Have you ever put your socks on in a hurry?

When you have, how quickly did you notice it?

Perhaps you could feel something was ‘not right’ in your shoe. Or you felt uncomfortable all day. Or you picked up a blister because the seam was meeting the insole in the wrong way.

This tiny, insignificant start to your day can have quite an impact.

The importance of “putting your socks on right” was a fundamental principle of one of the world’s best coaches: John Wooden.

John Wooden was coach to the UCLA basketball team from 1948 to 1975. His results with them were outstanding and, from 1967, saw them win seven consecutive titles (with a further three titles over the surrounding five years). It is still an unbeaten record. And he used to teach his whole team to put their socks on right. He knew that it was in the small details that the team put themselves in the right mindset for an unbeatable result.

This same principle applies in any walk of life – not just in basketball.

Think about how the start to your day can impact everything else that happens. Start your day in a rush, unprepared and with your mind in chaos and guess what? That’s how the rest of the day will go too. You snap at the kids, bicker with your partner, leave home in a rush and are unfocused and unproductive at work. By the end of the day you are exhausted and agitated. That has a knock-on effect into how you sleep which means the next day starts in chaos too.

But what if you break that cycle? If you have a day which starts in calm and focus, that tends to carry through to your interactions with the family and your focus at work. You make better decisions, you are less stressed and you are a much nicer person to be around.

So, my challenge to you is to plan the start of your day to set you up right. If you do this mindset will carry you through to be a winner in every part of your life.

One of the key features of my coaching programmes is the setting and keeping of daily rituals – the small steps which make a big difference. To find out how my coaching can help you, visit www.petecohen.com/coaching