Book: "Change your life before breakfast".

Remember when you were a kid going to bed on Christmas Eve or the night before your birthday? You were so excited that you hardly slept that night and yet the next morning you woke up with the same level of excitement about what was going to happen. I'm guessing that's not the mood you normally wake up in, if not most of us wake up exhausted. You may start the day optimistic about what you're going to do, but by the afternoon you find that your plans have collapsed and you can't stop thinking about going home and stretching out on the couch. But the author explains that there is a better way, but also that this way is wonderful, and for that you will have to put into practice what the book says for at least 21 days to establish the new habits. But the author also comments that we cannot say that we already know all this, that we have heard it all before, because if you think you know all the answers you are not going to learn and you are not going to grow. And he also tells us one more thing: success cannot be everything if it does not include personal development in the strategy of your life. Success in your work, without personal growth, will not lead to happiness. So that's what we're going to cover here: six steps to start your day positively and set yourself up for success.

Be brave enough to change

A few years ago I went through a difficult time, I was depressed,but I had no logical reason for it, as I had a great marriage, a great company, great people to work with; I had everything except happiness. I felt trapped and what I discovered was that I had to rethink how I approached happiness and to do that I had to focus on personal development. Somewhere along the way that had been neglected and I was reaping the consequence. I admitted that I needed to change and anyone going through a similar situation should do the same. Whether it's making money, losing weight, becoming a better person, whatever your goal is, it's not enough to wish you could change your life, you have to be brave enough to do it.The author tells us "for something to change, I must first change". Doing so will take some work, but good habits will propel you toward your goal. As a starting point, think about what, if you could change, would have the greatest positive impact on your life.

Time Matters

The time of day you practice makes a difference, and the morning is the best time. It is very important that you start the day in a positive way, as you are programming your mind for how to approach the rest of the day and thus creating a positive expectation for what follows; that is, how you start the day changes the quality of your entire day.

If you do the 6 guidelines that the author tells us first thing in the morning, you guarantee that you will actually do them, because if you plan to do them in the afternoon or evening you run the risk of not getting to do them because of fatigue, lack of willpower, ... So it is much better to start your day with a positive morning ritual.

If you are not a morning person, you are going to have to change that thought process; at first it will be a challenge for you, but when you start to see the dividends of the morning ritual you will begin to sincerely embrace the early hours. But that morning ritual doesn't mean that you have to spend an hour on each step every morning and get up before dawn, it means that just 20 minutes is enough.

1- Clear your mind:

We live in a world of noise, which is sometimes audible, but sometimes not(the noise of constantly checking our phones and the news, for example). So you have to give your mind calm and quiet times. You have to shut out the world for a while and let your brain rest and recover. Meditation will give you a focused start on the other five steps and a focused start to your day. But don't be fooled by the static outward appearance of this step, as it is not easy. You're not just sitting there, you have to calm your mind and disconnect from the world.To do this, you have to force your inner voice to be silent, and this is often more difficult than silencing everything around you.Calming your mind can lower your blood pressure, help you find focus and energize you. It helps you center yourself before the chaos of the rest of your day arrives.

To meditate you don't need to do special breathing exercises, just breathe in and out naturally and observe how your body feels.

With meditation other thoughts will appear, don't take it as a sign of failure and don't give up. One meditation tip the author gives us is to simply acknowledge those thoughts, those distracting feelings and then gently push them away. Don't judge yourself because your mind lets those thoughts in, don't assume you will never be able to meditate, just notice those thoughts, acknowledge them and move on.

Tomorrow, start by trying it for 2 minutes and slowly work your way up until you can meditate for 5-10 minutes in the morning. You may be so good at it that you'll resort to short meditation breaks throughout the day to help you focus.

2- Say it:

The way affirmations have been taught over the years has not helped, as too often people use self lies as affirmations or statements that are too general(e.g. "I attract wealth", "I weigh 120 pounds") so repeating them does not make them true.

The best affirmations are those that incorporate specific actions, as these affirmations program your mind to do things that bring you the results you desire. Things do not magically happen by simply saying or wishing them, but rather we have to train our mind, both conscious and subconscious, to achieve, through habits, our goals.

For example, saying "I want money to flow to me effortlessly", only makes someone wait for the money to appear (which is not going to happen), however, an affirmation could be like "I am committed to earn X euros by performing action Y every day before date Z". This is not only an illusion, but it is an actionable plan and by repeating it to ourselves we will create the expectation in our mind that we will actually take that action.

Think about the specific goal you want to achieveand then create affirmations from those action steps, make them specific.Write those affirmations down and repeat them to yourself for 5 to 10 minutes every morning; by doing so, it will lead you to the next stepnaturally.

3- Look at it:

The same thing happens with visualization as with affirmations.Those who teach it urge people to visualize the perfect outcome: the high-paying job, the dream house, a great body, but that's too general.Just as with affirmations, your visualizations should also focus on specific steps. For example, you can't just visualize yourself sitting in the corner office; you have to plan the steps that will get you there and visualize them.

That is, simply visualizing the goal will not get you anywhere, but you have to condition your mind to follow the steps that will get you there and visualization is one of the ways to train your brain.

Spend a few minutes, ideally 5 to 10 minutes, visualizing the specific steps to your goal, for this be as specific as possible.See yourself doing it in your mind and it will be much easier to achieve in real life, because you have already prepared your mind.

4- Move it:

Life really is a balance of health, wealth and happiness, and if you don't keep your health in the mix, the other areas of your life will suffer.

There is an immediate benefit to exercising in the morning: getting oxygen and blood flowing, releasing endorphins positively affects the quality of the rest of your day.

If you like to go to the gym for example after work, you can do that too, since the exercise the author talks about in this step is not a replacement for any other workout, but to spend 5 to 10 minutes moving your body before you start your day.

In the morning session you can simply stretch or do an ironing routine, but if you like to do a full workout in the morning that's fine too.

5- Become a bookworm:

Wake up your mind and body and it will help give you a boost to lead a better work day.

Reading is the next step in your morning ritual, but that reading will have to be about books that help you develop the skills, mindset and wisdom to improve different areas of your life; that is, this will not be a recreational reading, but an empowerment for your mind. Because whatever you are feeding your mind will become what you send back out into the world, i.e. if you surround yourself with angry headlines in the news that is how you will see life, but if you spend part of your morning feeding your brain with positive knowledge and life skills, your overall outlook will improve tremendously.

We're not talking about 1 hour of mandatory reading, but you can spend just 10 minutes immersed in a book and then move on to the next step.

You're not trying to change your life in a morning, you're building the neural pathways to create the kind of habits that propel you toward your goals.

6- Write it down:

There are a couple of ways to approach journaling during your morning ritual: one is to write down what you want to accomplish and the other is to write about what you're grateful for.

For example, writing about what you focused on in the affirmations and visualization exercises propels you into action, i.e., it helps you prioritize your actions and almost acts as a contract with yourself. It's a way of cementing the thoughts you've had in the previous steps.

And writing down what you're grateful for also helps change your mindset, as it trains your brain to start looking for the positive. If you do this every day, you will actually begin to reprogram your thoughts so that it starts to happen without conscious effort.

Just like all the other steps, it will only take a few minutes each morning to write down your goals or gratitude.

Minimum time, maximum impact

Our daily routine will not magically change by itself, but we have to follow the steps towards personal development to really alter the trajectory of our life.

None of the 6 steps are revolutionary, because I'm sure you've heard of them before, but the power of these steps is to do them in combination every day, even if it's just for a minute or two each, but do it, because in this way you will be reprogramming your brain.

Practice makes perfect, but practice also makes permanent, whatever you do every day sets in and becomes who you are.

Doing all these steps for just one morning, or even a few days in a row, is not going to drastically change your life. Do them every day for 21 days in a row or, better yet, for 30 days. Then watch how your perspective begins to change, how your attitude improves. See how you begin to actively attack your goals, because you have visualized them by writing down the specific steps you need to take to achieve them. Any one of these steps is helpful, but doing them all together accelerates how quickly your life can change.

The amazing thing about creating the habit of doing the six practices for a few minutes each morning is that it will begin to change other parts of your day. Instead of dreading the process of getting up and following a routine, you may want to create even more time in the morning by going to bed earlier and giving up, for example, watching TV or going out in the evening.

Making these habits in your mornings will not only help you improve your life, but it will also help you develop the habits that will encourage you when the hard times come.

Most importantly, you have to work on yourself and strive for the change you want to see.

I too have been in the place you are now. When I started my dream of starting my own Medical Clinic and was the CEO, I did not know how to fulfill my responsibilities at work while being present at home with my family. However, after making changes in my productivity, goal setting and leadership, I was able to take my company forward through an economic recession the country was in and achieve positive results; all while being home in time to have dinner with my family every night.

I now teach the same principles that helped my leadership, along with my team, here at CIME Academy.

If you want to know more about our training proposal in aesthetic medicine, we encourage you to contact us. We will solve your doubts and advise you on what you need.

Dr. Manuel Rubio Sanchez

aesthetic doctor