Morning Preparation will separate you from the Masses…..

So one of the things that I’ve recognized over the years is the importance of habits as it relates to our results in life. Habits take time to to become ingrained into our daily behaviors, but once they are, it is extremely difficult to modify and/or change them. It’s like every single time we do something, the trail and tracks in our mind become deeper and wider and become the path of least resistance so it becomes easier and easier to do these things on auto pilot with minimal effort. This can work FOR us if this habit happens to be getting up early, or drinking a green smoothie every morning…. But what if this habit is to grab a donut and a diet coke on the way to the office every day??? I mean at first it was because I was in a morning rush, but now it’s every day… and whether this activity is working for or against us, it isn’t the single act but the act compounded over time that creates the results.

So here is a great example… we have 2 identical men that are married and have children and similar economic status and let’s name them Tom and Jim… Well Tom decides to cut 200 calories a day from his diet and read 10 pages of a personal development book daily, and Jim decides to eat a single donut and isn’t interested in reading and believes it wastes good TV watching time…..not really a big deal right? Well after like 6 months they both look the same and nothing on the surface has changed much and isn’t really noticeable, but after like 2 years we are beginning to see some real impact and it’s showing up as follows;

1. Tom has dropped 30lb and leaned up by dropping 200 Calories a day from his diet, just by some simple habit of removing a Coke or perhaps exchanging water for an energy drink.
2. Tom has read a book a month and over 18 months has read 18 new books that has increased his knowledge and belief in himself and has implemented some of these and is now looking at his second promotion at work but has also been working on his side business!!
3. Tom’s wife and kids and thrilled with his growth and his excitement as he continues to learn and grow giving him the additional confidence and belief that is creating momentum for him and he is leading by example.
4. Jim has added 30lb to his body weight and is finding that he has pain in areas that he never had pain before… He is also discouraged when he glances at the mirror in the morning realizing that he has put 30lb of unnecessary weight just because he chose to eat an extra donut every day for 18 months.
5. Jim has not read a book and therefore has not received any additional insights or ideas to incorporate into his life relating to business, relationships, health…. and is discouraged going to work and feels angry and resentful to his boss for not paying him enough and spends a good chunk of the day talking to other co-workers about how unappreciative the company is…..
6. Jim’s wife and kids are noticing that he is constantly frustrated and angry and for the most part Jim has lost his confidence and feels discouraged and hopeless and so he spends more time watching TV and disconnecting from his family and his wife loves him but fears that things will not improve and asks if he would be open to going to marriage counselling.

Listen I know this is simply a STORY and nothing based on hard research on Tom and Jim, but this is something that I see all of the time and have experienced myself with habits that over time have lead me to experiencing and manifesting results that we the opposite of what I had desired.

As we break down our daily habits, not only the physical ones, but also the habits around how we interact with our family members, how we take care of our bodies, how we nurture our minds? We can begin to uncover those that over time are either creating good results for us or are sabotaging the results we desire. In this post I’ll chat about some of the things that have impacted my ability to stay on track with my fitness levels as I’m entering into my mid 40's…. :) And the biggest suggestion is to layer a simple activity that is sustainable to your life…. so if you happen to be 100lb over weight, let’s not start by running 5 miles daily? Let’s start with substituting soda for water except on Friday’s and walk for 30min daily…. things that you can sustain and then after 30 days layer another activity on top.

So here are a couple things that have served me well to not only position my mornings so that they kick start my day but also so that I invest in MY health;

1. Green Smoothie every morning! Period no excuses and no rules just that I must drink a Smoothie that has Green vegetables inside… Kale, Spinach. It is difficult to get the proper amount of nutrients and this is an easy tasty way to get er’ DONE. (Send me a note and I’ll give you my recipe)
2. Sweat Daily! Every day I need to sweat, period. In the mornings to get blood flowing I do 100 push ups, and then later in the day I workout in some way daily. I’ve found that I feel so much better when I get the blood flowing in the morning and sweat later in the day so why take weekends off??
3. Typically I register for some form of event in the future like a race or a competition, because this is great motivation for me when I don’t feel like doing anything and these days will happen for sure.

So good luck and keep exploring those habits that either get you the results that you desire and double down on those habits and then identify the ones that move you further away from your desires and replace them!