Paul Lyons* has advice for those who tend to get panicked and overwhelmed by the problems and obstacles that make up a busy working day.
Jim Rohn, the late American author and speaker, is famous for the following quote: “Either you run the day or the day runs you”.
It should be at the heart of your daily progress, productivity and resilience.
Waking up and switching yourself on to be fully conscious and in control of your thoughts and actions is the best possible start you can make to your day.
Three important elements of ‘running your day’ include the following:
What outcomes do you want?
By consciously articulating what outcomes you want to have achieved by the end of the day you can develop a workable framework to make them happen.
By visualising what you have to do and the likely problems and opportunities you will encounter, you can feel empowered and in control before you start the day.
Making it happen
Running your day to achieve the outcomes you want involves having an intense focus on doing what you have to do to tick off the goals on your list.
This can be incredibly difficult if you aren’t switched on and focused.
You can become easily distracted and diverted by anything less than a resolute internal commentary and any number of external challenges, obstacles and setbacks.
Using or adapting the Pomodoro Technique (working with focus of blocks of time, typically 25 minutes separated by short breaks) helps you trade ‘focus for fun’.
It is also a great way for getting things done.
When you feel you are procrastinating or wasting time, switching back into the ‘running your day’ mindset will get you moving again.
Staying in motion
While the notion that sharks will drown if they stop swimming isn’t universally true, it still resonates with us humans.
We feel mentally healthier and stronger if we are in control of our daily thoughts and actions.
We feel more empowered if we’re ‘in motion’ of doing things that resonate with our purpose and help us to achieve our goals and objectives.
Staying in motion by making things happen helps us remove feeling helpless and overwhelmed, discouraged and demotivated by the daily grind.
Staying in motion enhances our probability of making things happen in the way we want which reinforces our confidence and self-belief.
*Paul Lyons is an experienced business leader, adviser and coach enjoying a diverse career across Australia and Asia. He can be contacted at [email protected].
This article first appeared on the Mental Toughness blogsite.
