7 Quick Tips

for an

Awesome Day

amy hoogervors t

C O N T E N T S

wake up early

schedule quiet t ime

exercise dai ly

I N T R O D U C T I O N

create a brain dump

create before you consume

eat real food and drink water

be present

C O N C L U S I O N

Y O U R T U R N

You’re awesome.

(If you don’t believe it, stop right here. Go back and

read THIS, then come back here.)

Let’s start again. You’re awesome. Ok, there. Got it?

Good.

Now the big questions are:

How do we live into that knowledge?

How do we maximize our potential?

How can we be our best selves, so we can make our

biggest impact on the world?

We know we can do hard things. We can do great

things. We’ve done them before. But sometimes, we

don’t take action. We let old habits hold us back. We

don’t take the little steps that add up to big ones and

lead to great things.

7 QUICK TIPS FOR

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A N A W E S O M E D A Y

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Remember Newton’s 1st Law of Motion? “An object

at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in

motion with the same speed and in the same

direction, unless acted upon by an unbalanced

force.”

This law is apparent in our lives, too. With the

wrong habits in place, it’s often difficult to get

started and to keep going in the right direction.

With the right habits, after starting in motion, we

can achieve success with greater ease and simplicity

than we might think.

Creating and putting systems into place is the key.

When we follow those systems, life is easier. Our day

flows more smoothly. We’re almost assured of living

awesomely.

One day of intentionality becomes one day of

awesomeness. Done seven days in a row, we’ve had a

week of awesomeness. After 60 days in a row, we’ve

had not only two months of awesomeness, but we’ve

also created some ingrained habits. We are in

motion, and it takes less effort to stay there.

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Here are 7 Quick Tips for an Awesome Day:

1 - Wake Up Early

The most productive, successful people are early

risers. After resting, we have more willpower and

are able to concentrate well and get important tasks

done. The later it gets in the day, the more chaotic

our days typically become.

Getting up early, of course, predicates that you go to

bed earlier. If this is likely to be a struggle for you,

try to go to bed a half hour earlier tonight than you

did last night. Back your bedtime – and your alarm

clock – up in increments.

It’s important to get enough sleep, but if you are

going to cut corners, cut them by waking up earlier

so you can at least be productive for part of your

day.

This one area will help make all other areas easier.

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2 - Schedule Quiet Time

Start your day with time for spiritual, inspirational

or devotional reading, prayer, journaling, or

meditation.

Is reading life-giving for you, or is it writing or

meditating or drawing? Take at least 5-10 minutes

every morning, before you do anything else, to fill

yourself up.

If you like to use your smartphone for learning, a

couple of free meditation apps are Stop, Breathe &

Think; and Headspace.

Devotional and inspirational apps include Bible, by

YouVerse; I Am Second; and First 5, from Proverbs

31 Ministries. That app encourages readers to give

God their “First 5” minutes of the day. Each

morning, six days out of 7, a new devotional is

available. Set an alarm within the app, and when it

goes off, the app prompts you to “swipe to read” the

day’s devotional.

Of course, good old-fashioned books work, too!

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One of the worst ways to start the day is by turning

on the television or radio to check the news.

A study completed in 2015 showed that individuals

who watched just three minutes of negative news in

the morning had a 27% greater likelihood – when

asked 6 to 8 hours later - of saying their day was

unhappy. Those who instead watched

transformative stories in the morning reported

having a good day 88 percent of the time.

When watchers see negative news of the world,

about which they can do little or nothing, it makes

them feel helpless. It also leads to poor performance

in other areas, including work.

The importance of centering yourself on positive

emotions and focus, no matter the method, cannot be

overestimated.

3 - Exercise Daily

If you’re not exercising at all, or only sporadically,

an encouragement to do it daily likely is meeting

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with some internal resistance right now.

But we’re not talking about triathlon-level exercise

here. We’re talking about doing something to get

your heart pumping, to move your blood along.

Exercise, we know, boosts our mood, strengthens our

bodies, and clears our minds. By aiming for daily

exercise, even a walk of 20-30 minutes, you’ll start

to reap major benefits.

And if you miss a day or two because of weather or

life, it’s not a big deal. But if your goal is only five

days, what happens when you miss two or three? Not

too many of us set a low goal and then overshoot it.

So aim high from the outset.

Exercising in the morning also is best. It may help

regulate your appetite, and it starts your day off on

the right footing. And, it goes back to our early

morning time management techniques – the later

the activity gets pushed in the day, the less likely we

are to do it.

Fitness apps abound, and if you use a fitness tracker

you’re probably tuned into one already. Currently

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receiving rave reviews are MyFitnessPal, linked to

the Fitbit tracker app, to sync food intake and

activity, measure progress, and help set goals.

The most important key here is, of course like the ad

says, just do it.

You’ll probably find that you don’t necessarily look

forward to exercising, but you sure like how you feel

once you’ve done it. Most of us dread exercise from

time to time but find that getting out the door is the

most difficult part. Use whatever self-talk is

necessary, and go.

It’s all about baby steps.

4 - Create a Brain Dump

You know all 594 things you woke up thinking about

this morning, coming at you in rapid-fire succession

before you’d even brushed your hair, and you just

knew you wouldn’t get to all of them?

They require lots of mental floss, and our brain

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juggles all of them until we get them out. Those 594

things suddenly seem like 1,494 things.

So the key to getting them out is to write them down

- each one of the 594. Grab a sheet of notebook or

copy paper and a pencil, and write them all down

under the heading BRAIN DUMP.

We can only house three or four thoughts in our

mind at a given time, so it’s impossible to keep track

of 594.

But once you write down all of them, it frees you to

really dive in and focus on what’s important.

And, whoa, look at that list now – we didn’t really

have 594 things on our list, after all. We only had

44! SWEET!!!!

Next, go through your brain dump list and pick the

THREE things that are most important to get

accomplished today.

Only 3! That’s your to-do list for the day.

You may wind up completing more than that, but

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because we can only focus on so many things at once,

we’re going to only have three on our schedule.

And when we get those three things done, we’re

going to feel REALLY, REALLY, great about that –

like, hey, man, I’m-awesome great!

Too often, we flit from one task to another, moving

each one along but not completing it, and we get

discouraged by our overall lack of results. If we

switch our habits to working through and

completing one task at a time, then we can check it

off the list and not have to think about or stress over

it again – except for how great it felt to get that

DONE.

So which one task, if completed today, would make

the biggest impact on your schedule and your life?

Start there.

5 - Create Before You Consume

Your TO-DO list is important. Your TO-DON'T list

may be just as important.

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What are the areas of your day that suck you in, so

you lose track of time and before you know it, you’re

all off schedule? Is it Facebook or other social media?

Is it email?

We go to social media just to look up or check on one

thing, or email to quickly reply to one message, and

we get sucked in every time.

That’s why it’s important to also create a TO-

DON’T list, even if it’s just in your head. What are

you going to avoid today, not totally, but just until

you complete X. When can you schedule a social-

media or email check – at lunch, or for a half hour

after lunch?

Smart phones now have such a hold on our lives that

many of us reach for them as soon as we awaken, to

check email or social media before even getting out

of bed. That’s a great way to get distracted by

someone else’s agenda – not your own.

“Create before you consume” is a worthwhile

mantra.

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If you’re a creative person or need to create output

for your work or dreams, then write the rough draft,

draw the sketch, craft the plan, before you consume

more research, more thoughts and more ideas. Create

what’s already inside you, and then with more

research and information, go back and improve

upon it.

This will move you forward to create the outcomes

you desire

6 - Eat Real Food, and Drink Water

Each day, we need water and essential nutrients to

give out bodies what they need to work optimally.

When we fall short of that, it affects other areas of

our lives.

Our bodies are about 70% water. To know how

many ounces of water you need to drink daily,

divide your body weight in half. So a 150-pound

person should drink 75 ounces of water, not counting

coffee, tea or juices.

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Drinking a couple of glasses first-thing in the

morning is a great way to rehydrate and flush out

impurities. Drinking two glasses of water before

each meal also has been shown to not only help

rehydrate the tissues but also calm the appetite.

Eat nutritious, natural foods. We can’t out-exercise

a lousy diet, and what we put in our bodies makes a

difference in how our bodies perform and how we

feel. We need protein and healthy fat at every meal.

Healthy fats do not make you fat, despite what you

may have been told.

Low-glycemic carbs such as fruits and vegetables

give us energy but only a small boost in our blood

glucose and insulin levels. They are the key to long-

term health.

High-glycemic carbs from simple, refined and/or

processed carbohydrates spike our glucose and

insulin levels. They make us not only tired and

sluggish, but also fat.

Visit and bookmark glycemicindex.com for more

information.

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Most of us don’t get all the nutrients we need

through diet alone, so we need to supplement to

make sure we are getting the vitamins, minerals,

amino acids and essential acids that our bodies need

to work at optimal levels. If our bodies get enough of

the nutrients it needs, it can repair and heal itself

from injury and illness.

Start by making one change in your diet at a time.

Crowd out the bad food with the good food. Each

week, remove one of the bad foods and replace with a

healthier option. Keeping vegetables, fruits and nuts

on hand for snacks will aid you in being more

successful staying out of the cookies.

Small, permanent changes always win out over

massive, quick changes.

7 - Be Present

Noise and interruptions come at us incessantly -

messages, emails, phone calls, TV, radio. How do we

tune it out and pay attention to what’s important?

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It’s difficult to put away the smart phone, turn off

the television, and walk away from the computer.

But being fully present to the people in front of you

and the experiences of life can create irreplaceable

connections and memories.

If you’re doing a rote task like walking the dog or

going for a run, it’s easy to multitask and listen to a

podcast or talk on the telephone. But it’s difficult to

do two mental tasks at once – participating in a

conversation and doing your taxes at the same time,

for example.

By carving out time and space to be present and

intentional with our friends and loved ones, we can

create meaningful relationships that fill us up and

improve our happiness and effectiveness.

You’ve likely tried some of these 7 Tips in the past

and succeeded at one or two. Maybe it’s time to start

again. Perfection is impossible, but we can employ

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C O N C L U S I O N

tactics that will help us start our day strong and

keep it running smoothly.

Don’t undertake these all at once, or you’ll burn out.

Start slowly. Choose one to really focus on now.

Others may fall into place as you go, or you can add

them to your routine as you are ready.

You can create an awesome day, week, and year.

Because you’re awesome.

Are you ready?

So, how will you start? What have you tried before?

In which of these areas could you grow most?

Share your story and your own tips for creating a

Awesome Day in my free, private “Faith and Sweat”

Facebook group.

Visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/faithandswe

atcommunity/

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Y O U R T U R N

copyright 2016 by Amy HoogervorstAll Rights Reserved

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