The Power of Simply Reminding Yourself of a Few Key Points Each Morning

by Todd Gifford on Oct.26, 2010, under Blog Posts

: Todd Gifford – Success Coach

I recently read the book: “Your Forces and How to Use Them” by Christian Larson. I can’t remember where I was recommended to read this book (I think in another book I was reading a while back), but I am glad I did. What I found very first thing in Chapter 1 may be the absolute best set of reminders to start each day that I have ever come across. The interesting thing is that this book was written in 1912! It applies as much today as I am sure it did back early in the early 1900’s. The entire book is pretty good, but if you just take away this golden list of what the author calls ‘The Ruling Principles—Promises to Yourself’ and keep that in front of you on a routine basis, you have a very powerful tool to work with. I have this list of ‘Ruling Principles/Promises to Myself’ printed out and kept in a couple places, but I try to take a minute to review this list every morning before I go to work.

I am going to give you ‘the list’ here in a second, but I want to say a couple things about the power of getting your day started with the right frame of mind. It is almost impossible to have a great and productive day if you do not get the day started off in a positive way. The nice thing is that no matter how bad or unproductive yesterday was, we get a fresh new shot at today after a good night’s sleep.

Much has been written about the value of putting your brain into a positive and productive state just before you go to sleep, and just after you wake up. Although I have never been able to do a lot of things experts recommend before going to sleep — I have found that I am much more receptive to taking actions in the morning that will help me prepare for the day. Besides exercising/working out in the early mornings and eating a pretty healthy breakfast, I also like to get my mind prepared for the day (“exercise and coaching for the brain”).

If you have your month-, year-, and life-time goals written down, this is the best time to be looking at those. For me, I have these in my bathroom near the toothpaste. Can’t miss ‘em that way!

But when I came across this Ruling Principles—Promises to Yourself list from the book, I knew immediately these had to be part of my get-ready-for-the-day routine. For me, these ‘Promises to Myself’, if taken to heart, are an extremely powerful tool. After I read these to myself and think about them, I am ready for the day.

Here they are:

Promise Yourself:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words but in great deeds.
To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side so long as you are true to the best that is in you.