Welcome to Day 4
with Molly Mahar
Molly is changing the world by teaching women how to value their own purpose and strength, especially as they arrive at transition. She is all about "Activating Your Awesome", so naturally she was a perfect fit for Prep School.
THIS VIDEO ADDRESSES:
:: Two great, easy self love practices that you can easily implement in your own life.
:: The easy-to-implement tool Andrea uses in her morning ritual.
:: How your judgment of others relates to your own self-love.
Showing posts with label morning routine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morning routine. Show all posts
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Hack Your Brain to Wake Up Early & Effortlessly Every Day with the 3 Step Pavlov Method
America’s standard wake up method sucks. Ugly air raid alarms that slap you in the face can ruin every single morning for the rest of your life. Hitting the snooze for ten minutes only puts you through the mental scarring all over again.
If you can take 45 minutes to plan out a sleep method that pleasantly wakes you up when you want then spend thirty minutes setting it up, you could make every single morning for the rest of your life incredibly better. So you should. Take a Saturday and plan it out.
A place to start is my method. I created it based on what we know about the neuroscience of habit formation and the bits of information science has discovered about circadian rhythms and biological clocks. It’s not the absolute healthiest method of controlling sleep, but it’s the best way I know to sleep effectively and still live in a 9 to 5 work hard and play hard society.
The Pavlov Waking System
Step 1: Decide a reasonable time you could wake up every single day, even on weekends.
Most people immediately shoot for 4:30 am, but make sure you’re willing to go to sleep early enough to get 8 hours of sleep at least 4-5 nights of the week. I go with 7:30am.
Step 2: Pick a no-calorie cold drink you enjoy and leave it on your nightstand every night. Iced coffee, iced tea, and water all work great.
Step 3: Start setting your alarm for the same specific time every single day. When you get up on time, get up and chug down the beverage you left by your bed. If you hit the snooze, don't chug the drink. Since you’ve been sleeping you haven’t had anything to drink, and drinking a big amount of anything when your thirsty will give you a rush of endorphins.
This pleasure rush will lay the groundwork for a subconscious habit. After doing this for a week or two, your body will learn that pleasure is synonymous with waking up at 7:30, not sleeping in. You won’t have to fight yourself to get up any more, you may even have to fight yourself to sleep in.
When you get your “I want to accomplish everything” brain and your “I want to do everything that feels good right this second with no attention to consequences” brain going in the same direction, life gets a lot easier, and often a lot more awesome.
Steroids for the Pavlov Method (make it work faster, better, and stronger)
1. Train yourself outside of your regular sleep schedule. This will speed up the process and allow you to engineer the emotions and fine points of your waking habit more intentionally.
I did this initially to reinforce my habit and leave less room for failure. When you have some spare time during the day and you feel thirsty, you can take ten minutes to reinforce your waking habit. Recreate the environment in your bedroom as much as possible to when you wake up. Put on sleep clothes, turn off lights, get in bed, and set your alarm for three minutes. Close your eyes and rest, when the alarm goes off jump out of bed mimicking the type of mood (keep it realistic) you’d like to have every morning, and chug down your drink. The more you expose yourself to the sensory triggers of the morning, repeat the muscle movements of waking up, and then produce a chemical reward, the stronger and more subconscious your habit will become. Waking up with beaming hope and energy for the day will eventually be like backing your car out of the driveway. Happiness will be on autopilot and your set default.
To boost the chemical reward, fake a beaming smile right after you chug your drink, genuinely congratulate yourself (out loud if your brave enough), and massage your own shoulders and forearms for ten seconds.
2. Make your alarm pleasant and distinct from all other sounds.
Use your cell phone and get a customizable alarm app. There are tons that are all basically the same. I use “Alarm Clock Xtreme Free” for Android. You want several key functionalities. The first is to customize the sound of your alarm. Make it a recording of your mother yelling at you about getting your prostate checked, or the sound of a koala purring, it doesn’t matter as long as you never hear it regularly throughout the day. Making it the same as your ringtone or a song you enjoy or as an alarm you use for other things throughout the day will screw up the Pavlov Method.
You may also want to look for the functionality of gradually increasing volume. I use this feature to wake me up more gently. Most full featured apps have the ability to slowly increase your volume from nothing to full blast over the course of a set period of time. I use 1 ½ minutes. This will wake me up more gently, but also not allow me to stay in bed for more than twenty seconds after I wake up.
3. Every single night, set your alarm far enough away from your bed so that your forced to get up to turn it off.
When you wake up in the morning, especially if you didn’t get enough sleep, your lizard brain is in control. Set yourself up with safeguards like these so that you can stick to your plans even if your half asleep and don’t understand the meaning of anything except crushing your alarm and going back to bed. (If I drink too much or stay up too late, I have this problem in a major way. My girlfriend has watched me get up out of bed, with only one eye half open, walk across the room to turn off my alarm, not understand how buttons work as a half asleep zombie, and just start pounding the phone against the wall until it stops, and then stumbling back into bed and going back to sleep. Set yourself up the night before like the person your waking up is not you. They definitely won’t be in the same motivated rationale mindset as you are in the moment.
4. Acknowledge that you’re not Superman and you need sleep.
Waking up at the same time everyday helps you manage your sleep much better if you do it responsibly. On nights that you only get four hours of sleep, you can still wake up on time, not screw up your work schedule or miss appointments, and then either take a nap or go to bed earlier the next night to make up for it. Perfect system. But if you start only getting four hours of sleep every night you’ll crash quickly. Don’t let your hubris allow you to believe you can still get things done without ample sleep. It’s as important to your brain in many ways as food and water. You lose intelligence, decision-making ability, mood control, and impulse control the longer your sleep deprived.
http://superhumanhappiness.blogspot.com/2013/04/hack-your-brain-to-wake-up-early.html
If you can take 45 minutes to plan out a sleep method that pleasantly wakes you up when you want then spend thirty minutes setting it up, you could make every single morning for the rest of your life incredibly better. So you should. Take a Saturday and plan it out.
A place to start is my method. I created it based on what we know about the neuroscience of habit formation and the bits of information science has discovered about circadian rhythms and biological clocks. It’s not the absolute healthiest method of controlling sleep, but it’s the best way I know to sleep effectively and still live in a 9 to 5 work hard and play hard society.
The Pavlov Waking System
Step 1: Decide a reasonable time you could wake up every single day, even on weekends.
Most people immediately shoot for 4:30 am, but make sure you’re willing to go to sleep early enough to get 8 hours of sleep at least 4-5 nights of the week. I go with 7:30am.
Step 2: Pick a no-calorie cold drink you enjoy and leave it on your nightstand every night. Iced coffee, iced tea, and water all work great.
Step 3: Start setting your alarm for the same specific time every single day. When you get up on time, get up and chug down the beverage you left by your bed. If you hit the snooze, don't chug the drink. Since you’ve been sleeping you haven’t had anything to drink, and drinking a big amount of anything when your thirsty will give you a rush of endorphins.
This pleasure rush will lay the groundwork for a subconscious habit. After doing this for a week or two, your body will learn that pleasure is synonymous with waking up at 7:30, not sleeping in. You won’t have to fight yourself to get up any more, you may even have to fight yourself to sleep in.
When you get your “I want to accomplish everything” brain and your “I want to do everything that feels good right this second with no attention to consequences” brain going in the same direction, life gets a lot easier, and often a lot more awesome.
Steroids for the Pavlov Method (make it work faster, better, and stronger)
1. Train yourself outside of your regular sleep schedule. This will speed up the process and allow you to engineer the emotions and fine points of your waking habit more intentionally.
I did this initially to reinforce my habit and leave less room for failure. When you have some spare time during the day and you feel thirsty, you can take ten minutes to reinforce your waking habit. Recreate the environment in your bedroom as much as possible to when you wake up. Put on sleep clothes, turn off lights, get in bed, and set your alarm for three minutes. Close your eyes and rest, when the alarm goes off jump out of bed mimicking the type of mood (keep it realistic) you’d like to have every morning, and chug down your drink. The more you expose yourself to the sensory triggers of the morning, repeat the muscle movements of waking up, and then produce a chemical reward, the stronger and more subconscious your habit will become. Waking up with beaming hope and energy for the day will eventually be like backing your car out of the driveway. Happiness will be on autopilot and your set default.
To boost the chemical reward, fake a beaming smile right after you chug your drink, genuinely congratulate yourself (out loud if your brave enough), and massage your own shoulders and forearms for ten seconds.
2. Make your alarm pleasant and distinct from all other sounds.
Use your cell phone and get a customizable alarm app. There are tons that are all basically the same. I use “Alarm Clock Xtreme Free” for Android. You want several key functionalities. The first is to customize the sound of your alarm. Make it a recording of your mother yelling at you about getting your prostate checked, or the sound of a koala purring, it doesn’t matter as long as you never hear it regularly throughout the day. Making it the same as your ringtone or a song you enjoy or as an alarm you use for other things throughout the day will screw up the Pavlov Method.
You may also want to look for the functionality of gradually increasing volume. I use this feature to wake me up more gently. Most full featured apps have the ability to slowly increase your volume from nothing to full blast over the course of a set period of time. I use 1 ½ minutes. This will wake me up more gently, but also not allow me to stay in bed for more than twenty seconds after I wake up.
3. Every single night, set your alarm far enough away from your bed so that your forced to get up to turn it off.
When you wake up in the morning, especially if you didn’t get enough sleep, your lizard brain is in control. Set yourself up with safeguards like these so that you can stick to your plans even if your half asleep and don’t understand the meaning of anything except crushing your alarm and going back to bed. (If I drink too much or stay up too late, I have this problem in a major way. My girlfriend has watched me get up out of bed, with only one eye half open, walk across the room to turn off my alarm, not understand how buttons work as a half asleep zombie, and just start pounding the phone against the wall until it stops, and then stumbling back into bed and going back to sleep. Set yourself up the night before like the person your waking up is not you. They definitely won’t be in the same motivated rationale mindset as you are in the moment.
4. Acknowledge that you’re not Superman and you need sleep.
Waking up at the same time everyday helps you manage your sleep much better if you do it responsibly. On nights that you only get four hours of sleep, you can still wake up on time, not screw up your work schedule or miss appointments, and then either take a nap or go to bed earlier the next night to make up for it. Perfect system. But if you start only getting four hours of sleep every night you’ll crash quickly. Don’t let your hubris allow you to believe you can still get things done without ample sleep. It’s as important to your brain in many ways as food and water. You lose intelligence, decision-making ability, mood control, and impulse control the longer your sleep deprived.
http://superhumanhappiness.blogspot.com/2013/04/hack-your-brain-to-wake-up-early.html
Monday, April 29, 2013
Monday Kick-Butt Quote
“It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else.” ― Erma Bombeck
So, what are yours, Jesskah? Your dream lives in your head, yes. But, even just telling one person gives your dream power. I invite you today to tell one person about it. Just one!
So, what are yours, Jesskah? Your dream lives in your head, yes. But, even just telling one person gives your dream power. I invite you today to tell one person about it. Just one!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
5 Tips to Overcome Negative Reactions
“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.” ~Dr. Anthony Robins
1. Pay attention to your morning routine.
How we start our day affects how the rest of our activities unfold. Set your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier (don’t worry—I’ll make it up on the backend in tip #5).
Before you get out of bed, take a couple of breaths and say something positive. For example, “Another day. Another chance for a fresh start.” When you find yourself rushing throughout the day, remind yourself “there is enough time.”
2. Get in touch with your anger.
Do the following exercise when you have at least thirty minutes of uninterrupted time.
Find a comfortable seated position. Close your eyes and think of what your anger looks like. What color or images do you see? Where in your body do you store anger? Pay attention to body temperature, clinched fists, heart rate, muscle tension, and butterflies in your stomach.
Practice deep breaths throughout this exercise, and take a break if the feelings become too intense.
When you’re ready, open your eyes and take a deep breath. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Pick up a notepad and jot down all your angry thoughts.
Don’t overthink this—keep the stream of thoughts flowing without editing your responses. Spend at least five minutes recording what, where, when, and around whom you feel most angry.
Read the list and decide what are your three biggest anger triggers and/or situations. Make a circle around the top three.
On another sheet of paper, write three strategies for remedying each one.
For example: Problem #1:
I can’t stand my job.
Strategies:
Update my resume by Friday at noon.
Contact two people and network about possible job openings by Thursday at 5:00 pm.
Call my mentor today and invite her to lunch in exchange for business ideas. (Pick up the tab).
Repeat this exercise frequently, and don’t worry if some of the same issues show up. Problem-solving takes practice and patience.
3. Unplug.
Technology encourages us to react quickly. The minute we get that text or feel the phone vibration, we’re racing to respond. Reacting impulsively is a trigger for angry outbursts. Set aside time each day to be free from checking email, social media sites, and text messaging.
4. Train your mind to respond slower.
Think, speak, drive, text, listen, cook, eat, and walk slower. When you slow down, you’ll feel more in control of your options and your inner life.
Leave post-it reminders on the computer, your car dashboard, and your front door. Our brains are not trained to remember many things, so write it down.
5. Sleep on it!
Honestly, if I had to choose just one option to manage anger, it would be getting sufficient sleep. Sleep deprivation is a huge culprit in negative moods, including anxiety and depression.
Commit to going to bed earlier during the week. It’s nearly impossible to make calm, measured, responsible choices if you can barely keep your eyes open.
Bottom line: You have everything you need to change. With daily commitment, practice, and patience, you’ll increase problem-solving abilities so you can manage your anger, rather than have your anger manage you.
Remember, living in the past causes depression. Living in the future causes anxiety. Living in the here-and-now enables you to make healthy choices to increase emotional well-being.
And the future begins now.
1. Pay attention to your morning routine.
How we start our day affects how the rest of our activities unfold. Set your alarm for fifteen minutes earlier (don’t worry—I’ll make it up on the backend in tip #5).
Before you get out of bed, take a couple of breaths and say something positive. For example, “Another day. Another chance for a fresh start.” When you find yourself rushing throughout the day, remind yourself “there is enough time.”
2. Get in touch with your anger.
Do the following exercise when you have at least thirty minutes of uninterrupted time.
Find a comfortable seated position. Close your eyes and think of what your anger looks like. What color or images do you see? Where in your body do you store anger? Pay attention to body temperature, clinched fists, heart rate, muscle tension, and butterflies in your stomach.
Practice deep breaths throughout this exercise, and take a break if the feelings become too intense.
When you’re ready, open your eyes and take a deep breath. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Pick up a notepad and jot down all your angry thoughts.
Don’t overthink this—keep the stream of thoughts flowing without editing your responses. Spend at least five minutes recording what, where, when, and around whom you feel most angry.
Read the list and decide what are your three biggest anger triggers and/or situations. Make a circle around the top three.
On another sheet of paper, write three strategies for remedying each one.
For example: Problem #1:
I can’t stand my job.
Strategies:
Update my resume by Friday at noon.
Contact two people and network about possible job openings by Thursday at 5:00 pm.
Call my mentor today and invite her to lunch in exchange for business ideas. (Pick up the tab).
Repeat this exercise frequently, and don’t worry if some of the same issues show up. Problem-solving takes practice and patience.
3. Unplug.
Technology encourages us to react quickly. The minute we get that text or feel the phone vibration, we’re racing to respond. Reacting impulsively is a trigger for angry outbursts. Set aside time each day to be free from checking email, social media sites, and text messaging.
4. Train your mind to respond slower.
Think, speak, drive, text, listen, cook, eat, and walk slower. When you slow down, you’ll feel more in control of your options and your inner life.
Leave post-it reminders on the computer, your car dashboard, and your front door. Our brains are not trained to remember many things, so write it down.
5. Sleep on it!
Honestly, if I had to choose just one option to manage anger, it would be getting sufficient sleep. Sleep deprivation is a huge culprit in negative moods, including anxiety and depression.
Commit to going to bed earlier during the week. It’s nearly impossible to make calm, measured, responsible choices if you can barely keep your eyes open.
Bottom line: You have everything you need to change. With daily commitment, practice, and patience, you’ll increase problem-solving abilities so you can manage your anger, rather than have your anger manage you.
Remember, living in the past causes depression. Living in the future causes anxiety. Living in the here-and-now enables you to make healthy choices to increase emotional well-being.
And the future begins now.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
5 Ways to Fill Your Morning with Positive Energy
1. A quick yoga practice! Whether you go to a studio or practice at home (check my app on iTunes), yoga can get you stretched, balanced and joyous for the day ahead. Or create your own flow that you feel your body, mind and soul need.
2. Dance it out to your favorite song. Put on some tunes that get you pumped and shake that booty. Dance like no one is watching. Trust me it feels good.
3. If you’re lucky enough to live close to the ocean or a body of water, go for swim. Soak up those negative ions and revitalize yourself.
4. Sing in the shower. If you’re short on time why not sing it out in the shower? It always puts me in a great mood.
5. Walk with friends. Socializing is a great way to start the day. Walking and talking is a perfect combo of getting the body energized and feeling the love from friends.
Whether it's exercising, singing, making yourself a beautiful breakfast, playing with your kids, or giving yourself that extra ten minutes to sleep in, find what makes you happy in the morning and give to yourself first. Fill yourself up with happiness, fun and positivity and you will feel energized for the day. :)
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4770/5-Ways-to-Fill-Your-Morning-with-Positive-Energy.html
2. Dance it out to your favorite song. Put on some tunes that get you pumped and shake that booty. Dance like no one is watching. Trust me it feels good.
3. If you’re lucky enough to live close to the ocean or a body of water, go for swim. Soak up those negative ions and revitalize yourself.
4. Sing in the shower. If you’re short on time why not sing it out in the shower? It always puts me in a great mood.
5. Walk with friends. Socializing is a great way to start the day. Walking and talking is a perfect combo of getting the body energized and feeling the love from friends.
Whether it's exercising, singing, making yourself a beautiful breakfast, playing with your kids, or giving yourself that extra ten minutes to sleep in, find what makes you happy in the morning and give to yourself first. Fill yourself up with happiness, fun and positivity and you will feel energized for the day. :)
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4770/5-Ways-to-Fill-Your-Morning-with-Positive-Energy.html
Monday, March 25, 2013
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