Coach PJs daily routine for getting in the right mindset
Since the first of the year, I’ve made a commitment to taking just a little time out of my day to chill out, turn off, shift into a lower gear, and improve my mindset. For most of my life I was in “GO” mode. I found myself in a constant cycle of manic productivity: Work hard, “grind”, go hard, train hard, get as much accomplished as possible. I found myself obsessed with task completion. Nothing could wait until tomorrow. Nothing…in any area of my life.
Yes, I got a ton done. Yes I was hyper productive. But I was fried and tense. In many aspects of my life, this approach wasn’t working anymore. For decades I waved off things like daily affirmations, reflection, improving my mindset…even taking the time to have meaningful conversations with people. I justified all this in the name of “work ethic”. Stuff like this was for people who had time and a more favorable schedule. It wasn’t for me.
But as I said above, it got to a point where it needed to be. So, I committed to what I’ve outlined below-not perfectly mind you-as well as some other habits (I’ll outline some of those in future posts), and, as much as I don’t want to admit it, it has made a difference.
Coach Nic made a post a couple days ago along the lines of “one positive thought first thing in the morning can change your entire day.” And I agree. The best time to adjust your mindset, reflect, relax, and give thanks is first thing in the morning. If you put this stuff off until later in the day, trust me, it won’t stick: You’ll get wrapped up in your day and fall back into familiar patterns of thinking.
Here is my SAVERS routine:
S-Silence: get out of bed earlier while the house is quiet and just sit in the silence.
A-Affirmations: give thanks (WRITE THEM DOWN) for what’s great it in your life. Make these affirmations different each day.
V-Visualizations: visual how your day is going to go, certain situations and opportunities for success.
E-Exercise: for some this may be your early morning workout. For others (like me), it’s a couple mobility drills.
R-Read: my mother gave me a book which is spiritual in nature which offers a 2-3 paragraph message for each day of the year. This takes me 30-seconds to read and eases my mind.
S-Scribing (writing): this is easily combined with affirmations.
Now, you probably can’t apply ALL of these each day, but trust me, just doing one or two, before your day gets moving, can have a dramatic impact on your outlook. Don’t try to spend your life racing through yellow lights to check off another box…there is nothing wrong with slowing down and stopping at red.