There’s an old phrase, win the morning, win the day. I always share that if you’re a business owner and you’re waking up in the morning, brushing your teeth, having that cup of coffee, and dashing out to the business world, you’re like a warrior going out to battle with no armor. At some point, adversity might hit, and those arrows might come flying and pierce you if you’re not prepared.
Success is about leveraging the morning to get right, so we can show up correctly. Prior to mastering your morning, make sure you have your annual plans, your 90-day plans, your monthly plans, your weekly plans, and your daily plans. Be sure to plan on Friday for Monday, plan for Wednesday on Tuesday night, and so on.
Don’t come into the office in the morning and think, “Okay, what do I need to do today?” Be crystal clear on the lineup of your action steps for the day when you step into the office. However, when all that’s in place, then you could really get your mind right in the morning as when you get to work, you’ll be better prepared to be productive and efficient.
What are some of the things that I do with my morning?
The first thing I do when I wake up is I read for about 10 minutes. I have certain books I like to read. I might read the highlight portions of certain books. It might be a certain book and I’m in the middle of reading and I’ll read 10 minutes a day progressively. Once I do a little reading, I go and meditate, for about 20 minutes. I just sit on the couch, get calm, close my eyes, get focused on my breathing, bring my heart rate down and think about everything I’m grateful for. I also focus on how I’m going to show up for the day. Once my meditation is done, I do some stretching to get the knots out, this gets my body moving and the blood flowing. Sometimes, however, I just might go straight to the gym in the morning, and get a good workout with some music. If not, I’ll save that later for the afternoon or the early evening.
After the stretching, I’m outside by the pool. I have a certain booklet with all the affirmations I read. However, before I read my affirmations, I have a series of questions I ask myself. What am I excited about? What about that makes me feel excited? How does that make me feel? What am I proud of? What am I grateful for? What am I happy about? These questions get me in the right mindset. By asking these quality questions, I come up with quality answers and I can actually program myself for how I’m going to show up that day. After these questions, I have certain affirmations I read. I go through my I am statements. I read the success formula from Think and Grow Rich, one of the principles we need to master and apply. Once I’m done with my affirmations, I’m set. I’ve taken time for my mind with some reading and affirmations, my body with some stretching, and my spirit with a little meditation. Now my mind’s right and I’m ready to go.
Once I get to the office, I already have my plans of exactly what needs to be done. However, I have three more steps before I get started on those plans. I have two composition books of which I write 5 things I am grateful for followed by documenting my biggest win from the prior day. My second composition book is to write one idea on how to grow my business today. Once completed, I am officially ready to go.
These are certain rituals I do. I encourage you to find some morning rituals that work for you. Tony Robbins created a long time ago what he calls, “Your hour of power.” Win the morning, win the day, and create some rituals to get your mind right, because you can actually pre-program yourself how you are going to show up for the day. You’ll know what appointments you have; what conversations you’re going to have with those appointments as well as with your team, you’ll know how calm you’re going to be in those conversations. This morning investment will prepare you to be on point, to be the leader and business owner you need to be, and most importantly to be successful in this world. Consistently make your morning investment in yourself and I promise you’ll be happy with the return.
COACH MICHAEL DILL is an Award-Winning Certified Business Coach, global speaker, and published author. He is a proud Action Coach Franchise partner as well as the President of Power & Ice Wealth Creation a strategic leadership company that works with business owners, leaders, teams, and entrepreneurs to both develop a systematized and structured organization while accelerating their mindset, efficiencies, and effectiveness to grow both personally and professionally to achieve extraordinary results. He brings more than 40 years of business and entrepreneurial experience in his leadership, team training, and mentoring practice. Businesscoachmichaeldill.com