How you can get 45 days of free training, development, reflection and strategic actions
It's 5am in the morning, and I'm writing this blog post just after I finished the first meeting of the day (which started at 4:30am), and because of that flow, I already know that today will become a very special day!
Now I have to admit that this isn't my normal routine. It is also very early for me today.
But I do get up early almost every morning, and I know it helps me to stay centred, focused, and happy in a very busy life.
Read along to discover what getting up early can mean for you as an ambitious leader, and how it can give you 45 days of long term oriented time!
You've probably already heard some stories of top CEOs starting their day at 5am.
And you probably also heard some stories of the many copy cats who reverse the thinking, hoping that getting up at 5am will make them a top CEO
(which is true and not true at the same time).
Well, actually it isn't about the exact time when you get up. It's all about the conscious start of your day. About the things you do first, and how you prepare yourself to perform.
That preparation doesn't need to take very long. With one hour of dedicated time to set a focus and prepare yourself, you can already achieve a lot!
And actually it doesn't matter when you take that one hour of dedicated and undistracted time.
The fact is that many people live such a busy life, that it's very hard to just have one hour of free time to create that focus.
So you can try to free up some time in your day, but that's a very hard exercise.
An easier way is to create one hour of extra time.
And that's why getting up earlier is so effective. At least, when you use that one hour of extra time in a very conscious way, and not just extend your busyness with an extra hour!
The book "The Miracle Morning", written by Hal Elrod, gives you a strong framework to use that one hour of extra time in the best possible way:
- Silence: take a moment to sit in silence. Do some meditation or some prayers, and just let your mind wander. It's probably the only moment of the day that you can just be, without anything that needs to be done, without anything that needs to be analysed, or without anything that needs to be said.
- Affirmation: affirm your good intentions, your gratitude for the day, your positive attitude, and your willingness to make this day a special day.
- Visualisation: set a clear focus, define what you're working on, reconnect with your bigger purpose so that you are not caught up in a firefighting mode but that you can maintain the focus on what is really important.
- Exercise: also prepare your body to perform.
- Read: good leaders are good readers! So get new ideas, and fuel yourself up with inspiration.
- Scribble: put your thoughts and ideas on paper, it's probably the only moment of the day that you have this quite space to reflect on what is happening in your (business)life.
So, as you can see, you can create an extra hour of undisturbed time that you can use for the important (non-firefighting) things that you would normally not have the time or quietness for.
And even when it's only one hour a day, if you do it consistently throughout the year, it will give you roughly 45 working days of extra time completely dedicated to your personal development, to long term actions and strategies, and to re-focussing your own attitude and behaviour.
And 45 extra days of focussed attention will surely make a difference for you as a leader!
So, start tomorrow with taking or creating one hour of dedicated time to only work on your long term goals, actions and strategies!
If you can fit it in your normal routine, totally fine.
If you can't, then you can create that extra hour by getting up one hour earlier.
And if you're not a fan of getting up early, then adapt very slowly and get up one minute earlier every day. You will not feel the difference, but after 60 days you created your hour!
Not sure what to do or what to focus on during an extra hour in which you prepare yourself for your best performance?
Not clear what your long term purpose is?
Then feel free to book a 30 minutes (re-)connect session with me so we can have an easy chat and discover what you might need most right now.
Written by
Dennis Fredrickx, the Business Booster
Dennis helps Ambitious Leaders to reach more in an easier way.
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