“With an untrained mind, we’ll live most days of our lives at the mercy of our moods. Waking up in the morning is like gambling: ‘What mind did I end up with today? Is it the irritated mind, the happy mind, the anxious mind, the angry mind, the compassionate mind, or the loving mind?’ Most of the time we believe that the mind-set we have is who we are and we live our day from it.”
Sakyong Mipham, Turning the Mind Into An Ally (Page 20)
Beyond the Quote (29/365)
Gambling is not a good strategy for long-term success. Heck, it’s not even a good strategy for short-term success. It’s not a good strategy for success at all. The odds are against you and the factor that holds most of the control over your destiny is blind-luck. What’s better than blind-luck? Well, just about any other strategy, to be honest.
The only worse strategy is quitting altogether or just taking the “L” voluntarily. Which really wouldn’t make sense at all? The most successful people in life don’t gamble—they follow strategies that maximize their “up-side” while simultaneously minimizing their “down-side.” In fact, what most successful people do is the opposite of gamble, they take control. They control their thoughts, their actions, their responses to those actions, and ultimately, their outcomes as a result—they control their “success.”
Do you think the most successful people wake up in the morning and wonder what kind of mind or mood they’ll end up with for that day? Absolutely not. They each have routines and strategies that help them get into their peak state, regardless of their mood, so that they can execute on their plans for success to the best of their ability—otherwise, they wouldn’t be the most successful people that you originally envisioned, right? How could they be? If they wake up with a mindset that leaves them unable to think their best, then how could they perform their best? And if they’re not performing their best, how could they succeed in those said actions? It’s a slippery slope.
Some wake up in the morning and start with gratitude and/ or meditation—like Tony Robbins or Tim Ferriss. Some wake up in the morning and read and/ or write—like Maya Angelou or Ernest Hemingway. Some wake up in the morning and workout and/or stretch—like Dwayne Johnson or Jocko Willink. Some wake up in the morning and just shower, poop, and walk out the door with their phone in their hand, ready to go, mindset READY—like Gary Vee.
How people optimize their mindsets with constantly shifting moods is an art that requires introspection, self-awareness, and experimentation. Some of us need to start off our days a little slower and meditate or write to clear our mind from any of the subtle, moody, predispositions that our morning brings us—and after that we’re centered and clear. Some of us need to fill our minds with fresh knowledge and engaging thoughts by reading or listening to something that allows us to reclaim the power of our mind. Some of us need to start the day off physically and get a good sweat in, release some endorphins, and let the moods pour out into the weights before we do anything else. And some of us are just very self-aware and know how our mind works so well that we can just wake up and roll with the punches of the day on the fly–moods are a “no-factor.”
The most important thing is that you experiment with what might work best for you, keep what does, discard what doesn’t, and focus on making your routine better and better every day. Because as soon as you find something that gives you more control, it will inversely also take you further away from gambling. And if you’d rather not leave your fate up to the roll of some dice, then I’d say taking more control sounds like a heck of an idea to me.
Read Next: 20 Sakyong Mipham Quotes on How To Turn the Mind Into An Ally
Don't Let the Motivation Stop There...!
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