My Secret to Having a Great Day

My secret to having a great day really stems from experiencing so many challenging days…weeks, months, and even years. Most of you know what this is like, and sadly, many get stuck in the darkness.

This is exactly why one of my missions is to empower you to take back control of your own life, so that you can get about the business of truly LIVING.

For some, the media can be a scary place lately, so it’s extra important to be very intentional with how we spend our days and especially, how we start our mornings. 

My secret to having a great day really comes down to being intentional, having discipline and creating new habits.

From what I’ve found to be true for myself, having a little bit of discipline creates a whole lot of freedom.

So with that, here’s my secret to having a great day. 

4 steps to having a great day:

Step 1: Ignore your phone in the morning:

In May 2019, I was traveling throughout the UK, and I didn’t have much time to be on my phone – nor did I want to be on it. Every morning, we woke up and explored new, amazing cities, and from that time on, I’ve been so much more intentional with how I use social media.

I used to start my day by scrolling social media and/or checking my email. I truly believed that this helped to wake me up, when really, it just put me in a frantic state of already feeling behind. From the moment that I woke up! Not only that, but I realized that it effected my ENTIRE day.

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve opened any app, besides my meditation app (more on that below), for AT LEAST an hour after I’ve woken up.

What started as an intention has now become a habit.

If there’s one thing that you can do for yourself that I can pretty much guarantee will have a positive impact on your entire day, it’s NOT checking any social media, email or consuming any sort of news for at least 30 minutes in the morning.

Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself and watch your life begin to change!

Step 2: Schedule “me time” first thing:

It took me awhile to realize something that now seems so obvious – if I don’t schedule in some time for myself, it literally won’t ever happen.

I’ve flirted with different morning routines for years, and while my routine still changes, some things remain super consistent.

Mediation is now one of those things. 

I’ve meditated every single day since May 27, 2019!

Before I finally got to this point, I don’t even think I’ve ever even hit 30 days straight.

I’d never stuck with meditation in the past, because one – it felt so dang hard, and two – I never felt like I got anything out of it (besides feeling like I’d just wasted 15ish minutes of my precious time). 

If you’re interested, I can talk more about how I finally got into the habit of meditating, along with what my SIMPLE routine looks like, but for now, I’ll breeze by the basics.

Every morning, I sit quietly for 15 minutes. I use the Insight Timer app (I prefer doing silent meditations, but they have amazing guided ones as well) to keep track of the time and the number of days, because that means less work for me.

At first, my 15-minute meditation felt like it dragged on for 10 years. It literally never seemed to end. Slowly (I’m talking over a few months straight here), I finally began to understand why every successful person who I admire swears by getting quiet and sitting still.

I now use this time for myself, to focus on what I want to create.

It took me awhile (several months) to feel like my daily meditation was actually paying off. Now, it gives me so much clarity and so many answers.

I highly recommend giving it a go! Even 5 minutes will (eventually) make a massive impact on your day. What do you have to lose by trying?

Other than that, I often head to the gym first thing, which I’ve also learned to absolutely love. It makes me feel so good and super energized throughout my entire day.

If you’re struggling with the motivation to work out, then I HIGHLY recommend heading to the gym first thing in the morning. I set my clothes & water bottle out the

night before, so that my brain has one less excuse to just hop back into bed. Believe it or not, that little trick works!

Set the intention, and make it a routine.

5-6 mornings per week, Mike & I also hike with my dogs in the hills behind our house.  

While this might seem like a lot, I straight up wake up much earlier than I need to in order to make the time for it, because time for myself is THAT important.

Your “me time” might be enjoying a cup of coffee on the couch before your kids wake up. It might be 5 minutes of quiet time to yourself, or reading a chapter in your favorite book. It might be your morning skin care routine (also a favorite of mine). It might mean sleeping in and letting your partner/friend/family member/anyone-but-you help out around the house.

Here’s the thing – don’t overthink it. It doesn’t need to be some extravagant plan; it just needs to happen.

Even if it’s just 5 minutes, the time that you take for yourself will pay off huge.

Step 3: Schedule fun:

Ask yourself this: what can you do to make your day FUN?

Write down 3-5 things that you love to do. Now do those things as often as you can.

I no longer expect fun days to just happen, or for anyone to prioritize it for me. This goes right back to scheduling in “me” time, as it’s become a priority in my day.

Most of us (including myself) were taught to believe that success comes from work, work, and more WORK.

Over the past year, I’ve worked hard to prove that belief to not be true. I now schedule fun into my days, which simply means just doing things that I enjoy doing. I LOVE being outside in the sunshine, so right now, I’m writing this post as I sit in my backyard.

Getting my work done WHILE having fun = a huge win.

I also love to read, so several days a week a schedule time to read (even if it’s just 10-15 minutes, if that’s what I’ve got), into my day.

Friends, life is hard enough as it is, so here’s your reminder to go have some fun, and be extra kind to yourself and others.

Step 4: Let tough days be just that – a tough day:

I’m all about FEELING any and all feelings that come up. 

Some days are just straight up hard, and you know what? That’s okay! Let it be a tough day, but as I’ve talked about in my post, all about overcoming depression, it’s so important that you don’t let yourself get stuck there forever.

Feel whatever it is that you need to feel, for however long you need to feel it. Then, learn the lesson, and keep moving forward.

On the more challenging days, I’ve learned (with lots of practice) not to take my thoughts too seriously. Our brains will do everything in their power to keep us alive, as they don’t worry about us being happy. That’s our job.

I’m a HUGE believer that what we focus on is what we create more of, so if we focus on how much our life sucks, we’re going to attract more sucky experiences. If we focus on what we can do to make things awesome, then we’ll attract more awesomeness into our own lives.

Now go really feel whatever it is that you need to feel, schedule some fun into your day, and watch your life begin to change.

Remember that nobody “has” the time for any of this. We have to MAKE the time.

As far as any of us knows, we only get one shot at this life, so we might as well make the best of it.

If creating a positive mindset is a struggle for you, make sure to check out my post where I wrote all about this. My steps might surprise you!