Tag: productivity

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Health

Small Steps That You Can Do Now To Have Successful Habits as a Adult

I am going to guess that you are here because you are like me, being a teenager. You want to be successful as an adult. You want to be productive, have a healthy lifestyle, get things done, and you want to do it all before you are officially an “adult.” But sometimes it is hard to find videos or blog posts that are about productivity for teens. If this relates to you in any way, then this is the right post and the right blog for you.

(Side note: Any apps I suggest in this post I am suggesting because I love them. I am not sponsored by any apps.)

Start expanding your brain now

You don’t have to be an adult to improve yourself. There are plenty of ways to grow as a person as a teen. Some of my favorites are reading productivity books for teens, or watching Ted Talks. I also really love Deepstash. This app you can get on your phone. All that it requires is an email. This is another thing I suggest. I have a whole separate email address to sign up for newsletters and apps. I am signed up to many different newsletters on self improvement blogs, so I receive around 2-5 emails from those daily. In the case of an emergency, I could completely delete this email address. I suggest getting one of those types of emails.

Take care of your body

As a teen, it’s so amazing to have that experience of just going to get ice cream, or going to Starbucks. But as a teen you are also pressured to have clear skin and a great body. I would like to say, that you can have both! But being a teen is the best time to learn to make a salad, or get into juices. You can experiment, and start building that love for your health and your body now. Find something that works for you, and make it fun.

Build healthy habits

Bad habits are so easy to create, why can’t good ones be too? But sadly this isn’t the case. If you want to learn how to build a habit, here are 7 easy steps. Being a teen means you can create healthy habits such as journaling, and make them fun. If you want to learn more about journaling you can find that here. An app I greatly suggest is Productive. The purpose of this app is very clear. They allow you to choose habits, and customize them to be exactly how you want them to be. I love this app so much. They allow you to experience many different habits, and give you suggestions. Building healthy habits as a teen will allow you to have healthy habits when you are older.

Find a purposeful hobby

When I say “purposeful” I mean a hobby that will make you into who you want to be. I have plenty of examples in this post, and how to develop your hobby. I am going to dive deeper into this with some examples. I have a slackline in my backyard. Yes. One of those lines you string between two tree’s. When I got my slackline I decided that slacklining would be my “skill.” I would learn how to do tricks, and flips. Thinking about this now, I am glad I abandoned that. I am still in love with my slackline and to love to work on my skills, but it is not my purposeful hobby. My purposeful hobby is writing, and in extension blogging. This is hobby that can do so much for me in the future, especially compared to slacklining. This is what I mean by finding a purposeful hobby.

Putting to use all that I have given you here will mean that you are well on your way t being a happy and successful teen and adult. Go check out my other posts for more ways you can create a healthy lifestyle.

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Health

7 Easy Steps to Developing a Healthy Habit

1. Clearly decide on a habit you want to create

If you want something to become a habit for you, there can be no fluctuation. Basically, you can’t change your habit half way through. Take a minute, and think about your own limits and expectations. Make sure your habit is reachable but also fulfilling. A habit I am using these steps for right now to create is I want to get up at 6 a.m. I think this will take me a week to make a habit, and it will definitely be hard. I know this habit is right for me because I have thought about how much more time I would have to be productive. Think of what you are getting out of your habit.

2. Never allow exceptions

No cheat days, no breaks. The goal with a habit is that you won’t want a cheat day or a break. So taking a cheat day or a break will tell your brain that this is something bad, that you don’t want to do, so it will be way harder to convince your brain to do it on it’s own. Also, taking one cheat day or break will tell YOU that it’s fine to take a break or cheat day, as long as you keep going. Bt you are not creating a habit. You are just getting up at six a.m. They are not the same thing. You want your body to want to wake up at 6 a.m. Or at least expect it.

3. Let others know about your goal, and keep track of it

Tell your friends, tell your family. It’s amazing how much more motivated and determined you will be if you know that people are watching you, to see if you have the willpower to pull through and create that habit you so desperately want. They will keep on track, and will support you. Also, a great place to keep track of your goal or goals is a bullet journal. I have a whole post about how to use one here.

4. Visualize yourself enacting your habit

Visualization is one of the most important tools, ever. Your brain does not know the difference between dreams and reality. If you visualize what you want to happen, there is a way bigger chance of it coming true. For example lets take my habit-in-progress, getting up at six a.m. I am going to relax my body, and imagine getting up at six a.m. I will imagine how it will feel. I will be tired, but excited at all the extra time. I will feel more productive and ready to get things done. I then imagine what I will do with this extra hour. Some yoga, write another post, get some homework done. Visualize all of it, and keep that vision in your head.

5. Create affirmations for your habit

What is an affirmation? An affirmation is a statement, that you repeat over and over until you believe it. For example, an affirmation I repeat every night and morning is, I love my body and my mind. I usually repeat this affirmation around five times. An affirmation for a habit could look like, I am going to wake up right before my alarm clock goes off feeling refreshed. If you make an affirmation for your habit, and repeat it at the optimal times of he day, you will start to see what you say is becoming your reality.

6. Persist until it is automatic

This step is all about dedication, willpower, and discipline. Just keep enacting your habit, and focus on having the thoughts and feelings you would have if you had this habit. Always keep pushing. Find strategies that you can use to create your habit. For example, I have looked up how to wake up earlier, and enacted those tips and strategies. Use outside sources.

7. Reward yourself!

Give yourself a reward for enacting that behavior or habit. When you are giving yourself a reward, you are creating positive connections in your brain with the habit. This is opposite of what happens when you take a break or have a cheat day. You are reinforcing positive connections in your brain with the action, instead of negative ones. You can find many great rewards here.

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Health

The 7 Best Hacks That Will Start Your Day Early and Refreshed

9 Productive Tasks You Need to do Before 8 a.m

Drink a glass of water first thing

Drinking some water revitalizes your entire body. It lets your brain and your soul know that its time to get up. Get out of bed, and drink some water. Drinking water in the morning will also train your brain, and you will be drinking more water throughout the day! If you want to learn why this is so important, you can find that in this post. This is such a great habit for you out there with acne. Find more easy tips for acne here.

Plan your morning the evening before

Take just ten minutes in the evening to plan out your morning. I have a schedule that I love using every morning, but I know people who like to make a different morning schedule every evening. Put out your clothes, plan your breakfast, plan out anything productive you want to do in the morning. Doing all of this will make your mornings so much easier. Especially if you put a fun activity into your schedule or a self-care item. Having the time to do something for yourself in the morning and not have to rush is one of the greatest feelings in the world. A great way to plan your morning, and see all your previous schedules is a bullet journal.

Stop hitting snooze and go wash your face

Believe it or not, hitting snooze and getting 10 minutes of rest doesn’t get you anything. Meanwhile, you could be meditating, getting some exercise, or making your To-Do list. You get no real rest from those ten minutes. Force yourself, get out of bed, put a smile on, and go splash some water on your face. This will immediately wake you up, and you will mysteriously not want to go back to bed! Wow! Washing your face is both great for your skin, and a great way to start your morning.

1 to 20 rule

You might be wondering, what is this rule? I’ve never heard of it. Well, the 1 to 20 rule means don’t go on your phone 1 hour before bed, or twenty minutes after getting up. I’m even stretching it a little because I know that it is really hard to stay off your phone. I find that I am always making excuses for why I need to check my phone. Does my friend need the google meet link for class? Do I have any DMS I have to respond to? Trust me, I know that feeling. The way to combat this is by coming up with another productive task to do instead. For example, I like to add to my vision board in the morning. Or meditate, or make my To-Do list, or make a healthy breakfast. These are all great productive tasks to do in the morning.

Get some quick exercise

Do some jumping jacks, or burpees, and then always stretch or do some quick yoga. Exercising in the morning stimulates your muscles, and gets you sweating. You will feel way more refreshed if you get your body moving. Sleep is like paralysis. To fully wake up and get your day started, you need to come out of that paralysis and get your body moving. Not to mention exercise releases endorphins, and who would want to give up some extra endorphins? If you just can’t find the motivation to roll out of bed and workout, find great motivation in this post!

Eat a healthy breakfast!

Food is fuel, and in the morning you can use all the fuel you can find. A quick healthy breakfast idea I love is avocado toast with a fried egg on top. YUM! Breakfast gives you the much-needed nutrients you need in the morning. It’s called breakfast because you are quite literally breaking the fast you go through when you sleep. Give your body that boost and take some time to make a nice breakfast. Making a fun great breakfast is a great form of self-care.

Go outside and get in nature

Feeling the sun on your face, seeing the flowers blooming, okay. Maybe this isn’t the case all the time, but research shows that being outside can help you wake up and jumpstart your day. Not to mention it calms you down and can relieve your worries. I love meditating outside in the morning, it really gets me ready for the day, and lets me breathe the fresh air. Maybe do your quick workout out there, or eat out there.

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Health

11 Life Hacks That Will Forever Change How You Think of Exercise

You don’t have to exercise for 30 minutes, every day for the next year

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Yup. You see all those fitness gurus’s out there, exercising every day, with that “perfect” body, and you want that. But have you thought that they didn’t start as a fitness guru? They also have a backstory, and a beginning, where they were the beginner just like you. So you start how you want to start. If that’s just a 10 minutes yoga in the morning then that’s okay!

Find your jam. YOUR jam, no one elses

Not everyone’s exercise preferences are the same. NO ONE’S exercise preferences are the same. You need to find the right workout, the right music, the right setting for you. And that takes time, you are allowed to take time to find what works for you, as long as you get up in the morning and do a workout. Any workout.

Break it up

If you are putting off exercise because you simply don’t have enough time to relax and do a 30-minute cardio workout, then the answer is simple. Break up your workouts. Do three, intense cardio workouts over the course of the day. There are also plenty of other ways to break up whatever workout you are doing. If you want help figuring out how to plan your workouts I suggest you follow the steps in this post or email me at sadellehealthylifestyle@gmail.com

Set goals, and write ’em out!

Goals. goals, goals goals. Hard to make, harder to follow. But the best to complete. Setting your goals and then writing them out will make you 80% more likely to complete them. A great place to keep track of your goals is a bullet journal. You can find exactly why and how you can make them here.

Start small and build-up

This ties back to my first tip, but no one can start off with 30 minutes of cardio every day. Start small and build up to that. Maybe you will see a bit slower progress in the beginning but it will be way easier to stay committed to if you build up slowly at your own pace.

Look for opportunities, not excuses

Often times when you come upon your workout time, you will look for an excuse not to do it. I have more homework, or I have to clear the dishwasher, or we are eating dinner. With this mindset, all you will ever feel is a failure. Instead, switch your mindset. Look for opportunities to work out. Look for reasons you should be working out right now, like the great feeling you will have, or how after you will be ravenous for dinner.

Work with your life not against it

This ties back to the tip before it, but you need to work with your life not against it. Don’t try to change what is already a set routine in your home, change your perspective, and work with your routines. When will be a great time to workout? When will I enjoy some me time, and a chance to get off my butt?

Forgive yourself and stay positive!

You are not perfect! You are going to have some bad days where you skip workouts. No one is perfect. Not even those influencers you see on TikTok or Instagram. (If you don’t know what TikTok is then I don’t know where you’ve been.) Focus on how you are going to recover and keep going, don’t stray on the past. Stay positive and hopeful for the future!

Plan, plan, plan, oh did I forget plan?

I have talked about this in previous tips, but planning everything out is super important. I have two posts that talk about how to plan. This one is all about how to plan in a bullet journal, and this one is all about how to plan out your workouts.

Reward yourself

Rewards are fun, and a great way to convince your mind that the workout is your reward. Yes, if you get a reward right after a workout for long enough, you won’t need a reward, or a quick splash of water on the face would feel like a reward. Examples of rewards could be:

  • Cuddle with your pet
  • A SMALL cookie or treat
  • Five minutes of social media time (This is my favorite)

Track your progress

Always track your progress. It will give you strength when you feel week. It will remind you where you started, and when you look back in a couple of years, it will bring you joy, how far you have come.

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Health

The Benefits of Clearing Your Mind and How to Do It

I am sure we have all felt stress in our lives. It’s impossible to have not. But often stress gets to a level where it is no longer reasonable or productive. At this point, you might notice that all that is happening with your stress is that the same thoughts are going round and round in your head. This is called rumination. The way to stop ruminating may be easier than you think. All you have to do is clear your mind. The reasons to clear your mind are far more numerous than just no thoughts swirling around in your head.

The benefits of clearing your mind

Improved rest

When your mind is cluttered with useless tasks you have to get done it is harder to rest. Both in your bed trying to sleep, and during your “gray time” during the day. Ruminating delays the time where you stop stressing about work or school and start to relax. When you stop ruminating and clear your mind, your rest will improve all together.

Improved creativity

When you ruminate you are less likely to have a problem-solving mindset. This means if you are ruminating you are more likely to “take your work home with you.” You will not be able to see solutions, and are not able to see the problem in front of you, and are stuck with your own worries. If you are able to stop ruminating you will be better at solving problems and will have more room in your mind for creative thinking.

How to clear your mind

Meditation

Meditating is a great way to refocus your brain and clear it of any annoying lingering thoughts. You just find a quiet place and relax. Observe the thoughts that are causing you stress and let them go. This might not make much sense, or be easy, (it was definitely not easy for me!) but a great way to start is just focusing on your breathing. Your thoughts will come floating out to you, and if you just focus on your breathing you can observe those thoughts, without becoming attached.

Create mindfulness

What is mindfulness? Mindfulness in simple terms is being completely focused on one activity. This is a great option for busy people, because you do not have to stop all activity like meditation, and can be productive while clearing your mind. Completing one task using mindfulness can be very restorative, and very productive. Focus all your energy and thought into that one task, and get it done.

Expressive writing

If your mind is full of stressful thoughts, then a great way to get them out is by writing them down. I particularly like writing my thoughts down because while I find meditating insanely useful its easier for me to identify the root of my stress if I write my thoughts out. A great place to write your thoughts out is a bullet journal. A whole post about bullet journals can be found here.

Distract yourself!

Sometimes all you can do is distract yourself. Go workout, if you want motivation you can find it here. Or find a hobby! Hobbies are so great to better yourself and learn new skills and clear your mind. I have a post all about how to find the hobby right for you here. You could also do something that will make you smile. I personally love to put on a face mask and drink some tea. If you don’t have tea, drink some hot lemon water! It’s so calming and a great detox.

Categories
Health

29 Ways to Spend Your Free Time More Productively

  1. Reading
  2. Journaling (hint: a whole post about why and how to journal here)
  3. Walking
  4. Drawing
  5. Learning a language
  6. Cleaning
  7. Meditating
  8. Cooking
  9. Learning to play chess
  10. Dancing
  11. Learning to code
  12. Scrapbooking
  13. Cleaning out inbox
  14. Call an old friend
  15. Take online classes
  16. Find a hobby (hint: a whole post about finding a hobby here)
  17. Self-care
  18. Research something you didn’t know
  19. Make to-do lists
  20. Add important dates to your calendar
  21. Listen to Ted talks
  22. Start social media accounts (a whole post on making your accounts positive here)
  23. Spend time with friends and family
  24. Set goals and make a plan for completing them
  25. Listen to good music and chill
  26. Write a story, any type
  27. Make a time capsule
  28. Enter into competitions (Hint: Writing, cooking, any type!)
  29. Start a blog!