If you follow my blog pretty consistently, you’ve probably been noticing that I have been doing a type of “Monday-Motivation” type of article bi-weekly at the very least.
There are two reasons for this, and no it is not because that is the catchy thing that every blogger seems to do! The reasons are simple…
First, I truly believe if I bring some good stuff directly to your inbox first thing of the week it can start you in the right path toward a better week and overall help YOU become a better person. But it actually helps me do the same. If I ingrain into myself that I MUST write something positive to help others first thing every single week, it becomes a habit.
This type of habit will only directly influence my own personal life, productivity and improve my week as well as yours. Monday is like the a good bag of chips… If they’re indeed good, once you have that first taste you just cant stop! Funny analogy, but I’m extremely serious here. If you can start your Monday off more productive than the rest of your week is guaranteed to be more productive and that is a habit I want to create!
The second reason is because of the biggest core value I stand for, Kaizen. This means continuous improvement.
To fully embrace this core value of mine, I need to not only practice it but I need to teach it and this blog is my platform to do so.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that I am living a “Kaizen” lifestyle is by creating a ritual that breads habits and further improvement on a daily basis. Many know that I am huge on my daily ritual, I wont even touch my phone, emails or social medias until it is completely finished every single morning because I know without this ritual my day will not be as efficient and my mind will not be where it needs to be to be successful for the day.
In todays Monday Motivation, I will be going over 10 Rituals to directly empower your lifestyle.
I have learned these rituals from Robin Sharma, a man who writes some of the most powerful books in self-development and personal success.
1.) The Ritual of Solitude: Make sure that you have a mandatory period of peace everyday. Create and spend time for yourself, learn to enjoy the beauty of solitude. Spending some time in solitude helps you to energize and focus on yourself. However, do not get solitude confused with loneliness.
2.) The Ritual of Physicality: Taking caring of the body is as much important as taking care of the mind. Utilize the body, as it should be. Become stronger, more efficient, healthier, and embrace the feeling of being more fit.
3.) The Ritual of Live Nourishment: It is important to have whole food. You need to nourish yourself with fresh vegetables, fruits and all kinds of REAL foods because they directly influence everything in our body from how we function to how we think and act. Eat the food that fuels your body properly. Treat your body like a Ferrari, not a Geo Metro… Premium fuel only!
4.) The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge: Learning is a life long process. It’ll help you develop the life you want to live and become the person you want to become. Make it a habit to learn something new every single day. Like I stated for myself personally, kaizen can also be a part of your lifestyle too.
5.) The Ritual of Personal Reflection: Take the time to get to know yourself. Every night take a little time to reflect on your day, thinking of your actions and whether they were positive or need improving. In order to make improvements in our lives we need to find out what to improve. The only way to improve tomorrow is to know what you did wrong today.
6.) The Ritual of Early Awakening: Make it a habit to wake up earlier each morning. When you wake up earlier you do not need to be in a rush, you will have time to accomplish more things and all that you do will be done more efficiently resulting in less stress and less overwhelming feelings. As it may be tough in the first mornings of waking earlier, watch the results and use number 5 to remember why you are doing so as you will see that personally you’re improving.
7.) The Ritual of Music: Never underestimate the power of music. Music can change your mood instantly, utilize that by listening to something you love each and every day to positively influence your attitude.
8.) The Ritual of Spoken Word: Every single morning, recite words of affirmation to yourself. You are what you think on a constant basis, so if you do not believe in yourself then you will not become that which you want to become. An example would be to have a piece of paper with words such as “I AM strong, I WILL be successful, I WILL accomplish my goal” written on it. Although these words should be much more specific and detailed towards your personal goals. Your actions are related to your self-image, so practice creating a better self-image.
9.) The Ritual of Congruent Character: Every single day practice building your character. This will effect the way you see yourself and the actions you take. Create core values for yourself that you truly believe in, and then stand by them 100% on a daily basis. Treat people well, do the right thing and be the type of person you believe you truly should be.
10.) The Ritual of Simplicity: Do not live above your means. Embrace the little things that make you happy, focus on your priorities, and be aware of the things that create a better well for yourself and others. This will create less clutter, stress, and unnecessary negativity within your life. The key is to remain calm and always look at the brighter side, it could be worse and you have amazing things in your life… don’t forget those things.
So now that you know The 10 Rituals for Better Living, I want you to remember and realize a couple of things.
First being that you do not need to and should not put all of the 10 Rituals into play right away. It will only be effective in the long-term by slowly implementing them, simply because you cannot be efficient at them all without learning how to perform them individually first.
Second being that it takes 21 days to create a habit. Knowing that, you should not start them all right away. My advice is to pick 1-3 rituals that are most important to you and practice them for 21 days without missing a single day. This will create the habit and you then you will no longer need to think hard about performing the ritual. At that time, add 1-3 more.
