“Use your smile to change the world, don’t let the world change your smile.”
This was one of the quotes from the previous column of Every Step Counts and I love it, I really do.
As individuals, we have a duty to look after ourselves and I honestly think that an amazing form of therapy we could all do with is SMILE MORE.
It’s really simple and instantly uplifts you so give it a try. The advice I give to all my clients is to stand in the mirror and set a timer for two minutes. Carry out a power pose (I will write about this next week) and then smile at yourself. Really smile. Seriously get those smiling muscles working for you. Expand the smile across your face and feel the emotions and physiological changes happening right in front of your eyes. It’s an amazing feeling and the best bit … it costs nothing, just two minutes of your time.
Time is what I want to talk about today – for many of you that read The Wokingham Paper, the summer is over, and the children are back at school.
In fact, whether you have children at school or not, I’m sure this article will benefit you tremendously. Specifically, I want to talk about some amazing tactics you could use every single morning that will:
- Give you more energy
- Help you wake up quicker
- Increase your alertness first thing in the morning
- Prime you for the day
- Reduce the impact that other people can have on your day
- Energise you
Again, like last week, these habits have been borrowed from my book – 365 Habits to Skyrocket Your Mind, Your Body and Your Life. They are gamechangers that I share with all my private coaching clients with obviously a bit more detail and a bit more accountability.
However, you will get so much from reading, understanding and then implementing the tactics/habits and the effect they will have on your mental state and overall performance will be huge.
To keep it simple, I am going to list the habits and then I will go through just one of them and expand on the benefit and some tactics on application. Here we go:
- Wake up one hour earlier to get stuff done
- Set aside 30 mins every morning for personal development
- Identify your M.I.T. (Most Important Task) every day
- Have something to eat very small within an hour of waking up
- Drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up
- Conduct a priming exercise every morning
- Create a daily affirmation that you think, write and say out loud 10 times every day
- Create a morning exercise regime lasting no longer than three minutes to start the day
- Read for 15 minutes every morning no matter what!
- Don’t go on social media until you feel ready that you have invested in yourself
- Drink a hot lemon drink every morning … lower your PH levels
- Conduct Chi Kung exercises … feel the energy increase in terms of quantity and quality
Some pretty crazy stuff right there, agree?
Probably some things in there that you may have heard from me before correct?
Most likely at least a couple of habits you have just heard about for the first time?
Now you know by now, I’m a big advocate of getting up earlier and getting my ME time in.
Just before we get into a few of the habits I want to be honest with you. This summer has been more taxing than normal.
With the kids been off, stag do weekends getting tougher to take, a three-day festival wedding that was out of this world and the small matter of having our fourth daughter Bella, this summer has been amazing but tough all the same.
Sleep has been reduced due to different waking times for the ladies and social engagements.
Mornings tougher to get up for due to being woken up during the night every now and again.
Sleep more disrupted than normal meaning the alarm clock seems to come around very fast.
These things along with usual curveballs that life likes to throw at you can be testing, and my mornings haven’t been as optimal as usual but next week things are going back to normal. There you go, a good old bit of public accountability to get the ball rolling.
So, to expand on one of the habits from the list above then and that habit is CREATE A MORNING EXERCISE REGIME LASTING NO LONGER THAN 3 MINUTES TO START THE DAY.
Three minutes is all you need and it the aim is to get the blood flowing straight away and work on a few areas of choice.
Three minutes is a short amount of time, so you need to be quick.
You won’t build up a sweat, but you will activate and work a few areas to set you up for the day.
There are a million way of doing this, but I like to stick to four main areas when it comes to this habit. Area 1 is Glutes, Area 2 is upper back, Area 3 is core and Area 4 is a full body exercise to really wake you up and energise you.
For example, using the framework I have just mentioned, I would do 10 glute bridges, 10 prone cobras, 10 wipers and then 10 jumping jacks.
I will post a video on my social media profiles showing you demonstrations before next week so head over and check it out.
And there we have it.
Another week, another column, another set of homework to be getting on with.
Get selecting, get implementing and get optimising.
Have a fantastic Thursday, have a fantastic end to your week and be awesome … your future depends on it.
Chris Hunt is the Head Mind, Body and Life Coach at The FUNdaMENTAL Coach based out of The Hub, Molly Millars Lane, Wokingham
