How you start your day counts

Whether you are a freelancer, a manager, working for a corporation or for an NGO, a student, in retirement or having any sort of occupation, truth is, we all want to have productive days. We want to take advantage of our time, make the best out of it and get the results we want, so that by the end of the day we feel satisfied with how we chose to spend our time, or better yet, how we chose to invest it.

This all sounds good, inspiring, motivational and in itself it should be a good enough reason to actually do what we set out to achieve and accomplish in a given day. But as you know, sometimes life happens 🙂 There are always going to be days in which we wake up and something happens and kind of ruins our day. We blame Murphy’s law, the weather, our luck, the horoscope and what not.

But there are also days in which we wake up and our loved ones surprises us with breakfast in bed, or we get a phone call with some amazing news, or we simply wake up from an amazing dream in which are superheroes and fly.

No matter if our days are bad ones or good ones, it is certain that the way in which we start our day influences the mood and thus our productivity for the remainder of our day. So for me this is a great opportunity. Why don’t I choose the way I start my day so that I impact the way the rest of the day will look like?

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First thing in the morning

So what I am suggesting is that you find that habit which you can implement first thing in the morning so that you kick start our day, and get that proactive, positive and ambitious state of mind we all need to be productive.

In order to choose the right habit, I have compiled a short list of criteria you need to take into consideration for this very specific habit so that it completely serves our purpose.

First things first – The activity that you choose should be the very first thing you do, every single morning when you wake up. You just open your eyes and know that you are going to do that one thing you set out to do, don’t let anything get in your way;
Easy as a pie – you want to choose a habit that requires a small amount of effort to put in practice, so that you will find no excuses not do it. It should be something you already know how to do, so you do not get stuck into spending your time in finding out how to implement it. Choosing something hard and complex will definitely defeat the purpose here;
In no time – Pick something you can do in no more than 5 minutes, anything that requires more time than this, will turn on your mind’s radar and you will most likely wake up the well-known self-sabotaging monster: procrastination. Something you can achieve in a jiffy is what we are aiming for here;
Be proud – choose something that will make you feel proud, even if it is a small thing, something that is worth your time and brings you closer to that version of yourself you want to see every single day;
The prize ahead – when you have finished doing this, give yourself a small reward, like a self-pat on the shoulder, or congratulate yourself, or smile, or even do your very own touch down dance. Something small, positive but powerful enough to reinforce in your mind the idea that you are on the right track.

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Make your bed

If you are lacking ideas and need some inspiration regarding this habit, look no further, because I have something that fits all the criteria mentioned above and embodies what this kick starter habit is all about: start your day off by making your bed! If you are already doing this, then you are definitely already on the winning side 😛

My question for a long time, was, why should I make my bed when anyway, come evening, I will undo it just the same and crash down for a well-deserved sleep. But the simple act of doing your bed organizes your space, it gives you a sense of accomplishment, by ticking off a task before beginning your day and send off the message to your brain that you mean real business!

Start off, every single morning by making your bed, it is such a simple trick yet you will soon start reaping the benefits. Start your day off with a productive mindset!

If you need extra motivation for making your bed, watch this awesome 2 minutes video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKZRFDCbGTA

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