The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat." --Lily Tomlin
The way I see it, you can either choose to Own the Day or let the day own you. Owning the Day means purposefully taking time to make the day yours before it even starts.
If you let the day own you, it might go something like this: wake up to an obnoxious alarm clock, jump out of bed after snoozing a few times, rush to get dressed, rush to get to work, get annoyed with traffic, get bombarded with emails and requests and interruptions and meetings, rush to get home from work, subject yourself to bad tv, go to sleep, repeat.
Owning the Day means taking some time to think about what you want to do today. What will make you happy? What will help you start the day feeling fresh and move you through it with peace and calmness? I "own my day" in several ways, depending on how much time I have: reading the newspaper, working out, doing at least 15 minutes of yoga, sitting down and enjoying my breakfast (either alone or with friends), having a nice cup of coffee, thinking in my car on the way to work.
If it were up to me, I'd do all of these every day. Actually, it is up to me. I just have to get creative and make the time for it. The point is, if you don't make it a priority to Own the Day and start in a way that is refreshing and invigorating, your day will run right over you, and you'll just be another rat in the rat race.