Welcome to Minute with Mallon!

Something I Taught:

In the last newsletter, we talked about how you can use sleep cycles in order to sleep better and to wake up refreshed.

Today, let's dive into how to utilize your mornings more effectively after you get a great night's sleep!

There's a great little book called "What the Most Important People Do Before Breakfast" by Laura Vanderkam. I read the book back in 2011 and it really opened my eyes to some possibilities. I'd highly recommend it to you!

If you're like the majority of people, mornings may be the time when you have the most energy and focus.

One of the things she talked about was to develop small habits to be done in your mornings in three areas:

Things That Nurture You
Things That Nurture Your Relationships

Things That Nurture Your Career

Here are some examples:

Nurture You: Meditation or mindfulness, exercise or physical activities, journaling, reading great books or listening to inspirational content, or eating a nutritious breakfast to fuel the day!

Nurturing Relationships: Sending thoughtful messages, sharing breakfast or coffee with a family member or friend, doing a hobby or activity with a friend, or offering words of encouragement to a person who is going through a challenging time.

Nurturing Career: Setting clear goals and priorities for the day to stay more focused, organizing tasks or projects you're working on for more efficient workflow, strategic long term planning, or knocking out the most important task of the day.

For me, practically every morning consists of grabbing a cup of coffee, then reading a chapter or so of the bible, praying, reading 10 minutes of a good book, going to the gym, taking some time with my favorite person in the world - Sandy, and then knocking out the most important task of the day.

May sound like a lot, but it's really not. I just get up a little earlier than I used to.

This routine helps me to accomplish what Stephen Covey calls "The Four Quadrants of Personal Leadership:" Here are the four key areas of life that he suggests focusing on daily.

Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual

And here's a key: if you try to do those things later in the day, you may be too tired to do them. And then they become secondary to everything else.

My habits launch me into the day in the very best way! 🚀

So when you look at the list above, what is one thing you could do in each of these areas in order to have a more extraordinary life?

Start small! Maybe just add one habit from any of the Four Quadrants of Personal Leadership to your mornings!

And watch what happens! 👏🏻

Something I Learned:

I took a 3-day spiritual retreat last weekend with 11 other men who I didn't know. Absolutely amazing! I didn't realize it until I got there (cause I didn't read the details 🤣) but it was a Silent Retreat from about 5:00 Friday night to a little after noon on Sunday. It was led by two men who have led these for years.

A couple of quick things I learned:

Silence is AWESOME!!! 👍🏻

Not exactly easy at first, but it truly was amazing and welcomed over the three days.

and…

St. Thomas of Aquinas came up with 5 Remedies to Sadness. (So keep these close so that you can use them or share them!):

Do something you like to do that's relaxing and/or fun
Weep: let it out
Share the sorrow with a friend
Contemplate the truth of the situation
Take a siesta and a hot shower or bath

Something to Ponder:

"In the silence, we find ourselves. In the silence, we discover the beating of our own hearts and the rhythm of our own breath. In the silence, we remember who we are."

Unknown

Something I Saw:

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Hope you have an incredible week my friend!

Robert

Minute With Mallon - Morning Mastery: Unlocking Your Potential!