Set your day before your day sets you. Let me explain what I mean.
I spent years letting the world around me dictate how I was going to feel each day. I would wake up and the first thing I would do was reach for my phone and start scrolling.
Did that email come through? Did my LinkedIn post get any likes?
Things that were out of my control I used, or at least tried to use, to make me feel good, but it never worked.
Did that girl I like message me back? Is the weather going to be nice today?
Within minutes I was letting external events dictate my internal mood, without much awareness about what was occurring. The day would set me, instead of the other way around. And this unconscious process went on for years.
Most of us do this in one way or another. We wake up whole and complete but before we even realize what we are doing our phone is in our hand and we’re looking at things that make us feel lack, emptiness, anxiety or worry.
We go to places that invite comparison into our lives while telling ourselves that x y or z has to happen in order for us to feel good or better again. But in my experience, x y or z is usually some sort of band-aid, not a solution.
If I own a Tesla I will be happy.
That kind of stuff.
But what if it didn’t have to be this way. What if you could set your day with one simple exercise that takes no more than 5-10 minutes to complete. Would you do it?
I’m talking about a blueprint to the life you want to live. A blank canvas for how you want to feel. And it starts with one simple question:
How do I want to feel today?
Novel concept, right? But seriously, how many of us actually ask ourselves this on a regular basis?
If you’re game, I invite you to grab a pen and paper and ask yourself the following four questions:
How do I want to feel today?
What desired outcome needs to happen in order for me to feel this way?
What actions do I need to take to get the outcome I want?
What thoughts do I need to have throughout the day to assist me in getting there?
Here’s an example of one I recently did myself just last week.
I wanted to feel happy and proud and I knew that completing a rough draft of this blog post, eating healthy throughout the day, and being present for my daughter once she was home from school, would get me there.
This also meant there were certain actions I had to take to support the results I wanted to get.
I knew I needed to set aside time to write and I knew I had a better chance of eating healthy throughout the day if I planned my meals ahead of time. I also knew that in order to be present for my daughter I would have to leave my phone out of site, perhaps in a different room once home from school.
Lastly, my thoughts.
I wrote – I am enough, I can do this, I am loveable and my daughter deserves a present parent. The action of writing down the kind of thoughts we want to have helps to create a willingness within us that might not have been there before.
This was especially helpful to me because half way through writing the draft to this blog things started to feel heavy for me. That’s when I revisited the thoughts I had written down and reminded myself that I can indeed to this. It was me managing my mind and reminding myself that taking action doesn’t always have to be difficult.
The outcome? I completed a rough draft of this post, I ate healthy throughout the day and I was 100% present for my daughter that night.
All of which made me happy and proud. I took ownership of the way I wanted to feel by creating the type of day I wanted to have.
So…how do you want to feel today?
I took a client through this process the other day after he found himself at the bottom of his ladder of consciousness and it quickly turned things around for him. It gave him a blueprint for the happiness and pride he wanted to feel - on the inside.
Maybe it can help you too?
Love,
Zachary
PS ~ Let me know if you find this exercise helpful. I’d love to hear about your experience with it if you try it.