Is eating the same breakfast as your favorite entrepreneur really going to help your bottom line?
Sounds silly, but it actually might!
After reading a ton of business books I discovered that they ALL have a section on mindset. And after reading a ton of personal development books I’ve discovered how your daily habits contribute to your mindset.
So if you want the motivated, positive, badass boss mindset, you gotta get your habits in order.
This week on the podcast I’m sharing some of the habits I’m consistent with that help me show up, keep a positive, growth focused-mindset, and do my best work consistently.
Resources + Links
- Find your perfect time to fall asleep/wake up: sleepyti.me
- Connect with me on Instagram @xosarahmorgan
- Episode 21: What I learned from reading a ton of biz + self-help books
I’m excited to talk about this today. Something I love learning about is how our daily life, habits can help us be better at business.
I covered some of this when I shared what I’ve learned from all the business books I read (that episode is here) and how all of them have a section about mindset. What I’ve learned is that not only is mindset important for business growth, marketing, sales, but it’s affected by every inch of your life and daily routines.
Often I see posts or Memes saying that eating the same breakfast as your favorite entrepreneur or working on the same schedule is not going to grow that million dollar business. Which is true – eating a smoothie bowl or cheeseburger every day isn’t going to make you money but those consistent habits are a contributing factor to creating the mindset and the physical ability to show up every day, to have focus, to feel resilient, to look at things positively – so those little things do matter. The best way to keep yourself in shape to do your best work is sticking to habits.
I was listening to a podcast recently by an entrepreneur who makes millions of dollars and she said she uses the Peloton app for her workouts because it’s like getting life coaching along with exercise. I pay attention to info like that because it’s part of the reason she is able to show up and do the work when she needs to. It’s part of how she stays motivated when things get difficult.
I’ve also been, thanks to Craig, watching a lot of football. Game after game, listening to the commentators and the players speak about the preparation that goes into a game they reiterated this exact point. You can’t show up and do your best work if your habits don’t support that. Preparation is KEY.
So today I want to share some of the habits and choices I’m consistent with that help me show up and do my best work consistently.
1 ➜ Journaling
A few times a week, when I feel the need to empty my brain, I sit down and write. I’m not writing to record anything or to even go back and read through what I’ve written. I’m writing to untie the knots in my brain – the moments and questions and issues that I keep replaying. I’m writing it all down, so I can get it out of my brain, on to paper, and dig through it a little bit more easily.
2 ➜ Meditation
This is another one of my favorite ways to clear my mind, relax and get into a chill space, especially after work. Sometimes I meditate on the couch, but if the dogs are being needy, I hop in the shower, sit down. and enjoy the feeling of the water and the heat and the white noise and use that to create space to stop and focus on my breathing. Yes – pet parents hide in the bathroom too!
Meditation doesn’t have to be a silent, serious, hour-long process. You can benefit from just a few minutes of silence, focus on your breathing, and letting your brain rest. So I take moments of meditation whenever I can get them!
3 ➜ Zero notifications
Next, something I don’t ever ever do – allow notifications on my phone or my computer.
I actually turned off notifications on my email and social media when I went on vacation years ago. I was still living in Michigan, I came to San Diego to visit my brother and I decided to do something a little wacky and turned off my notifications. And when vacation was over and I went back home and back to work, never turned them back on.
Why? Nothing went terribly wrong, no one was angry about waiting for an email, and no one missed me responding to their tweets. And in that week I proved to myself that it’s totally OK to make people wait a minute for a response and to have that boundary around everything in your phone. To this day I still have not turned notifications back on and I keep my phone on vibrate all day.
And in that same vein when I was on my three-week vacation at the end of December I decided to fully step away from Instagram. I didn’t check my comments or DMs, I didn’t post anything, I didn’t respond to anything. And it was totally fine.
But I’ll confess that during that time I did miss Instagram a little. I missed a handful of people who I like listening to on stories and reading their posts and so I made a second account just to follow those people.
This allows me to switch to my personal profile every time I leave the app so when I open it again it’s less likely I’ll accidentally start scrolling or thinking about business stuff. It’s allowing me to spend less time on Instagram because there’s less to scroll through on my personal profile.
I get stuck scrolling like everyone else so removing that ability has been helpful. And when I do feel like scrolling, I go into my personal account that is full of puppies and plants and skin care and is more relaxing to use than my business account.
4 ➜ Reading every night
If you’ve been following me or listening to any of my podcasts you’ve probably heard me talk about how much I love reading, a recent book I’m into, or the anxiety that my Amazon wish list gives me. I’ve got probably 2000 books on that list and I’m determined to get through them all even though the list grows almost every day.
Every single night, seven days a week I get in bed somewhere around 10pm and I read until about 11.
Reading is an important part of my day for a few reasons. 1 – I read mostly business books, marketing books, financial books, and personal development. So it’s making me better at my job, better at cultivating habits, better at teaching, marketer, and leadership. And 2 – Reading before bed gives me dedicated quiet time to essentially study, which as adults we often forget to add into our schedules.
5 ➜ Sleep
Reading is another part of my nightly ritual which helps me with my next non-negotiable…sleep.
I recently tested this because I was having a hard time falling asleep. I purchased a cheap fitness tracker that tracks your steps, heart rate, and sleep. (Side note – I went with the cheap one because I don’t want any extra notifications distracting me throughout the day) Now it doesn’t create extensive data but it provides me with enough info that I could see when I was falling asleep, when I was in deep sleep, and when I was waking up during the night. This allowed me to see that when I stuck to my nightly reading ritual my sleep got better and it got better fast!
I literally have an alarm that buzzes every night at 10pm to remind me to take my antidepressant and go to bed. This means I get in bed around the same time every night, read for an hour, and then go to sleep at roughly the same time (although over the past couple of weeks with the attack on the capital I have been staying up a little bit later doom scrolling or watching CNN.) Going to sleep is a ritual for me, more than what I do in the morning. I wash my face, put on layers of skincare, get cozy in bed, and grab my book.
I also don’t wake up with an alarm. Partially because I absolutely hate the sound of alarms, and partially because my dogs will wake me up, but mostly because I want to make sure that I get enough sleep. By not setting an alarm I’m letting my body determine what time it is ready to wake up.
(And I’m fully aware and grateful that this is a luxury that being self-employed and being childfree affords me.)
If you’re not able to skip the alarm, another way to make sure you’re getting enough sleep and allowing your body to wake up during the correct sleep cycle is to figure out how long you need to sleep to feel your best and then falling asleep and waking up at the same time. You don’t want to wake up in the middle of deep REM sleep – those are those moments when you shoot out of bed and have no idea where you are or who you are.
To wake up in the correct part of your sleep cycle you can use a website like Sleepyti.me. This website allows you to put in either what time you’re going to bed and it will tell you when to wake up. Or you input the time you want to wake up and then it will give you when to fall asleep. You can test different times to see if you need 5 hours or 7.5 or 9 hours of sleep to function your best.
6 ➜ Daily podcasts + inspiration
One habit that I’m working on incorporating into my life is listening to a podcast or a video from a multi-millionaire business owner.
It’s not necessarily about the business strategy or their financial moves, it’s about being in that orbit and feeling motivated by what they’re sharing. It’s something I can put on when I’m working out or walking the dogs and let their vibes infuse into my day. I don’t have to do everything they’re doing or sharing, but it helps me stay focused on my goals and step up my actions a little more. For example, if I woke up that morning not feeling cute and not feeling like recording a video, listening to an inspiring podcast from someone who is showing up and doing the work helps me to get my shit together and stick to my task list.
7 ➜ Audit what makes life difficult
And then lastly, I continuously audit my life and remove, adjust, change things that make it difficult.
One change I made after moving to San Diego about 6 years ago was to sign up for a meal delivery service. I did this because I don’t like figuring out meals and I don’t like having to buy 15 different ingredients never use them up. (Sorry to all those jars of tahini I never used) However, I do like cooking I just don’t want to figure out WHAT I’m cooking. So every single week three meals show up and I know for at least three meals I’m going to not have to make decisions but still get to eat something really healthy and delicious.
The other thing I audited out of my life is vacuuming. I hated doing it anyway, but when we got a second dog and moved into a bigger apartment I was done. I have no interest in vacuuming every single day. So I got a robot vacuum and now I literally press a button and it does the work for me.
These things seem insignificant but every little adjustment makes my day go smoother, keeps me in a better mood, and that makes it easier to show up and do my job.
It’s like you’re creating an ecosystem within yourself, within your life, and within your family so that you have the ability to function at your best. It doesn’t always happen – I still have days where I’m like “fuck it” and watch Netflix all day. Or days when the dogs are being assholes and not letting me focus. But in general I don’t need to struggle to be at my best. Your highest self doesn’t need to be this peak you’re always working toward, your highest self in my opinion is a level that you hit every day and as you go it increases little by little.
Putting all of these habits in place won’t make you $1 million on their own but pairing your strategy and your expertise with some daily habits will definitely make your road a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable!
