Each and every day we wake up, get ready and head out to meet what the world has in store for us. How prepared are we truly to take on what today is going to bring us? Are we ready to deal through the challenges, react and respond to the unexpected situations and embrace the opportunities that may come by? Perhaps we can "say" the answer is yes....but most often it is no.
Each day, new responsibilities of our job take us through a schedule of calls, meetings and administrative tasks and to do's. Hopefully this is also including interacting and consulting with clients, prospects and networking partners. Maybe...we can work on other items such as marketing, thought leadership, social media and what not that helps extend our brand, presence and reach to our marketplace. But, lets get serious...this often is pushed off to another day if at all ever accomplished. Why...because issues with lenders, borrowers and the closing process, not sometimes...instead always come up. Putting you into a reactive state of blitz to just get through the situation and survive.
Each day brings personal accountabilities of our kids and family. Picking up from school, taking them to activities, sports and special events....and then the nightly support for school and homework.
After all this, outside of client facing time, you can then now go "back to work" and often attend to more administrative work, proposals, answering emails, research, pulling credit, and processing loans.
Finally at the end of the day....you can hit the sack...exhausted, spent, and probably feeling unfulfilled as I am sure something important was forgotten and now added onto tomorrow. I bet you just can't wait to do this all again tomorrow.
When looking back, sure something could have been forgotten, or not enough time to accomplish a task or two. But....looking back, what really was missed? You invested so much of your time, energy, money into serving and supporting your customers, your company, your team and colleagues, your family....what did you forget to do???
Answer: You forgot to serve and support YOURSELF.
Although the above was just a hypothetical situation, it unfortunately is a true story for many people out there. Worse off, it is one that is repeated over and over again each and every day...But what can you do?
I think it is time to "take care of yourself"! Put yourself first. Make yourself a priority. Start your day off first and foremost investing your time and energy into yourself. It will pay off magnificently if you do!!! You impact on your community, job, customers and family is directly impacted by what you do first each and every day. You may ask...how do I invest in myself?
We love the process nicely outlined in the book "The 5am Club" written by Robin Sharma. This speaks to changing ones mindset and physical schedule each day to literally put yourself first in your daily activity schedule.
The book outlines even a nice process of what this looks like in the first hour of your day. It's all about you! We will call it your Power Hour!! Here is how it goes. Wake up...have your coffee and then now, focus on your needs, your support, your growth. That first hour, you will want to touch on 3 aspects. Sharma calls this the 20/20/20 rule (collectively 60 minutes). Here are the 3 parts of the Power Hour
- MOVE - Take an initial 20 minutes or so to move. Do some exercise, movement, something you enjoy to get your blood and heart rate moving. Your endorphins kick in...your senses heighten and now physically your body is energized and jump started to take on your day! Plus...exercise is often one of the first things that is sacrificed and forgotten from ones hectic normal day. By adding it into your Power Hour...you accomplish this commitment to yourself before anything is forgotten or gets in the way.
- REFLECT - This is where you tap into your inner-self, spirit, and core sense of self and foundation. Consider taking time here to meditate to settle and focus the mind. Journal your thoughts, vision and dreams. Plan out your goals, and objectives for your life. Pray and reflect on the things to be grateful for, how you can help someone today, where you can bring a positive impact. Just 20 minutes reflecting during your power hour sets your spirit and mind in a peaceful, focus mode to enable you to respond to the various stimulus that will come your way in the next several hours.
- GROW - Invest in making yourself better! Your service to your customers and your market place...and the results you gain from it all, is directly correlated to your investment in getting better. So, this needs to be a daily priority for you, and thus why it is an element in the Power Hour. Use this time to study your craft, read books, review goals, listen to meaningful podcasts, read online information and articles. Grow your knowledge during this time. Better your mind and better your knowledge.
The above strategy of the Power hour enables you to cover three highly important areas of personal development. Every day! At the end of your hour...you will already feel a great sense of accomplishment. You would have already achieved great returns from that investment in that hour. You would have already well served your most important customer...YOURSELF!
Now...you will be able to take this energy from your Power Hour jump start...and have a Power Day!!!