Hello everybody, my name is Michelle Arscott. I'm known as the international life coach, I'm also a mental fitness coach as well. And I'm so delighted to be invited to do 4 videos to support you to lead a happier life and to be the happiest version of yourself.

So, today I'm going to be talking about morning routines. Are you a morning person? Are you an evening person? I'm sure many of us are different things, but usually with life, often we do have to be morning people.

So how can we make the most of our day? I'm sure many of you, when you hear your alarm, perhaps your first instinct is just to press that snooze button and go back to sleep.

Wonderful, get a bit more shut-eye feel better, but actually don't you find that when you do that you probably feel more groggy? And actually research says that it's the worst thing to do, to press that snooze alarm and go back to sleep, because what happens is often you don't have long enough to have a full sleep cycle. So then you wake up feeling worse than when the alarm initially went off.

So, how can we make the most of our morning? You know often we feel depleted, because we are so busy. We just feel like we're going around in circles and we're not achieving things that we want to achieve. And actually just getting up a little bit early in the morning can actually energize us and make us feel more productive. Now an ideal scenario is to wake up an hour before you need to get up. But if you're like me, that does make me cringe a bit. So for me, what I do is, I wake up half an hour before I need to get up and then I use that time productively.

So I wake up, I do my exercises. So depending on how much time you've got, and you're focus depends on how much time you dedicate to that. But if we were doing half an hour then maybe you would do 10 minutes of exercise. Then I have some reflective time. So journaling is a great way to help to improve your life. You can use it to write down your feelings, your thoughts. Maybe you do a guided Journal, maybe use it to reflect on what you're grateful for, your intentions for the day. I mean, there's many ways that we can use it, but it's very powerful to actually write and also a way of just processing things. So you might journal, do some reflection, set an intention for your day.

And with that reflect on your day before, and how do you want to show up today? Do you want to be more calmer, be more resourceful and change that into an affirmation. So I often say that I want to be calmer. So talking to my subconscious mind, it's powerful I say in the present, it's happening. You're telling your brain. I am calm, and we always believe in the power of 3. So say 3 times with your heart, your mind, your body and your soul. I am calm.

I am calm. I am calm. And see yourself being calm. Visualize it, see yourself being calm... hear...what are people saying? What are you saying to yourself? What are you feeling when you're that intention and the thing is just visualizing it, it's like rehearsing it, according to your brain you've already done it. So you're halfway there to success. So visualization is a very powerful thing to do.

Also, you might use this time, depending on how much time you do have, perhaps it's a time to read or to listen to something, like there's many TEDx Talks you can listen to, so listen to something inspiring. I'm sure if you're like me, maybe there's many books that you'd like to read or maybe you're not a reader and the great thing is, there's now apps out there that summarize key books depending on what you're focus is, so maybe productivity or creativity or being a business owner. So there are many apps out there that summarize books in 15 to 20 minutes and you can read them or you can also listen to them.

So a great way of growing your mind. So all these things can just help you to have a better morning and it can be difficult. But you know, the hardest step is to begin. So try it because you might be thinking. Oh, I'm not getting up early. I want to have all the sleep I can, but so many successful people do it. Richard Branson, Michelle Obama, just a few to name and they swear by the fact that just getting up earlier makes their day so much better.

Because you're being purposeful, you're starting your day with intention. You're setting yourself up for success. And if you wake up before, if you've got a household full of people, before the buzz of everybody kicks in, then it's a great way also to just have some silence, some 'you' time to appreciate that and just to think about what it is from your life.

So the best thing to do is, I can tell you about it, but the best thing that you can do is to actually try it. So try it for 5 days. Try it for 7 days, at the beginning think about how you're feeling. Do this for 5-7 days. Wake up half an hour...an hour. Think about how you want to set that intention, those visualizations, a bit of exercise, maybe reading something to fuel your brain and then just clock in after those 7 days. How are you feeling after this time that you're investing in yourself? And actually I guarantee that you're going to feel more energized because you're actually giving yourself time.

It's a bit of self-love and self-care, you're filling your cup and you will feel energized because you're being more purposeful with your day. So have a go. Set yourself up for success, have that morning routine and see how it goes. I know that you can nail it. Thank you so much.