The Ultimate ‘unconventional’ Daily Motivation Routine for Busy People

Wake up 5am. (What!?!?)

Write down your goals for the day, meditate, repeat affirmations, do a cold plunge or jump in your cryotherapy unit, then exercise for 45 minutes to an hour. Finally, do some journaling or reading. (I’m sorry, has this morning routine just turned into exactly that – an entire morning).

Where do these personal development guru’s get time to do all of this? Why have you got to deprive yourself of sleep to be effective? And what happens if you’ve got to jump on a train at 8am to be at your job for 9am?  

These were my thoughts after reading a collection of daily motivation routines from Tony Robbins to Hal Elrod to a host of other less famous figures. They seemed to bear little relevance to anyone who was busy and perhaps, counter-productive to anyone who needs to accomplish something with their day.  

Do you even need a Motivation Routine? 

Let’s back up a little though. I don’t want you to ge the wrong impression. Despite my opening comments, I absolutely DO believe in the power of having a daily motivation routine.They are crucially important for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, they boost your energy and get you in the right state to perform during the day.

The more I grow and break new ground in both my work, personal life and hobbies, the more I’ve come to realise that energy is everything. Don’t get me wrong, strategy and tactics are important, but energy is the X factor that helps you get the deal, win the match and convince someone of your, or your products, value. 

Want to boost yours? Then get yourself a daily motivation routine. The techniques listed above (and the ones I will list below), if done correctly and repeated enough, will seep into your subconscious and make you believe in what you’re seeing, saying or writing. You’ll feel differently about yourself and this will be expressed when you meet someone new, make an important phone call or reach a decisive point in your negotiations or match. Plus, exercise and expressing your desires naturally boosts your energy. Combine all of them together and you’ll give yourself enough emotional fuel to remain productive throughout the day. 

Secondly, a daily motivation routine makes you turn up every single day. 

This is often overlooked when it comes to understanding the importance of these practises. Sometimes meditation doesn’t make you feel great. Sometimes your thoughts run away with you and you can’t focus on anything. And sometimes, a cold plunge or cold shower just makes you feel like a quivering wimp. 

But you still turned up! You still made that commitment to improving your life and that counts for a lot. 

Empires are built on this kind of daily drive. Woody Allen famously said, ‘80% of success is showing up’. Keep reaffirming your commitment to living a greater life, day after day (that’s the important part), and you immediately put yourself ahead of the 90% of people who wish that their lives got better but don’t give any mental attention to this desire. 

The Rapid Results Motivation Routine

Having extolled the virtues of motivation routines, I feel I must also draw your attention to my concerns with conventional ones and present you with an alternative.

My misgivings are centred on two issues – lack of sleep and lack of time.

I see little value in waking up at 5 or 6 am, if doing so deprives you of sleep and leaves you feeling tired during the day. And if you can’t set your working hours then it’s likely you’ll have at least 10 – 11 hours of your day occupied by work, travel and preparing for work. Alongside, socialising, family time, downtime and going to the gym, how the hell are you going to fit in an hour long motivation routine? 

That’s why I want to present you with a motivation routine that can be completed at any time during the day, takes no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to finish and will leave you feeling like you can conquer the world.

Step 1: Priming

I’m not against meditation and don’t wish to discourage you if you find this practise beneficial. However, I prefer to put my thoughts to use. So, at 11.45pm, just before I get into bed, I switch off all the lights and light a candle.

I then stare at this candle (very easy to focus on when there are no other light sources) and fill my mind with thoughts of what I want to achieve. I’ll picture myself selling 1 million copies of my book, getting a publishing deal and hitting perfect tennis strokes. I tend to choose one particular topic per night and focus all my attention on this. My aim is to achieve an emotional response (e.g. feeling joyful, inspired or in some cases determined) as this is evidence that my thoughts are forming a belief.

Time taken to complete: 5 – 7 minutes

Further Resources: Maxwell Maltz’s Psycho Cybernetics and a Tim Ferriss podcast with Tony Robbins where he discusses using priming (I stole the name off him). See episode 1 and then start at 26:16. 

Step 2: Reciting Personal Statement 

A personal statement is a short paragraph about who you are and what you are on this earth to do. It should be written as if you are already living the life you want, even if your reality reflects something different. By way of example, here’s mine,

I am devastating. My words reach millions. I am a power that shapes this world. I live the paradise I have felt so many times. I only use my power for good. I help, save and set free as many people as possible. I am a channel to bring good into this world. 

Repeat your statement 3 times over with as much passion and conviction as you can muster. To make it sink into your subconscious, turn it into a performance, complete with dramatic gesticulations. 

Time taken to complete: 1 minute

Further Resources: Joseph Murphy’s The Power of your Subconscious Mind and click the link here to discover how Bruce Lee used this technique to launch his film career. 

Step 3: Power Pose

This technique utilises the NLP practise of anchoring to form a connection between a particular body movement and a powerful emotional feeling. For example, you might hold your arms aloft in the pose of a champion sportsperson and connect this with a deep feeling of achievement.

Use this technique to charge yourself with energy before you give an important performance and at any time during the day when you need a boost. However, do note that it takes practise to connect the pose with an empowering emotion. It may not happen first time but if you repeat it enough, a powerful connection will be formed that you can use as a resource any time you need.

Time Taken to Complete: 30 secs  

Further Resources: For a clear demonstration of its use, watch my ‘I love getting high’ video.  

Step 4: Motivational Playlist

If you’re pressed for time then why not use one of the most powerful emotional resources known to man – music!

Our favourite songs aren’t just entertainment. They carry deep meanings and stimulate strong emotions in our limbic system. 

So get your phone or device, create a playlist of 10 or 20 of the most motivating songs in your collection and then play them at various time throughout the day. The beauty of this technique is it can be completed while getting ready, tidying your house, travelling to work and training at the gym.

By way of example, here are some of mine;

• A Minute for your Son – DMX
• Broken Wings – Mr. Mister
• A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
• Gonna Fly Now – Rocky theme song
• Great High Mountain – Jack White
• I Believe I can fly – R. Kelly
• Juicy – The Notorious B.I.G
• Keep the Faith – Michael Jackson
• Keep ya Head Up – 2Pac
• Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
• Roll Jordan Roll – John Legend
• Slippin’ – DMX
• So Amazing – Theme song from The Hurricane
• Star Wars theme song

Step 5: The Freedom Shout

If you’ve got to the bottom of this list then you’ve probably noticed a reoccurring theme – EMOTION. A good motivation routine should leave you feeling pumped, upbeat and inspired. There are few better ways of doing this than performing The Freedom Shout. 

To do it successfully, you will need to;

1. Find a scenic, dramatic location with few people around (or for daily use I suggest your car).

2. Let out the most animalistic war cry you can summon.

3. Hold it for 2 to 4 seconds and while you are shouting focus on what you want to achieve. This can be anything ranging from having love in your life, realising your dreams or just summoning all your energy.

If done correctly, you will feel awesome after performing The Freedom Shout. It cuts through all negativity and immediately raises you into an empowered state.

Time Taken to Complete: 5 seconds. 

Further Resources: Watch my video which includes a demonstration. 

Your Turn

If you know anyone who’s too busy to complete a daily motivation routine then please do them (and me) a favour by emailing them a link to this article.  

And also, I’d like to know what techniques work best for you. Tell me in the comments section below. 

Thank you for reading and sharing.