Well, hey, everybody. It’s Bob. And in this episode of Real Retail TV, we’re going to explore how to relax.

So recently, I was listening to a Michael Singer podcast, season three episode one to be exact.

And it really brought into focus something that I’ve been thinking about a lot, this idea of stress and productivity and how do you how how you become happier, how you live a an achievement oriented life while still being calm and present in all of these things. And this episode really, really sort of showed me the way. And when I see something that excites me, I want to share it with you. And while this could be, construed as a a spiritual podcast, spiritual development, It’s just as importantly, it’s also about how you become happier, how you, manage your life as an entrepreneur more successfully, how you, deal with stress, how you become more productive.

And so what Singer contends, and I agree with, is that the secret to most of it is simply learning how to relax.

And I’ll share the techniques with you in just a moment. But what I’d first like to do is ask you to think about all the places where you are filled with worry and stress.

You know, all of the places where you feel too busy. I had a conversation with a client this morning, and he said, today, I just threw up my hands. I I I I’m in the weeds so far. I don’t know what to do.

And he was anything but relaxed.

And so when you learn how to relax, a couple of things happen.

First of all, I’m asking you to think about any time stress or worry or anxiety when you feel it in your heart or you feel it in your gut or you feel it in your throat, try to catch it and relax. You see, when you relax, if you relax your head, your mind, your ears, your throat, your your stomach, your butt, you know, All of a sudden your physiology changes, doesn’t it?

Your physiology changes, your energy changes, and you’re no longer reacting in the moment.

Now you’re sort of you have an opportunity to think about and act correctly.

Act, not react.

And so this idea of whenever anything happens that is causing you anxiety, that you just if you can, this is the practice we’re gonna talk about in a second, If you catch it and you spend it just a moment consciously relaxing, everything becomes more manageable.

So here’s another reason to relax. Not only will you take that stress and successfully dissipate it or diminish it. That anxiety may not go away completely, but at least you’re proactively this for a moment. Think about how much energy you spend when you worry. Think about how much money that is, energy that is spent when you are anxious or when you are stressed.

So if you think about your total energy store as a battery, that’s what this is. This is a battery. You know, what is happening when you don’t relax, when you are stressed, when you are worried, is that battery is slowly being drained. And that’s why when you come home at the end of the night, you’re exhausted.

Right? All of that energy, all of that stress has drained that battery.

So when if you can slow down the draining by learning how to re relax, by catching yourself when you are stressed, when you are anxious. Even if it’s for no reason, all of a sudden, the amount of energy having fun in your business, things like being having fun in your business. Things like being present with your family. Things like being able to go home and do something other than have a glass of wine and watch Netflix. So that energy can be used in lots and lots of different constructive better ways. So, I mean, I just it just really struck me. So here’s what Michael Singer talked about.

He said, I had to learn how to react relax. And this was very important. This is an important point. He had to develop the practice. And he said what he did was every time he went into, went through a door, he would train he trained himself to relax.

So I’m walking through a door. Oh, here’s a door.

Or every time he turned on the car, he trained himself to relax. So you see, in atomic habits, James Clear talks about this idea of triggers. Right? So when you set up a trigger that causes you to relax, all of a sudden you’re developing the habit.

So every time you start the car, you get in the habit of turning the key and relaxing. And pretty soon, relaxing is a habit. Pretty soon, it becomes natural to catch yourself when you’re anxious, when you’re worried, when you’re stressed. You catch yourself and you’re able to relax.

So this morning, when I was journaling, as many of you know, I have a journaling practice. I thought, well, this is a great idea. What can I put what triggers are possible or or what behaviors are possible triggers for me in my new journey towards being a more relaxed person? And I’ll just share my list with you. And this is a for what it’s worth, and I certainly don’t anticipate I’m going to be using all of these triggers. It was just a brainstorm.

So I can relax when I’m getting out of bed in the morning. When you get out of bed, oh, okay. You put your feet on the ground.

Start your day by relaxing.

When you’re making coffee, when I walk into the bathroom for my morning shower and brushing my teeth routine?

Have you ever caught yourself brushing your teeth like this?

If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably have. So that whole morning routine is an opportunity to practice relaxing when I start the car, when I begin eating anything. So the act of putting food in your mouth may be a trigger for a relaxation.

When I go into a meeting, when I get on the phone, when I go to the bathroom, when I lay down to go to bed, when I start to journal. So I guess what I’m sharing with you is the opportunities to develop a relaxation practice based on triggers that you choose are almost endless.

But I’d like to end this this way.

Think about your life as an entrepreneur and think of your life outside of your business even though you still are an entrepreneur.

And think about what your business and your life would be like if you had developed relaxing, if you were a more relaxed person, if every time you became stressed or anxious or worried, you stopped and you dissipated that anxiety, that worry, that stress, or diminished it by relaxing? A significant impact on your business and your life, I would encourage you to make your own list. What could be the triggers that you can use in your life, in your business to help you relax more and be better.

So I hope you found this helpful.

I would love to hear your comments. I hope that you will come along with me on my learning to relax better journey. So I’m Bob Negen, and I hope to see you, at the Retail Success Summit in a couple of weeks. And if not, I hope to see you next week here at a reach Real Retail TV.