7 Motivational Quotes To Start Your Day, Everyday!

By
Adam East
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“ You see things and say ‘Why?’ but I dream things and say ‘Why not?’”
– George Bernard Shaw

“The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
– Mark Twain

“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”
– Winston Churchill

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
– Thomas Edison

Motivation transforms impossible dreams into realities.

Begin with this belief, EVERY OBSTACLE CONTAINS AN OPPORTUNITY.
Live by the philosophy that there is good in everything. When you face an obstacle, train your eye to see the opportunity that the obstacle contains. Doing so will empower you to solve the problem, and solving problems further motivates and strengthens your belief in yourself.

17 Fitness Truths To Get You In Great Shape

By
Adam East
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“Nothing’s better than the wind to your back, the sun in front of you, and your friends beside you.” – Aaron Douglas Trimble

1. Small steps.

That you get fitter in stages, as you exercise more, is pretty obvious I think. You might start out just walking, but as you get fitter, you might add some slow jogging to your routine. And then eventually you’re running three miles, several stages later. However, this really applies to everything, including diet, and many people don’t realize that. You shouldn’t try to change your entire diet overnight — do it in stages. Small steps, one thing at a time, and you’ll get there. Just start eating more fruits at first, for example. Then cut out sodas. Then eat more veggies for dinner. Then change your white bread for whole wheat bread. Then cut out candy at work. And so on. The thing is, you get used to each thing after awhile, and so the changes don’t seem drastic. A year later, and you’re eating extremely healthily (that word again), and you can’t imagine going back to your old diet. Small steps — this is extremely key, to both diet and exercise.

2. Find short-term rewards

. Most people quit their diet or exercise program because they’re looking for immediate results. And they’re discouraged when they don’t get them. But you won’t get immediate results. One fitness trainer said something like, “After a month, you’ll start feeling some results. After two months, you’ll start noticing results. After three months, others will start noticing.” And that’s pretty true — it takes months before you start to see the results you want … but in the meantime, you have to look for other things to keep you going. Those shorter-term rewards could be simple things like the great feeling you get after a workout — that helps me stay motivated. Or you could give yourself a treat (something healthy, preferably) or buy a book or something like that.

3. Track your progress.

The scale is probably the most popular way to see your progress, but other ways include measuring your waist, or taking photos of yourself each month. You could also track your performance — for example, do a 5K every month to see if you’re getting faster, or log your miles to see them increase. However you do it, you should have some kind of objective way to see your progress over the weeks and months. Otherwise, you might not really notice the difference — but the numbers or pictures will.

4. Enjoy yourself.

Very very important. If you see your exercise as extremely difficult, or painful, you won’t be able to sustain it for long. You’ll quit. If you see your diet as very restrictive, or torture, you’ll go back to junk food in a short while. You must find exercise that you enjoy, and find healthy foods that taste good to you. Maybe not chocolate cake good, but good nonetheless. Experiment with new recipes until you find ones you absolutely love. (Try my soup and chili recipes for example.) Above all, enjoy the whole process. It’s what’s kept me doing it — I love my new life.

5. Never ever give up.

Maybe the most important truth on this list. If you give up, you won’t get to your goal. Very obvious, I know, but the problem is that people don’t put this into action. Messing up by falling back into junk food or stopping exercise — that happens. Life gets in the way. No one is perfect. Just forget about that stuff, and move on. Learn from your failures, adjust your plan to prevent the same thing from happening again, and start again. If you stop, that’s OK — just start again. Always start again. If you do that, there’s no way you won’t eventually get to your goal.

6. Get a workout partner

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s been the key to my most recent exercise success. I began running with my sister, Katrina (who btw is an incredible inspiration — she’s come a very long way in the last year), and even though we’re at different levels, we really enjoy our runs. When we agree to meet at 5 a.m. for a run, I have to be there, or I disappoint her. And sure, once in awhile we cancel appointments, but most of the time we’re there, and we run, and that’s the important thing. These months of running with her have really gotten me in much better shape. Now I’m also running with my wife, so having two workout partners is taking me to another level. Get a workout partner. Best move I’ve ever made.

7. Brush your teeth after dinner.

This is such a simple thing, but it really helps. It makes you have that fresh, clean feeling in your mouth, and makes you not want to eat an after-dinner snack. For me, after-dinner snacks or desserts are what ruin my diet a lot of the time.

8. Vary your workouts

. This helps keep things fresh and fun. For runners, for example, don’t just do 3 miles every day at the same pace. Vary the distance, the route, the speed. Do intervals. And do stuff other than running — go hiking, go biking, play basketball, do strength training, swim, paddle. Mixing it up will get you in even better shape, challenging your body in new ways, and making it an enjoyable process.

9. Focus.

There are always a lot of things we want to accomplish, goals we want to focus on … but by spreading ourselves thin, we lose focus and energy. Focus on one thing at a time in order to really get it ingrained as a habit. For example, for one month, focus on adding healthier foods to your diet (and dropping some of the less healthy ones). After that month, it’ll be ingrained. The next month, add walking or jogging or something like that, and only focus on that. One goal at a time, one month at a time, and you’ll get healthy.

10. Rest is important.

People who really get into exercise often forget this. Without rest, exercise just keeps breaking down our muscles, and they don’t have time to recover and grow. The exercise puts stress on our bodies, and the rest allows them to adapt and improve. Without the rest, they can’t really improve. You should always follow a day of hard workouts with a day of rest. If you’ve been exercising a long time (and then you probably don’t need this article), you can do hard-easy days, or rotate different types of exercises so that parts of your body are getting rest on different days, but even then always have at least one day of complete rest, or you’ll get burned out.

11. Shoot for a year or two, not a few weeks.

There are no instant fitness fixes, no matter what that website or magazine promises. Don’t believe them. Getting fit and healthy takes time, and should be gradual. If you’ve got a long way to go, aim to be healthy after a year. Those with a very long way might shoot for two years. Those closer to the goal could try for 6 months. Main thing: gradual improvement.

12. Focus on your diet first.

I’m a huge proponent of exercise for health and other benefits, but if you’re looking to lose weight and/or fat, the biggest factor is diet. You can cut out more calories from what you eat than you can burn with exercise. Of course, both should be vital components of your fitness regiment, but start on diet first, then add exercise. Don’t think that because you are exercising you can eat whatever you want (unless you’re a marathoner or triathlete or something like that) — you won’t reach your fitness goals that way, most likely.

13. Don’t compare yourself to magazine models.

Seriously. I’m sure we’ve all done this, wishing we looked like that slim or cut or buff model on the cover of a magazine. It’s natural. However, it’s not healthy. First of all, genetics plays a key factor in how these models look — most of us don’t have body types like that. Second, these models don’t usually look like that — they go on special diets a couple weeks before a photo shoot, so they look perfect for that day. Third, most of these magazines do some pretty heavy photoshopping. And fourth, what’s important is getting a healthy body image, not trying to look like a perfect model. Focus on health, not appearance.

14. Find the exercise that works for you.

I love running, but not everybody is born to be a runner. Many people enjoy swimming or water aerobics. Many like lifting weights. Many like cycling, or tae bo, or Pilates. Others like sports like basketball or soccer or rugby. It doesn’t really matter what you choose, as long as you’re moving and you enjoy what you’re doing. Also find the solution that works best: working at the gym, going on the road (running and cycling, for example), working out at home (which I do), etc. Choose the one that you’re most likely to stick to.

15. Learn to be present.

Going back to one of the key principles above, “enjoy yourself”, one of the best ways to do that is to learn to really be present when you exercise and eat. For example, when you run, try to keep your mind in the moment, and feel your body and your breathing, and experience your surroundings as your run past them. As you eat, really taste the food and feel the textures, instead of gobbling it down mindlessly. It makes the entire experience much more enjoyable.

16. Don’t let your body adapt too much.

Sometimes we hit plateaus, where we’re still doing the same exercise but not really improving. The reason is that you have to keep changing things, either taking your exercise to a slightly higher level (gradually), or giving it new angles or routines. Otherwise, your body adapts to doing the same exercise over and over, and it stops improving. Once you start hitting a plateau, take it to a new level by increasing intensity or length of time in some way.

17. Get inspired.

Another key concept for me. I like to read blogs or websites that show me how others have been successful. One Zen Habits reader, for example, recently gave me some inspiration with his blog, Fat Man Unleashed. He’s doing a great job, making amazing progress, and it’s inspirational. Fitness magazines, for me, began to seem useless, because they just rehash the same articles over and over. But then I realized that I like to read these magazines for the inspiration, not the information. Find something to inspire you and it’ll keep you going.

“I am pushing sixty. That is enough exercise for me.” – Mark Twain

9 Great Reasons to Drink Water, and How to Form the Water Habit

By
Adam East
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We all know that water is good for us, but often the reasons are a little fuzzy. And even if we know why we should drink water, it’s not a habit that many people form.

But there are some very powerful reasons to drink lots of water every day, and forming the habit isn’t hard, with a little focus.

The thing about it is, we don’t often focus on this habit. We end up drinking coffee, and lots of soda, and alcohol, not to mention fruit juices and teas and milk and a bunch of other possibilities. Or just as often, we don’t drink enough fluids, and we become dehydrated — and that isn’t good for our health.

I’ve made drinking water a daily habit, although I will admit that a couple of years ago I was more likely to drink anything but water. Now I don’t drink anything but water, except for a cup of coffee in the morning and once in awhile a beer with dinner. I love it.

 

Here are 9 powerful reasons to drink water (with tips on how to form the water habit afterwards):

 

1. Weight loss

Water is one of the best tools for weight loss, first of all because it often replaces high-calorie drinks like soda and juice and alcohol with a drink that doesn’t have any calories. But it’s also a great appetite suppressant, and often when we think we’re hungry, we’re actually just thirsty. Water has no fat, no calories, no carbs, no sugar. Drink plenty to help your weight-loss regimen.

 

2. Heart healthy

Drinking a good amount of water could lower your risks of a heart attack. A six-year study published in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses.

 

3. Energy

Being dehydrated can sap your energy and make you feel tired — even mild dehydration of as little as 1 or 2 percent of your body weight. If you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated and this can lead to fatigue, muscle weakness, dizziness and other symptoms.

 

4. Headache cure

Another symptom of dehydration is headaches. In fact, often when we have headaches it’s simply a matter of not drinking enough water. There are lots of other causes of headaches of course, but dehydration is a common one.

 

5. Healthy skin

Drinking water can clear up your skin and people often report a healthy glow after drinking water. It won’t happen overnight, of course, but just a week of drinking a healthy amount of water can have good effects on your skin.

 

6. Digestive problems

Our digestive systems need a good amount of water to digest food properly. Often water can help cure stomach acid problems, and water along with fiber can cure constipation (often a result of dehydration).

 

Cleansing

Water is used by the body to help flush out toxins and waste products from the body.

 

Cancer risk

Related to the digestive system item above, drinking a healthy amount of water has also been found to reduce the risk of colon cancer by 45%. Drinking lots of water can also reduce the risk of bladder cancer by 50% and potentially reduce the risk of breast cancer.

 

Better exercise

Being dehydrated can severely hamper your athletic activities, slowing you down and making it harder to lift weights. Exercise requires additional water, so be sure to hydrate before, during and after exercise.

 

How to form the water habit

So you’re convinced that water is healthier, but you’d like to know more about how to make drinking water a daily habit.

 

Here are some tips that have helped me:

 

How much water?

This is a debatable question. What’s clear is that the old recommendation of “eight 8-ounce glasses a day” isn’t right, for several reasons: that amount includes all dietary water intake, including food and non-water beverages; it also ignores a person’s body weight, which is an important factor in figuring the amount; it also varies if you are sick or exercise. It’s also not good to just drink when you’re thirsty — you’re already dehydrated by then. Best is to form a routine: drink a glass when you wake up, a glass with each meal, a glass in between meals, and be sure to drink before, during and after exercise. Try to generally keep yourself from getting thirsty.

 

Carry a bottle

A lot of people find it useful to get a big plastic drinking bottle, fill it with water, and carry it around with them all day. I like to keep a glass of water at my desk, and I drink from it all day long. When it’s empty, I fill it up again, and keep drinking.

 

Set a reminder

Set your watch to beep at the top of each hour, or set a periodic computer reminder, so that you don’t forget to drink water.

 

Substitute water

If you would normally get a soda, or an alcoholic beverage, get a glass of water instead. Try sparkling water instead of alcohol at social functions.

 

Filter

Instead of spending a fortune on bottled water, invest in a filter for your home faucet. It’ll make tap water taste like bottled, at a fraction of the price.

 

Exercise

Exercising can help make you want to drink water more. It’s not necessary to drink sports drinks like Gatorade when you exercise, unless you are doing it for more than an hour. Just drink water. If you’re going to exercise, be sure to drink water a couple hours ahead of time, so that it will get through your system in time, and again, drink during and after exercise as well.

Track it

 

It often helps, when forming a new habit, to keep track of it — it increases awareness and helps you ensure that you’re staying on track. Keep a little log (it can be done on an index card or a notebook), which can be as simple as a tick mark for each glass of water you drink.

10 Secrets to Happiness I learnt from Andrew Matthews

By
Adam East
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“What is more important than being happy?” Andrew Matthews asked the audience in a seminar I attended 6 weeks back. He then started to draw funny little cartoons and continued “I learnt to draw in school during mathematics!”

Everyone bursted into laughter.

In case you don’t know who Andrew Matthews is, let me give you a little introduction. He is an international speaker on “attitude“, “being happy“, “success” and “prosperity” and the best-selling author of motivation and personal development classics like “Being Happy!” and “Follow your heart“.

Andrew is an extraordinary man and I would like to share with you what I learnt about happiness from him. Are you ready to know the 10 secrets to happiness? Listen up!

1) Be happy where you are now

Right now! Be thankful for what you have, instead of moaning about what you lack. Be satisfied with what you have when you are in pursuit of what you want.

2) Happiness, more than anything, is a choice we make every day

Happiness is a conscious decision. You choose to be happy today or you choose to be miserable. Your action/reaction is determined by how you choose to perceive a situation. Andrew gave an amusing illustration of a couple surrounded by a pack of crocodiles. The man thought “OMG Crocodiles!” while his wife thought “OMG Handbags!”

3) Happiness is understanding the things we can’t change yet and working on those we can

Some things are hard to change overnight. It’s unusual to change from a pauper into a millionaire in a day. Happiness is knowing that some things take more time. We can start by working on what we can change immediately.

4) Put a smile on your face. It changes how you think.

I was teaching a friend to ice-skate last Friday evening and there was this beautiful girl I met while getting a drink. She smiled as we both walked towards the vending machine. I smiled back and allowed her to buy her drink first.

While on the ice-skating rink, we passed each other a couple of times. I was trying to keep my friend on his feet while she was falling happily on the ice with hers. Our eyes met again. She smiled and I smiled back.

Then as she was making her way out of the rink, I smiled and waved goodbye. She smiled back. I could hear her friends asking “Is that your friend?” I didn’t catch her reply but I remembered her turning towards me with another smile. I returned the smile with a wave to her bewildered friends.

We didn’t exchange a single word. We didn’t need to. The smiles were enough to brighten up both our days.

5) Whatever you get, accept it and deal with it

All too often, when something bad happens, we are too quick to point fingers and start placing blame on everyone else. Happiness is about accepting responsibility and dealing with what comes your way. Blaming the whole world is not going to solve anything.

6) Problems = Catalyst to take Action

Andrew advises to see problems as a catalyst for us to take action. Problems are good teachers, so learn to love them. Next time, when you face a problem at work/in business, remember to run up to your boss/partner and say, “We have a huge opportunity!”

7) Learn from the elephants!

How do you eat an elephant?
Answer: One bite at a time.

What did the elephant say to the naked man?
Answer: How do you breathe through that thing?

8) Put everything you have into whatever you are doing now

Do your best (100%) and life will support you!

9) It’s not what you get. It’s what you become that matters

Know what to expect – Expect a better you.

10) No one else is going to make you happier. Work on yourself.

A lot of people get things mixed up. A wife thinks about all the bad things her husband does while a widow remembers all the good stuff. That is the ultimate recipe for misery! Isn’t it better to switch the lists around?

Work on your mindset. See things from a positive light.

Conclusion

Happiness is in the way you think. No one can make you happy except yourself. To conclude this article on happiness, I would like to share with you a video of an extraordinary dog (Faith, the two legged dog). I hope Faith will teach you something about happiness that goes beyond words.

30 things I learned about life and love

By
Adam East
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1. The more you chase, the more they run. Work on attracting (pulling) people to you instead of chasing after them.

2. Love is not about “finding your other half”. We’ve been misled to think that love is like addition… 1/2 + 1/2 = 1. No, no, no… Love is more like multiplication… so 1/2 * 1/2 = only 1/4. We need to work on ourselves, so we become whole on our own (do not need or rely on someone else to complete us)… when we do that, we begin to attract other individuals that are whole as well… Realize that 1 * 1 = 1

3. If you never ask, the answer is always no.

4. Money is just a means to an end. Sure, it’ll be great to have a lot of money but what we really want isn’t the money in and of itself… what we want is what that money can do for us… what it brings us.

5. There’s no use trying to logically convince a woman. You can’t change a girl’s mind unless you change her mood first. Wait… that works for everyone…

6. Besides “I love you”, the next best thing you can say to someone is “Thank you”. People love to feel appreciated. Why deny them such a wonderful feeling, by withholding two words that don’t cost you anything?

7. Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face… and don’t grab your crotch in public. You’re not Michael Jackson.

8. Facebook isn’t real life. Real life is when you go out and do crazy stuff. Facebook just reminds you of all those crazy stuff you did.

9. If someone slapped you, you get hurt once. If you keep replaying that movie of the person slapping you in your mind over and over again, you get hurt a thousand times. So when is NOW a good time to stop slapping yourself and start letting go?

10. Nobody likes doormats. Nobody respects doormats. Stop agreeing with everything I say. Have an opinion. It’s attractive.

11. Stop looking outwards for external things, people and events to fill up your inner void. You’re looking in the wrong place. The answer you seek is INSIDE.

12. The iphone is great… it can help you do a lot of things. But it can’t give you a hug when you’re feeling down. So stop fiddling with your iphone when you’re out with your friends… unless you’re coding the “hug me when everyone’s gone” application.

13. Spend time with your family. Take your parents out for meals and movies. It doesn’t cost a lot… but it makes them really happy.

14. When you stay EMO, you’re telling the right guy/girl who comes along: “I’m not ready for your love because I’m still upset about what the wrong guy/girl did… run along now… I’ll catch up with you in 20 years tops!”

15. Nobody owes you anything. I repeat… nobody owes you anything!

16. In 5 years, you’ll look back and laugh at the biggest problem you’re having now.

17. If you aren’t happy single, you won’t be happy in a relationship. Another person only magnifies your problems. You’ll project all your unhappiness on the poor guy/girl and he/she is going to leave you and you’ll reaffirm to yourself that you suck. Happiness doesn’t start with someone else… it starts with you.

18. Love yourself first. How can you hate yourself and expect someone else to love you?

19. Stop reading about other people’s success stories and idolizing them and start doing what it is you are supposed to do to create your own success story so others can read about and idolize you.

20. Figure out what you want… otherwise others will just string you along to accomplish what THEY want.

21. Once in a while, do the opposite of what that little voice inside is telling you. See what happens.

22. The media is full of propaganda. Don’t believe everything you come across in the newspapers and on tv.

23. There is no magic pill.

24. Nobody’s zooming in on all your perceived flaws and judging you because of that except yourself. Seriously, most people won’t notice your beer belly until you tell them about it.

25. Don’t always try to be the hero. You can’t help someone who’s not willing to help themselves.

26. Most people equate attention to love… that’s why we’re always doing silly things to get attention.

27. Don’t be so afraid of death that you stop living and going after your dreams

28. We are so used to taking things for granted. Stop, just for a second, to admire the beauty that surrounds you.

29. If somebody asks you to do something that you don’t want to do in order to “prove” your love they do not love you the way you might think they do. When you love another person you don’t ask them to sacrifice a part of themselves in the name of that love.

30. At the end of the day, no matter what you do, you’ll have critics. Just do what you love and what makes you happy, and be thankful there are people who care enough to talk about you.

7 Life Changing Lessons You Can Learn from Mark Twain

By
Adam East
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in 1871, Mark Twain was born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens in Florida, Missouri, U.S. He was a writer, and lecturer. He was called the “greatest American humorist of his age.” He wrote the now classic novels,Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

He wrote some great stuff that is still read by millions today. He also had some great quotes that continue to live on because of the wisdom in them. Mark Twain was a funny, witty, and wise guy. I hope the below quotes will astonish, enlighten, and amuse you.

  1. “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”

    We walk around all our lives thinking about things that will never happen. We worry, dread, and fear what hasn’t happened and what probably never will.

    Our minds are out of control. Our heads are filled with negative thoughts that have no bearing in reality, even if we think they do.

    Eliminating bad thoughts is possible, through methods such as EFT and The Work. It’s not easy, but worth it.

  2. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

    We want safety. We want to be secure, but the best life experiences come when we drop those notions and go after what we truly want, whether it feels safe or not.

    I’ve battled with this myself, and I often stop myself from doing things because it feels unsafe. I worry too much about the future.

    In reality, we can’t know what the future will bring. Even if you have millions in the bank, you may lose it tomorrow. Not even the wealthiest on this planet are secure.

  3. “When people do not respect us we are sharply offended; yet in his private heart no man much respects himself.”

    Imagine that something negative happened to you. Maybe someone said something to you that you thought was wrong.

    How often do you replay what happened over and over and over again when it’s all over?

    We disrespect ourselves by replaying bad thoughts in our mind, which leads to feeling bad, and treating everyone (including ourselves) around us badly.

  4. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.”

    Going after your dreams can feel like an overwhelming task, but that’s because you’re trying to visualize something in your head that cannot be visualized.

    Mark Twain is right on in breaking things into small pieces. It works because you can hold an image in your head of what the end result looks like. Instead of thinking “I need to start an online business,” a better thought would be “I need to start a blog.”

    That is, if you want to go down that route. Break things down, and simplify!

  5. “When angry, count to four. When very angry, swear.”

    A good and funny quote, but to me it sends the message to not make decisions when you’re angry. People are foolish when they are angry. They snap at others and only create more trouble in their life. Next time you’re angry, either use methods such as The Work or EFT, like I mentioned above, or just count to four, or better yet, ten.

    Calm down, and sleep on your decision.

  6. “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first.”

    Have you ever felt like you deserved something, but didn’t get it? I know I certainly have. That thought does us no good, even if we think we did deserve whatever it is that we didn’t get. It keeps you stuck instead of moving forward. So what if things didn’t go perfectly? You adjust and you keep on going.

    Who knows, maybe that setback wasn’t a setback after all. The negative events in my life have a tendency toblossom into positive ones.

  7. “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”

    Successful people aren’t fearless; no one is. It’s easy to believe that if you got rid of your fears, everything would be fine, but that’s just an excuse for not getting started. You will always have a smidgen of fear when diving into the unknown. Don’t let it stop you; instead use it as fuel to keep going.

How to Start Your Morning and Set up the Day for Success

By
Adam East
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Some days are just golden right from the start. You get up bright and early, you have a good breakfast, your coffee is perfect, and you get through your most important work first. By lunchtime, you’re feeling great: you’ve covered significant ground and you want to push yourself to get even more done during the afternoon.

Other days don’t go quite like that. In fact, for many people, these days are the more typical ones: You hit snooze repeatedly and get up late. You rush breakfast (or worse, skip it altogether), and you spend the first hour of your workday trying to find that really important file, or answering emails. By lunchtime, you feel as though you’ve not accomplished anything – and you can’t see the afternoon getting any better.

  1. Get Up On Time
    I won’t say “get up early” – because we’re not all morning people. Getting up on time means setting your alarm early enough that you don’t feel rushed right at the start of your day. Often, just getting out of bed ten or fifteen minutes earlier transforms a stressed, harried morning into a much more relaxed one.The best way I’ve found to get up on time is to go to bed on time. Yes, it’s obvious – but it’s surprising how often we seem to forget it! Many people need more sleep: are you one of them?
  2. Eat a Healthy Breakfast
    We all know that it’s important to eat breakfast, though many of us don’t – or if we do, we eat all the wrong things. If you’re trying to lose weight (and a staggering two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese), theneating breakfast will help you do so.Even if your weight isn’t a concern, you still need to give your brain some fuel first thing in the morning … so eat a healthy breakfast that’ll give you the energy you need for your work. Good options are wholegrain cereals with skim milk, wholewheat toast with eggs, or oatmeal.
  3. Plan Your Day
    When you arrive in the office (or, if you work from home, when you sit down at your desk) – resist the temptation tocheck your emails. Unless you work in tech support, it’s very unlikely that anyone needs a reply at 8.30am.Instead, spend just five minutes planning out your day. What major projects do you want to make progress on? This is what you should work on for at least the first hour of the day. What small but urgent tasks need to be done today? Batch these together and knock them out in a bunch – or get them done during those “gaps” in the day, like when you’re waiting for someone to phone you back.
  4. Minimize Interruptions
    When you’re working on something that’s mission-critical – like that mail-out to new customers – do you really want to keep stopping to deal with trivia? Let your calls go to voice-mail, leave your email program closed, and shut your office door.It takes several minutes to refocus on what you’re doing after an interruption, so you’re wasting a lot of time if you’re constantly stopping to deal with people’s queries.
  5. Stay On Track
    Productivity can become a positive spiral if you stay focused: the more work you get through, the more energized you’ll feel. You’ll be encouraged to keep achieving and to keep doing meaningful work (rather than busy work or low-value tasks).To stay on track, learn to recognize and control your impulses. Don’t give in to distractions like Twitter, Facebook and other socializing websites – save these for your lunch break or for after work. If you find yourselflosing focus on a task, take a five minute break from your computer – then get straight back to it. In many cases,mono-tasking is more effective than multi-tasking.

Do you find that your day goes better if your morning starts well? How do you make sure you get your day off to a great start?

7 sexy skinny dips (private and most luxurious places)

By
Adam East
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While plunge pools pervade in Asia, very few allow us to disrobe entirely without embarrassing exposure. Here are seven of the most private, most luxurious places to ditch the bathing suit for maximum skinny dip satisfaction.

1. Phuket Pavilions, Thailand

Roll straight from bed into the wet spot, a deep 40 x 13 foot infinity pool outside each Andaman Sea-facing villa at Phuket Pavilions where the motto “no tan lines, no interruptions” means exactly that for couples yearning for none other than each other.

Stealthy staff live up to that promise, delivering service without a sound. That includes poolside massages where silently giggling female therapists know to leave guests to create their own happy endings.

Raid the maxi-bar stocked with Veuve Clicquot and Hagen Daaz ice cream.

US$629 per night

2. River House, Sri Lanka

Forget breakfast in bed. Wake each other up in the Menik Suite’s east-facing plunge pool as the sun rises over the coconut palms dappled across Sri Lanka’s River House.

Raise each other’s body heat well above the water temperature then slip back inside to climb atop the pillow strewn four-poster bed.

One dominates each of five antique-filled rooms at this inland retreat on the Madhu River, three hours’ drive south of Colombo’s international airport.

The ancient Greeks didn’t call this island Serendib, Garden of Eden for nothing.

From November to March, play Adam and Eve around this seven-acre slice of tropical paradise, luring one another upstairs and back into the buff.

3. Banyan Tree Lijiang, China

High Naxi tiled walls encourage undressing with abandonment inside the pool villas at Banyan Tree Lijiang some 7,900 feet above sea level.

Outside of May to August when seasonal fields of rhododendrons reach full bloom, expect to raise a few goose bumps while streaking into these pools that are heated but not too hot for a good frolic.

Come up together for air in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the climax of this Himalayan panorama.

US$618 per night

4. Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan

With every rattle of a palm frond, it is hard not to wonder what other creatures are taking pleasure in this dense bamboo jungle.

That and the occasional screams of rafters thrusting along the otherwise Sacred Ayung River are the only sounds to intrude upon the privacy of each villa at Four Seasons Resort Bali at Sayan.

All 42 thatched maxi-huts come with an outdoor shower that overlooks the river valley and a plunge pool that releases itself endlessly into the jungle’s steamy abyss.

Nudists notwithstanding, no one need fear overexposure. Farmers on the other bank are nearly naked themselves and too far away to make out the state of play.

US$680-850 per night

5. Trisara, Thailand

Size matters at Trisara on Phuket’s northwest shore where all 39 villas are well endowed for maximum pleasure.

When the urge arises, all glass French doors open onto a longer than average, 10-meter cerulean plunge that appears to drip into the Andaman Sea, seen at its best from December to March.

No swimsuits or cover ups required, thanks to a profusion of jungle foliage expertly tended by 30 Thai gardeners that turn each of these outdoor playpens into secret sanctuaries.

Scattered about are piles of towels to dry each other off before interlacing still damp limbs on the roomy double sun bed.

Between diving in and winding down, get your hands wet and sticky by feeding each other from the villa’s daily replenishment of aphrodisiac chocolate truffles and luscious Thai mangoes.

US$600-1,230 per night

6. Taj Exotica Maldives

Artificial pools would be a ridiculous addition to the swimsuit and bikini-dropping gorgeousness of the Maldives.

The couple’s treatment in the Alepa Suite at the end of a private jetty is as the name of this Taj property suggests; exotic.

Before exposing delicate skin to sun, guests at Taj Exotica can build up to swimming in the buff with four different hot and cold experience showers, and seaside sun beds with Maldivian herbal mud-loving therapists plying their trade.

After being slathered in mud and loosened up on cocktails and exotic fruit snacks, its time to grab the pretty gal or studly guy, drop the pretense and swim with the lion fish and wrasse (don’t worry gents, your better bits won’t be a main target of the local wildlife.)

US$800 per night

7. Soneva Gili, Maldives


Had Robinson set sail with Mrs. Crusoe in tow, he might have gotten lucky and washed up at Soneva Gili in the Maldives.

Balanced on stilts above a shallow lagoon, the Robinson Crusoe Residences are the seven most photogenic over-water villas ever to take the character’s name.

With the closest neighbor at least 1,000 feet away and no sign of the butler unless requested, couples are left entirely alone. Splash around the Indian Ocean or even snorkel naked among damsels and Oriental Sweet Lips.

US$1,593 per night
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