How to Be Great Every Day

How do you start your morning?

Do you let the sun rays wake you from slumber as they settle upon your face, or slam your fist on the SNOOZE button and wonder how your phone screen hasn't cracked?

Do you get up, wash your face, guzzle water, and start your day, or drag your feet until you have coffee?

How do you feel for the rest of the day?

This isn't a dig at your lifestyle, I promise. I'm no better than anyone else. We all have good days and we all have bad days, and then most of the time we have okay days where we go to work and commute while listening to music.

What if I told you these are all great ways to achieve success? What if I told you that what you're doing now (yes, right now), is amazing.

Now let me ask you... why do we feel like being great is this thing that only dedicated entrepreneurs who get up before dawn and work-out and eat salad for breakfast and read 100 pages before work and meditate get to have?

This is real life. We are real people.

Life changes, bodies change, mindsets change. We can't be 100% all the time.

HERE'S THE DEAL:

Figure out what your realistic 100% is.

If you're depressed, maybe that's just getting out of bed, brushing your teeth, and doing whatever it is you need to do until you need to go back to bed.

If you're great at your job and feel like it's all you do... try to walk to work, do some stretching after work, or take a few minutes during lunch to do some jumping jacks.

If you're a professional (let's say, writer), and you have a deadline... writing 2 or 20 pages is a start. Doesn't matter which.

And so on.

THE SUCCESS PRINCIPLE:

Where we dedicate ATTENTION, we grow.

Simple, right?

But... attention can be sparse. We are constantly pulled in a million different directions by the media, by our job, and by everything that makes us exclaim, "I just need a few more hours in the day!"

You know that's not how it works. We have 24 hours each day to be our own version of great—whether that means brushing your hair or working out at 6:00 AM.

We are not built to be awesome all the time... so it's important to know that any commitment that you give attention to is a perfectly wonderful thing.

It doesn't matter if you work on that report that is chewing your insides for five minutes or five hours, or do 2 or 20 push-ups, or read a few sentences or an entire chapter.

1) ATTENTION, 2) BALANCE, AND 3) PERSISTENCE

WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

Maybe it's a small change at first. But over time, it makes a difference. Over time, you will see results in whatever it is you are trying to improve.

In whatever area of life you see growth, you will want to keep going.

Dedicate yourself for a few months. See where you get.

Pay attention to your body, your mindset, and your situation.

Celebrate the wins.

Don't get down on yourself for taking breaks or resting, or binging or crying about it.

1) ATTENTION

Give attention to what you would like to improve. Balance the time you spend on that and something else and something else. (As soon as you start to focus on one area of your life, the others will come together too.)

Know that you can be more than one thing. Know that you can improve all areas of your life. Going to the gym doesn't have to mean that you sacrifice sleep. Working on that project doesn't have to mean that you don't have time for a hobby.

Things are not mutually exclusive.

More importantly: What is awesome and working for you this week may not be the same next week. That's okay.

Maybe this week you went to that hot yoga class more than is probably healthy. Maybe next week you'll watch Netflix and go for a walk. Maybe the next you'll start a running routine.

Maybe this week you focused on meal prep. Maybe next week you want to work on that project. Maybe the next you'll listen to podcasts that inspire you.

And so on...

We don't fit into one mold—we oose out a little and find that we can be made into other shapes.

Where we dedicate attention, we grow.

It's a process.

2) BALANCE

Maybe by now, you've noticed that no matter how much you sweat it out in hot yoga, those daily ice-cream binges are not adding anything to your life other than some poor body image and guilt.

That's okay.

Maybe by now, you've noticed that working on a project for hours in a row makes you not want to touch it for a few weeks... or months.

That's okay.

That's okay because you're taking balance to an extreme. Now you just have to reign it in a little.

Think of it as a spectrum. On one side, you have the habit you're trying to instill, and on the other... the opposite one that hinders you.

Your goal is to bring the two closer together.

And I know it's hard. Really, really hard. "I'm either in it 100 percent or not at all," used to be my catch-phrase.

The result? MAJOR BURN-OUT and NO REAL CHANGE. Yikes! But all that work... it must have been worth something!

It was. It was getting you into the habit, dipping your toe into it. Now it's time to plunge and persist. But in a healthy way.

3) PERSISTENCE

Set-backs are natural. Again, bodies, mindsets, and situations change. Example: an injury, needing to take more shifts, or suddenly it's winter and leaving the house just isn't an option.

Work with it. Wallow in it. Find a way.

Give yourself some time.

Imagine where you could be in one month, three months, six months, a year.

Will you finally finish that darn first draft of your book? Or start to see changes in your body and how you feel? Or maybe you'll get that promotion?

It's up to you. You're already great.

Now try to grow, be better every day.

Not better than someone else, but better than you were yesterday.

Give ATTENTION to where you want to grow. BALANCE your methods for growth. PERSIST when the going gets tough.

That's how to be great every day.

I know that this post was a little off-brand, but as I said, we do not fit into molds. I am a part-time coach, part-time motivator, part-time writer, and a part-time freelancer.

Please DM me @angelica.writer if you have any comments, questions, or just want to talk! #authorssupportingauthors #peoplesupportingpeople

Thank you for reading,

—Angie