How To Stay Really Focused and Positive In A Bad Economy – Part 1 | Robin Sharma

Introduction

Hi, it’s Robin Sharma. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed the videos that I’ve sent to you over the past few days, designed to help you become a remarkable entrepreneur in this economic crisis. Really to bulletproof your business, help you play at your absolute best, and actually leverage the economic difficulties so that you actually accelerate your profits, build a better team, build a better business, and have a better life. Well, this video is really all about your mindset. One of the things ordinary entrepreneurs are doing right now as they suffer the turbulence of the economic crisis, all the challenges, more demanding customers, shrinking profits, disengaged employees, disruptive change – they’re losing focus, they’re getting discouraged, negativity is infusing their thinking, and our performance always is aligned with the quality of our thinking. As you change your thinking, as you change your focus, your behavior always follows. So, one of the things remarkable entrepreneurs do is they protect their mindset.

At the remarkable entrepreneur super conference this past June, which was sold out, one of the things I shared to all the participants who got into the workshop was a method to help them literally bulletproof their brain so that their mindset was remarkably strong. So literally, no matter what the disruption was, no matter what challenge they faced, they stayed positive, inspired, energized, and focused on what I call the 24-month Magnificent Obsession. What I want to do in this video is share five of the pieces of that method or five of the tactics that I shared with the attendees that were present to help you protect your mindset in these difficult times.

1. Run the Pro-Athlete Protocol

Number one, run the pro-athlete protocol. Now, what’s the pro-athlete protocol? Well, I taught the entrepreneurs who were at the event this 60-minute protocol or a 60-minute process to run every morning from 5:00 to 6:00. Literally, it gives you such a strong mind that nothing can interfere with your focus. So obviously, the first thing you do is you get up at 5:00. It’ll take you about 10 or 20 or 30, maximum 40 days to install the habit. Please don’t say to me, “Robin, I can’t get up early. My mom couldn’t get up early, my dad couldn’t get up early, Grandpa couldn’t get up early. I guess I just don’t have early rising genes.” Every single one of us, through rewiring our neuropathways, can rehap our behavior. That’s one of the things that makes us human – our ability to adapt. It’ll be disruptive and stressful for a little while, and eventually, you will install a new habit of getting up at 5:00.

Now, what do you do once you’re up at 5:00 and why do I call it the pro-athlete protocol? Because ultimately, if you do this consistently, you will have the energy and the stamina of a professional athlete. And if you look at a professional athlete, one of the things they all have in common is they practice. They have a practice session. So this 5 to 6:00 protocol every morning is your practice session. How can you perform at world-class if you haven’t practiced? So, this is when you actually, while your competition is asleep, you practice and you do the things that you need to do to prepare yourself for a world-class day while ordinary entrepreneurs are falling apart.

Here’s what you do: You get up at 5:00, after you’ve brushed your teeth, etc., you go and you do your workout. In other words, the first thing in the morning…

1. Run the Pro-Athlete Protocol (Continued)

you want to work out, why? Because exercising first thing in the morning dumps endorphins, which are your body’s chemicals that make you feel good, into your bloodstream. One research report said that you feel the positive effects after a workout 15 hours after the workout. So just by taking control of your biology and your internal chemistry by working out 15 hours after the workout, you’ll still be feeling positive, you’ll still have lots of energy, and you’ll still be really creative. So once you’ve done that, you actually don’t have to do an hour of exercising. I’m suggesting at least 15 minutes from 5:00 to 5:15.

What do you do after that? Well, while you’re doing your exercising, you want to be super hydrating. A lot of us wake up in the morning and we’re dehydrated. A lot of us at work don’t have enough water. We don’t think as clearly as possible, we don’t have enough energy because we’re not hydrated. So while you’re working out in those 15 minutes, drink lots of water. What else do you do while you’re working out? That’s when you learn. So while you’re on the bike, I love being on my exercise bike first thing in the morning. It’s easy for me. It’s fun. So I’m on the bike, I’m drinking my water, and what else do I do? That’s when I learn. I read magazines, whether it’s men’s fitness, ink magazine, monocle magazine. That’s when I have this video system set up. I watch DVDs, I look at things from the internet, and I spend those 15 or 20 minutes while I’m exercising, filling my brain with positive information. The worst thing you could do is wake up in the morning and check your email. The worst thing you could do is wake up in the morning and watch the news. And that’s what ordinary entrepreneurs are doing, and then they wonder why they don’t have energy. You see, the environment around you and the information you put into your mind is affecting the quality of your thinking, it’s affecting the quality of your performance, it’s affecting the quality of your energy.

Just imagine how you’d feel if the first 15 minutes, you’re drinking lots of water, you’re exercising to jumpstart your metabolic engine and to dump endorphins into your bloodstream, and you’re learning and you’re putting information and good ideas into your mind. Well, that’s only 5:15 or 5:20.

Then what you do? Well, I usually come upstairs, and this is what I taught the people at the super conference. You come upstairs, and I have a cup of coffee. You might say, “Why coffee?” Well, coffee is a fantastic antioxidant. Coffee, in moderation, actually boosts brain function. So I have a cup of coffee, and then I start writing in my journal. I write in my journal because having a journal is like having a conversation with yourself. You want to start your morning in a journal, writing in a journal, because then you’re thinking about what’s most important. You’re getting perspective rather than hitting the ground like a five-alarm fire. You’re thinking about your goals, you’re thinking about your values, you’re thinking about what are your best opportunities in your business, rather than getting unfocused.

You could write gratitude in your journal. Gratitude is very powerful. I know it might sound soft, but in the billionaire-level entrepreneurs I’ve worked with, they all practice gratitude. Gratitude is not genetic. They don’t just wake up and feel grateful because of their genes. They work at it. They celebrate their team in their journal, they celebrate their own talents. So they stay focused on the good things, focused on the opportunities, versus seduced and succumbing to all the negativity.

So you drink your coffee or have a cup of tea if you like tea, right in your journal. Then what you do in this pro-athlete protocol, go upstairs and take your shower. And in the shower, and I know this sounds a little strange, but remember to have what the 1% entrepreneurs have, you must be willing to do what only 1% of the population knows how to do and then does. And what I encourage you to do while you’re taking your shower is do affirmations. These are just one-line statements that refocus your mindset and keep you mentally strong. It could be something like, “Today will be a fantastic day. Today will be a fantastic day. Any challenge I face, I will turn into an opportunity today.”

1. Run the Pro-Athlete Protocol (Continued)

Here’s another good affirmation: “I will leave every person I meet today better than I found them.” You’re in the shower. “I will leave every person I meet better than I found them.” Here’s another one: “Today I will work like Bono sings. Today I will work like Picasso painted. Today I will play like Federer or Nadal plays tennis.” You’re going to talk to yourself all day long anyway; it’s how the brain works. The brain works through words and messaging. Most ordinary entrepreneurs’ mindsets are dominated by the saboteur and by negative thinking and their voice of doubt and fear. You want to take control of your thinking and your mindset through the words you use every single day.

Okay, so you’ve got up in the morning, you’ve worked out, you’ve learned, you’ve hydrated yourself, you’ve had a cup of coffee, you’ve spent 5 or 10 minutes writing in your Journal about your goals, your dreams, your frustrations. You’ve got it out of your system, you’ve got a clear, still mind. You’re taking your shower, you’ve done your affirmations.

Then what you do? Your daily five. Daily five takes five minutes. Write down, ask yourself this question: “What five things need to happen today for this to be a valuable day?” It could be, “I’m going to ask for a big order that I was afraid to ask for. I’m going to coach one of my employees. I’m going to shut the door and do some strategic thinking. I’m going to have a lighter lunch. And I’m going to make sure I write thank you notes to my teammates,” or whatever it’s going to be. Your daily five, five little things every single day, and you don’t leave work until you’ve done those five little things. The power of the daily five is stunning. Five little wins, five little acts of excellence every single day. At the end of 30 days from this moment, it’s 150 little acts of iteration, optimization, and progress. At the end of 12 months from now, it’s almost 2,000 little acts of excellence, progress, innovation, iteration, optimization. What’s going to happen to your business? Of course, it’ll grow. Of course, the momentum will expand. Of course, you’ll have your best 12 months yet. Most entrepreneurs just don’t know these things, and then they just don’t execute on them.

2. Go on a 30-Day News Fast

Second idea that I offer to you: go on a 30-day news fast. The job of the news is to frighten you because when you’re frightened, you’ll watch the news even more. I can’t believe how many entrepreneurs pollute their mindset. I mean, all you have in many ways is your energy and your mindset. I mean, you get the right idea, and what is a problem to your competitors is an opportunity. You get the right idea for a new service that the marketplace hasn’t offered the consumers, and your business goes to a completely new level of profit, market reach, and brand awareness. So you want to protect your energy, but even more, you want to protect your mindset. You want to put only the best information into your mindset because your environment and what you put in is going to determine the quality of your creative expression, the quality of your focus, the quality of your thinking.

So go on a 30-day news fast. This is an unbelievably great idea. Literally, you don’t watch the news for 30 days. And if you’re really serious about becoming a remarkable entrepreneur as the economy gets even worse, while your competitors get frightened, while most people get scared, unplug your TV, or maybe even sell your TV. But anyway, definitely just stop reading the news. You’re going to hear about most of the things just by talking to people instead of the news. Spend time putting great information into your mind. And as you start to suddenly put great information into your mind, maybe great leadership ideas, great business-building ideas, great entrepreneurship ideas, you start reading great autobiographies, you listen to great podcasts, you read great blogs, people who are inspirational, you focus on what’s good about human nature versus what’s worse. You maybe expose yourself to more art, all of those great things. Your mindset starts to change, and rather than focusing on the negative economy and rather than focusing on what’s worst, and rather than focusing on problems, most of which never even happen, you start noticing the opportunities.

This is the greatest time in the history of humanity to be an entrepreneur. We’ve got the internet, we’ve got outsourcing, we’ve got global connectivity. I mean, we’ve got knowledge everywhere, and we have consumers who are looking for great products and services. They want to buy your products and services. Are you too scared to figure out great ways to deliver that value?