Coaching Videos & Tips - September 5 2019 No.619
MOMENT TO MOMENT - HERE AND NOW
Control and influence... and your state of mind! Not when you have something important to do; not just first thing in the morning; not tomorrow (because you're having a bad day today)... here and now, moment to moment.
And, if you'd like to go a little deeper, don't forget that you can browse all the "back issues" in The Archive!
What outcomes have you got in mind for today? Bearing in mind what I explore in today's video, what influence would you like to bring to bear today? If you don't know for sure what you want, you're hardly likely to get it, are you?!
Take a moment to write down what you'd like to achieve today (outcomes and influence!) - I'm most definitely not asking you to prepare a - or worse, add to your - "To Do", I'm suggesting that, if could make some impact on something important today, something that will lead your life forward, what would it be.
When you know what it is, write it down... handwrite it down.
In the course of today's video I allude to the point that, if you're having a bad day today, there's always an opportunity to for you to change that - that opportunity is called the here and now (there's no time like the present!) and that opportunity can be grasped by something as simple as you taking a couple of deep breaths and, well, pulling yourself together.
Oh so often, people say to me "I was having a bad day" or "one of those days" - always followed by the remark "everyone has that kind of day". No they don't. I don't. I might have a wasted ten minutes - but then it's gone, in the past and I'm here in the present. (I must say, though, ten minutes would be unusually long.)
Some time ago, when chatting to a client by 'phone, he remarked that, on arriving at work, he realised that he'd forgotten to "do my mental exercise" before he left home (the ideal time when you should do what it takes to get your mind straight) - and said to himself "I'll do it tomorrow morning!" As he said to me, "If I'd forgotten to brush my teeth, I wouldn't put it off again until tomorrow morning!"
I can tell you this. Getting your head straight first thing in the morning is far more important than showering, brushing your teeth, getting dressed and combing your hair... what's the point of being all dolled-up for the day ahead if you've left your mind idling in neutral?
But, of course, with the very best will in the world, you could start your day in the right state of mind and lose the plot at any point in time. And that's my point about "one of those days". If (or when!) you lose the plot, you have, as an adult a real and present choice to make. Are you going to become a slave to not outside influences but what your normal crazy mind thinks of outside influences or are you going to look inside for the clarity and focus that will enable you do the right thing?
I was driving back into town yesterday afternoon, having spent a little time up the mountains making today's video! On my way to fill up the car (at the local supermarket, that sells the cheapest petrol), I was amused by the car in front of me that tried to drive through a line of plastic cones to get into the local petrol station (the one that sells, by far, the dearest petrol) which was, plainly, closed... the cones were he give-away.
As I drove past, the car's driver was trying to pull one of the cones out from under the wheels of her car! I pulled into the side of the road to see what would happen next!!
Having dislodged the cone, she drove into the supermarket petrol forecourt ahead of me and, as I left, having filled me car, she drove out just ahead of me... with the little petrol door wide open and the petrol cap swinging!
We often talk about focus... and, actually, I needn't say anymore.