Set the Tone of Your Day for Success

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Last updated on March 3rd, 2010 at 11:24 pm

Nikki and I are making progress.  We’ve cantered both directions and, yesterday, worked on conquering the spooky end of the arena.  Feeling confident, I called my trainer to schedule a lesson.  I figured it would take him a week or so to fit me in.  Not!  He called right back and may be able to make it out tomorrow.  Tomorrow??  I was counting on having another week before having to ride for him.  I really wanted to have walk, trot, and canter solid, all the way around the arena, in both directions, before having a lesson.  Well, I’ll have to feel good about the progress we’ve made.  And hope that Jan (trainer) is impressed.  “Impressed” is too strong a word; Jan’s never impressed with anything.  I’ll be jumping for joy if he comes close to “pleased”.

Riding is becoming more a part of my regular life.  That sounds funny.  Let me try to explain.  Before joining Eight Women Dream, riding was a hope, a wish, something to do if I got to it, which was rare.  Now, there’s not a question of whether or not I’m going to ride.  Of course I am.  That’s true for the most part.  I’ve found that what really makes a difference is how I set the “tone” for my day.  If I get up and manage to motivate right from the beginning it makes all the difference.  Here are some tips for that which I’m finding help me:

1.  Do something productive right away.  Even before breakfast.  Make it a simple thing.  A simple thing for me to do is to start my Roomba (I love my Roomba – the vaccuming robot) in a room.  It starts my day out in an active way.  What can you do?

2.  Put on the appropriate clothes.  If its a riding morning for me, I put on my riding clothes.  If you’re going to walk or exercise that morning, put those clothes on right away.  That way, you won’t have another step (changing clothes) to take up time and get in the way when exercise time comes along.

3.  Don’t get sucked into the internet / newspaper / TV or whatever it is for you.  This is a huge one for me.  I sit down with a cup of coffee to check my e-mail and next thing I know, I’ve spent an hour on Facebook and Stori Lines, my blog.  Make time for those things separately.

4.  Be efficient:  Clean up the dishes while you’re waiting for the toaster or microwave.  Pick up things and put them away as you move around the house.  You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done.

I’ll end with this quote I came across the other day:  “Discipline is the bridge between dreams and accomplishment.”  Steffen Peters

Danelle

(Danelle left 8 Women Dream in March of 2010 and is still working  on her dream is to become an accomplished equestrian)