Page 89 - 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself

spouse’s criticisms, office politics, and pessimistic musical lyrics. If you’ll allow

yourself to step back far enough to realize and truly see that your daily canvas is
filling up with all these negative things, a certain freedom occurs. It’s the
freedom to choose something better.

The more conscious we are of our freedom to paint whatever we want on our
canvas, the less we go through life as a victim of circumstances. Many of us
aren’t even aware of our own victim status. We read whatever’s on the coffee
table, listen to whatever’s on the car radio, eat whatever’s handy, scan
whatever’s on the Internet, talk to whomever calls us on the phone, and watch
whatever’s on the television—often too passive to even click the remote control.

We must be aware that we have it in us to change all that. We can paint our
day our way. The best time management—or “day-painting”—course I ever took
was taught by Dennis Deaton. His seminar’s main point is that we can’t manage

time—we can only manage ourselves.

“Clear the clutter from your mind,” Deaton says, “and remove the obstacles
to greater success.”

Whereas most time management courses feel like courses in engineering,
Deaton has captured the spirit of the artist in his teaching. His prescriptions for
managing your day all stem from goal-creation and living the visions you create.
Wake up and visualize your day as a blank canvas. Ask yourself, Who’s the

artist today? Blind circumstance, or me? If I choose to be the artist, how do I
want to paint my day?

61. Swim laps underwater

When Bobby Fisher prepared for his world championship chess match with
Boris Spassky, he prepared by swimming laps underwater every day. He knew
that as the chess matches wore on into the late hours, the player with the most

oxygen going to his brain would have the mental advantage. So he built his
chess game by building his lungs. When he defeated Spassky, many were
surprised by his astonishing wit and mental staying power, especially late in the
matches when both players should’ve been weary and burned out. What kept
Bobby Fisher alert wasn’t caffeine or amphetamines—it was his breathing.

General George Patton once gave a lecture to his troops on brainpower. He,
too, knew the connection between breathing and thinking.“In war, as in peace, a