It can be extremely difficult to start your day sometimes. If you’ve woken up and said to yourself, “Oh my god, I’m so tired, I need more sleep” or… “Damn, I’m late!” – I feel you. But, why start your days so pessimistically? Why not try to change your mindset early in your day so that the rest of it is amazing? Take for example the “YET” board by the Orton Gillingham Online Academy – they’re starting to teach our younger counterparts how to turn negative occurrences into positive ones.
Let’s follow their example and start early! Here are some ideas for you to wake up with power and motivation instead of being dis-empowered and demotivated.
- Say Yes! when you wake up! What’s better than to charge the brain with great enthusiasm when you wake up? Or…
- Immediately jump out of bed and say Yes! A tough task at first, but a really good alternative to ‘reprogram’ the mind instead of programming it to ‘snooze’ the alarm. But….do you think that psyching yourself up is weird? Yes, it is – but it beats the lame, unmotivated mantras of “Oh I’ve got to work”, “Oh… I’m so tired”, “Oh… How I wish today was Sunday…”
- Stretch! A quick stretch when you’ve just woken up and a long stretch when you get out of bed. Just 5 minutes will get the blood circulating.
- Drink water! We are dehydrated when we sleep and that makes us even more tired when we wake up. Heard of water therapy? It’s a form of therapy where you drink 1 liter of water when you wake up to detox the body. This can make you feel sick – you may want to start off with just a glass.
- Focus on your goals! I was a top sales performer in my early twenties. One of my daily routines was that, when I woke up, was to look ahead at my goals (I plastered an A4 sheet of paper in front of my bed with my goals written on it) and read it out loud with emotions. It’s a good feeling to motivate yourself and remind yourself why you are working so hard and why you are getting out of bed. I stopped doing this for a while but I’ve started up again. The goal is to transform Sales Ninja into a global sales training franchise. It has already happened, but we will always reach for more.
- Think! What important goals do you want to accomplish today? Why not visualize success?
- Music! Pump yourself up with great music. Don’t put on sad, mournful, break up songs. Put on a trance or some motivational or inspirational songs that will move you to action.
- Say I Love You! Say it to your spouse. I’m sure she/he will feel fantastic.
- Meditate! My friend Raymond is a regular meditator in the morning. It helps clear the mind of unwanted thoughts to prepare for the day.
- Count your blessings! Typically done at night, why not try it in the morning?
- Read! Yes, that’s right – when you wake up. Long ago – I can’t remember if it’s Brian Tracy or Denis Waitley or Zig Ziglar (the legends) who said this – and I did it when I was selling and boy, it’s really been good nutrition for the mind.
- Stay away from the TV/radio! Don’t pollute the mind with bad news. If possible, put on great stuff in the car on the way to work. I don’t have songs in my car – it’s filled with podcasts on personal development. If my mind is jammed, I put on trance music to loosen it. I’ve turned my car into a moving university, I’ve learned so much while traveling. What good will music do when traveling? Listen to it when you are home, during work, listen to ideas.
Do not do this all at once. It won’t happen and it’s not sustainable. Take baby steps by changing your pessimistic outlook by adding the word “yet”.
“Mastery is not doing one thousand things one time.
Mastery is doing one thing one thousand times.”
– Hanzo Ng, Sales Ninja Grandmaster.
