Episode 094 - "By The End of Today..."

“By the end of Today...”
The Thursday Thesis  - 12/4/2018

I am writing this post to one person in particular - a friend – to remind them of a conversation we had about staying positive and becoming buoyant whilst navigating the seas of negativity.
 
It all began with a little book.

One little book and a single word.

The word was – and still is - “Today”.

My little book and that one word have made a big difference in my life: perhaps you will try them too.

It is widely known that goals and ambitions are vital to achievement and happiness, and I’ve written about goals before on the blog, though I’ve mostly discussed long-term goals.

So, what about short-term goals?

I have set daily goals for business and work for decades, and I recommend them for anyone.

The problem with business and work goals was that I didn’t set any personal daily goals or remind myself of some important parts of my life.

Dumb.

I’d blundered along doing work-stuff with a sense of purpose and a timeline to get things done, but other things fell apart from neglect and error that I should have known better than to fall into.

Dumb.

But a few years ago I was listening to Peter Thomson - a very charismatic speaker and trainer - describing what he did every morning, before he did anything else at all. I adopted the practise the very same day, reasoning that a few minutes in the morning and a couple more, last thing at night, couldn’t do any harm and might just do a little good.

They are the most important minutes of the day.

Every day – whilst the coffee machine warms up - I open my little book and write my daily journal entry. I don’t write much, just four things I want to be true by the end of the day, and a list of what I have to be grateful for, and what I want to have, in order to be grateful for that, too.

I pick up my very best fountain pen and begin with the date and these words: “By the end of Today, I will it to be true that...”

I then list three or four things that I must have in my life, like this:

“By the end of Today, I will it to be true that:

• I had fun and helped people.
• I took courageous action to capture my dreams.
• I took right care of myself and the people I love.
• I was a good father, brother, and friend.”

My list is almost always the same these days, but it has evolved over the years.

The second half of the morning journal is the list of what you have to be grateful for, or want to have and be grateful for.

So my journal reads like this “Today I am grateful for life, Alex (my son), health, home, food, friends, love, honesty, courage, helping people, confidence, wealth, ambition, drive, patience, clarity, energy, strength, grit, laughter, optimism, choices, wisdom; my big heart and healing gifts”

I’m particularly proud of the Big Heart thing, because it was my great friend Krish’s description of me, whilst Jason - a Shaman and friend – described my teaching skills as “Healing Gifts”.

Now I’ll confess to feeling like a fraud when I started journaling, and I almost quit after a few days because I didn’t feel any different. But I stuck with it, and I’m so glad that I did. After several weeks it started to feel natural to write positive things about myself every day, and to remind myself of what I would do in the day ahead to be a better man and to hold myself to account. Unsurprisingly, the days began to pass with more vitality, self-care, and fun.

That’s what Peter shared, and it’s what I do every day, and what I want you to do - from today onwards – for the rest of your life.

 And now we come to the end of the day journal: it takes around two minutes – so don’t skip it.
Before sleep, just reflect on the day, and write:

• Today I was happy about...
• Today I chose...
• Today I learned...

Then add the good stuff from your day, perhaps something like this:

• “Today I was happy about helping my Tribe to have fun and see themselves as better.” (my students are my Tribe)

• “Today I chose to work harder than most people think is reasonable in order to meet my deadline.”
• “Today I learnt that it is easier to maintain momentum on a project than to gain momentum, so don’t take your foot off the gas pedal.”

DO this every day, and you will inevitably begin to feel curiously uplifted as you recognise and record the many positive facets your life already has, and begin to attract more good things to you. Constantly reminding yourself of what you want, value and are grateful for is crucial to success and happiness. This daily routine primes your Reticular Activating System* to seek out what you want more of and what is important to you. This is the difference between taking aim at a target and randomly firing in all directions!

Start your own journal today, and see where it takes you. Keep it positive and believe in yourself.

To you, my friend, I say this: you are enough, and you are not broken.


*see the previous blog post 08/03/2018, The RAS.

 
© Neil Cowmeadow 2018
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Neil@cowtownguitars.net