“I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.”
–Leonardo da Vinci
Are you a driver or producer? Do you need to slow down sometimes, okay, a lot of times? Remember when heart attacks were only for old people? Not anymore. People in their thirties and forties have them every day. Why is it that some of our personality types race through life, but we don’t want to get to the end? Setting up rituals and reflections will keep us in the game of creating the life we want; a life that has the winning combination of getting what we want and having fun in the process.
DAILY RITUALS
Every successful leader I know has a morning ritual. It’s a morning focus time, and it is your daily creation plan. This is a fundamental to creating the life you want. It is an absolute necessity to being fulfilled and not just accomplished. I want to share with you what my daily ritual is. Take the parts you like, discard the parts you don’t, and create your own. This is what I do upon rising. It works for me!
- Attitude—Upon rising, I get out of bed, stretch and say something like this to myself, “Today is going to be a beautiful day!” I make my way into the bathroom and handle my morning business.
- Read—I read for about five minutes. This is usually Success Magazine or a current inspirational book I am reading.
- Exercise—I go for a run or lift weights. I am a fan of the twenty minute workout club!
- Audio—On my drive to work, I feed my mind with positive audios.
- Spiritual—I am usually the first person to get to our office. Outside my office window is a beautiful view of downtown skyscrapers and the mountains. It is very inspirational to me. I sit at my desk, tell God everything I am grateful for, and then set my timer for three minutes of silence. I quiet my mind and still my thoughts. I meditate and visualize Christ’s love and shining white light coming from His chest in the sky directly into my chest as I breathe deeply in and out. When my timer goes off, I ask God for guidance in my life. And yes, I usually get at least one specific thing to work on for the day to pop into my head.
- Be-Do-Have—I get out my Be-Do-Have sheet that I created around the four most important areas of my life. I affirm my life purpose, my priorities, and my core I then go through my four most important categories: God, Health, Family, and Wealth. For each category I read what kind of person I need to be to achieve what I want in each area. I then read what I must do daily to achieve what I want in each area. I then read what I want to have in each area. Lastly, I read why I want, what I want to achieve, in each area.
- Affirm and Visualize—I then say out loud a few affirmations and quotes that inspire me. After that, I conclude my morning focus time by closing my eyes and visualizing what I want in each area of my life.
From there it’s business time! I review the top three objectives for the day, write down what I need to do that day to achieve them, and then I check messages, email, and my calendar. I hit up my action folder and make it happen! I set my alarm to go off at 11:00 and 3:00 to check my messages and email again, and to take three deep breaths filled with gratitude, and to watch a funny two-minute video online. On the way home, I listen to inspirational audios again, and once I get home, I switch gears from work to family and do my best to become the best husband and daddy in the world! (echo for effect) World… world…world….
This sounds like a lot as I write it out, but it is habit now and doesn’t take much mental effort or time effort. Your rituals will make your life easy. Aren’t you ready to stop battling your bed? Battling your snooze button? Battling your career? Battling your stress? Set up the rituals to get what you want. What kind of rituals do you have? Are they getting you closer to getting what you want?