How To Have A Great Day Tomorrow
The seven choices that determine your day.
When we have a bad day, it’s usually our own fault.
Because while some things happen that are out of our control, the quality of most days is determined by how we choose to approach them.
A bad day is often the result of bad choices we make about what we invite into it. The better we select our “inputs,” the better our day becomes.
Our inputs — the things we consume, interact with, or experience in a given day — are largely in our control.
We can’t guarantee ourselves a great day, but we can stack the deck in our favor by pursuing positive inputs and limiting negative ones.
Here are a few places to start…A
1. Choose what you watch, read, and listen to carefully.
According to a 2015 study, if you expose yourself to three minutes of negative news first thing in the morning, you’re 27% more likely to declare you’ve had a bad day six-to-eight hours later.
The content you consume — news, music, podcasts, TV, etc.— has a HUGE impact on how your day goes.
One of the simplest things you can do to have a good day is consume media that inspires, motivates, and energizes you and limit media that makes you angry, anxious, or depressed.
It’s important to be informed, but if you know the latest political madness is going to raise your blood pressure, there’s no reason you need to consume it first thing in the morning.
2. Use your calendar as an asset, not a liability.
Some people love a full daily calendar and think time flies when they’re busy.
Others consider that their worst nightmare and prefer the bliss of starting their day with an empty calendar.
It doesn’t matter which you prefer, what matters is that you actively optimize your day for whichever makes you feel good.
Doing so drastically increases the odds you’ll have a good day.
And while you will have some commitments you can’t re-arrange, you probably have more control of your calendar than you exercise.
3. Eat with intention.
This is where you might expect me to tell you how important it is to eat healthy, how doing so will give you more energy, and how you’re more likely to have a better day if you eat kale than a cheeseburger.
I’m not going to tell you that because anyone who’s had a cheeseburger knows it will likely make you WAY happier than kale ever could.
Instead, I suggest you make your food choices based on what you enjoy— there’s value to eating a slice of pizza if you love it and there’s value to eating healthy because it makes you feel good.
Look for ways to incorporate foods that make you feel good — not guilty, gross, or unsatisfied — into your day.
Don’t eat crap because you’re too lazy to eat healthy when you know eating healthy makes you feel better.
And don’t go on a juice fast because you think it’s good for you even though it makes you miserable.
4. Do the thing you love most.
Whatever it is you love to do, do it. Every day.
If it’s something you can’t do every day — like skiing when you don’t live near the slopes — find a way to incorporate it into your every day routine. Watch ski videos, chat on a ski-fan message board, plan your next ski trip, whatever.
Life’s too short to not do what you love on a daily basis.
5. Interact with positive people.
There are people in your world who radiate positivity and there are others who, well…not so much.
Focus on interacting with the people who make you feel better about the world as opposed to those who do the opposite.
Just because a co-worker likes to spend 20 minutes a day complaining about how stupid the company is, that doesn’t mean you have to give them 20 minutes of your time.
Choose to spend that 20 minutes talking to another co-worker who’s excited about the project they’re working on, eager to learn from you, or happy to mentor you.
Pay attention to the conversations you find yourself in and the people you have them with — if they’re overly negative, find some new ones.
6. Be selective with your social media use.
Besides changing your bad phone habits, you can also improve your day by being intentional with how you use social media.
When you check Facebook, does it make you feel good or bad? Does it help you have a good day or prevent you from having one?
It’s not just about the time you spend on social media, but also how you use it.
Does posting content to your account make you feel better than commenting or liking other people’s posts? Or does it make you feel more anxious?
Does Instagram make you feel happy and creative, but Twitter makes you feel like you’re in the apocalypse?
Social media isn’t inherently bad — a lot of good can come from it — but you must be selective with when and how you use it.
The more you do that online, the more likely you’ll have a good day offline.
7. Plan your day in a way that fits your personality.
If you only do one thing after reading (and hopefully sharing!) this post, let it be this:
Consider whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert and plan your day accordingly.
If you’re an introvert, it’s going to be more difficult to have a great day if you’ve packed it with crowds of people and social situations.
And if you’re an extrovert, your recipe for a good day probably needs to include more than just time spent at a secluded beach by yourself.
The key to a great day is to take into account what makes you happy, curate your inputs to emphasize those elements, and limit your exposure to the things that drag you down.
Doing that won’t guarantee you a great day, but it sure gives you a great shot at one.
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