I wake up, feeling unrested, and the moment my eyes open—boom.

A brainstorm of Post-its—in all different colors: blue, red, hot pink, light pink, and yellow—start flying inside my brain in all directions.

Is it time already? We need to exercise, let’s make the bed, I need to write a new piece at least for one hour, I should call my friend, I have a Zoom meeting at 5:00, what am I eating later? Laundry is overdue…

Stop!

Stop right here. We are not even up, and already maniac busy-busy mode kicks in.

This is where I take control. I wake up, make my bed, and go sit down on a pillow on the floor to meditate for 30 seconds. Yes, 30 seconds—if I spend more time great, if not, it is about being present, not about becoming an enlightened person in one morning.

Sit down, take a deep breath, and dedicate this moment to benefit yourself—or the universe, or whomever you decide. When we have that maniac busy mode going on, we can feel frustrated, we won’t enjoy our day, and it feels impossible to complete our to-dos in excellence—and if people talk to us, we just might bite their hand out of frustration. Pause. Let’s start with ourselves and being present. We focus on our breathing: eyes open or closed—your choice. We must do this until we are present with ourselves, with that moment.

Then, follow these four steps:

Let’s remind ourselves of who we are:

I chant or scream or simply say out loud between three to five words that remind me of who I am. This gives me power, peace, and determination to start my day head-on. Today’s morning reminders were: I am a capable, productive, brave, and a determined woman.

Prioritize:

I choose three top priorities that I want to do in excellence and that are most important. The rest, I will do my best and maybe accomplish all of them, maybe not. I am honest with myself: I have so many things to do, but some are routine, some are fluff, and some are important, either because they give me the greatest results, they involve quality time with people I love, or they have a deadline.

What moves you? What is your biggest dream or purpose? 

Knowing why we do what we do is the most powerful fuel for us to face every obstacle that comes our way.

My biggest dream and motivation is creating I life I love and empowering women and men to do what actually matters to them. To build abundance so I can empower and help my two brothers, a cousin of mine, my niece, and nephew, and some of my best friends to achieve the life they want, to pull out themselves, the powerful people they always have been.

What moves you?

Every day we have freedom of choice. Isn’t taking five to ten minutes to yourself worth it? To activate your inner Warrior Mode? If we feel rushed or crazy, we give from a place of lacking, of instability; in other words, we do it halfway. Being present and feeling grounded allows us to give from a place of abundance. We give our best because we feel our best.