Here’s a video of a little girl whose message in the mirror is worth emulating:

If we began each day the way this little girl did, we would be set for life! Imagine what kind of All-In leaders we would be if we approached each day with the same gusto as little Jessica in the video?

It’s a lesson my maternal grandmother taught me as a child. My Nana was a widow with five children by the time she was 45. She was the busiest woman I’ve ever known. She lived in Chicago, volunteered for everything under the sun, travelled, played cards with friends, and lived a gloriously full life. When she visited my family in Kansas City each summer, my three brothers and I took turns staying with her at the hotel. Each night to get us to quiet down and go to sleep, Nana made us repeat the mantra: I like myself.

The older we got, the cornier the mantra became. As teenagers, my brothers and I talked about the saying and how something like what we tell ourselves can’t really matter. As we respectfully protested having to repeat the saying, Nana gave us little quote books and would ask us about them. One way or another, she was going to be certain we knew the importance of what we told ourselves.

It turns out, she was right. What we say to ourselves does matter.

We discussed Nana’s visits, the nightly routine, and the books over the recent Christmas holiday because December 25 ^th would have been her birthday. My siblings and I grew up to be pretty good people, but we all agreed that Nana’s mantra had been replaced by less useful thoughts each night.

Instead of thinking positive things, all four of us shared that we often fall asleep worrying, planning, thinking, over-thinking. We had forgotten the simple mantra Nana taught us and the peace it brought our minds as each day ended.

Maybe it’s time to renew Nana’s mantra. Or, at least to pay closer attention to the thoughts in our heads. What if we replaced the stress-inducing nightly thoughts with something more peaceful, joyful, relaxing? It just might help us approach each day with the same “I can do anything!” attitude of the little girl. You can't get more All-In than that!

What is your daily affirmation? If you don't have one yet, make it, "I can do anything!"