10 Ways to Give Your Morning a Makeover (thechangeblog.com)

Once upon a time I hated the morning. Waking up was a process of hitting the snooze button over and over, only to roll out of bed at the last possible moment. It was then a mad rush to get out the door, and very often I would need to run for the bus (not surprisingly I missed it a few times). Anyhow, I gave my morning a makeover and now it is my favorite part of the day. The following are 10 ways you too can give your mornings a makeover:

1. Wake Earlier

If the morning is always one big rush for you, it makes sense to wake earlier. Personally, I have trained myself to enjoy waking at 5am in the morning (something I have written about in my article How I Won the Battle of the Bed). I realize, thought, that this is far too early for many people. Anyone, however, can wake earlier. If you don’t normally enjoy the morning, this one tip may help change that. It is amazing what happens when you don’t have to be in a hurry to get out the door.

2. Don’t Turn the Computer Straight On

If you are anything like me, you will be tempted to turn the computer on first thing when you wake up. Take it from me, though, that is worth delaying this for 10, 30 or (ideally) 60 minutes. Too much time on the computer leaves anyone feeling drained, and in this modern age many of us are likely to spend much of our day in front of a computer.

3. Take a “Holy Hour”

One of my favorite personal growth coaches, Robin Sharma, suggests taking a “Holy Hour” each morning. Basically this is an hour you devote to your own self improvement. For ideas of what to do in this hour, read on….

4. Meditate

Meditation is such a powerful way to strengthen your mind and relax your body. For me, one of its main benefits is to help me focus on the now and stop worrying about the future or past.

5. Read

I love to ease into the day with a good book and a cup of coffee. Avoid the newspaper and instead feed you mind with inspiring stories, interesting ideas, and exciting adventures.

6. Exercise

If you have ever exercised in the morning, you will know how good it makes you feel for the rest of the day. Some ideas include hitting the gym, riding to work, going for a swim, running, yoga or even just having a stretch.

7. Review Your Goals

A great way to start the day is to review, or even better rewrite, your goals. Why? Because if you do this, you will be more aware of them as you go about your day. And with better awareness, you will be empowered to make better choices that help get you closer to achieving these goals.

8. Be Prepared

Personally, the morning is when I feel the freshest and most productive. So I like to spend my time on many of the activities on this list, rather than mundane activities such as ironing my clothes and making my lunch. This means being prepared – I try to iron my clothes for the week on Sunday night and prepare my lunch the night before.

9. Eat a Nutritious Breakfast

Firstly, make sure you actually are eating breakfast. I am amazed when I hear people tell me they don’t eat breakfast. How can they possibly be performing at their peak? Secondly, I’m no nutritional expert, but here are a few of my tips for a healthy breakfast: 1) if you eat cereal, make sure it is whole grain with lots of fiber and little to no added sugar 2) try adding some fresh berries, dried fruit, or sliced almonds to your cereal 3) if you are sick of cereal, try a breakfast shake (see a long list of shake ideas here).

10. Listen to Motivational Podcasts/ Audiobooks

The morning is the ideal time to listen to motivational podcasts and audiobooks. Personally, I love the feeling in the morning that there is a day of endless possibilities ahead. Also, if you need to travel to work or school, it’s a great way to make the most of the commute.

Source:  http://www.thechangeblog.com/10-ways-to-give-your-morning-a-makeover/

24 Daily Habits (thechangeblog.com)

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us” – John Dryden

I have previously written about how the habit of exercising every day has helped me tremendously. Doing something every day is such a powerful way to form a habit that I thought I would make a list of 24 habits that are worth doing on a daily basis. Note: I have divided these into morning, day and night although some could obviously be under different headings.

The Morning

1. Wake Early: I am a big fan of waking at 5am and spending time working on myself before going to work. I have written more about this habit here: How to Wake Early When All You Want to Do Is Sleep.
2. Exercise: when I had the goal of exercising 4 times a week I found it was very easy to tell myself I will exercise tomorrow instead. Setting the expectation of daily exercise removed this as a potential excuse and I have since reaped the benefits of this daily habit.
3. Review or (even better) Rewrite Your Goals: each day I try to get closer to achieving my short, medium and long term goals. Starting the day by reviewing or rewriting my goals means that I have better awareness of them throughout the day. As Robin Sharma says:

“With better awareness you can make better choices and when you make better choices, you will see better results.”

4. Read and/ or Listen to Motivational Material: in the morning a whole day of endless possibilities lies ahead. I motivate myself to play my best game by reading and listening to inspirational books/ audiobooks. For audiobooks I recommend the free introductory offer from Audible.
5. Visualize the Day Ahead: I like to take a few minutes to shut my eyes and visualize what I want happen in the coming day. It’s amazing how often my desires become reality when I do this.
6. Write a “To Do” List: I like to write out a list in my diary of the important tasks I need to do that day. As they are completed I put a line through them. So simple, yet so effective.
7. Check the News Headlines: I think it’s important to have an idea of what is happening in our community and the world. Also if don’t at least check the main stories, I find it is easy to feel left out of conversations throughout the day. Having said this, much of the news is negative and I’m careful not to spend too much time digesting it unless there is a particular story of note.
8.  Blog: I find there are many benefits to blogging. Starting a blog can help you gain clarity, be creative, make new friends, and may even generate you some income. If you would like to start a blog I recommend Squarespace.
9. Take Time to Look Good: it’s a reality of life that people judge us by our appearance. I take a few minutes each morning to ensure I go out into the world looking the best I can.

The Day

10. Smile. You’ve probably heard about the importance of smiling, but as the saying goes “common sense is often quite uncommon.” I try to carry a smile with me on throughout the day. I find that not only does it make me happier, but it can make other people smile and open the door to conversations with people I haven’t talked to before.
11. Put First Things First: I try to avoid having my day controlled by tasks that are urgent , but not necessarily important. The habit of putting first things first is about organizing and executing your life around your deepest priorities.
12. Under-Promise and Over-Deliver: at work I try to go the extra mile on my projects, especially on the details many people might miss.  I set reasonable deadlines for myself and, when possible, try to get them done early.
13. Be Proactive: being proactive means showing initiative and taking the responsibility to make things happen. Whenever I want to get something done, I ask myself: “what can I do to make this happen?”
14. Snack Well: I substitute the chips, candy and chocolate with fruit, vegetables (carrots and celery are great to chomp on) and nuts.
15. Connect with Nature: I find spending time outdoors in nature is great for my sense of well-being. On work days I like to go for a walk during my lunch break.
16. Ping a Friend: I try to send a quick email or text to a friend each day. It’s a great way to stay in touch with friends when I am extremely busy.
17. Save: I save at least 10% of each paycheck. A great way to find the money to save is to break it down to a daily amount, for example $10-15. By taking account of the Latte Factor I find it easy to save this much.

The Evening

18. Have Family Time: I believe it’s important to be present most evenings. Family time is about quantity and quality.
19. Take Time for Myself: I also believe it’s important to spend a little time each day just for me. Some things I like to do: read, write, meditate, yoga, play music and/ or visit the gym.
20. Tidy Up: a cluttered house can lead to a cluttered mind and fuzzy thinking. I find it’s best to stay on top of things by tidying up each day.
21. Wind Down: I try to switch off the computer and the TV about 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime and let my brain have some down time after a long day. I sleep far more peacefully when I do this.
22.  Review My Day: I find this is a great way to hold myself to account for taking action throughout the day. Did I get closer to achieving my goals? Did I complete my to do list? Did my day go as planned? If not, why not?
23. Say I Love You: don’t just assume that your family members know you love them. I say these words to my wife and sons at least once per day.

24. Go to Bed At A Reasonable Time: the first habit of this list (waking early) begins by going to bed at a reasonable time and getting a good nights sleep.

Source:  http://www.thechangeblog.com/24-daily-habits/

Improve Brain Health Now: Easy Steps

We can sum­ma­rize a lot of research by say­ing that there are four essen­tial pil­lars to main­tain­ing a healthy brain that func­tions bet­ter now and lasts longer. Those pil­lars are:

• 1) Phys­i­cal Exercise
• 2) Men­tal Exercise
• 3) Good Nutrition
• 4) Stress Management

Great … now what?! How do you develop a healthy lifestyle that includes all four pil­lars? Let’s look at each one.

1. Phys­i­cal Exer­cise

• - Start by talk­ing to your doc­tor, espe­cially if you are not cur­rently phys­i­cally active, have spe­cial health con­cerns, or are mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant changes to your cur­rent program.
• - Set a goal that you can achieve. Do some­thing you enjoy for even just 15 min­utes a day. You can always add more time and activ­i­ties later.
• - Sched­ule exer­cise into your daily rou­tine. It will be become a habit faster if you do.
• - If you can only do one thing, do some­thing car­dio­vas­cu­lar, mean­ing some­thing that gets your heart beat­ing faster. This includes walk­ing, run­ning, ski­ing, swim­ming, bik­ing, hik­ing, ten­nis, bas­ket­ball, play­ing tag, ulti­mate Fris­bee, and other sim­i­lar sports/activities.

2. Men­tal Exer­cise

• - Be curi­ous! Get to know your local library and com­mu­nity col­lege, look for local orga­ni­za­tions or churches that offer classes or workshops
• - Do a vari­ety of things, includ­ing things you aren’t good at (if you like to sing, try paint­ing too)
• - Work puz­zles like cross­words and sudoku or play games like chess and bridge
• - Try a com­put­er­ized brain fit­ness pro­gram for a cus­tomized workout
• - If you can only do one thing, learn some­thing new every day

3. Good Nutri­tion

• - Eat a vari­ety of foods of dif­fer­ent col­ors with­out a lot of added ingre­di­ents or processes
• - Plan your meals around your veg­eta­bles, and then add fruit, pro­tein, dairy, and/or grains
• - Add some cold-water fish to your diet (tuna, salmon, mack­erel, hal­ibut, sar­dines, and her­ring) which con­tain omega-3 fatty acids
• - Learn what a portion-size is, so you don’t overeat
• - Try to eat more foods low on the Glycemic Index
• - If you can only do one thing, eat more veg­eta­bles, par­tic­u­larly leafy green ones

4. Stress Man­age­ment

• - Get reg­u­lar car­dio­vas­cu­lar exercise
• - Try to get enough sleep each night
• - Keep con­nected with your friends and family
• - Prac­tice med­i­ta­tion, yoga, or some other calm­ing activ­ity as way to take a relax­ing time-out (maybe a bath)
• - Try train­ing with a heart rate vari­abil­ity sen­sor, like the one in emWave (for­merly known as Freeze-Framer)
• - If you can only do one thing, set aside 5–10 min­utes to just breathe deeply and recharge

 Source: http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2007/04/11/easy-steps-to-improve-your-brain-health-now/

5 Ways to Deal With Anxiety (kidshealth.org)

Everyone has feelings of anxiety, nervousness, tension, and stress from time to time. Here are 5 ways to help manage them:

1. Become a relaxation expert. We all think we know how to relax. But chilling out in front of the TV or computer isn't true relaxation. (Depending on what you're watching or doing, it could even make you more tense.) The same is true for alcohol, drugs, or tobacco. They may seem to relieve anxiety or stress, but it's a false state of relaxation that's only temporary. What the body really needs is a relaxation technique — like deep breathing, tai chi, or yoga — that has a physical effect on the mind. For example, deep breathing helps to relax a major nerve that runs from the diaphragm to the brain, sending a message to the entire body to let go and loosen up.
   
2. Get enough sleep, nourishment, and exercise. Want your mind and body to feel peaceful and strong enough to handle life's ups and downs? Get the right amount of sleep for your needs — not too much or too little. Eat well: Choose fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains for long-term energy (instead of the short bursts that come from too much sugar or caffeine). And exercise to send oxygen to every cell in the body so your brain and body can operate at their best.
3. Connect with others. Spend time with friends or family. Organized activities are great, but just hanging out works too. Doing things with those we feel close to deepens our bonds, allowing us to feel supported and secure. And the fun and sharing that go with it allow us to feel happier and less upset about things. If you feel worried or nervous about something, talking about it with someone who listens and cares can help you feel more understood and better able to cope. You'll be reminded that everyone has these feelings sometimes. You're not alone.
4. Connect with nature. Heading out for a walk in the park or a hike in the woods can help anyone feel peaceful and grounded. (Choose somewhere you feel safe so you can relax and enjoy your surroundings.) Walking, hiking, trail biking, or snowshoeing offer the additional benefit of exercise. Invite a friend or two — or a family member — along and enjoy feeling connected to people as well.
5. Think positive. A great way to keep our minds off the worry track is to focus our thoughts on things that are good, beautiful, and positive. Allow yourself to dream, wish, and imagine the best that could happen.

Note: When anxiety or worry feels extreme, it may be a sign of an anxiety disorder. For someone who has an anxiety disorder, getting proper care from a health professional is important. These tips can help too, of course. But professional treatment is the only way to shake an anxiety disorder.

Reviewed by: D'Arcy Lyness, PhD
Date reviewed: October 2010

Source:  http://kidshealth.org/teen/stress_coping_center/stress_management/anxiety_tips.html#cat20865