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ISBN9781950785469
Ebook ISBN9781950785476
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YOU ARE A MORNING PERSON
WHATS YOUR PERFECT MORNING?
MORNING PROLOGUE
POWER BREAKFASTS
SWEAT CHANGES EVERYTHING
EVEN STRONGER BONDS
THE POWER OF MEDITATION
SELF-CARE STARTS EARLY
GET IT ALL DONE
WIN YOUR WEEKEND
HAPPY PLACE
My favorite place to wake up? The mountains of Durango, Colorado.
P EOPLE ASK ME ALL THE TIME, How do you start your day with so much energy and enthusiasm? Where do you find that fire to get after it? My passion for mornings begins with the knowledge that how I start my day is exactly how Ill live my day. Once you believe that, like I do, youll do whatever it takes to own your morning.
The truth is, I was not born this way. My journey to becoming a morning person reminds me of lifting weights at the gym: The more you flex a muscle, the stronger it becomes. Im mostly a happy person (phew). But the reality is that I am not a superwoman. I just play one on TV (or more accurately, on my Instagram account!).
Kicking my day off right enables me to give my best effort in each hour that follows. So I am disciplined about my mornings and take care of myself the way I would my three kiddosboy-girl twins Charlie and Lucy, and their little brother, George.
For example, imagine your child has a soccer game tomorrow morning. Would you let him stay up late watching movies? No way! Hed be rubbing his eyes and weepy from fatigue before the game. Would you walk him out the front door without a healthy breakfast? Absolutely not. Hed have a stomachache from hunger pains. What if you forgo the jacket or sweatpants? Good luck actually making it to soccer if hes cold and uncomfy!
The point is: Youd anticipate everything he needs to feel his best out thereand to minimize the chance of a meltdown along the way. Ive learned over time that I am basically a toddler in an adult womans body. If Im cold, Im cranky. If I dont get enough sleep, Im oversensitive. If Im hungry, I cant hustle. So I anticipate everything I need to tee up an awesome a.m.
This book is the blueprint to making the mostwhatever that means to youof those first few hours and minutes of your day. In chapters one and two, youll identify your core values: the ways you spend your energy, time, and resources.
Once youre clear on your values, youll leverage them to align your morning routine with your goals, hopes, and dreams. The remaining chapters are filled with science-backed suggestions from researchers, doctors, athletes, engineers, actors, poets, and the editors of Womens Health for how to do just that. So feel free to read this book choose-your-own-adventure style. Or soak it all up. Its your journey.
But any healthy choice you make is good. So congrats on a very excellent one: reading this book! It means youre already improving your well-being and on the way to owning your morning.
Seriously, anyone can become one.
No matter what your current a.m. routine looks like, you already have the power inside yourself to transform it into a healthier, happier experience. Think of the first few hours after you wake like a warm-up that will prime you for all of the unexpected twists and turnsand possibilities!that the rest of the day has in store.
Although I groan at my early alarm just like everyone else (right?!), Im always better for it when I begin my day before the rest of the city is up.
My ideal morning includes coffee, a bit of work to get a jump start, a feel-good sweat, and some quality (ahem, chaotic) time with my three young children, my husband, and my puppy.
According to my parents, I wasnt always this enthusiastic about mornings. My dad and I still laugh about how the only way he could convince me to jog or play tennis with him before 8 a.m. in high school was if he promised me wed get a very large latte afterward. (Clearly, coffee has always been nonnegotiable.)
It didnt matter if I promised him the night before that Id wake up early or if I was training for a big tournament and could use the extra practice. When he came knocking on my door in the morning with a gentle Lizboo? it felt impossible to unglue my head from my soft, warm pillow. I know Im not alone. (Two of my three kiddos are firmly on Team Pillow.) Were not all born morning people, but Im guessing you wouldnt mind becoming one.
There is hope. Fast-forward to the present, and I am up at 5:17 a.m. most days, ready to get after my to-do list. (Cheerfully, even, once the caffeine kicks in!) Now, I consider owning my morning to be my superpower. And the cool thing is, I can teach you how to do it, too, whether you are starting at ground zero or just want to ), there are science-backed ways to train yourself to become one.