This morning a woman leader shared she was going through a rough patch. What are some of my favorite practices to stay on track and meet my goals.
I felt this way when I returned from Turkey. The post-vacation blues are real. Science says that our minds turn off when we do. Getting it back to the pace at which I functioned PRE-vacation needed a reset.
I lean on Hal Elrod’s “Miracle Morning” practice. He offers an acronym called SAVERS
S= stands for silence.
Some meditate. I like to sit with my morning coffee and check out my garden. Twenty minutes ideally. Science shows that in 20 minutes, our brains form new neurons. These neurons have no memory of what happened to us before, so we come to a problem or a situation with a whole new arsenal of decision making power.
A= stands for affirmations
I have an exercise I offer my Mastermind members. A quick fix is to listen to a video from Youtube. There are zillions of videos with affirmations for different aspects of our lives: Money, forgiveness, confidence.
V=Visualize
These may be the most powerful 5 minutes of my day. I visualize a powerful future self. Or I revise a crap day and visualize it going exactly as I would have liked. The key is to FEEL, not think.
E= Exercise
The first thing I do each morning is workout for at least 60 minutes. There is nothing else scheduled between 6-7am. It’s like brushing my teeth.
R=Reading
The brain gets a dopamine hit from learning new things. It forms new neural pathways. Think of the compounding effect it has over time.
S=Scribing or Journaling
It took me years to understand the power in journaling. It just gets the thoughts, the icky feelings out of my body and onto paper. I write more in this blog post on my morning journaling routine versus my evening one.
If a day is particularly challenging, I’ll ask the four “Katie Byron questions” upon reflecting on my journal entry:
- Question 1: Is it true? …
- Question 2: Can you absolutely know it’s true? …
- Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought? …
- Question 4: Who would you be without the thought? …
- Turn the thought around:
