Author: CLFurlong

With this all in mind I have a list of some quick mini habits you can pick up and apply to your life each and everyday. These have been sourced across the web and combined/consolidated for you:

• Floss before going to bed. 
• Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
• “Eat the frog”. Write down 1 task that you must absolutely perform in order for the day to be a success, and do it first when you get to work.
• Send 1 call/text/email to an old friend or colleague that you haven’t spoken with in a while.
• End the day with fewer emails in your inbox than you started with.
• Give away / donate one item in your household every single day. Repeat until you have an uncluttered, restful home.
• Walk to and from work, if possible. Exercise! Sunshine!
• Eat at least one fruit or vegetable each day.
• Express gratitude.
• Spend at least 20 minutes reading something that is completely unrelated to your career (or “personal development”).
• Get uncomfortable at least 1x per day (ideally 3x or 5x).

Remember: 

“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” – George Addair

• Stand up every half hour or hour, and walk around, do air squats or push ups, meditate, breathe deeply and slowly or stretch.
• Call, message or email someone you love.
• If you’re tired, lie down for five minutes.
• Shower or wash your face to refresh.
• Hug someone you deeply care about for longer than they expect.
• Go outside and get some sun for five minutes.
• Laugh. Tell a joke or listen to one. Read something funny.
• Write everything you’re grateful for. If you can’t think of anything, appreciate being alive. Especially compared to the alternative.
• Listen to your favorite song. Better yet, hum, sing or dance to it.
• Brush with your left hand. Makes you connect to your right/creative brain.
• Breathe deeply at least once a day

These are just the tip of the ice-berg for when it comes to the little things you can add or change in your life to make it more productive, to learn something new or to simply challenge yourself.

To make it through a day you must go from start to finish – regardless of the end result. However, the journey through the day can be taken through multiple routes.

The people, the places and the experiences each day will test your decision and your sense of judgement. You will need to be snappy and make on the spot decisions. Other times you will have what feels likes all the time in the world to decide your next steps.

Regardless, you should be prepared for one, the other or even both. This is not a perfect world, there is the perfect world scenario, in which everything just seems to fall in to place when it needs to. But if this was to happen – how would we ever learn? How would we grow? How would beat our very own competition of the person we were yesterday?

Everything is hard before it is easy ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

So what does it really mean to Stay positive, work hard, make it happen. For me this is what it is:

• To stay positive you need to choose to be. You need to be willing to want to be. You need to make sure that you have the perspective and attitude to be positive. Even in the toughest, roughest and most sticky of all situations. Be the bright spark  and give a positive punch. Not only will this break your negative mindsets, but even lighten the mood of those around you.
• To make it through the rough the tough and the sticky, this will require hard work, but not work for the sake of it. You need to work smart, you need to accept that the task and the journey ahead is going to be hard and that it will take time… maybe too much time. But the fact is, if you know what needs to be done to get the job done, then only way to get there is right through the middle of it all. So toughen up and buckle up.  Soldier on and fight your way to the end.
• By now, you have (should have) remained positive, you have been through and seen it all. Your hard work is coming together and you are starting to see the end result. While remaining positive, you can take on the final stretch and beat any last bump in the road. You have come this far – why on earth would you want to back down or give up now? The grass is always greener on the side and you are about to enter that side. So put your chin up, look forward, see the end of the road sprint. MIH. Make it happen.

Still struggling?

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had no childhood in it. ~George Eliot

So what exactly did I look for in my childhood? Music.

The best way to remember and reminisce the past, is through music. Music itself has the ability open your mind into a deeper imagination, and into a deeper focus.

Through nostalgia, we’re reminded of the places we grew up, our families, the wondrous curiosity of our childhood, the joy of our favorite moments, past romances and the many places we have venture to.

As John Tierney puts it for the New York Times:

Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders.

Nostalgia does have its painful side, but the net effect is to make life seem more meaningful and death less frightening. When people speak wistfully of the past, they typically become more optimistic and inspired about the future.

I have found that while utilizing the effects of nostalgia, I am becoming more and more empowered, motivated and even happier as this literally like reliving highlights of my childhood. So what has this done for me:

• It feels like a holiday in the mind
• It releases endorphin’s
• It creates a bounce or rush of happiness
• Wants me want to relive the experience even more
• Increases my focus and productivity
• Reminds me of when things were so much simpler
• I feel more optimistic
• Relaxes my mind
• Reminds me of just how far I have come
• Reopens lost dreams, ideas and personal interests

I encourage you to find your sweet spots of Nostalgia and to see what wonders it can do for you. You will be surprised of what it can do and you will be even more excited once it reopens some lost memories, some personal interests and hobbies you had forgotten all about.

Today I have 8 points for you to read and to take action with.

1. THIS IS YOUR LIFE! OWN IT!

If you continue to tell yourself that somehow, somewhere, life is going to take care of itself. Absolutely NOTHING is going to change for the better for you. Unless you take action to do so. Life is not a rehearsal, and no one owes you anything. It’s time to start owning your life and start making better quality choices, and that begins with thinking better quality thoughts. Own your circumstances and change them. As I posted just recently (Day #122: You & Yourself) only you can make the change.

2. FIGURE OUT EXACTLY WHAT IS BUGGING YOU!

The most comforting thing is finding someone or even better, several people who relate to your struggle. It is so easy to sit and complain with them about everything that is wrong. I suggest that you figure out what exactly the problem is and work on changing it for YOUR own good. 

Work to fix the problem. Maybe fix yourself to solve the problem. – Chris Furlong

3. TIME TO MAKE A PLAN!

It’s going to make you feel instantly better to take out a piece of paper and plan out how you are going to make a change that will be more fulfilling to you. Or if you have some goals, or want to change this or do that, then what you need is a Push Factor! Are you sick of where you are? Then use that as a burning motivator to DO something about your situation! Your cause has to be greater than your fears!

4. USE THE NIGHT BEFORE TO PLAN FOR THE NEXT DAY

Monday mornings are the most difficult and anxiety filled days of the week! However, this applies for any day really. Therefore, it does not help you to walk into any morning with no game plan! In fact, an unplanned day makes for an unplanned week. For example: I make sure that Sunday night I have my Monday ready and set to go. This includes my routines ready for action, food prepped, shirts ironed and of course I have already spent time in the gym. I am ready to own Monday because I want to. I choose to! You should be ready to own each day because you want to. You choose to!

5. REST AND SLEEP BEFORE

Sleep earlier so that you can wake up well rested. If you do not like the day ahead AT ALL then pamper yourself on that evening. I realize this is far easier said than done when you have children and a family but do your best to take care of yourself on night. However you do it – make sure you have a relaxing routine in the evening to get your head in a rest mode before your back into work mode.

6. KEEP YOUR SCHEDULE LIGHT (IF YOU CAN)

If it is possible, try not to heap too much on yourself on a single day. Plan for a few tasks, usually those that are of highest priority. No need to stress yourself too much! Kicking off each day can be quick and easy or tough and dirty. Regardless, you should apply the same determination, attitude and willpower to whatever task it may be.

7. TAKE BREAKS!

Take a walk, speak to a colleague, get a drink of water. Do something to just blow off some steam! Connecting with another human being always helps redirect certain internal energies, especially when talking to someone you like. Grab a coffee, read the paper, you could even do some stretches. Whatever it is (even if it is quick) do something for a moment to reboot your mind.

8. BE THANKFUL!

Be truly and sincerely thankful of what you have. Each day is a new opportunity and that in itself we should be thankful for. It is sad of just how quickly we forget! Remind yourself of the blessings in your life, over and over again if you must. It’s so easy to lose sight and focus of what really, truly matters. 

So will you EMBRACE today?

You can’t change somebody else, but you can change yourself in an instant. Even if you want to change somebody else, or to change the situation, your fastest path to change is to change yourself, whether that means how you see things or how you show up or how you choose to do things.

You are an inspiration.

It doesn’t matter what others are doing. It matters what YOU are doing. – Unknown

Sometimes we take ourselves for granted. We discredit our own accomplishments because “it was too easy” or you simply already did that and are now focused on a bigger goal. It happens. We always take for granted what we have when we are caught up in our day-to-day lives. But remember, while you are busy looking up at your next goal, someone else is looking up to you for something you have already accomplished. If you don’t think you are an inspiration, you are dead wrong.

Once you learn to break mindsets, you will unlock new levels of motivation and new levels of growth. A perfect example is exercise and pushing yourself to new limits! Even when it is tough, when it has been a long day, don’t make excuses. Just get out there, and just smash it!! You wont regret it!

It’s a simple choice really. But each decision will require work, hard work actually.

“A negative mind will never give you a positive life.” ― Ziad K. Abdelnour

If you choose to take the POSITIVE side, this requires you to think optimistically and spread joy and happiness around you. I guarantee  you, that if you make those around you feel good about themselves and happy, you will always be happy. But don’t get me wrong.. this will require some effort to keep your attitude and mind in the right place. Especially when the day goes south… will you cave and give into being negative, or will you choose to look on the bright side of things?

If you choose to take the NEGATIVE side, this means you wont be thinking of the positives, but being the critical one. When things get tough, rough and unfair, you wont look for the positives, but accept the negatives. Accepting the negatives, diminishes your mentality to look for solutions, it exercises your mind to lower yourself and your ability to comprehend the good things, even in the worst of situations. You can either choose to dwell on it or choose to fight it and find that light of happiness…

I choose POSITIVE.

Growth is excitement. When you are growing through challenges and learning something new, you will have a sense of accomplishment and acceptance, not just from the people around you, but also from yourself.

You will be happy with what you have done, how far you have come and you will see a glimpse of what is to come.

What about growth and goals?

Most people are certain they can push through the tough times, they can handle all the curve-balls life throws at them, they can deal with the stress and pain of the inevitable failures that lie ahead – until they find themselves in that exact position.

Regardless of whether we’re talking about career goals, life goals, relationship goals or any other goals we believe to hold meaning, they all require action to meet.

If you can’t stop thinking about it, don’t stop working for it. Don’t stop pushing ahead, no matter how difficult it may be. – Paul Hudson

Never give up on your dreams, but understand goals are only as rewarding as the journey required to attain them. It’s what we learn and experience along the way that shapes our realities and our souls.

If you give up on the things and individuals you believe hold meaning, then you are quite literally, giving up on yourself. Nothing could ever be sadder.

What if I told you, that there are some secrets to life which enabled you to have joy each and every day and to be simply happy. Here are 10 small life-hacks/routines, you can utilize to make your day that little extra exciting.

1. Make time for yourself. Whether you need it or not, tell people you are busy. This is a legitimate excuse.

“In a world of distraction and competing demands, mental focus is a scarce yet precious commodity. If you want more of it, you will have to be intentional about getting it.” – Michael Hyatt

2. Switch off from your BAU working mentality. Once you have shut down for the night. Stick to it. Whether it is LATE or EARLY. Take the time to refuel and refresh for the day ahead.
3. Give yourself the permission to buy any book at any time – but only if you will read it. This is an investment to you so it is worth every penny.

Reading might be one of the most important things you can do to better yourself. It’s the wisdom of brilliant minds condensed down to a $20 and 2-day commitment

4. Drop the windows, turn up the music and drive with a bounce. If people look at you – just smile and start dancing. Live a little…

“You’ve gotta dance like there’s nobody watching, love like you’ll never be hurt, sing like there’s nobody listening, and live like it’s heaven on earth.” – William W. Purkey

5. Be the guy/girl who leaves a large tip on a napkin. You will never know what you have done directly for the person individually – but you will know it will make someones day. Pay the extra $10 and you could buy someones happiness in an instant. It’s the little things that count.
6. Rest and get plenty of it. You know your limits, so stick to them. A lack of rest will lower sanity, productivity and attitude…
7. Write down your thoughts. Whether it be 10 things you enjoyed, 10 things you didn’t. Write something big or something small. Write to a time limit, or write to a word count. Just write as it will help formulate cohesive thoughts.
8. Create an uninterrupted routine for the first hour of the day. This will speed-stream your morning.

“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” – Lemony Snicket, “The Blank Book”

Mornings are crucial – they dictate your attitude, your perceptions and your energy for the day. Give yourself the gift of a predictable, enjoyable, rejuvenating morning routine.

9. Let lose your creative side and doodle. This is a great way to visualize your conscious and subconscious thoughts. Whip out a pen and give it a go.
10. Quit and remove whatever doesn’t add value to your life. Bootstrap your life. Have the ability to simplify your life, eliminating the unnecessary so that the required and necessary can come alive.

However if you are not like me and you struggle with your mornings, then this is the blog for you!

If you’re trying to convince yourself to be more of a morning person, the below list will give you some wonderful ways you can enjoy the mornings so much, you may even want to get up earlier. The idea is to make the each morning count and make the most of them. This could be: relaxing moments with a good cup of coffee, spending a little time working on a creative hobby or just enjoying a few minutes of extra cuddle time with your pooch.

See below:

1. Set some time aside to journal or read a book. You could even blog.

2. Have a beautiful breakfast. Eggs, porridge, pancakes, bacon or even a smoothie. Have whatever you want. Who wouldn’t want this?

3. The morning hours can be an ideal time to get work done, especially when you have a wonderful work space. If you have a side hustle, or you are wanting to start one. Spend some time working on this.

4.  Afternoons can get long and evenings busy, so if you’re most productive in the AM make sure you set aside some time to do a favorite hobby that might otherwise get ignored. This can be anything from scrap-booking, working in your veggie garden or even painting.

5. Have leisurely mornings where you have coffee with your favorite people (friends/family).

6. Start your day off right with a morning routine of exercise, HITT, a jog, a run or even some yoga.

7. Make someone else’s day by writing a few notes while you’re sipping your coffee. 

8. Some mornings are just going to be hectic, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fit in a stylish selfie or two.

9. Some mornings are just meant to be spent with our best friend. (puppy, kittens, guinea pig?)

10. Hydrating first thing in the morning will help you feel energized during the rest of the day. Adding lemon boosts your metabolism and keeps your skin clear. If you have trouble drinking enough water, try making flavored water to keep things more interesting.

11. Do some smart meal-planning. Having extra time in the morning means you can pack healthy lunches for the rest of the week so you don’t splurge on unhealthy meals.

These are just 11 random yet insightful ways you can spice up your morning, however there are plenty more, and I am sure you would have your own routines you love to live by. (feel free to share).

“If you want to have the time of your life, change how you use the time in your life.” ― Tim Fargo