People will disagree with you - but that’s ok

People will disagree with you.

It may happen when you express that you want things to change, suggest things be done differently, share your opinion, or offer a new or unique idea.

It may happen when you decide to start your own business, change your career path, shake up the way things are done on your team, or make a major personal decision that’s not consistent with the status quo.

This type of disagreement is to be expected, and people will express disagreement for a number of reasons.

Their disagreement may come from a place of protection and genuine care. They support you but, based on their own beliefs, they encourage you to make a different decision.

They may disagree with you because you’re expressing an idea or an intention they want to experience themselves. Despite supporting you, it may be hard to voice that support because doing so brings up their own feelings of regret or disappointment.

Or, they may just fundamentally disagree with you and truly believe you’re making a huge mistake.

Try this:

If you encounter disagreement, remember that when people comment on the choices you make they do so through the lens of their own experience.

They view those choices based on events in their life, beliefs they hold, and experiences they’ve encountered that often have very little to do with you and have everything to do with them.

When you experience disapproval, it’s an opportunity to acknowledge that their reaction is a reflection of their experience - not necessarily what’s best for you.

There are many people who care about you who may unintentionally pass along their own fears in the form of advice.

That’s why it’s so easy for us to get confused when people we love or respect disapprove of our decisions.

When you’re met with disapproval, try to strip it of anything that’s not factual and do your best to look at it objectively.

If you plan to take advice, look for opportunities to seek it from someone who has done what you want to do.

Remember that whether it be approval or disapproval, we make the best decisions when we pass any information we receive through our own personal lens - and not through the lens of another’s experience.

We will always encounter people who disagree with us. But that’s ok.

Go have a great workday.

Thoughts are not facts

We struggle to distinguish thoughts from facts. 

Our mind is skilled at turning thoughts into stories about what might happen if we fail, try something new, or stick out too much. 

These kinds of stories help keep us safe and prevent us from taking too many “risks.”

And we tell ourselves such good stories about the limits of our abilities, the quality of our work, and what other people think about us, that we completely lose sight of the difference between what’s a fact and what’s simply a thought. 

Consider how often you create a story about a future version of events that involves you missing an opportunity, fumbling a project, losing a client, or making a big mistake. 

We play out future scenarios like this all day long, with differing degrees of intensity.

In doing so, we end up talking ourselves out of opportunities, avoiding changes, or holding back our true intentions - because the stories make us afraid, and keep us nice and safe. 

But when we look closely, we realize that there’s often very little evidence, if any, to support that future version of events. 

The vision we had about us messing up, fumbling the project, losing the client, or failing at the new venture - those are all thoughts, not facts.  

Try this: 

Write down phrases that are connected to a story you may be telling yourself: “It’s not going to work,” “I’m not going to make it,” “I won’t get chosen for this opportunity,” “They’re not going to like it,” and so on. 

Next, go line by line and ask yourself: is this a thought or a fact? What evidence do I have to back up this statement? 

Remember that a fact is not a suspicion, an inference, your best guess, or an example of a past situation that you use to project what could or might happen in the future. 

I think you’ll find the overwhelming majority if not every single thing you write down will be a thought or an assumption that has little basis in fact. 

Finally, if you come across a belief you want to change, ask this question: What do I have the ability to influence? In other words, what actions can you take to address this?

When you ask this question, you move from being a passive observer to an active participant. 

When you focus on action, you move from being a story-teller to a story-creator.  

Go have a great workday.

The need determines the strength of the supply

First, some physics.

There’s a concept attributed to Aristotle called horror vacui that roughly translates to the phrase “nature abhors a vacuum.”

In layman's terms, the concept means that nature requires every space to be filled.

There are no naturally-occurring empty spaces because denser surrounding material immediately and always fills a void.

When something is removed, it’s immediately replaced by something else.

When you pour water out of a glass, for example, the glass fills with air.

Here’s another way to think about this concept: The need determines the strength of the supply.

What’s received, in other words, depends upon how much is cleared out first.

Try this:

Consider how you might apply this natural law to your everyday thoughts and actions.

What can you remove to make space for something that suits you better?

If there’s something you want to be different about your day, the thoughts you have, or your current circumstances, you can’t create a legitimate need for that change until you use, process, let go of, or give away what’s currently there.

In order to acquire anything - new thoughts, new outcomes, a new physical environment - you must clear out whatever is currently occupying that space first.

And what you ultimately acquire is proportional to the need that you create.

The more you give, the more you receive.

Writing is a great way to clear space for new thoughts. Letting go of limiting beliefs makes room for better ones. Clearing things from your physical environment makes room for clarity.

If you’re looking for a stronger supply, start by creating a legitimate need.

Go have a great workday.

Not to you, but for you

Here’s one of the most limiting thoughts you can have during your day: “Why did this happen to me?”

Something doesn’t go our way, we make a mistake, or our plans are interrupted - and we immediately question why this happened to us.

When we ask the question this way, we get in the habit of looking at life from the perspective of a passive participant. It’s the perspective of someone who is constantly having things happen to them.

It makes it feel like something outside of our reach will always have the ultimate influence over the way things turn out.

This kind of thinking robs us of our power, our confidence, and our clarity.

Try this:

The next time you catch yourself thinking this way, flip that thought.

Instead of asking “Why did this happen to me,” ask: “How did this happen for me?”

When you ask the question this way, it allows you to move from being a passive participant to an active participant in what happens next.

You shift from being someone who has things happening to them all day to someone who has the power of choice.

You can choose to view anything that happens as an opportunity to transcend an old way of thinking and grow into a new state of mind.

If you become someone who always looks at things as happening for you, then there’s always a takeaway.

The answer to the question “How is this happening for me?” might not present itself right away, or it might not be an answer you like.

But the answers to this question are the answers that help us the most.

It’s called growth.

And it starts with changing the way you ask the question.

Things don’t happen to you, they happen for you.

Go have a great workday.

Addition through subtraction

One way to make an immediate impact on your workday is to practice the concept of addition through subtraction.

As you move through your day, ask the question: “What can I take out before adding in?”

This is a simple concept, but in practice it’s hard for at least two reasons.

First, when we want to change something about our day, often our initial instinct is to think: “What can I add?” or “What new thing can I introduce to make this better?”

This includes new routines, new work tools, or new schedules.

But the challenge with going straight to adding is that we haven’t done anything to clear out the old stuff first - the physical, mental and emotional stuff.

We haven’t done anything to address the old routines, the old processes, the old beliefs - the old stuff that’s congesting our workday and probably contributed to us wanting to make a change in the first place.

Second, we generally resist letting things go because they’re comfortable or familiar - even if we know they’re not working for us.

We always think that our problem is a lack of time.

But what’s really happening is we move through our workday unfiltered.

We’re not intentional about what we let into our day, and we don’t spend enough time looking for things to clear out.

Try this:

If you feel like you’re in need of a change, avoid the temptation to immediately add something new.

Instead, ask: “What can I subtract to create space in my day?”

Start by identifying just one thing that’s no longer serving you, or that you know you’ve been holding on to for too long.

By subtracting first, you give yourself the gift of a clearer mind and even more room to make better choices.

Go have a great workday.

Plans are nothing, planning is everything

We love plans because they help us to trace a direct line from where we are now to where we want to go.

There’s a sense of comfort that comes with believing that step A will lead to steps B then C.

But inevitably, as soon as we set a plan in motion, major parts of it become useless.

That’s because when we take action, we either encounter some friction point we couldn’t have accounted for, or we learn a new piece of information that influences the nature of the plan.

We learn something or encounter an obstacle that interrupts our clear vision of the path forward.

This is where we often get stuck.

When we encounter that friction, we mistake our inability to map out the exact steps with the value of our idea.

In other words, we think that our inability to understand the steps toward our goal means the goal isn’t achievable or that our idea wasn’t a good one.

This is why, as Dwight Eisenhower said, “Plans are nothing, planning is everything.”

If you think about what it takes for something to go from a great idea to a final result, it’s impossible to account for all of the variables that come into play along the way.

It’s impossible to map a path forward without some form of deviation.

So when we make a plan, we have to acknowledge that the plan as we have outlined it will probably change.

We have to get comfortable with the fact that we don’t have all the information we need.

We have to know that just because we can’t see the entire path forward, that doesn’t mean our idea is unattainable. It just means we don’t have enough information yet.

It doesn’t mean we can’t do it. It just means we haven’t learned how to do it yet.

We can’t view our inability to comply with the plan as a failure.

The plan is not the prize.

It’s the act of planning that’s the most valuable part of the process.

Try this:

When you encounter friction, take these three steps:

First, spend more time concentrating on the vision you have for the change you want to see. You gain the strength and clarity you need to process friction by keeping your big vision at the forefront of your mind.

Second, ask: “What’s at the root of the friction?” You become better at the act of planning when you understand the true source of that friction.

Third, ask: “What’s the very next single action I can take that will move me closer to my goal or give me more information?”

Action leads to more information. Use that information so you can unstick yourself and move past the friction with intention.

Go have a great workday.

Equating stress with productivity

Here’s a common misbelief we have about our workday: we’re only getting “real” work done if we’re in a state of stress or under pressure.

It’s a collective story we’ve been taught - when it comes to work, everything must be difficult.

And because we believe that work must always be difficult, when we’re not in a state of stress we question whether we’re working hard enough.

When we see others overworking, we question whether we should be doing the same.

We start to believe that the fuel for getting more things done is to be more stressed.

But it turns out that in many ways that belief is backwards.

In addition to taking a physical toll, this kind of thinking prevents us from accessing the kind of quiet, focused mind we need to show up at our best.

Try this:

Consider this question: what if making meaningful progress didn’t have to be hard all the time?

In other words, what could you accomplish if you stopped equating stress with productivity?

Of course some forms of stress or uncomfortability are essential, to the extent they provide an opportunity to grow or learn.

But stress becomes toxic when we use it as a marker to determine whether we’re working hard, or doing enough of the right kind of work.

Instead of allowing stress to define whether you’re being productive, shift your focus toward making progress.

A sense of progress is a powerful, natural place from which you can draw energy and create momentum.

Instead of always trying to find a way to go faster, make time to celebrate small wins.

If you want to do your best work, start equating productivity with progress.

Go have a great workday.

You are today what you thought about yesterday

You are today what you thought about yesterday.

Or, if you want to say it a little differently: Your current reality is the result of what you focused on the day before.

Here’s why: the thoughts you have are at the root of who you become.

Your thoughts set in motion a string of actions that shape who you are each and every day. And who you are today is a result of the way you decided to think yesterday.

The practical application of this concept is that if you want to have a different day-to-day experience, it starts with changing your beliefs - and changing them today.

We can set in motion powerful changes - to our workday, to our career, to anything we want - based simply on an originating thought.

It’s only when we stop leading with strong thoughts that we fall short of our desired outcomes.

You stop becoming a different person on day 2 as soon as you stop putting energy behind strong thoughts on day 1.

Try this:

Study this formula: a powerful thought + consistent actions = a new reality.

Think about one great idea you’ve had that relates to changing your workday or the trajectory of your career.

Something in the recent past where you’ve said: I wish that X was different.

With X in mind, recognize that this change starts with a strong thought and is followed by a series of consistent actions.

This formula, compounded and repeated over time, is the key to progress.

It’s ok if you don’t know all the steps to get you there - it’s impossible to plot them out with precision.

The most important part is continuing to put powerful thoughts behind everything you do.

If you want to have a different reality tomorrow, it starts with changing the way you think today.

Go have a great workday.

You know more about what you need than you think

I have a theory: I think we’re better at knowing what we need than we give ourselves credit for.

Sometimes when we’re looking for answers to tough questions, our immediate thought is to look outward for advice.

When we get nervous about the path forward, we want someone else to tell us what to do.

When we’re confronted with uncertainty about our future, we want to latch on to a proven method, something that’s safe and tested.

But when we look outside first, we tend to mute the voice inside of us that knows what’s best.

You know the one I’m talking about.

It’s that thing that’s helped you make decisions your entire life.

Sometimes we ignore it because we don’t trust what it has to say. Or maybe it’s pointing us in the direction of something challenging that we don’t want to confront.

But here’s what I truly believe: making real changes in your life starts with listening to that voice first.

Every time I write a post, I realize what I’ve written about is a lesson that I need to learn, re-learn, or understand at a deeper level.

It’s my own voice telling me exactly what I need to pay attention to right now.

And the more I pay attention to my own thoughts first, the more I’m able to learn the lessons that need learning.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve relied very heavily on the wisdom and advice of others. It’s an essential part of discovering your own path.

But you’ll never be able to fully realize the power of that wisdom if you’re not paying attention to your voice first.

Try this:

If you’re looking for an answer to a tough question, consider writing what’s on your mind for 5 minutes a day.

Writing is one of the simplest and most elegant ways to listen to that voice.

It clears space so that your own wisdom can come to the surface.

It strips away the noise and helps you listen with intention.

It doesn’t matter what you write at first. Many days the first thing I write down is “I’ve got nothing to say today.”

But even the act of writing that helps me clear space to get the answers I need.

Get in the habit of writing for five minutes, every day.

You know more about what you need than you think.

Go have a great workday.

Make room for work you enjoy

We’ve been told all our life that we have to suffer at work to get ahead.

If I ask you to make a list of words that come to mind when you think about what it takes to have a “successful” career, at the very top of that list are probably words like pressure, stress, and sacrifice.

I used to believe that too.

If I wasn’t stressed or under intense pressure every moment of my workday, then I wasn’t working hard enough or getting the right kind of work done.

I was directly linking high stress with professional progress.

I would “fall back in line” by taking things that I enjoyed out of my workday. I told myself that the only way I’d accomplish my goals was to fill my day with hard things I didn’t like to do.

This is a story we’ve been told our entire lives: if you want to be successful and you want to achieve, it has to hurt.

But professional success and experiencing happiness during a workday are not mutually exclusive.

If you want to experience your version of professional success, run towards the things that get you excited about your workday.

When you incorporate things in your day that make you happy, you unlock who you really are as a person and a professional.

You owe it to yourself to understand what that is and accentuate those aspects of your work.

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work hard. Pursuing a career you want involves hard work, managing stress, and making sacrifices.

But what it does mean is that your hard work can be in the name of something that makes you happy.

We don’t have to think of suffering as the only path forward. It’s possible to work hard and be happy.

You’re not only allowed to have this, you owe it to yourself to craft a career path that accentuates it.

Go have a great workday.

Start your day focused on you

For years the first thing I did when I woke up each morning was reach for my phone. It was instinctive.

My first thought of the day was focused on work and what other people needed from me.

Five minutes into my day and I was already stressed. And I told myself it was ok because I was doing it in the name of helping others. Putting clients first was the way to get ahead, the definition of good service, and an essential part of running a successful business.

But then I realized I was doing it backwards.

It turns out that the best thing you can do for your family, your friends, your colleagues and your clients is to prioritize the things that help YOU show up at your best.

When we get busy or stressed, our first instinct is to sacrifice our own wellness. We abandon the things we need most. We edge ourselves out of the equation.

Instead, what we need to do is triple down on taking care of ourselves first.

This is not something to feel guilty about. It’s not just ok for you to prioritize yourself. It’s an absolute necessity.

The people around you are counting on you to do it.

Try this:

If you want to start shifting your perception, answer these three questions:

• What brings me clarity?

• What helps me take care of my mind and body?

• What makes me happy?

Pull one thing from that list. And instead of grabbing your phone tomorrow morning, do that one thing first.

This is how you start to be the best version of yourself. If you really want to help the people around you, you’ll put yourself first.

Go have a great workday.

There’s no “right" way, just your way

I used to look to successful people for examples of how to approach my career the “right way.”

It’s natural to look to others for advice or indicators of success. We use that information to help us know where we stand and design our path forward.

We can learn a lot from experts and successful people.

But blindly comparing your path to the path of others is a trap.

When you rely too much on comparison, you risk developing a mindset that edges out your instincts, your talents, and your original ideas.

That thing in our gut that tells you how and when to take action.

When what we believe doesn’t align with advice we’ve heard or how other successful people have done it, we sometimes second guess ourselves.

We run the risk of thinking if we’re not doing it a certain way, then we’re doing it the wrong way.

I did this for years. I compared myself to the people around me and made decisions about my career based solely on what I observed.

But here’s what I believe now: there’s no such thing as the right way. There’s just the way you choose to do it. The way that works for you.

When we get nervous about the path forward, we default to comparison and conformity. With so much uncertainty, we want to latch on to a proven method, something that’s safe.

But if you really want to become the best version of yourself, you have to create your own personal filter. A personal filter helps you process information through the lens of your own experience.

The things you observe, the comparisons you make, the advice you receive - it all gets run through your filter. And you can decide with confidence whether to use it, modify it, or discard it.

I built my filter by answering these four questions:

• What do I value?

• What’s my purpose?

• What am I trying to accomplish?

• What helps me show up at my best?

At first, I didn’t know how to answer any of them. And you might not either.

But that’s ok.

The important part is that you keep asking the questions. The more you ask, the sooner the answers present themselves.

Remember that there’s no right way. There’s just your way.

Go have a great workday.

You can only hold one thought in your mind at a time

You can only hold one thought in your mind at a time.

The challenging part of this reality is that at any moment there are dozens of thoughts competing for that one spot - and many of them are the kind that don’t suit us.

Paying attention to what we let into that single spot is a full time job.

If we’re not vigilant, it’s likely to get filled with a thought that comes from a place of fear, doubt, or uncertainty.

Our mind defaults to those thoughts because they’re the kind that keep us protected and safe. They’re also the kind that prevent us from moving forward, staying focused, and experiencing a healthy state of mind.

What can we do to protect that spot?

Be a gatekeeper. Consistently check in with yourself. Be vigilant about which thoughts you let occupy that space.

It’s precious real estate.

This is where the importance of daily routines, like a few minutes of quiet time to examine and care for your mindset, become critically important.

Those moments help you understand what’s occupying that valuable, single space.

And here’s the great news: in those moments, you always get to decide whether what’s there is suiting you.

If it’s not suiting you, then you always have a choice to let that thought go and open up space for a better one.

You always get to decide. So stay vigilant.

Go have a great workday.

Share your intentions, unlock opportunity

We’ve been conditioned to think that good opportunities are hard to come by. That they only come around every now and then.

But it turns out that there are incredible opportunities for each of us - no matter what we’re looking for. And they’re hiding in plain sight every day.  

Here’s where they are: in everyday conversations we have with people. 

Every conversation is an opportunity to share a glimpse of something you need, something you’re looking for, or something you can give. 

We miss these opportunities because most of our conversations stay at a surface level. 

When you decide to share something you need with someone, you unlock opportunities they have access to that you don’t. 

And it turns out that people are often more than willing to help us. 

Looking for a job, mentor, connection, or opportunity? The person sitting across from you could change the course of your life in 5 minutes. But they’ll never know how to help unless you ask for what you want. 

Asking for what you need isn’t selfish. It’s a natural way for us to connect with one another. 

And when you get the help you need, you unlock the ability to help more people around you. It’s a ripple. 

Try this:

Look for opportunities in everyday conversations. When someone says “How are things at work?”, don’t just give them the “same old same old” response.

Use questions to uncover how you might be able to help in return.

Move from your default questions and responses to ones that trigger opportunities - for you and for others.    

Go have a great workday.

Operating at a deficit

If we’re not paying close attention to our mindset, we can walk around for a good portion of the day operating at a deficit.

We tend to move through the day focused on all the things that are not going the way we want. Our mind is very good at drawing our attention to areas of concern and anticipating stressful situations.

Consider how often you end your day by reviewing all the things you didn’t accomplish. When we think this way, we carry around the idea that we’re constantly behind - constantly operating at a deficit.

This kind of thinking has a powerful hold over us moment to moment. It trains our brain to live and function with this default mindset, and our actions correspond with those thoughts.

We feel tired, we’re short tempered, we’re unhappy, we’re less confident, and our work and our interactions with other people suffer.

But it turns out that at a moment to moment level, you can make a choice each day to shift your focus from things that haven’t gone well to things that have - and move from living in a state of deficit to experiencing a surplus.

Try this:

Start by focusing on how you’re thinking at the two most critical inflection points in your workday - the start and the end of your day.

At the start of your day, focus on setting realistic expectations for what you can accomplish. Every time we start our day with unrealistic expectations, we position ourselves to come up short.

At the end of the day, review the things you accomplished or that went well instead of experiencing regret about what you didn't get to. Take a moment to pause and take stock of things you completed and positive interactions you had.

Go have a great workday.

You can start your workday over anytime

No matter what happens throughout a workday, we can always choose to start our day over - anytime, and as many times as we want.

If someone asks us at the end of our workday how it went, we usually put it into one of two categories: a good day or a bad day.

It’s natural to view an entire workday as a singular unit. But because we think about days as single units, we also have the tendency to think about them in terms of all or nothing.

How often do you let something that happened at the beginning of your day define the rest of your day, regardless of what comes next?  

We always have the ability to pause, shift our mindset, accept what’s happened, and move on.

When you actively choose to start your day over again, you leave emotions and limiting thoughts that don’t suit you in the past, and move forward with a mentality that aligns with how you want to experience the rest of your day.

3 ways to develop your Workday Mindset

Take a moment to think about your typical workday. If you look closely, every workday is simply a series of hundreds of mini situations you must think through in order to make it through the day:

• How do I deal with a challenging colleague or client? 

• How do I address my lack of motivation around this particular task I have to complete? 

• How do I build a schedule today that will help me eliminate distractions and complete my most important projects? 

It turns out that the way we think about and respond to these situations generally determines the kind of day we have. We generally have “successful” days when the we’ve been able to manage and deal with our thoughts about situations in a constructive and positive way.

WHAT IS WORKDAY MINDSET?

I call this Workday Mindset. Your Workday Mindset is the set of beliefs and attitudes you use to process information and respond to situations at work. It helps shape your focus, guide your decisions, and influences your outlook. 

Here’s another way to think about it: your Workday Mindset is like a filter through which you pass all of your thoughts. Each of us has the ability to decide how to we want to think about and respond to what happens at work, and the more attention we pay to the way we think, the more intentional we’ll be about the way we act. 

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE

Consider, for example, a common situation we can all relate to: receiving constructive feedback. It’s easy to view receiving feedback as a situation to be avoided, given the potential it has to sting and leave us feeling criticized or disappointed with our performance. But at the moment we receive feedback, we each have the ability to apply a certain mindset that allows us to view feedback as an opportunity to improve and grow professionally. It’s a choice we can make based on the attitude we have about the value of such information.

There are hundreds of Workday Mindset principles and concepts you could consider in an effort to improve how you think at work, but here are three general concepts and related action steps you can take to start putting these ideas into practice.

CONCEPT #1: SITUATIONAL AWARENESS

In the workday context, situational awareness is the ability to be present and recognize an opportunity, in the moment, to think or act with intention. In other words, rather than simply reacting, you have the presence of mind to acknowledge that you’re in a challenging situation where you can deploy a type of thinking that will help you navigate through that moment

Try this: One way to hone your situational awareness is to practice what we call First Thought, Second Thought, First Action. Here’s how it works: it’s hard to control the first thought that comes to mind (if I tell you to not think of a big pink elephant, it’s nearly impossible to not picture one immediately), but we generally do have control over our second thought and the first action we decide to take. So while we might not be able to change our immediate thoughts about a situation we encounter, we do have the ability to change what happens after that.  

Consider our constructive feedback example. In the context of a workday, you might not have control over the first thought you have – e.g., I don’t really want to listen to this constructive feedback I’m about to receive. But you do have the ability to direct your second thought – I can use this feedback to get better - and your first action – I’m going to listen with intent and think about how to apply the feedback in the future. 

If you want to change the way you respond to a certain workday situation, try to catch yourself having that first thought, insert a constructive second thought, and then act with intention.

CONCEPT #2: FOCUS ON SMALL, DAILY WINS

Unfortunately, many of us spend a large portion of our day in a state of stress and thinking about all of the things that are not going well. We constantly feel behind, are focused on things that aren’t going well, and end up leaving the day thinking about all of the things we didn’t get done. We spend little time, if any, thinking about all that we accomplished. 

It turns out though that our brain is incredibly receptive to even small amounts of time spent acknowledging “wins” or things that went well during the day – a positive conversation you had with a colleague, progress made on an important project, or a client who expressed satisfaction with you work. The science behind how our brain works tell us that focusing on small wins helps build momentum, improves confidence, and leads to a happier workday.

Try This: At the end of your workday, spend a few minutes identifying things that went well that day. Rather than focus on what you weren’t able to accomplish, shift your focus to the things you did accomplish and take a moment to celebrate those wins.

CONCEPT #3: START THE DAY WITH INTENTION

Think about how you start your workday. What’s your process for deciding what you’re actually going to do that day? Many of us start our workday by diving headfirst into whatever is within our field of vision – responding to emails, returning phone calls, knocking out small, mindless tasks -  without taking any time to think through how we actually want to spend our time.

Instead of starting the day with whatever’s right in front of you, consider spending the first few minutes of your work morning thinking about what you want to accomplish that day. In other words, move into the day with intention and a clear purpose for what you want to do that day.

Try This: One of my favorite ways to exercise intention in a workday is what we call an Open Up Checklist. The idea is simple: create a list of 3-5 things you do each day to start the day that are focused on planning. Your list could include things like:

• reviewing your calendar for that day and the rest of the week

• Identifying 1-2 key projects you want to work on that day

• Blocking off a distraction-free time block on your calendar (start with 30-minutes) to work on those key projects

• Identify one thing you’ll do that day to take care of yourself at work (drinking water, getting up from your desk at least once an hour, taking a 15 minute break to walk around the block)

The idea is to keep your list short and repeat this routine every morning before actually starting your work. Taking steps like this not only gives you clarity about what you need and want to work on, but it allows you to be an active participant in shaping your workday.

Why I launched The Workday Mindset Podcast

A few weeks ago I launched a new show called The Workday Mindset Podcast.

You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or on my Podcast Page.

Over the past few years I’ve worked with hundreds of professionals and spent over 1000 hours coaching them and studying how they work.

That work made me realize that the number one challenge each of us faces at work is the way we think about the things that happen during a workday. Our happiness levels, productivity, and day-to-day work experience are all tied to how we think throughout the day, and how we respond to the challenging situations we face.

And if we can become intentional about the way we think, then we can shape our work experience and make choices about the direction of our career.

The podcast is a collection of everything I’ve learned, observed, and studied over the last 4 years, and features actionable advice on how to optimize your workday, strengthen your mindset, and most importantly be happier at work.

It’s my fundamental belief that no one should have to suffer through work - every professional should have a workday they love. It’s my hope that this podcast will help you build yours.

If you end up liking it, please consider sharing it with a friend or co-worker - the more the podcast grows, the more people we can help.

Thanks for your tuning in and go have a great workday.