There may not be anything more important to do in your day than to start it off right. Have you ever hit the snooze for an extra five or ten or fifteen minutes and then you just happen to be running behind about that much the rest of the day?
Of course, you’ve got a bit of leeway built in on your day it but how you start is often how you finish. So, you’ve got no choice but to be on time, every time and start your day off right.
If it were only that easy, right? Intentions only get you so far, it’s the action and the follow through that is the hard part.
This is why you want to make sure you are setting yourself up for success in the first place instead of playing catchup all day, week, month long.
There are two important factors to achieving just that.
The first is to visualize your day in advance. This starts the evening before and then again morning of. Get in the habit of envisioning your day to increase the chances of it going exactly the way you want… being on time and ready to start your day (much different than just being on time); executing the daily plan without letting obstacles slow you down; and most importantly performing at peak levels to ensure victory.
The world’s best golfers visualize entire rounds before they even happen. They play the course in their minds for each and every shot. Imagine how much more they feel in control when they’ve seen it all before, just this time it’s happening for real.
You can do the same for your day and gain just as much control over the outcomes.
The other factor is, of course, preparation. Setting your day up for success, literally.
People waste so much time not being prepared that they never realize just how much stress it causes and they suffer because they didn’t take a fraction of the time to simply prepare.
If they would only list out everything that needs complete, priorities to focus on, and getting everything in order in advance, they would accomplish so much more in the same amount of time.
This is the same reason why I advocate for the ‘opportunity meeting’ to be the theme of the morning huddle. This is positive expectancy brought to life but not just talked about – strategized for every patient for the day. This is the time to be positive and proactive based around your desired outcomes for the day. What needs to happen in order for us to win?
And why not have your own Morning Huddle with yourself laying in bed or brushing your teeth or reading a book or saying some prayers or meditation or taking a walk. Just five to ten minutes of mental preparation will change everything.
And by the way, the exact same thing goes for the end of day debrief to add closure to your day by tying up loose ends and neatly packing it all away on the shelf. This also lets everyone know just how we did and where we stand for tomorrow.
It’s a golfer looking at the leaderboard, recounting their shots, seeing where they let themselves down, and game planning for the next round.
Essentially, what you can learn from today to make tomorrow better?
Then you take a few minutes to set tomorrow up for success and prepare in advance for the day. This, as you well know, saves you countless minutes and a whole lot of hectic rushing around tomorrow morning.
This all means you get to hit the ground running and start your day off on the right foot, in the right direction, with the right attitude, and on your way to patient victories.
And that’s how to create your own happy new year one day at a time all the year through. Instead of hoping something happens, I challenge you to choose to make sure it happens – by taking responsibility to set yourself up for success every single day!