To have a great day, do these 5 things well

The majority of us work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. In the mornings, we don't do much, relax in the evenings, and then have weekends off. If you're not in this system, you might be in one similar to it, such as shift work, or you might be self-employed/freelance and your working hours aren't as structured. Whatever situation you find yourself in, there are 5 things you can do to make your day better.

Breakfast

“Breakfast is everything. The beginning, the first thing. It is the mouthful that is the commitment to a new day, a continuing life.” — A.A. Gill

Our idea around breakfast is that it has to be a certain meal; perhaps poached eggs on sourdough toast accompanied with smashed avocado. This isn’t the case though, many people out there don’t actually like ‘breakfast foods’, and that’s fine, eat whatever you want for breakfast, you could have a burrito, or what others would call dinner. Breakfast literally means to break your fast — no one ever defined what with, it’s just the first meal you have after sleeping.

There is one important thing though, you want breakfast to be full of foods that will give you energy without making you feel too heavy for the day ahead, and you don’t want to just eat a bowl of cereal or a croissant and a black coffee. Treat yourself to a brilliant breakfast. You will feel ready for the day after it.

Exercise

“Exercise not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude, and your mood.” — Your Positive Oasis

The thought of exercising can easily stop people from exercising — but don’t be that person. Exercise is hard, it pushes our body out of a comfort zone and into a space where we’re sweaty, out of breath and perhaps feel our muscles burning. But the feeling you get from exercise cannot be replicated by anything else.

You can exercise whenever you like and whenever fits your schedule; in the morning before work, at lunch or in the evening. Though I tend to find that starting my day with exercise — a run and a HIIT workout — gives me a great energy boost and prepares me for the day ahead. Doing the most difficult thing of the day first means I don’t spend all day thinking about it or potentially stopping myself from doing it. And I feel great because I’ve done it.

Not only that, we all know exercise is good, we all know we need to move our bodies as much as we can — especially if we’re typically sat at a desk all day. Even just a walk in the morning is good exercise, just make sure you’re giving your body that chance to stretch and move, you will feel great after — better than you will if you just lie in bed scrolling through Instagram.

Get outside

“Take a walk outside - it will serve you far more than pacing around in your mind” — Rasheed Ogunlaru

Go for a run (killing two birds with one stone), walk to work, go to a park for lunch, take an evening stroll with your friends or family, whatever it is, get outside. Breathe the fresh air. Bathe in the sunlight. Stomp around in the mud. Notice the trees swaying in the wind and the birds singing on the rooftops.

We are natural creatures and we need to be outside, we need to enjoy the world around us. Not only is this good for our body - getting exercise as we walk around the streets - but it’s good for our mind, to be active and outdoors calms our anxieties.

Socialise

“A day spent with friends is always a day well spent”

Introverts may disagree, but we are social creatures. Throughout evolution, we have always been social creatures. That doesn’t mean you need to hang around with 20+ people or go to a party. I personally prefer hanging out with 1 or two people at a time, it means you can really dedicate and invest time in those people.

We tend to live in our minds a lot and socialising with a good friend means that we can discuss, we can learn and we can listen. Socialising allows us to have fun and create memories, or just spend time with the people we love -something we won’t regret later on.

And try to socialise in person. I know this is tough especially as we’re currently still in a global pandemic, but socialising through a screen is not the same as being in someone’s presence.

No screen time

“Some days, we just need to turn the quiet up” — Dr. SunWolf

There’s typically not a day that goes by where we don’t check Instagram or Whatsapp, where we don’t watch Netflix or YouTube. But our mind is constantly being bombarded with information through small screens.

Screens are relatively new, our bodies our evolved to stare at screens all day, so besides from the physical health consequences, we are also met with mental health issues when we are constantly glued to a screen.

Take a walk and leave your phone at home. Don’t use a screen for the first hour in the morning or the last hour before sleeping. Whatever it is, replace screen time with time outdoors seeing real things, or pick up a book, or learn a new skill. Replace screen time with doing. Invest in yourself and your time, instead of spending an hour on the Instagram explore page or watching YouTube Haul videos.

Everyone is different, we all have different commitments, schedules and priorities. But, we tend to not reflect on how we’re investing our time. We don’t tend to reflect on how what we’re doing makes us feel. So take a look at what you’re doing and see if it’s benefitting you. If not, try replacing it. Start building good daily habits like the ones above to have kick ass days. To appreciate your time and days more. We can feel like we float through life, our days full with work, our evenings a time to relax, our weekends time to get chores done, or to go shopping, or to party, but rather than living for the weekend, or waiting a year for that two-week holiday, make changes in your everyday life to really make the most of it and feel great every single day.

“Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to.” — Henry James