Start Your Day on the Right Foot

How did you start your day today? When you leaped – or dragged yourself – out of bed, were you ready and alert for all the wonderful opportunities that today will offer, or did you slouch, on automatic pilot, to the bathroom in the normal early morning daze. If, of course, you were awoken by an alarm clock, then your day started off on the wrong foot right from the word go, because your subconscious mind wasn’t ready to wake up. Bearing in mind that your subconscious mind runs your daily life, an unprepared subconscious means you’re completely unprepared for the day ahead – like about 96% of everyone else on this planet.

Your subconscious mind needs to be up and running or you’ll never properly get up and running yourself. Most people wouldn’t consider leaving the house in the morning, to tackle the day ahead, unwashed. And almost nobody (I do know one person!) would even think about leaving the house undressed (the person in question has left the house totally nude – but that’s another story!). So why, oh why, would you even consider leaving your home each morning mentally “nude”, mentally “unwashed” and “unshaven”, mentally totally unprepared for all that life has to offer in the upcoming day?

It’s true to say that almost everyone is a mental mess when it comes to being in the right frame of mind to tackle each day’s challenges and opportunities – a good number of universities, on more than a couple of continents, have come to the conclusion, based on decades of research, that about 96% of us are “normal” and that “normal people” are mad. I haven’t put mad in inverted commas because it’s not a joke. “Normal people’s” subconscious minds control them – not the other way around. Surely that’s a definition of madness. Your subconscious mind controls your automatic behaviour, from slouching from the bed to the bathroom mindlessly to shaving, brushing your teeth and dressing yourself absent-mindedly – you’re missing in action from the time you stumble out of bed.

Your subconscious mind dictates your reactive behaviour which, ninety-nine times out of a hundred comes flying out your mouth (or from your fist) before you have had time to think about the sense of doing it. You know what I mean. How many times do you react to some argument or problem and make it better? Normally knee-jerk reactions make things worse.

Which leads me back to where I started. If you’ve woken up this morning and your subconscious mind wasn’t ready and if you haven’t bothered to get your subconscious mind in gear for the day ahead, then don’t blame anyone else if you have another “one of those days” or if, when you arrive at work this morning and someone asks you how you’re doing that you automatically react by answering “not too bad”. Because, if you haven’t got your subconscious mind in gear, “not-too-bad” is about as good as it gets!

So, here’s a quick tip to ensure that your subconscious mind is, at the very least, given a fighting chance of being up to today’s trials, tribulations and blindingly obvious opportunities (which you’ll never notice if you didn’t wake up in the first place this morning). There are things that you have to do each morning (I assume you look after the basic hygiene!) – like brushing your teeth, shaving (only applies to some people!!), washing, getting dressed and grabbing a coffee or even a full breakfast. Each of these routine tasks, performed mindlessly in the normal course of events, provides you with a golden opportunity to get your subconscious mind in gear. So, stop yourself in your tracks and do some, or all, of those things differently. In other words, brush your teeth with the hand that you don’t normally use or shave with the “other hand”. Dress yourself by putting the “other leg” into your pants first, the “other arm” into your shirt (you may not be aware of it – because most people are aware of nothing – but you always lead with the same leg and same arm when you dress).

By doing little things, that you have to do anyway, differently you pay more attention to them and paying attention to what you are doing, feeling and experiencing in the here and now is how you turn your subconscious mind on. Not only is it scientifically proven, not only has neuro-psychology determined that your ability to be a success is correlated with your ability to pay attention, brushing your teeth with the “other hand” will change your life – starting today. It’s that simple. Try it tomorrow morning and break the habit of starting your day on auto-pilot. Paying attention is the beginning of all wisdom – and the beginning of a much better day.