A couple weeks ago I came across an Instagram post from "therock", aka Dwayne Johnson that hit me like a ton of bricks. Additionally, it gave me a kick in the butt that I needed. Life got busy again, as we know it always does, and I now realize I let go of something that I set out to do weekly. This blog. Dwayne Johnson post was about daily mantras, and the impact his mantras have had in his life. Now those of you who don't know a lot about Dwayne Johnson, this guy works incredibly hard, and came from very little to now being someone who I deem as "successful." This post of his, introduce one of his mantras as the basis of a recent Under Armor product line introduction, called "Rent's Due." You probably can assume from the "rent's due " context that he used the need to pay his rent as motivation every day to go to the gym and workout. He even referenced when he first started using the mantra he and his family didn't have a place to live. I just got goose bumps writing that, because it is so powerful. This got me thinking, what are my daily mantras? You know by now, that quotes are very important to me and I draw motivation from successful people, but as I am writing this I realized that I don't have a daily mantra that inhibits the same response I get from reading Dwayne Johnson's mantra.
Furthermore, I started thinking about what other daily activities or routines have helped enhance my performance, focus, and attitude. My last post, I spoke about the benefits and need of drinking enough water daily. In earlier posts, I spoke to truly defining your dreams and aspirations through future imagination. So two questions come to mind. What are other daily activities will help me reach my goals? And, what daily mantra(s) provide motivation and energy to keep reaching?
Let's start with activities. I think the important thing to keep in mind when deciding and really evaluating a daily activities ability to provide positive energy is defining what you're trying to achieve. For example, I meditate just about every day; from meditation, I achieve focus and a clear mind. Now for this post, I will leave meditation alone but look forward to a post soon regarding meditation. I rarely refer to something as transformational, but meditation for me has been just that. Additionally, another daily activity I do is positive affirmations. Most, if not all, or my daily activities surround the theme of focus and motivation. For me, this comes from my brain working constantly, and it is important for my daily functioning to center myself, and well, slow down my brain a bit. Keeping with the focus theme, one activity that guides my thoughts is utilizing lists as a record of things to get done. I have been using activity list for decades at this point, and it has not failed me. A good friend of mine gets up every morning and goes to the gym, which provides him with the jumpstart to his day, something he shares with Dwayne Johnson. From a food intake perspective, drinking water and eating enough protein is key. Now I am not much of a daily breakfast fan, don't get me wrong I love breakfast food, but I don't benefit from eating breakfast every day. Typically, I start my day with a glass of water, followed by a cup of tea or coffee and a protein bar. The main thing to keep in mind, as I mentioned above, is defining what outcome you're looking for, and experiment with activities that support that outcome. If you find yourself getting fatigued by midday, evaluate what foods you're eating and how much water you're drinking. Evaluate your sleep as well, but also try to evaluate whether your thoughts and "brain" are the culprits of your fatigue, and if that's the case, look at options for organizing your brain activity and focus.
Mantras are tough to provide insight towards, as mantras are very personal items. As I write this, all I can think about is my need for a daily mantra that provides that unyielding energy and purpose that will invoke that "kick in the butt" response. Dwayne Johnson's "rents due" is so simple, yet hits it right on the nail. As I gather my own thoughts here, I think one way that might prove useful in designing my mantra is leveraging my strongest personality traits. For starters, I am very competitive, and second, I am very strategic. If I can be competitive about something, I instantly have the motivation, additionally if I can leverage my strategic side; I enable my ability to overcome anything. Hmm, I'm getting somewhere with this approach.
My takeaway this week is to take some time to think about your daily activities and evaluate whether you achieve positive results from those activities that will correlate toward your goals. Secondly, and I am telling myself this as well, establish your daily mantra(s), or at the very least, starting developing the groundwork that will ultimately deliver your mantra. Remember the best mantras are those that instantly provide clarity, focus and drive to conquer anything in front of you.
Rents due.