I have somehow become the ‘go-to gal’ of my friends for either restaurant recommendations, unique gift ideas, solutions for everyday challenges, or, more often, how I manage to stay generally positive. Today I thought I’d share with you the top 5 things I can’t live without!
A GREAT MORNING ROUTINE
I used to get up in the morning and immediately check my to-do list, followed by emails which led me to get sucked in to the vortex of my inbox. Over time, not surprisingly, I dreaded getting up and certainly wasn’t very excited to start my day. Being a believer in the law of attraction and the importance of setting my intentions for the day, I realized that I couldn’t possibly expect a different outcome if I kept on doing the same unfulfilling thing every single day. I decided to change my morning routine into a calmer, more constructive one. I thought about all the little things I could do that bring me joy that don’t take up a lot of time, and also what brings other people in my life joy and how I could be of service to them.
I always wanted to learn to meditate, but my mind always raced a mile-a-minute. So I started to learn about different meditation practices, and for about a year now, I stuck to the one that resonated the most for me. Now, the start of my day is completely different – I spring out of bed excited to seize the day. I’ll meditate for 10-20 minutes, then I’ll either journal or read something that inspires me that I can ponder for the rest of the day.
Sometimes it’s a book, an article or simply a quote or an intention. One of my favourite quotes is “My day flows with ease and grace”. I’ll write it on my white board in my office. Even if it’s one of those days that doesn’t flow that well, the simple act of reading it reminds me to come back to my centre. I often will listen to either a podcast or youtube video by one of my favourite authors. Then I’ll make myself a big latte bowl and will sit and savour it before I get on with my day. This routine is much more motivating, uplifting, and sets the right tone for the day!
MY ESPRESSO MACHINE
My Jura Impressa coffee machine should actually be first on this list. Sure, it’s an upfront investment but given that I drink at minimum 4 lattes a day, it’s worth its weight in gold. Considering that a latte is almost 5 bucks a shot, the machine paid for itself in the first 3 months! My machine produces the smoothest, creamiest espresso with the loveliest cream… all with a single touch of a button! Yes, I’m spoiled.
EVERNOTE
Evernote is hands down my favourite App. If I could only have ONE, this would be the most useful! Evernote is a cross platform note-taking app. You can access it on ALL of your devices (desktop, laptop, mobile phone or tablet). It allows you to create notebooks where you can organize different categories of things or you can create a single random note. Your notes can be as simple as creating a to-do or shopping list, or writing a full essay. You can also save full web pages or excerpts, photographs, voice memos, hand written notes, scans or full attachments.
I use it for both business and personal. For instance, I have a “client notebook” where I keep a single live note for each on-going project. Or I’ll use it to keep a notebook on recommended products or recipes, what size furnace filters I should get (which I can easily access on my phone in the middle of Home Depot), what type of toner cartridges to buy…you get the idea.
Sure, I still love to buy pretty notebooks and I put a lot of effort into sourcing just the right ones, but truth be told, if I had a notebook for every category, I would have 148 notebooks (the number of notebooks I actually have in the app) and thousands of single notes within those notebooks. I couldn’t carry all of them with me at all times, even if I tried! EVERNOTE let’s me have all my notes at my fingertips.
A SIT DOWN LUNCH
A day in the life of our agency can be quite hectic. We come in and greet each other in the morning, we each grab our coffee and then we’re off to the races – we tackle the day’s challenges and make sure we deliver on our promises to our clients. Sometimes I feel like I blink and the day is over. So it’s important to me that the team takes a lunch break and that we eat together at the kitchen table. It’s an opportunity to catch our breath, update each other on what’s going on in our lives personally, joke around and shoot the sh*t. I relish this time we have together.
MY HAPPY CHAIR
A gift from my husband for one of my big birthdays, this chair is pure magic! It’s a big round lounger with lots of fluffy pillows that embrace me all around. When I lie in it, whether it’s only for five minutes or for several hours, I know that all is right in my world. And this is often how I like to wrap up my day, curled up in my happy chair with a good book!
So there you have it. My top 5 must have’s/do’s for the day. Without them, I don’t even think I’d want to get out of bed!!
I’d love to hear about how you start your day. What are the things you can’t live without? Let’s catch up over a latte…my treat!
Posted by: Maria