As an entrepreneur, I learned that to give yourself the greatest chance to succeed, it starts with what you do in the morning. I’ve learned quite a lot about achieving peak performance from spending over $300,000 on my own personal development. Peak performance is simply not something many people achieve in their own life and that’s something that saddens me.

I had never been one for corporate culture and wanted to impact the world, but I knew that wouldn’t happen with the lifestyle I was currently living. I came off of having two failed businesses and decided to start studying those who are successful and see if there were any outliers other than the average common folk. I learned quite a deal, but more importantly, I learned that living your best life ever starts with what you do in the morning.

The average person gets up in the morning and maybe they take a shower and grab breakfast, possibly reading the newspaper for the day, but that isn’t enough to get you to where you want to go. You can’t expect to do what everyone else is doing and get ahead. The difference between those who are successful and those who aren’t is miniscule.

Here are the 3 things that the most successful people do every morning that the average person doesn’t do:

1. Meditate

Those who have achieved peak performance in their life start their day off with a meditation session. If you can’t find five or ten minutes during your day, then you don’t deserve to become successful. When you decide to meditate, you’re clearing your mind of your thoughts and allow yourself to think clearly for the day ahead.

We can move so fast in our lives that we never take a second to stop and take a breath. Meditation isn’t something that takes a lot of time, it’s something as simple as five minutes each day that can have a profound impact on your life.

According to an article on Psychology Today, some of the benefits of meditation are increasing positive emotion, decreasing depression, anxiety, stress, boosts your self control, and increasing focus and attention. All those benefits for five minutes of your time, it’s no wonder all those who achieve peak performance meditate.

“When you are at home, even if the chicken is a little burnt, what’s the big deal? Relax.” – Jacques Pepin

2. Take Cold Showers

If you tell someone that you take cold showers, they will think you’re crazy. They’re the crazy ones for not understanding the benefits. According to an article on Medical Daily, the benefits of cold showering are: Increases alertness, improves immunity and circulation, eases stress, relieves depression, speeds up muscle soreness and recovery, and stimulates weight loss. You can get those benefits from the turn of a dial when you’re in the shower.

If you’ve never taken a cold shower before, it can be quite intimidating. I’d recommend that you take your normal warm shower and then end your shower with it being cold for at least one minute. Over time, you’ll develop a resiliency to the cold and you’re able to take your entire shower cold!

Another reason the successful take cold showers besides all the benefits mentioned is that it allows them to develop a stronger mindset. You won’t make it far in the world as an entrepreneur if you have a weak mindset. You always need to look for ways to strengthen your mindset. No one likes to take a cold shower, but forcing yourself to take one will strengthen your mindset.  

3. Have a Gratitude and Goal Journal

As you will have noticed, I’ve only added five minutes to your morning routine. This next exercise might add another five minutes to your routine. If for ten minutes each day, you could live a better life, why wouldn’t you do it?

In my search for how to achieve peak performance, the last common occurrence I noticed between those who are successful is that they have a gratitude and goal journal. With their gratitude journal, they’d briefly write three to five things in which they were thankful during the previous day. The reason they do this is that no matter how bad their day is going, they can always pull something positive from their day. It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and forget all the good in your life.

Along with their gratitude journal, they always keep track of the goals they’ve set for themselves. They check in with their goals every day and track their progress to make sure they’re heading the right direction. You need to set goals for yourself because if you don’t you will be living a passive life. When you set goals for yourself, you need to track it to understand if you need to fix something or if everything is running smoothly.

“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible,” – Orison Swett Marden

To achieve peak performance in your life need not be difficult. You need to make small changes to your daily habits. These changes may seem insignificant in the moment, but they add up overtime to get you closer to your ideal life. The same can be said if you implement bad habits as life is but a collection of daily routines. Are you willing to make the necessary changes to live a better life, or will you fall back into your default habits and a life of mediocrity? The choice is up to you!

How do you start your day? Comment below!

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