I recently attended the EO (Entrepreneurs’ Organization) Leadership Academy (LA) in DC last week. The LA is an intense, immersive five days with 25 of the top emerging leaders in EO from 20 different countries. It was an amazing experience to be part of the program. I was fortunate to spend time with some incredible speakers and world-renowned experts in their field who have plenty to share. The program is designed to work on the “inner journey” of leadership.
One of the things I learned at LA is that how you start your day has a significant effect on your psychology, body chemistry, and stress level for the rest of your day. Most of us start our day with negative news or information, and that sets the tone for the day and puts us on the defensive from a basic biological perspective. Each day, we were woken at 6:00 a.m. to start a “Think, Read, Write” regimen where we spent one minute thinking about what our purpose was for the day, ten minutes reading anything positive, and then ten minutes writing in a journal about positive things in our lives and about gratitude. As part of this process, I have not been able to check email until after my morning routine; which has been very hard for me—I need to know what I missed and what is happening. I have continued this practice since returning from LA (a little over a week ago) and will continue. Studies show it takes 21 days to change a habit. I have noticed an impact on my attitude for the day. I would really encourage all of you to try it and see the results for yourself.
Tomorrow, I’d encourage each of you to wake up and try this routine. To help get you started on a positive note, here is a presentation Warren Rustand gave a while back to begin your day on a positive note.
Have a great weekend.
—Vijay
About Friday Food for Thought (FFfT)
I frequently attend conferences and retreats on entrepreneurship and leadership and while I am away, the J2 team picks up the slack, allowing me to learn to be better at what I do. I wanted to share what I was learning with my team, so I created the weekly FFfT emails in November of 2015 and have been writing them ever since.
Before long, the J2 staff began sharing the FFfT emails with their friends and family and now other leaders have asked to be included, which led to the creation of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!