How would you perform in your business if you were able to start your morning out focused and prepared to take on the challenges ahead of you? Many of us don’t realize that how we spend our time in the morning is crucial to our success later that day. The quote I have atop my Morning Success Ritual speaks volumes to that thought:
“The day is won or lost in the first hour.”
Whether you know it or not, you are either winning or losing the first hour of the day. There are positive behaviors to enforce and negative behaviors to avoid each morning. Now I get it: many of you have families, and work may not be on the forefront of your mind each morning. But if you are able to set aside between 30 or 45 minutes for positive behaviors, I can almost guarantee you will notice a difference in your business.
What positive behaviors am I speaking of? I practice something called a “Morning Success Ritual”, or MSR. The MSR is made up of different questions and actions that bring a sense of focus for the day ahead.
The first category of the MSR is called “Power Questions.” These include questions with positive answers so your brain is programmed correctly each morning. Too often we turn on the news and hear negativity that, whether you know it or not, affects how your brain is programmed that day. You should create your own questions but I’ve listed a few below that I’ve created to get you started:
What has to happen for me to be successful today?
Who loves me and what do those people mean to me?
What am I most excited about today?
The second category of the MSR is called “My Inspirational Visions.” Think back to a place where you were very inspired, whether on a trip, in your office speaking with a client, or giving a presentation to a large audience. You can even visualize the activities you have going on later that day and picture the outcomes being successful. List these out and visualize these scenarios each morning.
The third category of the MSR consists of one question that should have many different answers:
Why is it an absolute must for me to be focused and give 100% of myself to being successful today?
Answering this with powerful, yet disturbing imagery is necessary to feel the full importance of the day ahead. Here are a few examples of my answers:
“I will not be able to pay my expenses.”
“I will be fired.”
“My future wife and children depend on it.”
Once I work through all these questions, I skim through my business game plan for the year. (Side note- if you do not already have a typed business plan, including goals and activities of how you’ll achieve those goals, sitting beside your bed or in a place that you sit often, you need to create it. I have mine in a folder beside my bed and read it every day.) Once done spending a few minutes looking through my business plan, I work on my “mental diet”. This includes reading or podcasting through a topic in your industry that is beneficial for your education. Just like breakfast is key to your actual diet each morning, reading or podcasting is key to your brain each morning.
Add in exercise and creation of your daily game plan, and your MSR is complete. Do this every morning while ignoring emails, messages on your phone, and the news (keep negativity and distractions out of your morning). If you do this consistently, I can almost guarantee you will be more productive during your day, which should lead to more revenue in your business.
I would love and welcome your feed back. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to email me at will@parallelfinancial.com.