Making the Best of Your 24
Daylight Savings is coming up this weekend and on March 14th we get to “spring ahead” and change our clocks one hour ahead. Days are starting to get longer. Lately, we’ve been getting some warmer days and, at times, it feels like spring is in the air. Let’s use this Daylight Savings Time to evaluate how we use the 24 hours a day we’re given, or our “24”. We all have our daily routines, our daily rituals, and our daily habits—the question is “Are these habits positive or are they negative?” The way we spend our days directly affects both our mental and physical health. So ask yourself, “What are you doing with your 24? How are you spending your days? Who do you surround yourself with?”
To start with, we have to look at our mornings. Have you ever heard of a successful person who sleeps past noon? Successful people wake up 2-3 hours before they have to be at work or their first meeting. They don’t hit the snooze button and instead of drinking coffee first thing, they reach for water. Successful people use that extra time in the morning to meditate, exercise, set their goals for the day or spend time with their families. They value self-care. Tony Robbins, calls his morning routine “priming.” It takes about 10 minutes and he says, “If you don’t have 10 minutes for your life, you don’t have a life.” Mr. Robbin’s morning routine starts with a breathing exercise. It’s done as a set of three, each set has thirty breaths each, with a pause in between. He then practices gratitude. For the next 90 seconds, he then visualizes a light coming down and filling his body. He imagines it moving all around healing his mind, body and emotions. For the next 90 seconds, he imagines that healing light going out to his loved ones and everyone else he meets. Lastly, he takes three minutes to visualize the three things or goals he wants to achieve in his life. He imagines them already achieved and how he feels when they are accomplished. How we start our day sets the tone for the day. It is these extra hours in the morning that gives us that jump-start to our day. This is because we only have 24 hours in a day and we all know how fast those 24 hours fly by.
When we say successful, we don’t necessarily mean those who are rich and have a spot in the limelight. Successful individuals are proactive, productive, healthy, and happy. Fame and money does not make you successful. In fact, it is very common to have a lot of money on top of mountains of stress. In order to be successful, you have to have a balance in your life between your physical health and your mental health. When there is a balance in those aspects of your life you will instantly see a difference in how the rest of your 24 is played out.
So think to yourself, how do you spend your 24? Are you sleeping in, eating junk food, not drinking enough water, binge-watching television shows or spending too much time on your phone? Or do you spend your 24 by waking up early, eating clean, exercising, reading books, setting goals, practicing gratitude and helping others? Or are you doing a little of both but wish you were making more healthier choices? Our wellness journey all starts with that first step but how do we get there and stay there?
The answer is easy and hard all at the same time—we have to enjoy it! We have to fall in love with waking up early, eating clean, and working out. We have to look forward to what the future will hold if we stick to these habits and reach our goals. We have to reward ourselves when we hit our milestones. We have to develop something called the ‘million dollar mindset’. The million-dollar mindset is all about learning how to take control of your life and live the lifestyle that you have always dreamed of and deserve. A good way to look at this mindset is at a microscopic level; start focusing on a productive morning, which will turn into a productive day, that turns into a productive week, month, year, and eventually life. Everything starts at a microscopic level and will build off of itself when done repetitively and correctly.
We also have to ask, “who do we spend our time with?” Are they positive, motivated, upbeat people? Or are they negative and unmotivated? We are who we surround ourselves with, so we really have to take a hard look at our circle of influence when evaluating our 24. If you find that certain people have a negative impact on your health, if you can, try to minimize contact to keep you motivated.
Without a good mental state, you will not want to keep pushing through whatever it is you hope to achieve. In our case, without a positive mindset, you may find yourself pushing off your health and fitness goals or may not be enjoying them as much as you want. It is important to enjoy your wellness journey to greater health because, without that positive connection, it will allow you to give it up that much easier. Only you can make that change. Don’t be hard on yourself and never give up. Tomorrow is always another day to start over with a fresh 24.
Taking charge of your 24 and developing a millionaire mindset is one of our goals for Marching into Health this month. Just remember that you are 24 hours away from a different life, all that matters is how you decide to spend it.
Next week we will talk about ways to shake up your St Patrick’s Day menu with some healthier options!
