What It Takes To Make It Daily
I remember the day I decided to turn up the volume. It was simply a mental choice. I wanted some different results and so I decided to turn up the volume. I decided I wasn’t going to live halfway. I had experienced this before and knew it was possible.
It was my junior year of high school. For the most part, I exhibited typical “introvert” behavior. I had only a small group of friends. I didn’t crave being around a lot of people. I enjoyed alone time. But, there was something I wanted a bit more. Opportunities. For some reason, in the environment I was a part of, opportunities came for those who were visible and who spoke up. I had a certain friend who was not as book smart as I was, but he was funny, made students and teachers laugh alike and he was able to have easy conversations with quite a few different types of people. He was able to ease back and forth between a few different groups. He hung out just as easily with the geek group (which I was a part of), the athlete group and the thug/bad boy group. He was a chameleon. Life was good for him.
Despite my natural tendencies, I wanted more. So, I made the decision somewhere close to the end of my junior year to speak out more and even be funny. I decided I was going to say out loud some of the funny things I was thinking. One day during my senior year, I was in my government class and the teacher was talking about the different eras of demonstration in the US. He mentioned the feminism movement and the bra burning protests of the 60’s. I yelled out “Hang loose!”
The class cracked up laughing.
My teacher couldn’t appreciate the distraction at the time so he sent me to the office. I’d never been in the office before so when the principal came in, he asked, “What are YOU doing here?”
I told him the story. He smirked and said, “Cut it out!” Then, he sent me back to class.
I got kicked out of class 3 or 4 more times that year to the same results. The principal knew who I was deep down and he knew that I was simply turning up the volume.
When you “turn up the volume”, it’s a mental toughness exercise. You make the decision to do everything with intensity and passion. You decide you aren’t going to lay back and pace yourself like a marathon. You decide you’re going to sprint and give everything.
On the day I decided to turn up the volume, I remembered my decision at the end of my junior year. I remembered how exhilarating it felt to simply flip that mental switch after making the decision. That memory gave me the courage to push. I decided I wasn’t going to just do a few jumping jacks. I was going to do some every time I thought about it. I was going to commit to 250 pushups during the day. I was going to get up at 4am. I was going to speak confidently instead of beating around the bush and looking for the “proper” words.
As I turned up the volume, I found that my mental attitude responded. I didn’t feel “normal” anymore. I felt like an elite athlete. I felt like there was nothing I couldn’t do. In my business, I began to make the calls I wouldn’t make before. I began to create a better plan the night before in order to execute the next day. As a matter of fact, I created a notebook in my Evernote called “The Next Day”.
In each note, I did a mental brain dump the night before. Then, each morning, I would get up, prioritize the list and choose 1 or 2 Most Important Things. At the end of the note, I would write how I visualized my day turning out. Then I would exercise and execute.
To create the kind of success we desire, it’s going to call for an uptick in your volume. Whatever level you operate at currently, if you want greater results, you’re going to need to turn up your daily volume. This can be challenging to sustain on your own. You will need moments of rest and disconnection. You will also need some companionship in the journey. One of my inspirations, Eric Thomas is known for saying, “when you want success as bad as you want to breathe, then you’ll have it.”
Translation: In order to make it daily, turn up your volume.
Today is Day 34 of my 12 week writing journey. Here are two other posts:
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