Happy Sunday Everyone:
Kim and I were traveling this weekend to visit some new friends. We met them while traveling the week before Thanksgiving. Anyone that knows Kim and I know it’s highly uncharacteristic of us to live on a whim and go do something we hadn’t previously scheduled long in advance. On top of that it’s pretty much guaranteed our version of travel/vacation/get away is choosing between Tahoe, Napa, Carmel, and with friends 1, 2, 3, or 4. Not to say I don’t love those place and friends, but there is something to be said about discovering new people and places.
I didn’t ask permission to write about my new friends so I’ll go high level on details. This Sunday Thoughts is about a comment one of them made. He’s 60, his life resume is full. From an outsider’s perspective you could call them fancy, which of course I did, but as I continued to ask questions I was taken back by his mindset. One thing fun about the first time we met is we literally made it through 2 days of conversation without discussing what any of us did for work. This time we went a little more into it and I can just say their professional resumes are extensive. The only reason this is relevant is because I have it in my head sometimes that highly successful business people think the soft stuff, is exactly that, soft. The morning routines, the books, the journaling, the stuff I put a lot of weight on but know they fall in the category of soft vs. bottom line metrics.
We had about an hour left before they were kind enough to drive us to the airport. Kim and I are continuing a barrage of questions and Kim made the comment that I struggle to be happy. This shouldn’t be new news to anyone and she didn’t mean it in a negative way, just that I work to find joy/happiness because if I didn’t I’d gravitate back to the negative. Our friend, who after 2 days together, I have more respect and admiration for, says ‘I wake up every morning and before I put my feet on the floor I say “today is going to be amazing, I wonder what amazing things are going to happen in my life today. When I go to bed each night, before falling asleep I review my day and identify what amazing things occurred”. After he said that, and as I sit here now, my personal take aways are as follows:
What a great and simple way to start off a day. I tried it this morning and felt a certain level of anxiety dissipate and a lightness come over me.
What a great and simple way to end the day, taking inventory of all that happened in just this day. Seems that it would help me stay present vs. the past and the future. Truly-one day a time.
Validation for me there is room in the professional world for the soft stuff and that it matters. Obviously this is much bigger than “professional” but for me to see someone with his resume and to know this is his mindset above and beyond anything else is refreshing.
I have a morning routine, I’ve discussed it many of times. When I do that routine the probability of me having a better day goes up. The routine takes some will power though, it requires me to get out of bed and start, sometimes I want to, sometimes I don’t. Most of the time the stronger side wins and I get out of bed, but it’s not every time. I’m thinking the simplicity of my friends messaging and the positivity it creates to start has a direct correlation of my desire to get out of bed. It’s been said many of times will power doesn’t work, you have to change the way you think and I believe my friend’s morning encouragement and nightly review is as simple as it gets to put the odds in my favor of having an amazing day. Have enough amazing days and you end up with an amazing life!
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!