#1213 Well Begun is Half Done
Before we get to it today, I want to advertise two calls I make every morning and suggest you might enjoy them too. The first is Dr. Rob Gilbert's Success Hotline. Rob is a doctor of sports psychology and has recorded a useful, inspirational 3-minute message every day for over 34 years! I've called the hotline regularly for a good thirty of those years. 973-743-4690
The other call I make every morning is "Talking with Dr. Terry – 180 seconds to a better you" 210-390-6100. Terry is a former emergency room doctor, a Navy veteran, and an ultra-endurance athlete. She delivers excellent positive content to start my morning off right. Her hotline is just over one year old, and I don't think I've missed more than a day or two.
I mention these two because I feel strongly that you become what you think about most often, so isn't it better to begin our days by thinking good things?
Now for today’s message:
What will I look like and feel like if I wake each morning, eat a pack of Twinkies, and down a Coke for breakfast, then follow that up with some couch-potatoing, and a run to the McDonald's drive-through to grab something fatty and fried to eat while I watch some Housewives or a Kardashian show?
If my morning routine is scrolling FB, TikTok, and Instagram, it's like starting the day with those Twinkies and that Coke. Social media is as pernicious as processed food.
If I’m up five pounds, I may not notice, but what happens when it's 20, 30, or 50lbs? There should be a flashing light pulsating with an alarm sounding to alert me to the danger. It's a serious situation. Clogged arteries, breathing issues, joint pain, and diabetes are all looming large.
What about when checking social media a few times a day becomes a face glued to a phone? Shouldn't we see the same flashing light and hear the same alarm?
Doesn't the content we consume directly affect the brain like the food we consume affects the body?
The thing that scares me about social media is its planned, aggressive, insidious nature. There is real science dedicated to keeping you scrolling. Who hasn't intended to take a quick look at a feed and, 10, 20, or 60 minutes later, wondered where the time went?
I believe in specifically choosing what to do with my time. But because the programming works the way it does, I sometimes end up choosing without actually making a choice.
Most of the most successful people I know have a healthy morning routine.
I assure you that their routines never include scrolling social media or hitting the drive-through.
I don't expect you to be a monk. Go ahead, enjoy some TikTok videos and Instagram posts; have a bag of fries and a burger from time to time, but be intentional about it. Opening social media first thing and getting sucked in for an hour is like that cartoon character who follows the smell of a burger, eyes closed, and hands out, unwittingly sleepwalking through dangerous territory to get to something tempting but not consciously desired.
Create a positive morning routine that serves your aims. Feed your brain the Way blue-zone people feed their bodies.
That old computer expression seems more relevant today than ever: GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out.
Own Your Sales Gene…