The Mentalist's Morning Ritual & 5 Minutes to Mentalism
Those waking moments are among the most powerful in the day. They set the tone of the day yet to come.
Use them optimally and you are set up for a productive, powerful and fulfilling day. Use them otherwise and the day flies by with little meaningful done.
My Message here is to Create a morning ritual!
My mornings previously were wasted on emails and facebook and the string of links and comments that it takes you on. This sets us on a negative path for the day as we get our dopamine release through Facebook and each discovery or interesting Facebook link rewards us more and we continue looking. High dopamine levels do lead to increased productivity, but the way Facebook is used is akin to a habit or addiction...therefore the more efficient way to use Facebook is as a scheduled reward after achievements or tasks knocked of your list and then for 5 minutes or so...this way the dopamine released can be used like an afterburner to plough you into the next task.
As part of a rethink on my mornings and how I spent them I began to make a few simple changes to start my day in such a way that it set the rest of the day up for success, productivity and celebration.
Upon waking
• I started of with around 10-20 minutes of breathing, breathe hold training and meditation • I follow that with 10 minutes of stretching & primal/primitive movement exercises • A warm shower transitioning into a cold shower lasting between 1 to 10 minutes
The difference this makes in itself to my day is fantastic...my mind is alert, my happiness levels are up, my immune system enhanced, my cardiovascular system is activated and already I've raised my dopamine levels (higher dopamine levels lead to increased productivity) ** Obviously this ritual is for my needs and goals and yours should be too breathe holding isn't for everyone probably)
• Next it's time for breakfast: I start of with a fresh orange and grapefruit juice, oatmeal (or meat with nuts and berries) and coffee with a teaspoon of coconut oil.
With the coffee I turn my attention to my 5 Minutes to Mentalism journal, which has been the most fantastic and productive tool I've used to further my career and performance levels. I adapted it from the popular fiveminutejournal.com to make it more about mentalism/business improvement than general happiness.
The journal has been so effective and as it is proving to be life-changing, I turned it into a physical printed journal for this year and for the benefit of myself and others who could use a tool like this added some additionally extras.
You can get a copy of my journal following the link found here or use a pen and paper following the outline below.
So what does the 5 Minutes to Mentalism look like and how will it help you...
The 5 Minutes in the Morning: Gratefulness and the Fearsome Four
Dedicating 5 minutes to the first half of the journal page upon waking up encourages you to focus on the positive, and sets up your plan and direction for the day.
By writing “I am grateful for ...” we begin to setup the positive perception we have for the day. I like to reflect on a relationship, something great that happened yesterday, something general great in my life, anything or anyone I'm grateful for or to. Regardless of if it's connected to mentalism.
I am grateful for 1. Florian: my “acting coach”, who watches, takes notes, gives me suggestions and directions 2. The great time I spent connecting with my family over Christmas 3. Alan Shaxon and Scott Creasey: I've been rocking their envelopes this Christmas and will be into the New Year.
The fearsome 4 serve to set you on the pathway to professional and business success by breaking down goals and plans into daily chunks to focus on. As you progress with the journal you will learn how to optimise and choose what you do that day.
1 effect I will work on today 1. Freakey: Presentations
1 thing I can do to promote myself 1. Coffee House Readings – Promotional letter
1 way I could improve my performance 1. Mentally ingrain in my head alternative phrases for “round of applause”
1 great thing I could do today Write thank you letters to my Christmas Clients The 5 minutes in the Evening
Dedicating 5 minutes to the last half ofnthe page as you lie in bed at the end of the day makes it easier to get to sleep because you acted on your thoughts and set your subconscious and creative mind to work while you sleep.
Remembering our successes and inspirations of the day allow us to celebrate, but our inspirations could remind us of lessons learnt, presentational ideas, effect ideas etc…
3 Things that Inspired me today 1. Reading Animal Minds in the Economist – presentations and anecdotes 2. Reading some of Unreal reminded me how much I loved performing The Ritual 3. Receiving a lovely thank you letter from my client before I sent mine!!!!
Studies have shown that positive future projection work wonders for our motivation; they have also shown that positively reframing the past has as well. So in the “things I could have done better” we are reframing what we didn't do well as if we had done it. I use the positive past tense, even though I didn't do it.
How Could Today Have Gone Better 1. I wrote a kick-ass promotional pamphlet for my coffeehouse readings. 2. I started edited the video footage 3. I started on the 404 companion website
Challenges and Celebrations
The Weekly Business and Mentalism Challenge give you mini goals and aims to work on that week to develop yourself in those areas. They will kick you out of your comfort zone and into action in new and inventive ways.
Finally, Every 4 weeks we take a moment to remember our successes and set 3 simple goals for the next 4 weeks. The Memo here is: Work hard, take action and celebrate the success. What is a life without celebration.
One last thing I couple all of this with the habit tracking app called Rewire (on the Google play store)... It's a super simple way of recording your successes as well as the times you drop the ball and also let's you program in rewards. I even track my tooth brushing on this :)