One of the secrets of making changes that stick, is starting so small that you don’t wake up the Chicken Little part of your brain. It’s that idea of setting yourself up for success, because even the tiniest of successes are encouraging.
Yes I know, there’s also the hard part of starting small. You want to make a change now dammit! And that tiny step is still So. Far. Away. from what it is you really want.
I’m asking you to trust me on this.
At a minimum, you’ll get at least that tiny step closer (which you aren’t doing now) and, the much more likely scenario, it’s just the first step to getting what you really want.
And that’s the idea behind Happy Changes. A list of tiny changes you can experiment with over the next week. And beyond.
Choose one of these things, one that feels completely and utterly doable to you, even if you aren’t sure it will make a difference, and play with it this week. Let me know how it goes here, in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or Facebook.
Happy Mornings
Are you a natural-born morning person? I’m not. And I don’t like coffee, so that’s no help either! While I’m rarely ready to get up and go as soon as the alarm goes off, I have learned some ways to make mornings go more smoothly, become more pleasant. And I’m always open to another tweak or two that will make the hardest part of my day a little easier, a little, mmmm, happier.
So, please, join me in playing with one of these ways to make your mornings a little happier:
- Find a place to put your keys when you get home, and put them there every time you walk in the door. If you tend to drop them in the same place, but they get lost amongst other things, put a bowl or hook there. If you always leave them in your purse, always store them in the same spot in your purse and find a home for your purse.
- Pack lunch(es) the night before.
- If you workout first thing in the morning (or want to), put your workout clothes by your bed and put them on as soon as you get up.
- Set your alarm for 10 minutes earlier than normal and do some meditation, breathing exercises, a quick walk or light stretching.
- Know what you’re going to have for breakfast before you go to sleep. This delicious sounding oatmeal makes it easy!
- Plan your day the day before. Know what your top priorities are before you kick off work for the evening.
- Wake up at the right time for your sleep cycles by using an iPhone app like MotionX-Sleep ($0.99 – loaded with features) or Sleep 101 (free – basic sleep monitoring and gentle, right-timed alarm). Using one of these alarms, has completely changed my mornings!
- Track how you spend your time in the morning and choose one thing that you could do later, and do it later.
- Decide on another tiny way to play with your mornings, and please, share it!
I’d love to hear how it goes, either here in the comments, on twitter (using the hashtag #happychanges) or on the Perception Studios Facebook page.
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Check out all the past Happy Changes.
Photo Credit: Favorite Toothbrush by r000pert
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