I’m not really a morning person, but I know that having something to look forward to does give you the extra push and motivation to face the day.
Whether it’s a dear friend’s wedding, an exciting business proposition or the launch date of a project, being purposeful does bring exhilaration and anticipation to the soul.
On the other hand, having nothing much to look forward to makes getting up even harder.
You may force yourself to crawl out of bed, hit the bathroom staring at the dazed person in the mirror while brushing your teeth, wolf down your breakfast and storm out of the door only to find yourself stuck with traffic with everyone else.
This just feels like any other day.
The problem with living our days like any other day is that each day starts to look and feel very similar to one another, without much to expect and look forward to in between. It starts to look like undifferentiated products on the supermarket shelf, each yearning to be picked up and bought, but all appearing very unremarkable.
“So how can I make my days more exciting and remarkable? How do I have something to look forward to?” you might ask.
It’s simple.
Identify (or even create) a gap between where you are right now and where you really want to be.
Once we have a gap between our current and desired reality, we will start to feel a dissatisfaction with the status quo and a yearning to reach out to something greater.
And here are some questions to help you out:
What does the happier/healthier/fitter/more passionate/more generous/less fickle/more confident version of you look like?
Now that you know where you want to head, do the things you do on a daily basis bring you closer to your goal?
What tangible and practical steps can you take to bring yourself closer to your desired reality?
Perhaps the Version 2.0 of you will be someone who actively contributes to his marketing team, challenges existing industry conventions and encourages his colleagues to be the best that they can be.
Maybe the new you will be one who sees the value of investing in the younger generation of employees, and takes steps to reach out to and mentor the new batch of talent.
Or the newer version of you could be secure enough to admit that you are short on certain skills and knowledge to get the project going, but you decide to take active steps to get yourself trained and equipped.
While each day has its own share of issues and challenges, having something to look forward to positions us to seize the opportunities that come our way and give us reason to do things with expectancy.
What’s the one thing that gets you up in the morning?
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Image courtesy of Janos Csongor Kerekes.
