Michelle Bakjac* says the first eight minutes after you wake up can often set your mood for the rest of the day.
It’s my daughter’s birthday soon and I used a Google search to locate a skirt she has been lusting over at Witchery and pressed ‘Buy Now’.
The following morning I was researching some team building activities for a Team Resilience Session and what should ‘pop up’ in the top corner of my Google search?
That’s right — an advertisement for Witchery.
Our brains are more or less like Google analytics.
What we choose to focus on and think about during the day will result in the future ‘pop ups’ we get.
This is especially the case in the first eight minutes after we wake up.
During that time our brain is in ‘Theta state’, when it is at its most ‘plastic’.
So, what are you doing with this time?
For many of us, our first eight minutes after we wake up (often before our feet have touched the floor) involves reaching over and grabbing our phones and scrolling through our news feed.
Here we find information on the latest COVID-19 outbreak, a mass shooting overnight, a police siege and various other horrific and very negative world events.
So, if this is the information that you are putting into your brain in the first eight minutes when it is at its most plastic, what ‘pop ups’ will you be creating for yourself for the rest of the day?
Instead, could you roll over and hug your partner. Could you hug your dog? Could you turn on some great music?
Or best of all — could you reach over to your little notebook next to your bed and consider three things you are grateful for and what you want to achieve for the day.
So, consider — what are your analytics doing in the first eight minutes? Are the pop ups you are creating positive or are they negative?
*Michelle Bakjac is an experienced Adelaide-based psychologist, organisational consultant, coach, speaker and facilitator and a Director of Bakjac Consulting. She can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared at bakjacconsulting.com.
