Change Your Daily Bookends - Change Your Life

Most of us go through our day on autopilot, going through the motions, not fully aware of what's driving or influencing us. Rinse. Repeat. It’s like we’re stuck in a live sequel of Groundhog Day.

Humor me on this story:

You start off the day by checking work email and catching up on the news and social media once the alarm on your phone goes off. ?You continue through your day. The traffic on your way to work is insane. You get to the office and receive not-so-great news on a project you’re working on. Your shoulders seem to feel heavier and heavier as the day goes on. Your patience wears thinner by the hour. You battle the traffic on your way back home. You’re not in a great mood, but you don’t give it much thought. It’s just a typical day.?You eat some dinner, check your work email, and then kick back to watch your favorite show, checking your email during each commercial break.?When you crawl into bed later than you planned to, you spend the next 45 minutes on your phone, checking work email again, perusing through the news and social media before turning off your light in hopes of going to sleep before the sun rises.

In the story above, there are what I call the “Daily Bookends” - the Morning Bookend and the Evening Bookend:

• Morning Bookend - you start off the day with work email, the news, and social media
• Evening Bookend - you end your day thinking about things that could have gone better and checking work email, the news, and social media

These bookends hold a lot of weight. And the bookends referred to above are not very sturdy. They’re not strong enough to hold the weight that lies between them. So, the contents in between can become disheveled pretty quickly.

Here are the issues with the above daily bookends:

Morning Bookend – When you start your day off checking work email, you are jumping right into action mode.?Your brain automatically focuses on all the issues that need attention, what hasn’t been done, and what needs to be done. Checking social media activates self-criticism and judgment in your mind, as it makes you compare yourself to everyone and everything. The news typically feeds you the tragedies going on in the world. This is how many of us start our day. Our brains have been fed junk food and are wired in a fixed mindset, which is when you believe you have very little to no control over what happens to you or how you react to what happens to you. With this bookend, you allow external forces to determine how you will think, feel, and respond to everything you encounter. You then wonder why you get so easily triggered and don’t understand why your mood is more negative than you’d like it to be.

Evening Bookend - #DrWayneDyer has spoken about how you spend the last five minutes of your day is what programs your subconscious mind. You are feeding your mind what it should marinate on for the next seven or so hours while you are sleeping. If you end your day focused on work and the issues that arose during the day, the news, and social media, you are asking your mind to process all of that throughout the entire night. Not only does your mind spend your precious sleeping hours processing all those things, but you now wake up with those items tucked away in your subconscious. ?Is it a wonder why we often wake up not feeling 100%?

As I work with clients on overcoming confidence roadblocks and managing imposter syndrome, these bookends become extremely important.?Putting yourself into self-criticism and fixed mindset modes only feed the symptoms of imposter syndrome and create more self-doubt within yourself.

How can you intentionally structure your day in a way that sets you up with a growth mindset versus a fixed one???With a growth mindset, you can turn criticisms and mishaps into lessons. It allows you to embrace learning and see opportunities even when things don’t go according to plan. ?You can see beyond the external forces, having the power to look within.?

To help foster a growth mindset, what if those Daily Bookends looked like this?

Morning Bookend - A meditation on focus, clarity, or motivation; exercise; journaling; writing a letter to a different friend or family member each day; and/or reading something educational or motivating.

Evening Bookend - A relaxation meditation; journaling; repeating affirmations or gratitudes in your mind; and/or reading something inspiring.

What if you started and ended each day this way??How might life change?

There’s only one way to find out.?