2 Morning Habits That Will Change Your Entire Day

If you’ve ever felt the weight of daily responsibilities and the pressures to perform at your best without a clear strategy for how to do it, this video is for you.

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"Rise and grind! Master your day! Go hard or go home!" Ummmm…okay….but HOW?

HOW do you perform to your highest level? Nobody's really talking about the how.

Today we're going to talk about 2 healthy morning habits that will help you achieve more in your day, and I’m going to tell you specifically HOW to do them.

And I’m happy to share that it's going to be really easy! These 2 things will set up both your body and brain to function at their best, and you’re going to notice an immediate difference in your day. And days add up to weeks, weeks add up to months…and well, I don't have to keep doing the math for you. 😉 This has the ability to change and impact your whole entire life.

And if you're anything like me, (God, I hope you're not 😜) you want to know your time and energy are well spent and you want results fast. So I promise you, if you do these 2 things, it's like Instacart: same day delivery.

HEALTHY MORNING HABIT NUMBER 1:

We've all been told we’re supposed to eat breakfast every day.

And there are so many choices for breakfast! Omelets, pancakes, eggs, bagels, muffins, cereals... I mean, so many super delicious options.

But let's get real about some breakfast foods. The tiny cookies in Cookie Crisp cereal are the same as the regular chocolate chip cookies you’d eat out of a bag. So you’re telling me eating an entire bowl of chocolate chip cookies for breakfast is a good idea?

Unfortunately, the really high sugar breakfast options send you and your blood glucose levels on a joyride: you eat the high sugar food, tons of glucose rapidly enters your bloodstream, and it reaches a peak.

And at that point you're feeling really good. You've got lots of energy and you’re totally jacked up. Yeeha!

But we know what follows a peak, right? Your blood sugar levels start to crash, you start to crash, and you're left with no energy.

And this whole process puts a lot of stress on your body and your brain.

If you've ever had that mid-morning slump – where you’d give anything for a nap, are jonesing for something sweet to eat, and you're scavenging chocolate from your coworkers - you know what I'm talking about.

And to make matters worse, when we have too much caffeine, it triggers the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Which is bad enough. But our natural cortisol levels are highest in the morning, so when we add caffeine, we’re doubling down on our stress. 😩

And all of this has the makings of a huge disaster.

So what’s the best thing to eat for breakfast?

THE ANSWER IS PROTEIN.

Protein slows the release of glucose (energy) into your bloodstream so you don't have that mid-morning slump where you’re just trying to keep your eyes open and your face engaged on that Zoom call.

This also means you’re going to have better energy, mental focus, productivity, you're not going to be irritable, and most importantly you're not going to be hangry.

So how much protein?

Don’t worry, you’re not going to have to weigh your food or count calories. You're simply just going to use your hand.

The amount of protein you should have at breakfast (and your other 2 main meals) is the same size as the palm of your hand - both diameter and thickness.

• Maybe you're going to have chicken or turkey sausage or breakfast ham. So simply put the portion size into the context of the diameter and thickness of the palm of your hand.

• Perhaps you want nut butter as your protein. Make it the same diameter as your palm, but only a thin layer.

• For things like cottage cheese, yogurt, any sort of dairy product, eggs or beans, you'll just change the shape of your hand into a handful, and imagine how much would stay in your cupped hand. (And no, not piled high like the game of Jenga – just how much would naturally stay in it. 😛)

HEALTHY MORNING HABIT #2

And this brings us to our second healthy morning habit, which is specifically for your brain. It’s grounded in science and supported by multiple research studies.

It's an I.V. for your brain: Intention and Visualization.

Now I know you might be thinking, “Come on, Jenny. Are we going to really do this woo-woo hocus-pocus kind of thing?”

But almost all successful professional athletes do this and 70-90% of Olympians do this.

Sit down with your calendar or your to-do list and ask yourself these 3 questions:

1. Who needs my full and best energy today at work? Who needs it at home?

2. How do I want to show up with certain people? In certain meetings? On certain projects? At home?

3. What do I need to do to accomplish these?

And as you think about these questions, visualize yourself in these scenarios giving your full and best energy to who or what is really important. Science shows that when we visualize ourselves doing something, it increases the odds of us doing it.

So if you start your day with protein and your I.V., you're sure to have a fantastic day!

Now, speaking of morning routines… Maybe you like to work out in the morning, but sometimes your alarm goes off and you think “I can't. I just want to sleep. What do I do? Do I skip my work out? Do I get more sleep?”

This is a common question and I have the answer. Just watch this video!