Speaker 1: 0:05

Greetings, greetings and welcome. Welcome to the sweet spot. It is Making Moves Monday and you're in it. I'm Dr Sweet and, for those of you who don't know me, I'm a board certified sports and performance psychiatrist. I have worked with world-class athletes. I've worked with top executives and elite performers. Most of all, I am extremely passionate about working with individuals just like you, individuals who are committed committed to excellence, committed to purpose, committed to living their best lives and living lives that they love. Who doesn't want to live a life that we love? Correct? All right? Well, today, on Making Moves Monday, we're talking about a move that might surprise you, and that move is the power of giving. Yes, the power of giving.

Speaker 1: 1:03

I got the idea from a great friend of mine, miguel, who suggested I should spend time thinking and talking about the power of giving for one of these podcasts. Initially, I wasn't so sure that there was that much to say about the power of giving, because we kind of all know you give what you get or you get what you give, that kind of thing. It didn't really resonate with me, but as I spent time thinking about it, I began to understand that there is so much revelation, so much insight around this notion of giving, especially at this time of year where giving is such an important aspect of our humanity humanity that I had to come back and talk about this just a bit, and thank you, miguel, for that. So here's what I've learned. Before you can make your biggest moves, you need to master the art of giving, starting with yourself. All right, let's dive in. You know what's interesting Every morning, before you even open your eyes, before we even get going, before we jump out of that bed, your mind is already giving you something.

Speaker 1: 2:16

It's already messaging you with stories, with feelings, with ideas, with ideas. But here's the real question what are you giving yourself in the mornings? What are you actually giving yourself? We know that the mind is going to do what it does, but what are you giving to you? Listen, I work with high performers every day. That's my job, and I've noticed something quite powerful in speaking with them. The ones who make the biggest moves aren't just hustling 24-7. They've mastered something I call the give-to-move method. The give-to-move method, and here's how it works. Here's how it works.

Speaker 1: 3:06

You start your day by giving yourself four essential gifts. The first is gratitude. The minute you open those eyes, thank you, god for giving me these two gifts my eyes right, if nothing else. So the first of the four essential gifts that you want to give yourself is gratitude Just being thankful for what you already have. The second is forgiveness Forgiveness for past stumbles, for things you may have said or done that you know were wrong, right, so you want to give yourself that forgiveness. The third is encouragement Encouragement for the challenges you're going to face for the day. And the fourth is the permission to not be totally perfect, to be imperfect, to understand that a part of being human is being able to understand that we may not make the right decision. We may not be perfect, but we can always address it and correct it. Make the right decision we may not be perfect, but we can always address it and correct it. It might sound simple, my friend, but this is how you fill your cup first in the morning, and it's a conscious action, a super conscious action not to jump out of the bed, not to just sort of start scrolling on the phone or answering messages without giving yourself one or, if not, all four of these things Right. So remember gratitude, a prayer of gratitude, thanking God for all that you already have, forgiveness, asking for forgiveness and forgiving yourself, and also encouraging yourself, motivating yourself, inspiring yourself and then giving permission to not be perfect so that you can continue your day in the ways that allow you to correct things as they come up.

Speaker 1: 5:00

But here's where it gets super interesting, and I see this with athletes and high-level performers all the time. When you start giving yourself first, when you start giving to yourself first, what happens is that something shifts. It's like an attitude, an energy. Your moves become bolder, your decisions clearer. Why? Why should that be the case? Because you're operating from abundance now and not emptiness. You're not operating from a place of lack anymore. When you start seeing yourself as having received already, when you wake up, when you're giving to yourself, you become more emboldened by that.

Speaker 1: 5:46

So I want you to try this tomorrow morning as an experiment. Before you grab your phone or jump up or get into your day or your to-do list, give yourself and here's the word give. All right, give yourself 60 seconds. Do it consciously, and in those 60 seconds, I want you to start with gratitude. Name one thing that you're thankful for when we're really cooking. With this one, we actually challenge our athletes and we challenge our performers to use your 10 fingers and think of 10 things you're grateful for. But for today, making Moves Monday. I just want you, tomorrow morning, when you wake up, start with one thing you're grateful for before you leave that bed. Then give yourself one word of forgiveness, one word of encouragement and then one word of compassion, very simple, and that's your first move on making moves monday all. And then watch how this practice Changes the game.

Speaker 1: 6:51

You can even look in the mirror. Sometimes it's hard to figure it out. You know what I tell folks who say, oh man, I can't do it, my mind is all over the map in the morning. Then just go to the mirror. Okay, go to the mirror. You definitely are brushing your teeth, so you're washing your face or something in the mirror, right, so you're washing your face or something in the mirror, right? So the first thing you do is you say all right, look, I'm grateful for you, I'm grateful for my toothbrush, whatever it is. And then the next thing you say is ah, you know what, I'm going to forgive you for not doing A, b or C, and then I'm going to encourage you about this, or I'm going to motivate you, and then I love you. A great way to say and share compassion is to yourself. In the morning, look yourself in the mirror and say I love you. Okay, all right. So those are your 60 seconds and then, once you've done that, you take your breath, you relax and you just see what comes to you and see how your mood changes if you practice this every single day.

Speaker 1: 7:51

Now, remember, I'm making moves Monday here. The biggest moves often start with the smallest gifts, and the first gift has to be to yourself. That's my whole message. When you master that, the art of giving to yourself, everything else starts moving in the right direction, and you can't give what you don't have. So fill your cup this morning and today, take some time out for you. Until next time, keep making these moves. This is Dr Sweet, and you're in the sweet spot. See you tomorrow for Tuesday, and you by now know it's not any Tuesday it's Take Action Tuesday. Be blessed.