The Secret to Making Today Better Than Yesterday

Have you found yourself saying, “I can’t wait until this year is over” or “ I wish this day would just be over already.” Perhaps the year or day was filled with bad events that are clouding up your outlook. If you are tired and ready for a change, I’ll share with you the secret to a better day. It’s a process that is similar to a double decker sandwich, and if you do it in the order I will share with you, goodness is coming.

Step #1 - Gratitude.

What can you be thankful for right now? In the middle of the mess or the heat of the fire, what is good? If you are going through some pretty ugly things and are thinking that you have nothing that you want, you are not alone and my heart goes out to you. No matter the situation, be grateful that you have a heart that still hopes for better, still beating countless times a day and giving you the blood circulation you need to try, try again. Be thankful that even when there is nobody speaking positivity in your life, you live in a time where you can go on the Internet and choose seek out positivity simply because you want it. Be grateful.

Step #2 - Do Something New

There is something empowering about taking action. There is no hard rule that says that you have to wait until the calendar year is new or until the next day. If you are in a place of strong desire (which essentially is suffering), please be kind to yourself and don't make yourself wait another day or months before you allow yourself some relief or happiness. Waiting until the new year or next day seems like can give you the illusion that something magical is happening as we take out our big stick and say, right here, I am drawing the line.  What is actually happening is that our brains are wired to somewhat reset where there is a perceived period as if it were a closure to a chapter in a book.

We are physiologically hardwired to begin and stop consciousness with the cyclical rotation of the sun and moon. Nobody says, that’s it! It’s 3:47 now but when it turns 3:48, that’s it!! One more minute of this foolishness then change is here!!  And why don’t we? Why don’t we when we can? Two quick reasons. 1) what we are seeking may not be as quick as a choice; it may require sequential work.  2) even good change hurts and our brains are designed to gravitate to what is familiar and to make decisions that bring immediate protection even if it is short term or disillusioned.  Therefore, we delay the pain. Getting up earlier hurts. Leaving a bad relationship hurts. Finding a new job, even if it pays more, is grueling to seek out and therefore hurts. Not eating 3 helpings of dinner and brownies and breaking your sugar addiction hurts. 

Breaking through the hurdle of doing the work, not fearing discomfort, and taking action now is like a someone learning to swim and jumping off the diving board into the pool of water for the first time. The longer you stand there, the harder it becomes. If you want change right now, you’ve got to run and run fast. And the result may take falling down and getting back up. You may feel that the change or goal you are seeking is great. And yes, it will feel good to accomplish the feat. But the real joy comes when you reflect on what it took to get you there.

Get this down in your soul. The real joy is not is reaching your goal but rather when you reflect on what it took to get you there—who you had to become.

You may not be able to accomplish your goal with one swift action. But what you can do it the next best things towards it. At minimum, write out what you want and one thing you can do today that takes you in the direction of obtaining it. Everyday, decide and take action on the next step.

Step #3 - Reflection and Rally

Do this daily. This is where you look back at what you’ve been doing. Reflect on these questions: What did you do well? What needs improvement? How can you improve it? And then Rally. What do you need help with? Do you have resources that you can rally together? I’ll answer it for you. Yes!  Even if you don’t have people, go out and find them. Find them in person, find them online and reach out. Rallying could also just mean getting your hands on good videos, or books, or audios to give you ideas and information that you can implement. So reflect on what you’ve been doing and rally what you need to keep you moving forward.

Step #4 - More Gratitude

The bottom part of the sandwich is, you guessed it, gratitude. Always begin and end with gratitude for it is the super power of life that brings vitality and prosperity to any situation. Before you started the process of taking action, you may have only been grateful for life. But now you have new things to be grateful for. Things that happened in your favor and things that you, my friend, made happen yourself. You, yes you, took action.

So right now, don’t wait until the new year or new day. You can take action right now and make today better than yesterday.