How to Create a Positive Morning Mindset

I just think it's so cool that every day we have the opportunity to become the best of who we are. I think it's so cool that we can be excited about a call with somebody, excited about an email pitch, excited about a presentation we're making, excited about some food we're going to have. Like it's just we can get excited about anything if we choose to. Very few people, I really believe start the week intentional enough. You know, it's for many people who've had the same job for years or you know, they've gone through the motions at their house for a while or in their relationships or whatever. The thing is that they're just dealing with in their life is stop them from thinking very intentionally about each day. I really believe that if they're not enjoying life or if they're struggling or they feel stuck, then you got to start with some mindset training. You, you gotta teach them the new ways to engage their self talk. You have to reestablish some positive patterns of thinking in their brains. You just gotta give em a little bit of encouragement. And I've had a few unintended sort of circumstances in my career that I did not realize were gonna be such hugely impactful things for people. And today I'd like to share one of those with you. You know, when I created the High Performance Planner, I believe I created that in 2016. I created it because I knew that for me I needed a new tool to start my day, to organize my day and to score my habits. And I'm a paper person. So to this day I still fill out my High Performance Planner. I just love the feeling of a pen and paper in the morning. It means something to me. I like to have that moment of time to, to really just sit alone on a table somewhere or a nice chair, away from the noise, away from everything and just work on that. But I can't always do that. Sometimes I'm on the go or I forget my planner or sometimes I just want it all in one place. And that's why I also want to tell you that the unintended consequences of the High Performance Planner did lead to Growth Day. So here's the story. In the High Performance Planner, there's a section on the left of each page called the Morning Mindset. And it became crazy popular. Like people just love filling that part out. I mean they would tell me they didn't even fill out the, you know, the schedule of the agenda, you know, the 6am to 8pm part. And sometimes they'd miss the evening review questions. And sometimes they scored their habits. But that morning mindset thing, that became a thing. And I think it's obvious because it's attached to the habit of starting your morning with a good morning routine. And so, so many people start asking, hey, could you put this planner in an app? You know, not everyone loves to use a paper and some people forget theirs just like me. And so they just thought, I'd like to have an app so I could track it and keep it. And I got that request for years before we started Growth Day. Then the pandemic hit. We had a pause in being able to ship our journals worldwide. And that, you know, that chorus and that noise became even louder and. And at the same time I was realizing that a lot of people were just needing more tools and needing a diversity of coaches expertise beyond even my own. And it started going, you know what? If I was going to create an app, yeah, I'd want it to do a lot of things. I'd want it to have the journal and the habit scoring and the plan and of course the live coaching and the circle of coaches that I've brought together for you guys under growth day. And so I bring all that up to share that. One of the unintended consequences and one of the coolest features of the growth day app. I tend to like to have the practice of journaling in the morning and then the evening. And so I'll walk you through how I think through some of these. If I was a high performance coach looking at my life from a high level, I would tell myself to remember that. And it's basically saying, hey, if you were to coach yourself from the big picture, what would you tell yourself to remember today? I would tell myself to remember today. Hey, things will work out in time. I would tell myself to remember, hey, you're stronger than you think. I would tell myself to remember, hey, make sure you infuse optimism and joy and humor into other people's lives today. I would tell myself to remember, you're a passionate person. Don't get bogged down in the administration. I would just remind myself something and obviously every day is kind of different depending on what I'm going through and sometimes just what I'm feeling. Another question is one action I could take today to demonstrate excellence or real value is for me, often this is about completing a project or holding a space for a team member or a client where they really just need me to listen and not give them the answer and let them just talk through things. I know I would know that, that today was a great success. If at the end of the day I could say that I felt this, I like this one because I'm like, oh, if at the end of the day I felt like I had a sense of aliveness today, or I felt like I handled this difficult meeting coming up today, if I felt like I acknowledged and appreciated my wife. And again, it always something different every day. A situation that might stress me out or trip me up. Today could be when I go back to revisit my older journal entries. I really love the one, the answer to this particular sentence completion activity. A situation that might stress me out or trip me up today. Because when I think about that, I think about the reality that different things stress me throughout each week, throughout each day, throughout each year, throughout different life stages. And that specific situation, that's a nice one to capture on and I like to write it. And then of course, answer, well, what could I do to handle that and to act for my best self and just journal and reflect on that? Another question is one thing I could do today that's a little outside of my comfort zone is I love that one. One thing I could do a little outside my comfort zone. For me, it was often texting somebody or calling somebody. It's doing an outbound email to a new company I'm interested in investing in or acquiring. It's reaching out to someone in our industry to do a promotional partnership or a collab. It's saying a hard thing to somebody that I need to communicate some feedback to another. One prompt is if one word could describe the kind of person I want to be today, then that word is. And I chose it because this is for a mindset and intentional person. This is easily one of my favorite ones because I find that the word changes a lot. You know, it's not always passionate because maybe on that day I just want to be centered and grounded. It's not always, you know, energetic and alive because maybe that day I just want to feel calm. It's not always, you know, enthusiastic, because maybe that day I want to be cautious or slower, depending on what's going on with my meetings. I just love that one because setting an intention for who we want to be that day and what's the word we'd use to describe that? That's really cool, right? It's different for me on Saturdays because Saturday is like, is date day for me and Denise. So, okay, Saturday, we're going to go do something. The word I would describe who I want to Be that day is different than the word I would describe myself if I'm going to do a corporate keynote via Zoom. So it helps me be intentional. The big projects I have to keep in mind that I want to take on even if I can't act toward them today are this is a huge one for me and it's why I like to specifically journal for my morning mindset. Because often, you know, during that particular day I'm not working on the biggest and craziest of projects. Maybe that day I'm just doing, you know, some tasks. Maybe that day I have some block time to film something or record something for you guys. And yet I don't want to forget the big projects. So often this one is the same for me, especially over like a three or six month period. I love that I have to type it every day. Like I am typing the title of my next book today and that one will probably be up the big project that I'm going to be working on. Even though I can't work on that book today by keep typing it every day, that goal stays in front of me. Does that make sense? Sometimes I know people who fill out the high performance planner and there's just millions of them will tell me, well, but I don't like this one. It's the same every day. I'm like, that's fine. Some of our big projects might be on there a day, a month, two months, a year, five years, a decade. I'm working on a decade plan right now and I love typing it in there every day. It just puts it back on the front dashboard of my mind even if I can't work on it today. That's why I like it. The simplest one here is one thing I can get excited about. Today is one thing I can get excited about. God, that's an easy one for me because I'm somebody who can't believe the opportunities and the joys of this life. And I don't mean the opportunities and joys of my life. So listen here, if you're stuck in a pool of pessimism, it's the opportunities and joys of life. Yes, I feel blessed. Yes, I feel privileged. Yes, I feel all the blessings and just awesome things in my current life that I certainly didn't have growing up or most of my 20s and 30s. But it's not about what I have. It's not a thing. It's a. I guess it's an opportunity to be. I just think it's so cool that every day we have the Opportunity to become the best of who we are. I think it's so cool that we can be excited about a call with somebody, excited about an email pitch, excited about a presentation we're making, excited about something, some food we're gonna have. Like, it's just, we can get excited about anything if we choose to. I meet people all the time who, who tell me their life is boring. And I go, your life isn't boring. Your mindset is hot dang. I love this question. Someone who needs me on my A game today is what this means for, especially for our international students. What A game means is someone who needs me at my best today. Someone needs me to be extraordinary or my highest self today. And this is really an important one because I think about the people I'm meeting with, you know, my clients. I mean, it's like when you, when you're a seven figure level coach, you, the expectations from your clients is really high and they, you know, most of them have, you know, hundreds or thousands of employees. They manage multiple businesses, they're mega CEOs, they're Olympians, they're people who are way beyond, you know, my capabilities in almost every area. But I'm their coach and I gotta be on their A game. So often write out a client's name or maybe it's a team member or a family member who's going through something, you know, this last week I have a friend who's, whose parents is going through leukemia like my dad did. So he was on there one of the days just like, hey, this person needs me to reach out today and just be empathetic. Last question on mine today is someone I could surprise with a note, gift or sign of appreciation is. This is great. I don't know if you know my growth day habits, but one of them is to text five people every single day with a note of appreciation or encouragement. And I like this one. Sometimes I might, you know, send a gift from something. I'll buy it from them on Amazon or something or Etsy. It might be just a little note, a little card that I'll send or an email or for me, usually if you know me, I like to send voice texts to friends and just say, hey, I'm cheering you on. Love you today. Appreciate you. What are you up to? If you need anything, just some kind of like encouraging kind of texts. I send five of those a day, the audio version version. I love doing that stuff. So this, what I'm describing here, I love it because you know what, on any given morning would I remember all of those things. Would I remember to think on any given morning, who needs me today on my A game? Would I remember to remind my brain to get excited about something today? Would I remember that I should send a surprise note, gift, text, or sign of appreciation to somebody? Would I remember to think about being excellent today? Would I remember to be intentional so that I would ask, how would today be a great success? I mean, if at the end of the day, what would I have to do or say or feel in order to feel that today was a success? Would I remember to think in advance of a situation that might stress me out so I could prepare all these things? I'm not going to lie. I don't think I would. Would I intentionally think every day about one little thing I could do outside my comfort zone? I'm just here to tell you I've done personal development full time as a teacher since 2006. I wrote my first personal development book in 2001. You'd think after 20 years of literally living, eating, breathing this, researching it, pioneering the industry, you know, creating 20 online courses on these topics, six books, and, you know, thousands of interviews talking about personal development all the time, you think all of these things would just pop up in my mind in the morning. No, it doesn't. Because I'm a human. And sometimes I get out of bed and I'm just like exhausted or growly or I need some green tea or, you know, half caf to get going. You know, sometimes I'm just kind of dumb and distracted for an hour or two in the morning. And this just gets me to my A game. It's changed the game for me every. I mean, all the time. People share this. I've been in airports around the world where people come up, oh, my God, Brendan. And they don't mention a book. They mentioned the High Performance Planner and now it's, oh, my God, Brendan. I use Growth Day. And I'm telling you what if you get your morning mindset going, you will discover a whole new level of growth. Especially if you're a pessimist. Especially, especially if you consider life boring. Especially if you're a little bit of a curmudgeon. I'm telling you what if the greatest things we ever discovered in humanity so far is really the idea that we have this neuroplasticity, that we can recondition our brain, that we can, quote, unquote, rewire our brain by choice, intention, will, our own direction of our mind and our thoughts. Well, why not do that? Give it a try again tomorrow, Give it a try the next day, Give it a try again and again and again and again. And you know what? Some days you're like, this is dumb. It's the same answer as yesterday. But yes, it is. It's putting you in that stage where you're recognizing that thing and you don't get distracted. You remember the big projects. You remember to show up well, even if you're answering these things with 3, 4, 5 words, I'm telling you what, it's another gear. After a few weeks of this stuff, it's another gear. I always say transformation takes time, but your mindset can be rewired in a month. Hey guys, it's Brandon. I'm jumping in here real quick. First, I want to make sure you've gone to progressmode.com to join the newsletter because I have a resource for you related to this episode and I have an upcoming, upcoming meetup with my private group, Ultra. If you've ever liked to be in a private group with me where I help you get more progress towards your passion projects or to build your business or your brand in a bigger way, just go to progressmo.com click on private group to apply to see you can get into Ultra and we can take it to the next level by getting in person and meeting up virtually once a month online as well. Just go to progressmode.com probably one of the most frequently asked questions I've been asked over the last 15 years and doing personal development is about my morning routines and habits. I thought I'd share a few ideas here with you not to actually teach you mine or suggest that you do mine, but rather, did you find your own rhythm? I mean, you're listening to this now. How'd it go? Maybe you're starting with me right now with a fresh cup of green tea or coffee or on your morning workout and you're already in that positive practice of listening to something or engaging in something in the morning that's empowering versus distracting or forcing you to compare yourself or feel pressured. Good morning striver. Nice to be here with you today. If you've already blown through seven cups of coffee and 17 layers of stress and you're already midday or late day just catching up. Good for you too though, because you're engaging in your potential. Every time you listen to personal development, it just starts developing those routes in your brain that are more built for positivity and built for reflection that helps you truly find your own path. So even if it's late in the Day. Good job. Many of you know my morning routine, so I won't belabor that too much, but I hope you have one. Whatever yours is. Mine's easy. It's the same all the time. It's 20 minutes, 20 minutes. 20 minutes. It's 20 minutes of reading something positive, encouraging, empowering, thoughtful in the morning. This is, you know, 20 plus years of reading a book every single week. And for me, what I like to read in the mornings is usually psychology, philosophy, self improvement, leadership, and I tend to stick to those. Those are the areas I'm fascinated by. Those are the areas that remind me to be my best. Those work for me. I know other people love to read all sorts of genres, and my whole thing is by reading something positive in the morning, it starts directing your mind to those ends, and you develop a pattern of thinking from the things that you read. And so what I don't do in that first 20 minutes in the morning is read social media or check my texts or emails. Because remember, emails are nothing but a convenient organizing system for other people's agendas. And social media forces immediate judgment and social comparison upon you. And we know that, of course, checking into any other kinds of messages, you're checking into other people's agendas and not your own. Yes, of course. People say, well, Brendan, I don't have 20 minutes in the morning to read. I only have three or five. I'm like, great, then take three or five. Everyone's at different life stages on their personal development journey. Some have new infants, some have toddlers, some have this launch or this promotion or that crazy crisis going on. I get it. But in general, I can promise if you start reading in the morning, it does organize your thoughts, and it does open the mind to reflection and deeper thinking. And if we can do that, then throughout the day's chaos, our mind organizes a little bit better. It ends up being able to deal with things better because we've organized our thoughts, we've learned something, we've started the day consuming something in such a way that it's broadening our horizons. And so when we get stuck on the little stuff, we have perspective. 20 minutes of reading in the morning, that's a must for me. Then it's right to the floor. 20 minutes of movement. For me, that tends to be some vinyasa flow, some yoga, some qigong, just very, very light stretch work. It might be accompanied by a walk and then stretching, but the main key there is, it's not usually, for me, an aggressive workout. I'll do my hiit training later on in the days and but for me that morning movement is all about opening up the body and flexibility. I really believe, especially as we age, the more flexible and pliable we can get with our muscles and our joints, the more healthy and youthful we feel and the less stressed we are. Sometimes we're carrying so much stress in our bodies that moving around a little bit and stretching out can help us release that tension. Then it's 20 minutes of planning. That's where I jump in. And for me, I'm still old school. I love to use my high performance planner to this day. I like to write personally, so I like to use my my high performance planner and I just plan out the day. What are my top priorities, what are my top projects and how do I move them forward? Who are the people I need to reach out to or who I'm waiting a decision on and then what are the first five actions of the day And I'll just capture that in my plan. Sometimes I'll plan out the entire week and also work towards in my plan section capturing my Friday finishers. What are those things I'm going to complete by the end of day Friday? Those deadlines or deliverables that I will make sure happens this week? So I'm an hour into the day, right? 20 minutes reading, 20 minutes of movement, 20 minutes of planning. I'm feeling pretty good and that's just to start the day. And I know others say, well, I only have this much time or I have that much. I don't really care how much time you take. My question is, did you open up your brain? Did you open up your body? Did you have some intention or focus for the day and did you create space for that before you go responding to everybody else? Even if it's just a few minutes, then I like to immediately text five people a note or an audio of encouragement right off the bat. Part of my morning mindset is asking a question of who needs some appreciation today? Who could use a surprise gift or thank you or voice text today? I like to knock those out right in the morning. Just give some people encouragement. Especially on Mondays. Then I tend to work for a three hour block of time. Now obviously this depends if I'm traveling or where I'm at in the world. But in general on Mondays I don't like to be in any meetings in the morning. I like to have my block time knock out the major projects or deliverables due for that Monday before I get into meetings in the afternoon. Not always true for me Depending on my travel schedule. But. But in general, if I'm hunkered down, I like to keep my meetings till the afternoon and the morning for a nice big chunk of block time. What's block time? Well, it's scheduled activities that are not calls, that are not social media. It's time to actually do things. And for me, it's sometimes creating presentations, filming, doing audios, it's preparing financial statements, it's writing marketing pieces, it's writing, you know, the next book or recording the next audible or whatever the effort is. It's scheduled already, it's in there. I'm going to knock those things out. And that's important to me. And I'll make sure that throughout my week, my block time is really clear. When will I have significant blocks of time to actually do needle moving activities? Not just administration, not just answering emails, not just, not just, you know, replying to everybody else, but stuff that moves the major projects forward, that's important to me. And last big idea is that I just, I have a really clear intention about my purpose. What am I here to do? It's keeping that big picture purpose or perspective about how I want to live my life. And for me, I know that we all want a sense of aliveness and connection and meaning in our lives. And for me, I know that my purpose is ultimately to, you know, enjoy this gift of life, to adore and appreciate my loved ones, to strengthen and to share my gifts or my abilities so that I might inspire other people in some way or another to live and love and matter. And I'll just ground in that. I ground in the idea especially that Monday is important to be intentional about how I'm going to be in the world and how I'm going to treat other people and why am I doing it all. How am I going to be in the world and feel in the world? That's the sense for me of aliveness. How am I going to treat other people? That's all about the intention of connection and relationships. What's it all for? What's the meaning? What's the sense of fulfillment or satisfaction that I can generate in my mind? Because meaning is generated in your mind. It is something that you define, not the world. And so just really being. I think Mondays are my most intentional days. Honestly, I waste less time on Mondays. I'm more focused on Mondays. I'm somebody who actually likes Mondays. I'm like, let's go. I'm excited for them. I can't remember a single Monday of my life. I didn't look forward to and not because I always had perfect tasks to do. I've done, you know, some of the hardest jobs, from cleaning chicken coops to literally sweeping shop floors at a trucking company, to just, you know, tasks where I felt, honestly, when I had a corporate job, it wasn't exactly aligned with who I was and what I was trying to do in the world. But I still look forward to Monday. I still had that optimism because I had that intention. Maybe I couldn't control that specific job, or maybe that day I had some tasks I didn't love, or maybe the boss had this pressure on me to get this thing done. But I knew I got to control how I showed up. I knew I got to control how I treat other people. I knew I got to give myself empowering meanings to keep going, to keep hope, to keep faith, to keep perspective. And I know that you have that today because you know that by engaging in personal development, it reminds you to be more intentional. It reminds you to operate in the world from your best self. And what a blessing it is that we all get to do that today. Because it's a reminder. Every day is a great day to grow, and we are doing that together. Let's go get it today.