Start Each Day Motivated

How you start your day makes a huge impact on the rest of your day. Use these tips to start each day off on the best foot and stay motivated.

We want to express our deepest desire, passion and purpose.

The reason is simple: If we're going to create a business and spend so much of our time living in it, let's make it something that we love, something that expresses our purpose in life.

We want to put passion before practicality.

Yes, we want the business to succeed and make money. But first we say the words that set us on fire. Then we go into work and light the fire under our business and in our team. It's like the old steam locomotives. The engine and the tracks are the practical business structure. But if there's no fire in the boiler, we never get rolling.

Vocalizing.

When we read something aloud, it hits both sides of the brain. The left side is logical--it rationalizes, but there's no passion and often creates negativity and resistance. The right side is the source of emotion and motivation. It isn't always practical. But when we read a purposeful, practical statement aloud, it hits both sides of the brain and unifies them.

Daily practice.

Motivation is like exercise. The more you work out, the stronger you get. The same goes for stirring the passion-pot each morning. If you miss a day, so what? That's yesterday; that's history; that's the past. Just think about this for inspiration: "Today is the most important day of your life, for today is the first day of the rest of your life." Make a fresh start any day and move in the right direction.

First things first.

Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, teaches us to put "first things first." One meaning of this is to start every day with what matters most. And it's a great idea. Motivational coach Barry Gottlieb encourages us to take in only positive and nourishing ideas for the first two hours of every day. Start your day with your own vision, not with the newspaper!