If you’ve been studying personal development for any length of time, you will be very familiar with the concept that you “create your own reality”. 

This is because it’s the thoughts you are thinking, which lead to a feeling or feelings you have, which lead to an action or actions you take.   

And so you’ve created your life. 

Have you ever wondered how to deliberately create your own reality day by day? 

Do you find yourself struggling to shake the nagging thoughts and habits that are holding you back from getting what you really want out of life? 

If so, then here’s an exercise you can apply daily to assist you in changing your outcome. 

Simply approach the day as if you are baking a cake. 

Whoa, what do you mean “baking a cake”?  How is that going to help me? 

Well … when you are baking a cake you follow a recipe.  

First, you decide what kind of cake you will bake.  Will it be chocolate or angel food?  A cheesecake or a tort?   

Second, you ensure you have all of the correct ingredients to bake the cake.  Cream cheese will be essential for the lemon cheesecake, but it will ruin the angel food.   

Third, you mix and combine the ingredients in carefully measured amounts, according to the recipe.  Too much salt can ruin the recipe.  Leaving out a key ingredient will likewise result in a poor result and a cake you will not enjoy. 

Fourth, you bake the cake in an oven pre-heated to the correct temperature.  Once again, monitoring it carefully to ensure it is neither underdone nor baked too long so that it burns. 

Once it is done, you remove the cake gently, allow it to cool and add your favorite frosting or accompaniments.  And then you sit down with family or friends or a good book and you enjoy your cake.   

It looks good.  It tastes good.  It is good.  And because you baked it yourself, it’s the best damn cake you’ve ever had. 

Hmm … could we not apply the same basic principles to creating a recipe for the day we wish to create? 

Each day, we rise with the desire to have a great day – or at least most of us do. 

So ask yourself whether or not you might be sabotaging your result because you are not following the correct recipe.  Ask yourself what ingredients you are putting into your cake. 

For example, first thing in the morning, as you wake up from your sleep and before getting out of bed, do you pause for a moment to reflect on the awesome day you intend to have or do you curse the sun

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and throw the pillow over top your head?Do you get up promptly so that you have time to iron that shirt or do you hit “snooze” three times so that you’ve made yourself late?

Do you wake up to some inspiring music or motivational material or to the newscast telling you about all of the bad things that have happened already today?  Do you turn on the Constantly Negative News or do you put on a CD of Wayne Dyer or Tony Robbins? 

Considering you’ve been lying in bed dehydrating for several hours, do you sensibly have a glass of water first thing or a cigarette?  What about breakfast?  Do you take the time to eat something sensible or do you skip it altogether as you dash out the door? 

Do you see the difference? 

You can either be nurturing yourself with positive messages and healthy ingredients in your morning routine or you can bombard yourself with negativity and toxins.  Either way you are setting the tone for your day. 

The base layer of your cake has been assembled. 

And so it carries on from there.  If you’re commuting to work are you impatiently riding the bumper of the car in front of you or are you relaxed and enjoying the ride.  When that car happens to cut you off, do you flip him the bird or do you smile and let it go? 

When you arrive at work, are you smiling at your co-workers and saying “good morning” and wishing them a good day?  Or do you walk in with your head down, avoid eye contact and grumble should someone actually be brave enough to wish you a good morning? 

What kind of tone are you setting for your work day and are you establishing yourself as someone others would even want to spend any time with? 

Throughout your day, what ingredients are you putting into your cake? 

And finally, when the end of the day comes around, do you find yourself taking the time to reflect on the wins you had and enjoy the taste of that perfect cake or are you dwelling on the things that went wrong and why your cake tastes awful? 

Are you going to sleep content with what you’ve done and eagerly anticipating the next cake you bake or are you filled with dread about tomorrow? 

Either way you’ve chosen the ingredients for your day and you’ve baked your own cake.  You’ve determined the outcome of your day. 

So today, choose your ingredients carefully and bake a great cake.  W

ho knows, by making this a habit you apply daily, you might just wake up one morning to find yourself living a great life – day by day. 

Happy baking.