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Time, the great equalizer.  Rich, poor, young, old, we all get 24 hours each day.  So, how do you use your allotment?

Okay let’s start this with everyone’s favorite topic, math.  Did I lose you already… just hang in there for a moment the math section will be short.  I recently saw a blurb that stated if you improve yourself just 1% a day for a year (1.01 to the 365th power) you would have improved 3,800% by the end of the end of one year.  Okay, that’s really abstract and pretty much absurd.  How about improving yourself 1% a week for a year (1.01 to the 52nd power) then you would theoretically be 67% improved by the end of the year.  Since measuring compounding of general self improvement is not really possible, how about we just agree that if you do something every day to improve yourself you will be an improved person by the end of the year and beyond if you keep at it.  I think that it’s fair to assume too, that big successes are usually not the result of some one-off extraordinary action, but mostly ordinary actions done consistently over a period of time. 

I’ve been trying different things for years now to spark myself to better habits, to be more productive, get energized, fuel my positive side and outlook and basically work towards being a better me.  Has it paid off?  In just my attitude alone, a definite YES!  I have a hard time seeing or lingering on the negatives for years now because even when I’m in the thick of the “mud” and challenges of life, I just naturally look for the positives.  Remember “no mud, no lotus”.  Have I made positive progress in other areas I am working on, I definitely think so, but that answer is subjective.  I’ve been dabbling in self improvement, natural therapies, meditation, reading positive books and trying to “figure it out” off and on since I’ve been in my teens.  Basically it’s always been a work in progress and I’m not sure that you ever get to the end of learning and experimenting.  Over the past few years I opened the flood gates.  I swapped “normal” living for mostly being on the road right now and feeling invigorated, alive and convinced that life is headed in a extremely positive direction and big things are brewing.  I’m truly excited about what is around the next corner, literally. 

One of the better things I’ve done is to grab hold of the first hour of the day, make it mine and make it count.  For me this started years ago when I still worked in Corporate America and decided to get out of bed a couple of hours earlier and go to the gym every morning before work.  Being mostly on the road right now that daily gym habit fell to the wayside BUT, the positive side to this is that it has forced me to rethink the process and adjust.  Instead of going somewhere for a workout every morning I have reshaped the first hour of my day to be bigger and better.  I do still try to fit in exercise each morning, but I’m not as driven to do that alone. 

I am sharing what I am finding works best for the most part and I make changes and tweaks from time to time.  You can find all sorts of information on how grabbing control of the first part of your day is important to shaping your whole day.  I encourage you to do a little research, try some things and see what feels good to you.  You can also find that a of the highly successful people in this world get up well before everyone else and start their day.  no doubt they are working on improving themselves and probably kicking butt before the sun is up. Maybe there’s something to getting up early and juicing up your first hour or so.  

So regarding YOU, unless you’re working extremely early or late hours, try making the effort to get up earlier and get things done “for you”. Get going early and kick start your day, everyday, with positive actions then build off of that.  If you have an erratic schedule, make adjustments the best you can.  If you have no demands on your time and typically sleep in with nowhere special to go, great.  If you start doing positive things for yourself with the first hour or so of your day maybe you’ll jump start yourself to get up earlier because your life will get more productive and busier in a good way.  If getting up early is difficult because you watch TV at night, shut it off an hour early, go to bed and get up an hour earlier.  In fact, maybe get up two hours earlier to counteract the effects of watching a lot of TV. 

First thing you should do when you wake is thank The Almighty, the Universe, Wood Nymphs, or whatever you believe the almighty power is for another day.  Be grateful for another day and then start to make it count.  Control the first hour of your day, create it to your design and fill it with good, healthy, positive thoughts, quality mental fuel.  Establish a good starting point and build from there.  Too many other things may pop up during your day and side track you, so get up, do the work!   It is so worth it. 

I encourage you to do something physical to start your day.  It gets the juices flowing.  It takes some push in the beginning if you’re not used to this, but it’s worth the effort.  Gym isn’t your thing, that’s okay do some yoga, stretch, get a treadmill or stationary bike for your home and read or listen to something positive while your peddle, walk or jog.  If you are more of an afternoon workout person to blow off the days stresses, that’s great too.  Fill the first hour of your day with other positive activities.  Try some things out and see what works best for “you”.  Meditating in the morning is great if that is a good time for you.  Visualize a successful day, a successful week a successful life brimming with health and good things.  Read a few pages from a positive book. Work on goals.  Write in a journal.  Do some affirmations, or positive programming.  Listen to motivational CD’s from people like Anthony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Jeffrey Gitomer, Louise Hay, Mike Dooley or whoever you relate to; there are thousands of options.  Start your day in not only a positive direction, but in the direction of your choosing.  I will assume you have “written goals and aspirations”, and if you don’t please start drafting those ASAP. Use this time to plan and work on reaching them.  Own this space, set the tone for the day, the outside world commands enough of your time and attention, this is your time. 

My life at the moment gives me a lot of time and flexibility, so the first part of my day is not as rushed as it once was.  Design what works best for you, make the commitment, start working on how you want to shape your first hour, set your alarm, set the tone for your day.  Do the work, it’s worth it.

Question… how do you eat an elephant…?

Answer… one bite at a time! 

I am still working on managing all the below “to do’s” everyday and move myself forward.  I sometimes purposely overload myself in some areas to see what kind of results I get.  I experiment and have a lot of time on my hands with my current lifestyle, which by the way I attribute to purposefully working towards.  I take a bite out of the elephant each morning, sometimes a big bite, sometimes less, but I keep at it. 

My morning consists of:

1.) I open my eyes and give thanks for still being here and for the great day I had yesterday and the even better day I am about to have today. 

2.) I read a statement that I have designed about my life and where I know it will be in the coming weeks, months and years.  If you care to try this and need some help with designing something for yourself get the book “As a Man Thinketh”.  Buy a copy, do the exercise at the end and then… DO THE WORK!  It’s only around 35 pages and inexpensive,,, get it and try it!  There is no downside to this.

3.) I make a 24oz super drink.  It has powdered super greens, vitamins, herbs, minerals and a touch of cider vinegar.  Historically once my day gets going I tend to forget about extra nutritional needs, so I just super dose myself in the morning now. 

4.). I aim to stretch / exercise every morning.  If I have a YMCA picked out in a town that I want to visit while traveling, then exercising sometimes happens later in the day.  In my past “normal” if I didn’t get my exercise done first thing, I could always find a reason to not do it at all.  Some travel days I just go for a walk before hitting the road.  I work on making the walk additionally productive by thinking about what I want to accomplish today or for the coming week.  I take small note book with me in case something good comes to mind.  If I need some help because my mind is not yet firing on all cylinders, I also have the Travel Well and Live Well tenets written in the front of the note book and I work on some ideas for those. If I’m someplace really scenic or interesting then I try my best to stay in the moment and enjoy it.

5.). I recite a set of affirmations each and every morning.  It’s a bit long, but I have it memorized already and pretty well ingrained.  I try and visualize positive actions for my coming day, ask for good health and energy and for them to be shared with friends and family and individually mention and visualize those people too.  After those shared affirmations I have yet another set that is for ME alone.  There is a reason for not sharing this self serving set, but it’s too long to explain here.  These affirmations encompass who I am, where I am going, how I want my life to proceed and recognizes that I am thankful and grateful for it all.  (Not just the good parts, I try to remember to own it all.)

6.) I read a few pages of something inspirational or motivational before starting my day.  If something from the readings strikes me as really good or an idea pops I will write it down so I don’t lose it.  

7.)  I work on a TO DO list as a map for my day and to help me eat the elephant.  I am again tinkering with it so that I am focusing more on actions that will move me forward in my life and reach my goals.  I’m trying to eliminate the petty and distracting items and reminders that just keep me busy and are not productive. 

The above items are my MUST DO work every morning.

During the rest of the day I usually accomplish or work towards:

Space to meditate or reflect.

Walking 10,000 steps during the day.

Making space in my day to write.

Writing in my journal at the end of every day.

Reading a few pages of something inspirational before going to bed.

The final act of my day when I hop into bed is to repeat the first exercise of my day and give thanks for all the people and experiences in my life, for the great day I had today and the even better one I’m about to have tomorrow.

To wrap this up for now, I hope that you too grab onto the first 30 to 90 minutes of your day and work on YOU.  I can’t think of a down side of doing this so why wouldn’t you want to at least try it.  Listing too many things to accomplish when you’re starting might be a bit overwhelming, so perhaps start small with one or two positive actions and build from there, but the key is of course to start.  The object is to work towards being your best self, so design your own start to the day and do the work.  Soon enough you’ll start feeling and seeing results.  Be patient, don’t beat yourself up if you miss some days, just keep eating the elephant.

For anyone that is curious and noticed that I chose 11:11(am) as the time in the lead picture and also on a blackboard formula you can click here for a interesting and fun read.

Okay, everybody get to work!

https://willowsoul.com/blogs/numbers/5-reasons-why-you-are-seeing-11-11-the-meaning-of-1111