4 Things Every Boss Should Be Doing Before 8am

Survey: Who here sets their alarm for 30 minutes before they absolutely need to get out of bed then proceeds to hit snooze at least 3 times? Not going to lie, I used to be guilty of this exact move.  Then one day I just realized that I can either continue to lay in this comfy cozy bed and dream about how I want my life to turn out or I can get up, put some pants on, do the work and make my dream life happen. Obviously I chose the later. Everyday I wake up around 5:30am yes even on "weekends" and I do the same routine to get my brain ready to make shit happen. Here's what I do.

Drink Water

First thing I get out of bed and drink a huge glass of water, because after being asleep your body and most importantly your brain is thirsty. Your brain requires water to function and to make shit happen properly, you may think coffee first but nope water first then coffee.

Mediate

 I mean seriously if this is something big time businesswomen like Oprah swears by I'm going to try and do it.  Also, not going to lie, meditating takes work y'all. Quieting your brain first thing in the morning when you are thinking of all the things you need to accomplish that day is tough.  Here's the thing though mediation is like the anti aging regime for the brain. It helps curb mind-wandering, is an effective anti-depressant and anti-anxiety treatment, increases focus and more. When it comes to meditation, anything helps, whether it's only five minutes or as long as an hour. I'm still training myself to do this and I'm only up to 15 minutes, I'm working my way to 30 minutes. 

Eat Breakfast

My nutritionist wants me to eat 30 grams of protein 30 minutes within waking, and here's why.  While you sleep, your body is doing a ton of maintenance, and part of that means it dips into your fat stores. When you give your body sugar in the morning, it’ll burn the sugar. Eating protein right away after waking  has been shown to increase energy levels throughout the day, reduce snacking and even improve short-term memory.

Make a list

I'm a big calendar blocker, meaning that I block out sets of times for certain tasks but also while  eating my breakfast and scrolling my feeds I brain dump all the things that have come into my mind. This is an awful way to make a list for the day, so I take my brain dump and narrow it down to things that need or can  be achieved that day. 

Then I drink the coffee, fire up my computer and begin kicking ass for the day. 

You Are A Badass

There is one book that I ask every woman business owner that I meet if they have read, the book, "You Are A Badass" by Jen Sincero. If they tell me they haven't read it I tell them to get a copy right now.

The truth is this book changed my life. There I was fired from my Chicago job, and 3 months into living in my parents basement in Wisconsin and one day I saw the bright yellow cover on a Target run and spent $15 I really shouldn't have on it.  

I had not lived in my hometown for 16 years. But there I was heart broken, living on my Etsy income and wondering what the fuck am I going to do to get out of this basement.  For seven years I had been coming out to Portland to visit my friend and each time I would visit we would say how awesome it would be if I would just move here. But those were the days when I was in Chicago, living the life with a man that I loved and thought loved me back. Wrong. First we broke up, devastating. Two years later I was fired from my job and I took the universes cues that it was high time to get the hell out of Chicago. Besides my friends there wasn't anything left for me there. Chicago had literally broken me. 

From reading the book I learned that everything you want you are completely capable of achieving, it's changing your thinking. And changing your thinking is fucking hard. You have to do all this work of getting to know your real self, deal with your demons and what it is  that is truly holding you back from living the life you want.  You see a lot of scary stuff when you start unlocking your subconscious and start to get over the fear of not knowing all the scary stuff that's on the other side. But you begin to gain confidence and trust in yourself, because sub consciously you already know how it's going to turn out and it isn't going to be that scary, the universe won't let it be that scary.

Every night while getting ready for bed in the basement bathroom I would tell the universe what I wanted, " I want to live in Portland, Oregon" "I want to run a social media management business as my job" "I want an apartment with big windows that let in a lot of natural light" I wrote it on post it notes, I told anyone that would listen and said it over and over in my head until finally eight months later my pod was packed with the things I couldn't bear to sell, my car was gassed up to drive across the country and it became "I live in Portland, Oregon" "I run a social media management business" and "I have a some what natural light filled apartment" .

We as humans are capable of greatness, we weren't put on this planet to schlep off to work a 9-5 job and pay bills. Each of us has a purpose, a calling, a greatness. The hardest part is figuring out what yours is.

The other night I got to meet Jen at a book talk for her new book "You Are A Badass At Making Money". Of course I have the book, right now I'm not that far into it but I will tell you all about it once I finish.  While I was chatting with her as she signed my copy I told her the Cliff Notes version of my story and that my new mantra is "Six Figures By 40" the smile that came across her face was priceless. She asked me how old I was now, and after I told her in all seriousness she said "You got this girl" and fist bumped me. Is she supposed to say things like that, absolutely she's a life coach and a self help book writer, however I see what I've accomplished in only a little over a year and know with some guidance and more work at my "spiritual gym" I will unlock my true greatness, my real calling. Seriously though go read the book, because we are all badasses.