By Mark Kaplan / February 13, 2020
If you begin the day thinking this is going to be a good day or a bad day, you begin stimulating the hormones that will make your prediction come true. The brain stimulates hormones based on our expectations.
How the Hormones Work
When we face an emergency, it takes nanoseconds before adrenaline is stimulated. When we see a wonderful surprise, we get a burst of serotonin. When we fear job threatening event, we get all the stress hormones.
The brain sends the hormones fitting our expectation to the pituitary gland in the brain. The pituitary sends the hormones into the blood stream. They reach the organs and glands that react. Our thoughts result in activating various systems and closing down others.
Start the Day with a Good Plan
Starting off with a positive regimen in the morning is important to our day. We can meditate, exercise, be creative, listen to music, play with our kids, have a peaceful breakfast, make out a list of important tasks, and think about how to make it a good day.
I like to preplan my important forward moving activities the night before. I want the most important behaviors and activities to coincide with the times I have the most energy. I am good in the mornings, so I want to write. I write until I am uninspired and then I want to exercise as a great break.
Plan Great Breaks
A great break creates the opportunity for another important activity that would benefit from peak energy. During the day as we take care of our obligations, we want to plan the most important activities after breaks if possible. We think taking a break is a waste of time, but if you get three important activities moving forward that result in peak focus, then the break time is worth it.
Creative people often wake up in the middle of the night with an idea. This is when great ideas often occur. Many will get out of bed to write them down. As great as the idea is, we will probably not remember them in the morning. For me it is often the perfect phrasing of something I want to say. I know I will not remember it the same in the morning.
During the day we can exercise, take a walk, a short nap, find a place of solitude, meditate, or take a yoga class. We want to make each rewarding by then engaging in something that requires creativity. Creativity periods often consist of collecting information and looking for new patterns or solutions. We set up a possible post epiphany period if we keep our minds clear afterward and allow a recovery period. Avoid spending our energy on draining activities like email, phone checking, web surfing, reading the news, and to do lists.
Creating blocks of time for our most important work and personal growth activities helps us be productive and then satisfied at the end of the day. When we know this will be our routine, we wake up in the morning with optimism that we will have a good day.
Read The Good Life Plan by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
Read Creating Your Own Happiness- Lifestyle Self-Coaching Course by Mark Kaplan See Excerpts
Return to the Home Page
See Post How We Enjoy Intensity without Stress
See Post Life Style and Work Life Balance
See Post Creativity Can Be Career Changing
See Post Increasing the Flow in Your Life
See Post Fitness Nutrition and Weight Management
See Excerpts for my Book “The Good Life Plan”
