On this week’s blog, we share a special guest post from entrepreneur, personal life coach, and mentor, Sai Blackbyrn. Enjoy :-)

“Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition.” ~ W.H. Auden

I have been truly fascinated with the mindset of successful people. What is it about them that set them apart? What is it that made them who they are? As diverse as their personalities and fields were, if you looked deep enough, you would see patterns emerge. Whether it was Beethoven religiously counting down the exact 60 coffee beans required for his morning cup, or Arnold Schwarzenegger making his bed every morning, successful people have their unique daily rituals.

Why do successful people indulge in daily rituals?

We live in a very busy world where it is the norm to continuously move at a breakneck pace. Every morning we are supposed to wake up, go to our office, work, come back, try to spend some time with the family, sleep and repeat. In this entire sequence, we hardly give any time to ourselves or our growth.

Daily rituals give us a little time frame; this little space in the day where we can pamper ourselves, where we can indulge in our self-growth and happiness. They help us develop the habits for success.

By beginning your day in a certain way with pre-selected daily rituals that are completely in your control, you set the wheels rolling right away. You start your day with successful routines to end up having a productive day. 

If you start your day with a cluttered mind then that will set the tone of your entire day; your rituals empower you by helping you take control.

How do successful routines empower successful people?

As Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, puts it: “If you want to do something big then you need to start with something small. Every big oak was once an acorn and if you want to do something big, then you need to nurture and take care of that acorn. There are no shortcuts to success.”

When you do these daily routines, you are incorporating in yourself one of the biggest tools that one needs to succeed: Discipline.

When a Samurai sheathes his katana, he goes through an elaborate ritual. Why does he do so? Why did Larry Bird shoot 300 practice shots before each and every game?

It is to drive home the discipline through constant repetition. That is what these daily routines enable you to do.

Every day, no matter what you feel like, no matter what you are doing, you do these rituals without fail. Every single day, you make yourself go through the motions.

When you do this and make it a habit, you will realize the true power these rituals can instill in your life (apart from the more immediate benefits of course).

These daily rituals will help you understand that no matter what happens, you can always go through the motions, follow the process, and achieve your goals in the end.

It could start with something as simple as taking 10 minutes to meditate when you really don’t feel like it. Just going through the motions and conquering that inner demon will empower you.

Like I said, start small, be the acorn, in time, you will turn into an oak.

What are the successful routines that anyone can use?

The best part about these habits for success is that anyone, anywhere can use them. You don’t need to be super rich to be able to afford the equipment to be able to do so. 

Now, I am going to list down some rituals and routines that you can incorporate into your life every single day.

Wake up early every day

It’s simple - wake up early every day.

Not really that hard to do now is it? But here’s the thing, nearly every successful person follows this exact success routine. Ernest Hemingway used to be up at 5:30 in the morning every single day regardless of how much he drank the night before.

So, what is so special about this simple ritual and how is it empowering?

We all face that struggle; you know which one I am talking about. You’re in bed, trying to will your body out of bed, and your body doesn’t want to follow your command; you know you have a lot of things to do but every muscle and every fiber of your body refuse to follow your command. This is a critical moment of your day - it’s quite literally, the few minutes of your waking hour. 

If you can defeat your body’s urge, if you can conquer your body with your mind, then you have won. Right then and there, you begin your day with a victory. So many people begin their day with a defeat, and that sets the precedent for the rest of the day. 

Own your morning routines successfully and you will own yourself. 

Adopt this simple ritual and you will:

• Defeat the negative impulses of your body
• Automatically gain more time in your day
• Begin your day with a victory

It is a simple ritual that anyone can do.

All this sounds amazing and flowery, but it doesn’t quite hit home until you hear it firsthand from someone who follows it rigorously. 

I have my daily rituals to thank for making my days so incredibly productive and helping me run a successful business on my own! 

If you want to know more about how to transform your life with the right motivation and few simple hacks, check out my free webinar to get an in-depth insight into living a healthy life of your dreams! 

Meditate

Chances are that you have already been bombarded by your spiritual friends telling you about all of the benefits of meditation and vinyasa yoga and whatnot. I am not here to give you a sales pitch, I am just going to tell you the facts.

I consider Arnold Schwarzenegger to be one of the most successful men who has ever lived. As much as I love him, I am going to refer to him as “Arnie” from now on because I’d rather avoid writing “Schwarzenegger”!

Regardless, let’s examine Arnie’s story. This is an immigrant who came from Austria to America, with no knowledge of the language. Yet, in 3 decades, he became:

• A multiple-time Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia
• A successful businessman and millionaire even before he began acting
• One of the greatest box office attractions
• Governor of California

In 3 decades, this man conquered sports, business, movies and politics. That’s 4 different fields. Can you imagine that? How many lifetimes would it take a normal human being to conquer just one of those fields? Arnie managed to conquer all 4. So what was the secret of his success apart from his relentless work ethic?

Arnie admits that in the 70s, he was suffering from anxiety which made him unable to focus on things that truly mattered to him. So, his friend introduced him to transcendental meditation and this is what he has to say about that:

“I did 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes at night, and I would say within 14 days or three weeks, I got to the point where I could really disconnect my mind ... and learn how to focus more and calm down.”

The connection between meditation and success has long been studied. Check out this brain map that was done to examine how meditation can counter anxiety:

So, what can you do now to indulge in this practice and make it a part of your daily schedule? Most people shy away from meditation because they don’t feel comfortable with the idea of being alone with their thoughts for 20-25 minutes in a day. And that’s alright, you don’t need to meditate for 25 minutes, at least when you start.

Start easy, the moment you wake up, take 10 minutes and be alone with your thoughts. There are several guided meditation videos on YouTube. I’d personally recommend “Headspace take 10”. It just takes 10 minutes. 

If you have erratic net connectivity, then just close your eyes and be aware of your breathing for 10 minutes. That’s all it takes, but this simple ritual will clear up your head and set you straight for the rest of the day.

Maintain a gratitude journal

Oprah Winfrey is one of the most powerful and inspiring women who has ever lived. If I were to talk about the hurdles and obstacles that she has had to overcome in her life then that would require a whole new article to do it justice.

What has been the most important tool for her success? Sure, she is a force of nature, is unbelievably charismatic and has the ability of empathizing with anyone and everyone. But it is the attention to the little things and being grateful for the little things that make her so great.

As she puts it, if you pay attention to what you have and are grateful for what you have, then you will always have more. However, if you focus on what you don’t have, then nothing that you have is enough and you will never be happy. 

So, what she suggests is simple.

Every day, take out a journal and write down 5 things that you are grateful for that day. You can’t just say it out, you need to write it out down. Writing it down makes the process much more intimate. 

Those 5 things that you write down need not be major life events; they can be the simplest things. In my journal, I talk about how grateful I am to the barista for giving me a great cup of coffee, or how grateful I am for the kitten who lives next door who always manages to make me go all gooey inside by her purrs.

Here is a glimpse of what my gratitude journal looks like:

Here are some tips to maintain a powerful gratitude journal:

• The journal in which you write should be powerful: If I am writing things that I am grateful for and that is directly responsible for my success, then I am going to treat it with the utmost respect.
  
  I write down my gratefuls in a journal that was given to me by my wife. It holds a lot of emotional and sentimental meaning and I find it worthy enough to journal. I am not saying that you should buy an expensive diary to do so, but don’t just write it down on a torn up piece of paper and forget that it exists. Give it respect.
• Keep a special pen that you use for journaling. Whenever you are writing down your gratitude lists or your goals, you need to dignify the process by keeping a special pen that you keep just for that purpose.
  
  I am not saying that you need to buy a Mont Blanc, but keep a special pen that you only use for these purposes. I have a Parker vector that I keep exclusively for journaling and goal-writing purposes.
  
  What this does is it uplifts the moment and makes you understand the gravity of what you are doing. It makes you be present 100% and helps you realize the true power of the task that you are undertaking.

Writing gratitude journals has been personally very important for me. When I was first starting out as a coach’s mentor and struggling to get going, I realized that I was focusing too much on the bad things and, as a result, was clouding myself with negativity.

When I started writing my gratitude journals, I realized how grateful I should be for all that I have in my life. How grateful I should be for the freedom I have to do what I want, how grateful I should be for having the courage to start my own coaching business, and how grateful I should be for a wonderful family.

Maintaining a journal really puts things into perspective. When I was sailing along the Komodo Islands in Indonesia, I made this video where I talked about my own daily rituals, including gratitude journals. Watch it here!

Conclusion

These three rituals:

• Waking up early
• Meditation
• Gratitude Journals

These are just three of the many, many rituals that you can incorporate in your “daily ritual list”.  The reason why I mentioned these three, in particular, is because anyone in the world can do them, and you can start them ANYTIME. I am not telling you to go exercise and get a gym membership; I am taking the option of “procrastination” away from you.

In order to have a base from which you can build your dreams, you need to have your engine revving up on all cylinders. 

You cannot compromise on that; you SHOULD not compromise on that. It is your life, your dreams and we are all here on this planet for a limited amount of time.

Start your day with an advantage, rig the game in your favor.

In my coaching program, one of the more important modules is called “MINDSET” and in it, I talk about the importance of daily rituals. When you take care of them, you basically prepare yourself for the inevitable success of your coaching business. 

And that holds true regardless of which field you belong to. Follow your rituals, take action, follow the motions… the rest will take care of itself.

“A daily ritual is a way of saying I’m voting for myself, I’m taking care of myself” ~ Martel Hemingway.

So, are you ready to live the successful life of your dreams?

Are you?

Yes, you are… of course, you are. So why are you waiting? 

My trysts with developing successful daily routines ultimately led to a boost in my business and I continue to help other coaches find the same happiness with my proven methods.

Go ahead and make the best of the resources I am offering you! If you miss out, you’ll never know if this could have changed your life!

This is my webinar.

And this is my free E-book.

Due to the demand of the webinar, the seats will be filling up very fast, so please make sure that you register as early as possible. I don't want you to miss out on it because you were lazy.

Just go and register right now.

I will see you on the other side :)