Dancing in the Shower

Blog post # 7 in the 30 day blog challenge.  (Yeah, we are almost caught up, having started this blog challenge five days late - due to the deadline to get my second book published, I have had to post more than one post a day, so for you my followers I apologize.  As of Thursday I will be on track to post only one post per day....... and guess what....... the majority of them will come from Maui, how cool is that).

So.......to today's challenge as presented by my coach Natalie Sisson:  Which key tools will you turn to regularly to maintain your mindset and how will you use them effectively?

Keeping on track and maintaining your mindset is one of the major elements in creating a successful business.  All too often I hear of people who have great ideas but loose momentum when it comes to implementation or the daily grind of making sure your venture is successful.

Now remember here, we are talking about "tools to strengthen and maintain our mindset, not tools to grow our business or reach a larger marketshare etc.".  So, with that in mind, here are a few things that work for me.  They may come across as simple, or basic, but for me they work like a charm.

#1.  Every morning when I wake up, before I get out of bed, I do a mental check in with myself.  I ask myself, how am I feeling, what is my mood right at this moment?  If I haven't had a good nights sleep, or if something is troubling me, I dig a little deeper into that and try to see if I can work through it before I rise.  I do a little self talk.... I know, I know, this sounds odd, but I do.  I remind myself of how grateful I am to be alive, I say "I am so excited for this wonderful day that is just beginning for me", I visualize getting out of bed, singing in the shower, enjoying my morning coffee and having a fantastic productive day.  I do not get out of bed until I am in a better head space.  This won't take you long, but it is very important.

#2.  I play happy, dancing, joyous music in my bathroom as I shower and get ready for the day.  This does a few things for me.  It gets my head in the right space, but it also motivates me to dance and move with gusto around the bathroom and bedroom as I get dressed.  Sometimes I find myself taking two or three great songs and dancing like a mad women to them.  I always feel so amazing after this.  I come out of the bathroom smiling from ear to ear and ready to face the day.

#3.  As a pathological multi-tasker, this one is easy for me, but some of you may need to break this down and do it separately.  When I am waking up in bed visualizing my day, and as I am showering dancing to the tunes, I actually plan exactly what I am going to do that day (now prior to getting cancer, I didn't need to do this because my day was already scheduled with work meetings, since being sick I find it important to do this).  I say to myself......okay, when I get out of bed I'm going to shower, take the dog for a walk, work on my book for 4 hours, check email and work on my blog and other pages, go for a bike ride, get the kids, answer emails, etc.  I know, this may seem anal to you, but it works for me, especially over the past year when I have felt I have no purpose.  It gives me targets to meet and allows me to foresee the layout of my day.  This is a great way to get things done.  If you "plan" on getting them done, you will get them done.

#4.  Sleep aids.  The number one thing for me is getting enough sleep.  I simply cannot function without it.  I have in the last year, stumbled upon an amazing sleep aid.......wait for it.....wait for it.....you will never guess......begins with an "A"..................

Chemo will make you loose more than
just your hair....
Artwork © www.saramortimer.com

Okay Okay.... I will tell you.  Audiobooks.  Huh?  What?  I know, you are sitting there scratching your head.  However, I am serious.  I fell into this completely accidentally.  When I first started to go through chemo I lost my eyesight and my concentration.  I don't mean I was completely blind, but pretty darn close when it came to reading, and not only that, but I would read sentence after sentence over and over again and could not absorb them.  So, at the suggestion of a friend, I turned to Audible for their audiobooks and I have not looked back.  Let me explain.  During the day, when I am wide awake, I could listen to the books for hours, however, at night when I am tired and need to sleep I normally fall asleep within 15 to 30 minutes of the book playing.  If I don't have the book playing in my headset, my mind wanders and wanders and wanders and I go crazy.  If I have the book playing, I focus on it, my mind relaxes and sure enough within a short time I am sleeping like a baby.  Audible has a timer you can set so that your book doesn't continue to play all night, this makes it very easy to find your spot that you fell asleep at.  So I know, this isn't what you would have though as a sleep aid, but I have to tell you, as a girl who slept 10-12 hours a night prior to chemo and found herself sleeping 5 hours a night as a result of chemo, this was and continues to be a life saver for me.

#5.  Research.  I love researching what is hot and new out there.  Who is successful, who is not and why.  I may over do this one, but I do believe continual research in your field is important.  Not only will it keep you motivated, but it also helps to keep you on-track and current.  For me it helps expand my horizons and gives me knew avenues to explore.  Not everything is the right fit, but if you don't research your competitors and other options that may be out there, I think you are limiting yourself.  In todays day and age, the last thing you want is for your business to be stagnant.  I know, this may seem off the track of "maintaining or strengthening your mindset", but for me it is not.  I get very excited when I see what is possible within my field and therefore it keeps me performing and challenged.

I could go on, but it is late at night, and as I referenced in point #4, sleep is very important to me, so that is all for now.  I am almost up to date on this blog challenge (for those of you who are just reading this post, I started the 30 day blog challenge at day 5 and therefore needed to post 2 posts per day to catch up.  Tomorrow is day 9, so by the end of tomorrow I will have caught up and you will only have to read 1 post per day.  Yeah!)

Good night Y'all, enjoy your sleep, it is precious.

M.