How to have an awesome day:
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?”(Steve Jobs)
I, like most people, love a lie in. The warm bed, the soft morning light filtering through the window - sometimes it’s extremely hard to pull yourself out, especially in winter!
While sometimes I jump out of bed like there’s spiders in it, most of the time I lie there for a minute or two trying to gain my composure. Even though I’d like to hit the snooze button occasionally, I know getting up will make me feel a hundred times better. Why? Because I have an awesome morning routine. A morning routine should be an essential part of everyone’s day. It helps you set goals, revise what needs to be done, gives you some time to focus on yourself and most importantly sets the tone for the rest of the day.
Many extraordinary and successful people use morning routines to help set themselves up for success everyday. Anna Wintour - editor-in-chief of Vogue plays tennis at 5.45am every morning, Eva Chen - editor-in-chief of Lucky magazine checks her favourite websites and twitter first thing and once she arrives at work has a cup of green tea and Michelle Gass - President of Starbucks wakes up every morning at 4.30am(!) for a run. These three woman set routines so they can achieve the most out of their day!
Now I know what you’re thinking, “I’m not a morning person” or “4:30 is a good night out, not a time fit for waking up”. However, I am a very strong believer that anyone can be a morning person. I dislike the comment “I am not a morning person”, this is an excuse to not get up and spend as much time living as you can. Anyone can learn to be a morning person, it might be hard but once you set the habit, it will stay.
To make your habit of starting your day earlier stick, you need a solid (and fun) morning routine that you look forward to. Not only will you feel great - you’ll be super productive, fitter, smarter, healthier and happier for it.
Sound good?
Here are five ways to starting a morning routine to kick start your day for success:
Hydrate
Number one is to re-hydrate your body. This includes washing your face and downing a large glass of water. Splashing cold water over your face first thing will wash away any dregs of sleepiness as well as revitalise and refresh your skin (that’s spent eight hours unattended). Next, have a glass of water with a squeeze of lemon (it’s a great detoxifier), you’ve just spent the whole night losing moisture into the atmosphere through breathing so it’s time to put it back in.
How to make it a habit: Place a cut lemon wedge and a glass next to your kitchen sink the night before so you just walk straight in and get it done.
Sweat it out
Walk/jog/gym/stretch/yoga– Incorporating exercise and dynamic movement into your morning routine is a great way to get motivated and put you in the right mind frame. When you exercise endorphins are released into your system. Even if it’s a fifteen-minute run or a walk around the block, it will change the way you look at the rest of your day! Exercise is a time to clear your head and focus on yourself.
How to make it a habit: Place your workout clothes and shoes next to the bed so it’s the first thing you see – this forms a habitual trigger to then get up, get dressed, get moving!
Motivate
Review your goals/tasks - Spend five minutes to write down what you want to achieve in the day. What are the three main things you need to get done, do or achieve. They don’t need to be life changing but writing down little things to accomplish will help prompt you throughout the day and ticking it off will give you a sense of achievement. It can be something as simple as: go for a run or don’t eat that snickers bar in your work drawer.
How to make this a habit: Go to your local stationary store and buy a note pad/book and pen that you absolutely love. Have the pen and note pad/book ready and waiting and sit down and start writing. Don’t forget to review during the day and check off as you go.
Learn
Take twenty minutes to learn something new every morning. Read anything, it doesn’t have to be a book it could be a blog post, newspaper, an article on an upcoming artist - anything that will add value to your life. Learning is priceless!
How to make it a habit: Do this while eating breakfast or having a cup of tea. Have your preferred reading material ready at the kitchen table.
Eat
Healthy breakfast and green juice – yes you have heard it before and I’m pretty sure you’ll hear it again, breakfast is the most important meal of the day! It gives you energy, it helps kick-start start your metabolism and keeps you going throughout the day! (Smoothie, porridge and Green Juice recipe below)
How to make this a habit: Make sure you have all the ingredients! The easiest way to make or break a healthy breakfast is simply not having the ingredients to make it. When you’re at the shop make sure you account for each day of the week and buy enough to last you through.
Have you got an awesome morning routine? Let us know what you do to start everyday!
Breakfast Smoothie – 1 Banana, Berries, 1 cup of milk/milk alternative or coconut water, chia seeds, 2 tbs Oats, 1tsp of coconut oil, 7 almonds, 1tbs dried coconut, 1 tsp honey, ice cubes.
Porridge – ½ cup oats, 2/3 cup of milk/milk alternative. Add to top 1 tsp chia seeds, a few almonds chopped, 1 tsp coconut oil, 1 tbsp sunflower seeds, ½ a banana and a tsp of honey.
Green Juice- 2 Green Apples, Kale, Spinach, 1 Cucumber, Mint, and Lemon
- Mon
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