I want more people to start their day off with a win.
Why? It’s so easy to NOT get a victory if you leave your wins up to everybody else.
You might win by getting to the gym and getting a great workout in after work! Or your boss could hold you late, and you won’t be able to make the last class.
You might win by eating that perfectly portioned and healthy meal for lunch instead of going to eat out with the rest of your co-workers. Or you might forget it at home and have to eat out.
You could walk into that presentation and absolutely crush it! But it might not go your way.
Not trying to bring down the mood here. I’m just trying to get you to realize and think back to some days where you just couldn’t get a win. Those days that slip away from you or evade you like it’s their sole purpose to make you miserable… Remember those? I sure do.
Those days SUCK.
There are always factors that can get in our way once we leave the house or have to start into our normal day. But where are a distinct lack of factors getting in your way?
Right when you wake up.
So let’s start capitalizing on that time we have on our own. Let’s start each day off with a WIN. If we can get a win before we even “start” our day, we generate some seriously positive momentum moving forward. That momentum, like in sports, is critical in order to keep winning throughout the rest of the day.
The more momentum you have, the greater your chances are to win. The wins don’t have to be massive when you start. They could be small… but small wins lead to big victories.
I’m not entirely sure what you qualify as a win, but I’ll let you in on what qualifies as a win for me. Here are a few ways I win every morning.
1) I wake up at 3:46 AM and I don’t hit snooze
Yeah, 3:46AM. It’s crazy. Do I absolutely love waking up at 3:46AM? Not really. But if I want to run an awesome 5AM class and be the most energetic person in the room, I have to wake up that early to get my body rolling. Why don’t I hit snooze? Because it’s time to get up, not time to sleep more. If I want to sleep more, I need to go to bed earlier.
By not hitting snooze, I’ve already won.
2) I record my bodyweight
This is a touchy subject for a lot of people. “Don’t weigh yourself everyday! The scale is evil!” No. The scale is a tool that we can use. How I’m using the scale currently is to diligently track my bodyweight so I can report back to my coach with my weekly average. From there, my coach can prescribe the best nutrition metrics for me. Look at that! I’m already a scientist before 4AM!
3) Some form of mindful practice
I won’t lie, I thought mindful practice was just a bunch of Tim Ferriss hullaballoo… but once I actually participated in some morning mindful practice, I began kicking myself that I hadn’t been doing this for longer. I go about my mindful practice in one of two ways. I either use the Headspace app for 10 minutes of guided meditation, or I open my computer and go to 750words dot com and begin writing.
Each takes me approximately 10 minutes.
That’s it! Either clearing my head with Headspace, or getting some ideas on “paper” with 750words is a small win that gets some serious momentum flowing. I’m more focused, more aware, and I might even have a great blog post in the making that I can come back to and finish! (fun fact, this post was started at 4:04 AM on Friday, Aug. 4th).
4) Plan my day of nutrition
I’ve turned into a bit of a nutrition geek. I love it. I love what it’s done for me, and I love what it does for other people. A huge part of my success has been planning what I’m going to eat that day before I eat anything. This gives me a checklist for the day for things to eat. It’s a lot easier when you know exactly what you’re going to eat all day long than waiting for an opportunity to sabotage yourself.
“Sorry man. I can’t go to (insert restaurant here) with you. I already have my lunch planned, but let’s grab coffee after, cool?”
5) I kiss my wife good morning/goodbye
BOOM. Got a kiss. Big win.
That’s how I start the day off with a win. Actually, 5 wins. Before I even go to work, I’ve already won 5 times. I won more times in one hour than some people get to in a day. This gives me some serious momentum to continue my success throughout the day.
But even if I don’t win anymore the rest of the day, even if everything else goes wrong from 5AM to 9PM, I know that I’ve won.
So here’s what I want you to do this week….
Before you leave for work or start your day, get yourself a win. Maybe 2.
You might ALREADY win every morning, but maybe you don’t realize it. Audit your mornings and see exactly what you’re doing each day. You might be winning 10 times and not even know it… and that little change in mindset could be a huge help to get you through your days.
Keep this up for a week, and see what it does for you. Win in the morning so you can win the rest of the day.
-Clark Hibbs
