. It set a Hot 100 record with 24 weeks at No. 1.
Her Monday starts between 6:30 and 7. Dog out, coffee first, Scripture, a prayer, then a walk. She tries to walk 3 to 5 miles, five times a week.
She’s done about 27 performing weekends this year and no longer does three in a row. She hates cardio and does it for her singing.
She has co-run a label, Big Loud Texas, since 2023. Twenty years ago she wanted nobody’s opinion. Now she gives notes as nudges.

weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for Choosin’ Texas, a record

performing weekends this year, about, spread out

6:30 to 7

when she gets up on a Monday, after an early night

10 min

alone with a guitar still counts as practice, she says

In early light an acoustic guitar leans in a rocking chair on a farmhouse porch, a steaming mug on the rail, boots and a leash nearby, a horse grazing beyond.

Her best writing happens on a porch with a guitar and no clock, she says. Choosin’ Texas started that way.

In one line: Miranda Lambert’s Monday is coffee, Scripture, a walk and the cardio she hates. The hated part is the lesson.

Miranda Lambert’s Monday is her Saturday. Musicians work weekends. She’s up between 6:30 and 7. The dog goes out, and her husband gets a nudge to make the coffee. Coffee comes before thought. Then her Scripture for the day, a short prayer and a walk. Then the cardio she hates. She does it because singing needs it. That’s the whole piece in one morning.

She talked to the Journal’s Elias Leight in New York in September. Soon after, the Country Music Association put her up for seven more awards. She’s 42 and lives in Nashville with her husband, a retired police officer. Her new album is Crisco. It borrows from the groovy country of the late 1970s and 1980s, a sound she loved and never tried. There’s disco in it. Her duet with Chris Stapleton, A Song to Sing, nods to Islands in the Stream, the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton hit. She recorded with strings for the first time. It got to her.

The song everyone asks about is Ella Langley’s Choosin’ Texas. Lambert co-wrote it and co-produced it. It set a Hot 100 record with 24 weeks at No. 1. It started on her porch. Her friend Luke Dick had writing dates with Langley and asked her along. She’d met Langley at a small Nashville awards show and pegged her as a pistol. In the room with Dick and Joybeth Taylor, Langley ran the session. She knew the sound and the direction and wanted a wingman. “I see a lot of myself in her,” Lambert said. The song’s George Strait reference came out of four writers trading lines. None of them can believe where it went. They’re on a group text about it.

The boring part carries the skill

The routine is the story. About 27 performing weekends this year, spread out, and never three in a row anymore. A walk of 3 to 5 miles, five times a week. A Tonal gym in the new house, Pilates, and horses, sometimes on a Monday. “I hate cardio, but I need it for singing,” she said. Songs come in spurts. She mostly co-writes now and wants to write alone more. Even 10 minutes with a guitar counts. Since 2023 she has co-run a label, Big Loud Texas. Now she gets what the label asked of her twenty years ago, when she wanted nobody’s opinion. Her artists mostly know what they want, so she nudges. She came up stapling posters to telephone poles while her mom drove her to Texas radio stations. Today it’s nonstop posting. TikTok isn’t on her phone.

Our read

This is a behavior piece (Behavioral). The glamour is the song. The engine is the routine. Cardio she dislikes, done for the voice. Ten minutes with a guitar when she’d rather not. About 27 weekends, never three in a row, which she says makes it easier. In a plan, that’s the automatic transfer to savings and the yearly review nobody enjoys. The boring part carries the result. Skip it and the headline skill goes quiet.

There’s a note for business owners too (Career). Co-running a label taught her that notes land better as nudges, since the artist knows the direction. That’s a fair picture of what we do. The client sets the direction. We ride wingman and keep the pace honest. If your routine has slipped, a review is the easy way back. The umbrella goes by the door before the clouds show up.

What It Means For Your Portfolio

Hold. Keep the routine you don’t enjoy

No portfolio action. The habit nobody enjoys carries the skill everyone sees, in singing and in saving.

General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. Pick the one money habit you skip because it’s dull. The automatic transfer, the yearly rebalance, the insurance review. Put it on the calendar like cardio, same day, same time.

Pace the work too. She spreads about 27 weekends across the year and never stacks three. Spread the big financial tasks the same way, one a month, so none of them gets skipped for being too much at once.