When you’ve had a successful, productive day your self-esteem soars, your endorphins (the feel-good hormones) flow freely, and you can even afford to skip your favorite pick-me-ups at the end of the day (coffee, a Scotch on the rocks, or whatever) and still enjoy a great evening and a good night’s sleep.
It all comes from the satisfaction of having made a contribution and having gotten things done. Margaret Thatcher summed it up nicely in the quote below…
For most of us, such workdays happen by accident, but what if you could reverse engineer your day proactively to end it supremely satisfied at the end – or, at least, something close? We believe it can be done – and here’s how…
The three steps to layering your day such that you’re supremely satisfied at the end are to start your day on an upswing (by setting up a success vibration before you get out of bed or soon after); building forward momentum early on to keep this success vibration going (and hopefully amplifying it); and leveraging a few hacks that keep you motivated and full of enthusiasm all day long.
In order to achieve this, we’ll be tapping the works and insights of a few success “gurus”, each one a dean of sorts regarding how to pull off each of the above three steps successfully and consistently. These include John Kehoe (LearnMindPower.com and The Power of Your Mind in the 21st Century~ How To Train The Mind To Attract What You Desire), Tim Ferris (Tools of Titans), Steve Errey (The Code of Extra-Ordinary Change and TheCodeOfExtraOrdinaryChange.com), and some others.
If you can follow through and implement what they teach, within the framework of the “system” in this guide, you should double or triple the chances of having a successful and super-productive workday that leaves you supremely satisfied at the end.
And if you can get one such workday today, you increase the chances that you can pull this feat off the next day. If you can have two such days running, you increase the chances that you can have a great week.
See where we’re going with this? If you can have one swell workweek, the chances increase that you will have a super-successful month. Two such super-successful months running and a year isn’t too far off!
Success feeds on success; success breeds success. We’ll be tapping three powerful laws too – the Law of Gratitude, the Law of Compounding, and the Law of Reciprocation (or reciprocity).
Step One: Start your day on an upswing
Has this ever happened to you? You come back home tired and drained, or frustrated and grumpy and out of sorts at the end of your workday. You should be thrilled with the attentions and love of your loved ones – maybe your kids or your partner – but right now the only thing that looks remotely appealing is to get something strong to drink and then to collapse in a deep heap in front of the TV?
Days that end like this usually have their origin in how you started the day. In his book, Who Will Cry When You Die, Robin Sharma wrote:
“The way you begin your day determines the way you will live your day. I call the first thirty minutes after you wake up ‘The Platinum 30’ since they are truly the most valuable moments of your day and have a profound influence on the quality of every minute that follows. If you have the wisdom and self-discipline to ensure that, during this key period, you think only the purest of thoughts and take only the finest of actions, you will notice that your days will consistently unfold in the most marvelous ways.”
So, if you wish to have a successful day, it’s important you start it on a positive note. And we’ll start with creating or generating a “success vibration” before you get out of bed, or just soon after.
The best person that teaches how to do this is John Kehoe…
You start by creating a list of ten to fifteen things that you are successful at now. These can be simple things. If you’re a safe driver, and you feel successful at it, that would make your list.
If you make a great omelet, and this is something that makes you feel competent and fills you with a sense of mastery or joy; that too would make your list.
Or it could be you’re really good at crotchet, or you feel you’re a good parent, or a good teacher, or a good husband or wife – simple things you’re successful at NOW.
So, once you have created this list of ten to fifteen things (your list is allowed to have more than fifteen) then you make it a routine to go over this list of things you’re successful at NOW every day upon waking up or soon after.
The purpose is to start your day on an upswing and feeling successful and grateful for these successes. According to Kehoe, this sets up a success vibration.
It’s true that success feeds on success. If you’ve ever finished doing a piece of work really well and you felt like embarking on another piece of work immediately following that, then you have some idea how this works.
The first success builds forward momentum that can propel you to more success. So, savor your successes you have already chalked up; rejoice in them, and feel grateful. As you do so, your psychology will shift such as to mirror and follow your physiology (and set you up for success for the rest of the day).
That’s one way of understanding it, if the idea of a success vibration doesn’t do it for you. So, when you’re savoring your successes and feeling grateful, if that makes you smile, or it generates an inner glow, that preps your subconscious mind to set the stage for more successes because you’re telling it you like more of the same.
This exercise works by invoking the Law of Gratitude. According to Wallace Wattles (The Science of Getting Rich):
“You cannot exercise much power without gratitude because it is gratitude that keeps you connected with power. The creative power within us makes us into the image of that to which we give our attention. The grateful mind is constantly fixed upon the best, therefore it will receive the best.”
So you’re connecting to the source of power. It doesn’t really matter what you think of as the source of power – it can be God, Providence, the Universe, your Infinite Intelligence (your subconscious mind).
For your perfect workday, you want to be thinking about being a star performer, a high achiever, and a champion first thing in the morning – with some real-life examples and achievements to highlight your “prowess” and your genius and creativity to your subconscious mind.
To make a habit of this exercise, time it to be triggered by the same action or event every morning. So you could do the exercise a few moments after the alarm goes off. Or just before you get out of bed. Or when you start brushing your teeth, etc. It takes between 21 and 30 days for a new habit to burn in, after which the habit becomes automatic, but it’s important that you link the habit to a trigger event.
In wrapping up this section, let’s briefly recap what we have learned so far.
The formula for having a perfect workday is to start your day on an upswing, and you do this by generating and building joyful enthusiasm first thing upon waking up or soon thereafter.
You do this by creating a list of ten to fifteen things or activities that you’re successful at now in your life and these can be simple things. You then create a routine for going over these things or achievements every day first thing in the morning, in your mind, or by going over them on a list you have on paper or perhaps on an electronic device.
One of the things this does is it preps your subconscious mind to set the stage for a high-performance day, through simple strategies such as highlighting and feeling grateful for your power, and your genius and your creativity – to what Dr. Joseph Murphy calls your “Infinite Intelligence” (in The Power of Your Subconscious Mind)
In the next section, let’s look at amplifying and sustaining the success vibration we have learned how to create in the last section…
Step Two: Hacks That Build Forward Momentum And Keep You Motivated & Enthusiastic
The first hack we’re going to leverage to build forward momentum comes from Tim Ferriss (Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines And Habits of Billionaires, Icons And World-Class Performers). He calls this powerful little gem;
Loving Kindness
In Tools of Titansm Ferriss says that the one thing that most of these people he interviewed who fill the book’s 500+pages had in common was that “More than 80% of the interviewees have some form of daily mindfulness or meditation practice.”
According to Tim Ferriss, this is “a meta-skill that improves everything else.”
And if Tim Ferriss is that enthusiastic about something you better sit up and listen! He’s someone who thrives on finding shortcuts and loopholes. This daily ritual below that he swears by is something along those lines of the meta-skill.
“…In many of my public talks, I guide a very simple 10-second exercise. I tell the audience members to each identify two human beings in the room and just think, ‘I wish for this person to be happy, and I wish for that person to be happy.’ That is it. I remind them to not do or say anything, just think – this is an entirely thinking exercise.
“The entire exercise is just 10 seconds’ worth of thinking. Everybody emerges from this exercise smiling, happier than 10 seconds before. This is the joy of loving-kindness. It turns out that being on the giving end of a kind thought is rewarding in and of itself.
“All other things being equal, to increase your happiness, all you have to do is randomly wish for somebody else to be happy. That is all. It basically takes no time and no effort.”
This little exercise too sets up a vibration that can last the whole day, apparently. Tim Ferriss gives this example of one woman who attended these talks…
“… I was speaking on a Monday evening, and the next day, Tuesday, was a work day, so I told the audience to do this exercise for Tuesday: Once an hour, every hour, randomly identify two people walking past your office and secretly wish for each of them to be happy. You don’t have to do or say anything – just think, ‘I wish for this person to be happy.’ And since nobody knows what you’re thinking, it’s not embarrassing – you can do this exercise entirely in stealth. And after 10 seconds of doing that, go back to work. That’s all.
“On Wednesday morning that week, I received an email from a total stranger, Jane (not her real name). Jane told me, ‘I hate my job. I hate coming to work every single day. But I attended your talk on Monday, did the homework on Tuesday, and Tuesday was my happiest day in 7 years.”
This little exercise leverages the Law of Reciprocity. Don’t underestimate its power! Here’s why (and how) we think it works so well…
Two processes come into play when you do this little exercise – “reticular activation” and something else that has to do with your value system. Let’s explain:
Within our subconscious mind there is a “program” called the Reticular Activation System (RAS). Most people will be familiar with how the RAS works in practice.
Let’s say you just bought a red Jeep Cherokee. The next day as you’re driving along in the Jeep, suddenly red Jeep Cherokees pop up everywhere you go. Or it could be an item of clothing you just bought, a high-end pair of shoes, etc.
Now, going back to the jeep, of course all along these red Jeep Cherokees were on the roads, your subconscious mind just wasn’t interested in them. But now that you bought one, the RAS is alert and monitoring for them.
This is a good thing and it serves to validate a choice you made. If you ever suffered “buyer’s remorse” you know how bad it can be, so this is a good thing – your subconscious is telling you, “See? We’re in good company, all these people can’t be wrong [social proof] – great choice!”
Now let’s see how this works with the Loving-Kindness thing. When you wish a stranger happiness, your subconscious latches on immediately and goes, “So we’re being kind today to people – and that includes strangers!” You’ve made a choice, the RAS commando goes to work to validate it.
So, as you go about your business throughout the day the RAS will be on the lookout for opportunities to alert you to, so you can be kind to people, including strangers.
The first time you did it, there was immediate feedback – good feedback; if you believe Tim Ferriss and the results he reported from his talks. Now, this is the Law of Reciprocity working. It says, “First you give (without expecting anything in return) then you’ll receive.”
You wished someone happiness, and you got happy yourself.
Typically though, the Law of Reciprocity doesn’t work so fast! Nor does it say that you get exactly what you gave – in fact you typically receive something else; something else good. Still, if it works so fast in this case, who is complaining?
Now with the RAS engaged, don’t be amazed when you find yourself doing acts of loving-kindness to people you come across – and being pleasantly surprised by the feedback you get: emotional satisfaction, happiness.
But we won't stop there... to give this process a push, start by believing that these mind hacks work. Belief is a powerful booster.
Here's a process that boosts the impact o this hack from Paul Lemberg (business coach/executive coach: PaulLemberg.com):
"...Well-understood and clearly expressed values can propel you through the most difficult change periods, and keep you far ahead of the wandering herd.
“Let that value [loving-kindness in this case] become a part of you for 24 hours. Reference all your choices, actions, and conversations against that value. Of course, you'll notice everything that's not a match. What there is to do is course-correct.
“Let your daily value [let's stick with loving-kindness as we've already used/exercised it] be a compass by which you guide your day. Let yourself align with your daily value. And notice, at the close of each day, what has opened up. Notice who you now are in relation to you.
“Notice what you've accomplished. Sales closed, smiles received, offers to do new business, invitations… And, of course, notice the feedback from your family, friends, colleagues – everybody.”
The second process that’s at work from the time you wish a stranger happiness has to do with your value system latching onto this value (loving-kindness) you just practiced in the exercise. And this is going to pep you up.
As an aside, when you uphold your core values this helps you take actions or choose options that are consistent with sticking to and achieving your goals, or it can prevent you taking actions and/or choosing options that are inconsistent with sticking to and achieving your goals – whatever your goals for the day happen to be.
According to Steve Errey (The Code of Extra-Ordinary Change and TheCodeOfExtraOrdinaryChange.com), knowing your values is one of the most important things you can ever know about yourself, because:
“The reason your values are so fundamental to your self-confidence is because they’re the building blocks, the foundations and cornerstones for you. They live ten thousand feet down inside you, right at the very core of who you are, and are the things in yourself, in others or out there in the world that are most important to you.”
He continues…
“… Those times when you feel great; the times when you feel like you’re firing on all cylinders, at the top of your game, buzzing, flowing, powerful, or [when you feel] like you’re being completely yourself… those are the times when one or more of your values are being used or expressed.”
You just used/expressed one of your core values you care about in the Loving-Kindness exercise. So, guess what… you’re going to be firing on all cylinders all day now because you have the RAS throwing opportunities your way, you’re getting good feedback when you take the suggested actions, and finally you’re leveraging gratitude too, and connecting to the source of power. Phew!
That’s called compounding.
Almost all of us value kindness and love – at least when we’re on the receiving end! Even people who are habitually unkind respond positively when you go out of your way and do a kind deed for them – it’s rare that a person will recoil when you treat them kindly.
So, kindness is a universal value. In his book How To Stop Worrying And Start Living, Dale Carnegie quoted Professor Billy Phelps of Yale:
“What people want is a little attention as human beings. When I meet a man on the street with a beautiful dog, I always comment on the dog's beauty. As I walk on and glance back over my shoulder, I frequently see the man petting and admiring the dog. My appreciation has renewed his appreciation.
One time in England, I met a shepherd, and expressed my sincere admiration for his big intelligent sheepdog. I asked him to tell me how he trained the dog. As I walked away, I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the dog standing with his paws on the shepherd's shoulders and the shepherd was petting him. By taking a little interest in the shepherd and his dog, I made the shepherd happy. I made the dog happy and I made myself happy."
Really a small act of kindness/appreciation and look how powerful it can be!
A Simple Hack That Will Get You Loving Whatever You Call “Work”
This next hack works like the prayer we used to say (or be forced to say by our parents) before you started eating when mealtime came. Most adults will have given up the habit by now, but when you stop to think about it, this was a good habit – it is gratitude; and you’re connecting to a source of power!
So, when you start your workday, take a moment and visualize yourself, your product, your business, whatever is work for you; everything being surrounded in your most loving, caring, warm, nurturing light.
Say a little prayer that you want to truly give of your heart and soul on this day. Ask that the people who need your gift be shown the way to you so that you can bless them with your love and talents.
Remind yourself that you are going to lovingly fulfill someone's unmet needs and they will gladly pay you or appreciate you for having done so. Send that joyful intention out to lead you throughout your workday. Let love magnetize your work throughout every stage, from creation to sales – or whatever you call work.
Don’t dismiss this simple ritual before you try it out. We’re not doing this exercise so that our customers or our bosses or whoever benefits from our work loves us back… by the law of reciprocation, this loving we’re giving out will come back to us via some other routes – the law never fails, so the “Universe” will reward you in some way.
Maybe you start loving what you do lots more. When that happens, those who benefit from your work will get more from whatever it is that you do, through a “transference of feeling”.
Just do it and have faith that the loving and brightness you’re infusing into your work and transferring to whoever benefits from what you do helps you to realize your dreams; that this will work to fulfill you financially, emotionally, socially, and so on.
Step Three: Ending Your Day On A High
With all these things you’ve done above, your day should, hopefully, have been super-productive and stress-free. In the third and last section, let’s end the day on a high note, by leveraging two simple routines…
Your end-of-workday routine
One of the routines we’ll be establishing that has been shown to increase efficiency and to make people more productive is to plan your workday the previous day.
Here’s the thing… the last thing you need when you get to work is to have any doubt in your mind of what needs to be accomplished. That creates chaos and can drain valuable energy and set the rest of your day on a negative, downward spiral. Planning your workday the day before eliminates this chaos.
To plan your workday the day before, it helps to establish an end-of-workday routine. This involves making a to-do list for tomorrow and tying up any loose ends before you retire for the day.
So, schedule a ten-minute block of time at the end of your workdays for this end-of-workday routine. Now, the fastest way to achieve change is to do something at roughly the same time each day, following a given trigger in your daily routine.
For example, you could schedule to do this activity or change you want to achieve every day after you drink your first cup of coffee in the morning, or after you arrive at work, after you get home, after you brush your teeth, after you shower, and so on.
This is important because it preps your mind and body to associate positive feelings to activities that would otherwise be boring, or mundane or unattractive, and so on, and this makes it easier for you to remember to do the activity. This goes for any routines in your daily life.
So, set a trigger that calls the end-of-workday routine. Is it when you shut the office computer down? Or when you sit in the car before driving away from work? Set your trigger. Then plan your next day.
You should attempt as much as possible to start your workday (tomorrow) doing the hardest thing first thing in the morning at work. This is the advice Greg McKeown gives in Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less. He cites Ray Zann, founder and CEO of Micrel, a semiconductor business in Silicon Valley. Zann was seventy-five years old in an industry and city that usually celebrates twenty-year-old college dropouts…
“Ray… has led the company as CEO for thirty-five years, and throughout that period Ray has followed an extraordinarily consistent routine… What really enables Ray to operate at his highest level of contribution is that throughout the day, his routine is governed by a single rule: ‘Focus on the hardest thing first.’
“… Develop a routine of doing your hardest task in the day first thing in the morning. Find a cue – whether it’s that first glass of orange juice you have at your desk, or an alarm you set on your cell phone, or anything you’re already accustomed to doing first thing in the morning – to trigger you to sit down and focus on your hardest thing.”
Here’s why this is good advice…
On any given day we each of us have a finite reserve of willpower. This reserve diminishes with each activity you do and so it diminishes as the day progresses. Now, if you’ve done all these other activities we have seen before you start working, your willpower will be at its peak, your energy too.
So, this is the best time to do the hardest thing – so you can chalk it up as the next success to feed the success vibration. After you’ve done it you’ll be coasting downhill, at a leisurely pace.
Crowning Your Workday – The “3 Best Things” Hack
This hack is credited to Gary Lockwood, business coach. He wrote;
“When my sons were very young, I taught them a game. In turn, that game taught me a valuable lesson that still works for me today. Play the game and you will restore your confidence and your sense of well-being. Start today and gain a new perspective, a higher energy level and increased creativity.”
“My two sons, Dan and Doug, were five and six years old. On their first day of school, we started a new game. At dinner that evening, I asked, ‘Boys, what was the fun-est thing you did today?’
“Watching their response, I could tell what they were thinking. ‘Oh-Oh; Daddy's on a new kick again’. Regardless, Doug and Dan each told of something fun and interesting they did that day. I contributed by relating to them something weird and funny that had happened at my office that day (something weird was happening at my office almost every day, it seems).
“We laughed at each other's stories and went on to enjoy a delightful dinner together.
Lockwood and sons did this exercise the next day, and the next…
“By the end of the first week, the boys could see that this was going to be a regular thing. They came to the dinner table already knowing what their evening's story would be.
“In the weeks to follow, Doug and Dan each had at least one fun thing to tell and sometimes two or three. They even competed to see who had the fun-est story. Dan would say, ‘I want to go first. My story is better than Doug's’.
“After a while, it almost seemed that these boys were making fun things happen during the day, just so they could tell about it at dinner. We laughed a lot and enjoyed each story.
“Where was their focus? That's right; on the positive things that were going on with them. During this time of their lives, do you suppose that Dan and Doug had any unpleasant things happening to them or around them? Of course they did! We all have negative events and negative people in our lives.
“I just didn't want the negatives to be their primary focus. I wanted my sons to see past the unpleasantness around them and experience the positive.
“How many times do you end your day stewing about?
- The heavy traffic
- The report that didn't get finished
- People who haven't returned your calls
- Deals that are dragging on
- The computer's not working correctly
- And on, and on, and on.
“I am not suggesting that you ignore the challenges in your life. I’m suggesting that you just not dwell there.
“Successful entrepreneurs develop their positive attitudes because they feed on progress. At the end of each day, instead of recounting all the difficulties and all that remains undone, write your accomplishments. Write the three most positive, interesting things that happened to you this day (the fun-est things).
“You can literally end each day on a positive note by jotting down the three best things that happened this day. These may be things that happened to you, people around you, events that just felt good to you, or just a sunny day.
“Some of the most rewarding things to capture are your own actions. Often, there is no one around to acknowledge your achievements, especially those little ones that happen in the course of the day. By focusing a few minutes on your accomplishments, you give yourself a little pat on the back and recognize progress, even when small.
“Having a positive attitude toward your business and toward life in general may be one of the most important characteristics of successful people… A positive attitude is not accidental. Successful entrepreneurs know how to create a positive attitude for themselves. They don't just wait for it to happen.”
The best place and time to do this 3-best things hack is when you’re back home, after you’re well rested. Of course you can do it alone, but if you want to play the game with your kids, go ahead!
There, that’s our “Perfect Workday Formula.” Will this “system” work every time? Maybe not, but it more than doubles the chance that you will have a successful and very productive day, and a fresh positive outlook on your work over time.
Give it a shot for at least thirty days for everything to kick in, tweak it to fit your needs and your unique circumstances, and we’re hopeful it will make a big difference in your work life.
What could go wrong… and what to do about it
The biggest thing that could go wrong and derail you from using and benefiting from this “system” is that you get so engrossed in your activities of the early morning that you forget to do Step 1 (setting up that critical success vibration) and Step 2 (the Loving- Kindness thing.
The best way to make a habit of Step 1 is to schedule that block of time to coincide with something you do every day, such as brushing your teeth, or after the alarm goes for getting out of bed. Set up a reminder on your smartphone, your home computer, your tablet – you can even do it on all these device for the first few weeks.
For Step 2, set a trigger that calls the routine. For example, decide to wish the first person happiness that you see when you hit the road, when you get to the bus stop, when you board the train, when you get to school, etc. Pick one trigger and use that consistently.
When you have repeated these routines for at least thirty days, it will begin to feel weird when you skip it. That’s the power of routines!
What to do now
Start creating your list of those things you’re successful at now, this very minute – don’t procrastinate. It’s an asset you can grow over time, but for now list at least three (3) things.
