Tony Stark Policci wakes in a low mood on day 13 despite early exercise and prayer. He recalls a college theater assignment where acting happy all day actually shifted how he felt, and argues that deliberately choosing gratitude and positive focus can override your default mood.
Chapters
Good morning. Trying to get this into position where I can actually see. So, standing out in the morning sunlight right now. Got up early this morning. It's day 13. I did not make a video for day 12. And I— this morning has been a struggle for me, actually. Woke up at 4:30 AM. Went to the gym, got back at 6, and my energy has been low, my mood has been low. After I lifted, I spent 20 minutes on the Starmaster, and I was basically just resetting my mind, you know, like telling, just like declaring what a great day it's going to be and what I'm going to accomplish and how much I'm going to get done and how blessed I am. And, you know, praying. I was praying for my friends and my family and just people I know, you know, situations in the world, everything I could think of. And man, I came off of that StairMaster and I still didn't have a shift. So I came home, made my wife breakfast, and got her all set to go off for her day. And the bugaboos, I don't know what it is, just low energy, low mood, is all over me. But I refuse to give in to that. So the, you know, the thing about energy and attitude and emotion is that it is not beyond our ability to impact and to affect, right? And I One of the best examples I have of this, long before I really got into personal development or any of that kind of stuff, was way back when I was in college. And some of you may know I was a professional actor for a while. And when I was in college studying theater, my professor gave us an assignment one day. It was actually a week where we had to take on a certain mood all day long and take note of it. Well, the first one that they assigned to us was that we were supposed to be happy and joyful all day long and smile. And I came in that day and I was sick, man, like sick as a dog, not feeling good at all. And it was like, ah, this is the last thing that I'm going to want to do is like feel, you know, smile. But I took it on and you know what I noticed? By— this was the first class of the day. By the third class, I realized, wow, you know what, I haven't noticed that I've been— that I feel sick. It was just taking on this smiling everywhere I went and, you know, this joy that, like, intentionally taking it on. So acting as if, I guess, would be a way to put it. It actually shifted how I felt. So I recognize that that's a possibility. Now, the struggle is overcoming our biology, overcoming our mental process, overcoming the natural state that we tend to default into. And of course, there's brain chemicals and all kinds of other things that impact how we show up. But the— I think the greatest and the most influential thing that I can do is manage my mind, right? What am I thinking about? So That's my charge today, and maybe I'll make a video at the end of the day since I didn't do one yesterday. But for now, I just encourage everyone, anyone that's watching, you know, if you're having a great day, awesome. Thank God for that. You know, be thankful for that. Thank whatever you attribute your gratitude towards, you know, be thankful for that. But if you're having a tough day, then count your blessings and make a decision to shift, to focus on what's good. And go out and make it a great day. All right? God bless you.
