Entrepreneurs need all the help they can get to unleash their potential. Many business leaders practice meditation and journaling that helps them stay grounded and focused in today’s fast-paced, hectic world. Meditation and journaling are increasingly popular among professionals and entrepreneurs because they help to maintain a healthy work/life balance and provide a daily foundation for business success.
How Daily Routines Work
Shortly after I started Far West Capital in 2007, my mentor John Henry McDonald told me how he grew $1,000 of his own money into a highly-successful investment firm in Austin, Texas: he started journaling. I discussed this revelation in-depth in another blog post, The All-Star Entrepreneur’s Secret to Achieving Big Goals. The lesson John taught me has affected me to this day, and has helped me immensely in growing Far West Capital.
Around the same time, I learned that many business leaders use meditation to clear their minds, gain better insight into their businesses and to combat the stress of being overworked. My daily routine has includes both of these practices, and they have had a massive effect on my life.
By establishing a set of motions to go through in the morning, you will set yourself up for success each and every day. Starting each day on the same footing helps you and your team by providing consistency and reliability. Clearing your head through isolation techniques silences the noise and allows greater focus on the important tasks of the day and week. So how do you get started?
Establishing an Effective Daily Routine
My current routine is strict, but simple to follow. It can take time to get it all down perfectly, so to find your ideal routine, pay attention to what is effective and what is not. The more tightly you control your daily routine, the easier it becomes. This is how I start every day:
- Make badass coffee on my Jura One Touch
- Take a drink of water
- Sip on my coffee
- Put the lid on to keep it hot
- Practice meditation for exactly 17 minutes
- Wear headphones with theta brainwaves tracks (a fantastic meditation supplement)
- Do my gratitude exercise
- Write down 10 new things I am grateful for. This is a great way to condition yourself to look for things you are grateful for in everyday life, which helps you perform better and be happier.
- Write in my mastermind journal
- Goals for the day, week, month, and year
That’s it. With that, I am left feeling good physically and mentally and am set up for a highly productive day. It will take some time to find your ideal routine, and when you do, you have to commit to it until it becomes second nature.
Why it’s Important to Build Habits
Habits don’t form overnight, so you need to stick with them by force at first. The nine points below should help you understand more about forming a good habit and how they are used in business today:
- Habits are simple “Cue, Routine, Reward” loops that save effort and increase efficiency.
- Habits stick because they create cravings.
- To change a habit, substitute the routine for another and believe in the change.
- Change can be achieved by focusing on keystone habits and achieving small wins.
- Willpower is the most important keystone habit.
- Organizational habits can be dangerous but a crisis can change them.
- Companies take advantage of habits in their marketing.
- Movements are born from strong ties, peer pressure and new habits.
- You alone bear responsibility for changing your habits.
Meditation For Business Isn’t New-Age, It’s Effective
I highly recommend making meditation a part of your daily routine. It’s become a hot topic for business leaders in recent years, with the benefits touted by top publications such as Harvard Business Review and Forbes.
If meditation seems intimidating or difficult, consider trying yoga first – it’s like moving meditation, and I go four times a week. I’m not perfect at sitting still for 17 minutes every day, and sometimes I can’t resist checking my phone. Don’t dismiss the idea just because you feel you can’t sit still for long enough. Learning to sit still and calm your mind is the entire point of meditation.
If there is a theme to determining your best daily routine, it’s that you need to try new things that are proven to increase happiness and productivity, and reduce stress. Making these exercises part of your daily life can have enormous benefits for you and those around you, and may help you focus on your goals and business more deeply than you thought possible.
Do you practice meditation, journaling or other daily exercises to de-stress and keep your goals top of mind? Do you think a daily routine could help you or your business? Leave a comment here or message me on Facebook or Twitter.