“If you want to have a prime life, you have to be in a prime state.” Tony Robbins

Getting out of bed and getting going is tough for me. I’ve never been known as a morning person, so I’ve recently been trying different ways to snap myself out of a sleepy coma and get primed to hit the ground running for the day.

Tony Robbins, the well-known high performance teacher, calls it changing your state. To function your best, you have to feel your best. To feel your best, your body and mind have to be primed to take action.

What this is means is that you can change your state of mind. Your mental and emotional state can be affected by the the things you do, so why not use this to your advantage?

Give your nervous system a jolt

Jerry Seinfeld wakes up every morning and first thing he does to get himself going is to splash his face vigorously with cold water.

Tony Robbins jolt his nervous system by jumping in a hot pool or cold plunge to snap his body to attention.

Try at home contrast hydrotherapy. Not all of us have a hot pool or cold plunge, but this can be done with a hot shower followed by a cold rinse from your feet, up your arms, over your abdomen and finishing again on your feet. Try not to be awake after that.

Change your physical state to change your mental and emotional state

It’s been well known that changing your physical state can affect your emotional and mental state.

The classic example from Psychology 101 is physically making yourself smile and observing your mood. You can’t help but feel more positive.

Exercise and vigorously moving your body is something you can actively do when emotionally you are feeling down. Emotions are harder to control, but now you know that you can move your physical body to change your emotional state.

Push-ups, standing squats, jumping jacks, a brisk walk around the block, walking or running a few flights of stairs in your building. Cost? A few calories.

Practice gratitude

Rob Bell, a well known author and pastor who recently toured with Oprah on The Life You Want tour across the US, pointed out that there are points in our life where we are acutely aware of how precious life is. Near death experiences. Birth of a child. Death of a loved one. Marrying the love of your life.

Think back to one of those moments in your own life. I remember the last time I walked out of the hospital room after visiting my grandmother before she passed. I remember our eyes meeting and her waving. A few days later she was gone.

These are the times when you realize that it is a miracle to just be alive, whatever your circumstances.

Imagine how much of the stuff we worry about on a day-to-day basis begins to not matter when you know that life really is a miracle and that it can be taken away just like that. You are immediately focused on what is important to you.

How can you take that sense of focus and deep gratitude just to be alive and make it a constant?

You can prime yourself for gratitude by making a list of things you are grateful for every day, and it can be the simple things. A warm bed. A blue sky. Hot running water. A hug from a loved one. Waking up breathe another breath.

The physical body is undoubtedly connected to the mind, and these are things you have control over to start living the life that you want if you are not already. These are simple steps that can lead to big changes when done every day. You will begin to focus on the solutions rather than the problems. The good in people not so much their flaws. The opportunities, not the obstacles.

Imagine all the things you can achieve when you take control of your physical, mental, and emotional state.

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