Contributed by Shawn Johal, business growth coach, leadership speaker and co-founder of DALS Lighting, Inc. He is also an active member of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization Montreal chapter. 

“Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do.”
– William Makepeace Thackeray

An iPhone starts ringing, startling me out of my deep sleep. I lean over and grab it, immediately hitting snooze on the alarm.

Minutes later, it blares again. This time I turn off the alarm and start scrolling. First the news, where I see all at once the tragic situations happening around the world. Next up are my emails, where I get hit by a rush of dopamine seeing several messages that require immediate action.

I start replying quickly, wanting to get as much accomplished as possible. Now my mind is reeling, because only so much can be done in bed. I have fires to extinguish, people to call and answers to send in every direction. The day has just started and I already feel behind.

This is how I started my days for years. I never thought about the consequences, until I learned a better way to start my day.