For a long time I had fallen into bad habits; waking up late, not
exercising enough to name a few. I was tired of not using my time
productively & wanted to make changes so I could make the most of my day. Over the last few years I have developed some
routines that have helped me become more motivated throughout the day.
So I’m going to share with you 5 habits that I’ve adopted that
help me have a more productive day.
1. Get up early
For me this is so important
& changes my day completely. Before,
if I wasn’t working that day or I had work later in the day, I would always
wake up super late & before I knew it, my morning was over. Now, I wake between 5am & 5:30am during
the week & it makes a massive difference.
I’m not saying everyone should wake up this early, even getting up a
6:30am would make a big difference to your day.
I also like to make my bed
first thing in the morning too. This may
sound silly but by doing this I feel like I’ve accomplished something already
so I can start tackling other, bigger tasks for that day.
2. Make time for breakfast & eat well
When we don’t eat breakfast
in the morning it can lead to difficulties in our concentration, low energy,
mood swings & weight gain.
When I was younger I skipped
breakfast most days during the week. I’d
offer go to school without breakfast & would be hungry by break time. When I did have breakfast, I wasn’t eating
well or eating the foods I should be eating.
This pattern continued though most of my teenage years but once I went
to University things started to change.
I started making time for breakfast in the morning, usually porridge
with honey & banana and I started to see the changes in me.
As well as making time to
eat breakfast, I also make time to cook things from scratch. When I was younger, I was eating a lot of
unhealthy food, such as, microwave meals and junk food. The problem was that I didn’t really cook at
home & I wasn’t taking time to learn either. At University I met a friend who was inspired
me to cook fresh meals. From there I
slowly started to experiment with food & found I enjoyed cooking so much it
has become a passion of mine. Now, you
can get excess to so many good recipes online.
I love using BBC Good Food, Tasty & Pinterest for ideas (this is where I get most of my inspiration
from).
I know in today’s world it
can be difficult to make things fresh every day & sometimes we don’t always
feel like cooking every single day.
Sometimes I have those problems too.
But a good way to overcome this is to meal prep. I can’t stress enough how useful meal
prepping is, knowing that you have something in the freeze ready to go &
don’t have to cook. I like to set aside
a day where I can meal prep & make food up in batches to freeze for another
day. It really makes the rest of the
week easier for me.
3. Exercise
I’ve never really enjoyed sports &
have always thought of it as a chore rather than something to enjoy. Over the last year I’ve been trying to become
healthier, not just with what I eat but also by making time to exercise too. I was spending too much time not being
active, watching films etc (& eating snacks in the process). I realised if I wanted this goal to be successful,
I’d have to change my mindset on fitness regimes. I decided to choose sports that I really
enjoyed, swimming & cycling, & turned them into ‘hobbies’ rather than
looking at them as exercise. Now I
really enjoy them & look forward to getting out on my bike, for
example. I also try & challenge
myself to see if I can beat my goal of doing one of these sports three times a
week. From there I have become so
motivated to lose some extra pounds that I’ve also begun working out to tone up
my body as well. Also, if I can I exercise first thing in the morning. I find it sets me up for the day & keeps me motivated for the rest of the day. See my blog post Health & Fitness Changes I’m Making in 2018 for more details on my fitness regime.
4. Plan you week ahead
I’m a massive fan of weekly
planners & diaries. They really help
me utilise my time & get the most out of my days. Something I like to do on a Sunday is to sit
down with my diary & review my week ahead.
In this time I also plan out ‘life admin’ tasks as well, for example,
when I’m going to do weekly food shopping, meal prepping or when laundry day
will be. I find this supper helpful &
it keeps me organised so I know how I’m going to manage the day to day things
around work tasks, like planning lessons.
Recently, I blogged about
some of my favorite 2018 diaries that are in store at the moment. Click here
to check them out.
5. Make time for yourself
Last but not least is to
make time for yourself. I know sometimes
it’s difficult when there’s a lot happening but it’s really worth taking some
time just for you. It may not be
possible to do this every day but maybe you can take some time once a week to
do something you enjoy. I love to read
but I’m not always able to do this every day but something I do is make sure I
spend an hour at the weekend to read a chapter at least. It helps me feel revived & ready to carry
on.
Well, they are my 5 habits
that help me have a more productive week.
If you liked this post or maybe you have some of your tips you' like to share please leave a comment. Don't forget to follow my blog too!!!
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