For spring break, my wife and I took the kids to Florida. We stayed with her Grammy who is 91 years young and, frankly, quite awesome! One morning, my wife, Joanna, and I went for a walk in Grammy’s country-club community, which is also awesome. After walking for a bit, we ran into a couple who we assumed has lived there for some time. We asked how far the waking path was around the community. They said, “We don’t know. We only know the distance to the Dunkin’ Donuts because that is where we walk to every day.”
Hmm. They have lived here for a while, walk every day, and only know one path to one destination with one view. This got me thinking: How often do we, as business owners, run our businesses this same way? The answer is that we probably do this WAY too much. We don’t have to wait until we are in our 70s, 80s or 90s and living in Boca to learn this lesson. We can shake it up a lot sooner and a lot faster in our businesses, our patterns, and our paths to the metaphorical (or actual) doughnut shop.
So, you may be having your own epiphany here: Jon, this sounds like me! Help!
Have no fear! I’ve always got your back. I’m going to give you some simple tips to change up your day and get out of your over-structured routine and mindset. But, you have to do the work. You have to execute. Deal? Deal! Don’t lie to me or yourself. These may seem simple, but you will find them very difficult!
I want you to do these five things:
1. Change up your morning ritual. Take a different route to work or to one of your other routine destinations. Do this every day this week. Make it a habit to switch up your path a couple of times a week.
2. Same with driving home. Take a new route. You will see the same things in a new perspective and spark new ideas.
3. In the middle of your day – I don’t care when – I want you to leave the office and go for a 5-minute walk. It can be outside, inside, doesn’t matter. Get out of your routine and give yourself a few minutes to take a breath and not think about anything.
4. Whatever workout you are doing, change it up. If you do weights first and cardio second, switch it up. If you don’t workout, I want you to start today, assuming your doctor gives you the thumbs-up. Make it a brisk walk or use something like the 7-minute workout app to get started immediately. Carve out time to take care of yourself.
5. If you really want to catapult yourself and add perspective, try mediation. There are tons of ways to start. I do TM.org, and previously did the Silva mind method. Many people use meditation apps. There is no right or wrong way to meditate. The idea of meditation is to quiet your brain and think about nothing. In doing so, it opens up a new world of perspective.
Listen up: You can either go through life only knowing how to get to a certain Dunkin’ Donuts shop for an unbelievable coffee and glazed doughnut, or you can be the one who knows how to get to every coffee shop in the world for limitless beverage and pastry options. The choice is yours!
We live in a world where the complacent and the lazy are bulldozed by their competitors. There has never been a time in history when a start-up who knows how to use social media and has no start-up capital can come out of nowhere and put you out of business in nothing flat. We must always take action and we must always be on the path of growth. Because we have to. Because, it’s more fun. Because if we don’t, we will looking back with regret for not pushing ourselves.
Have fun!
Thanks for taking time to read my blog. Have a great and productive day!
Think Big!
Jon
