Let me ask you a question.
Would you like to have a string of really, really good days back-to-back?
I’m sure the answer to that is yes. And for most of my life, I’m always looking for ways to do that. And over the years, I’ve accumulated lots of habits, lots of disciplines
Recently the question came up, “Blair, what’s your morning routine?” What is it you do? How do you keep your head on straight? And, how do you have good days one after the other?
Well, I wish I could tell you that every day is a good day. Not every day is a good day, but most of them are. I want to share with you what I do in case you want to copy it to use it for yourself.
One thing that I found is that great athletes, great performers, great business people, very successful people, basically have routines. They have rituals. A ritual is something you do again and again and again.
Why do you do it? Because it works because. It becomes a habit in the habit, becomes beliefs and beliefs become your behaviors, which ultimately affect your results. So, if you’re looking for better results, I’m going to give you, my routine (an abbreviated version). That way, you get a feel for it. You’re welcome to change it, add to it, whatever you want to do.
Now, part of this formula is from a fellow by the name of Hal Elrod. You may be familiar with his book, The Miracle Morning: The Not So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life Before 8:00 AM.
So, what does that mean? It means, whatever you’re going to do, you’re going to do it first thing in the morning.
My routine follows some of his format, but the way I do it is very different. So here we go.
Step number one. The first thing you do, when you get up in the morning, drink some water. Remember you’ve been sleeping for 6, 7, 8 hours with no water, get a good slug of water into you. Maybe up to 16 ounces, brush your teeth, do what you got to do in the bathroom. Do not look at your phone, no text messages or WhatsApp or social media. Don’t do it, resist, put it someplace else.
Take this sacred time and make sure you keep it sacred. Why? Because you deserve it. Why else? Because it will set your context, giving you a reset in the proper way for a great day. Wouldn’t you like to have a day that goes the way you want it to go?
Wouldn’t you like to be in the right place at the right time with a right people, with the right questions, with the right answers, and the right solutions? Some people say that’s luck. Well, it’s not luck. It happens when you start to attract things in your life because you’re focused on the good things in your life.
Step number two, meditate. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a difficult time meditating. My brain is like Bing, Bing, Bing all over the place. What I’ve learned is, I need to learn how to meditate. I’m very blessed, to be working with an amazing Buddhist monk from the Buddhist temple in Thailand, the largest in the world.
And every Monday he trains me, now it’s a little bit easier to do.
I’ll share the tips he’s given me about meditation. First, there is no such thing as a bad meditation. If you meditate for only 10 seconds, that’s a good meditation. And no matter what happens, if your brain is like bouncing all over the place, it’s okay. Just do your best. Take a breath.
It’s kind of like fighting in a ring. You’re in a ring punching, but your mind’s just all over the place. Stop, open your eyes. Reset. Sit down, close your eyes, take some deep breaths. Feel the air going through your nose, down to a place just above your naval and just allow your mind to go still.
He gave this analogy: two bodies of water, a very muddy river that’s filled with silt. You can’t see what’s below the surface, could be all kinds of nasty things down there. Or you could go to a crystal-clear Caribbean lagoon where you can see 40, 50 feet straight down to the bottom. You can see all the fish; you can see everything in there.
He said, that’s your mind. Do you want to make decisions from a muddy perspective or a clear perspective? The idea is to still the mind and just clear it. Even if it’s only for 10 seconds, you might meditate for five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes it’s up to you. Whatever you feel comfortable with, but don’t beat yourself up if it’s hard to shut your brain down. That’s the whole point, to learn how to do it. Just, meditate!
I’ll share more steps in the next article.
