Keeping a Journal

My journal keeping track of my personal development on a daily basis.

Keeping a Journal is something I have done more or less my entire life. Writing a dairy, writing about my yearly plans, my thoughts, my learnings. Listening to Robin Sharma from the 5 AM club, I have made this a more systematic part of my days, since I started getting up early. In my journal I write everything. I reflect on the day before, what went well and what can be improved. I plan for the day to come, what do I want to achieve, I set an intention, write about how I feel, in my body and mind, and maybe some thoughts on the things I read or listen to during my Success Hour. My tip for today – go and buy yourself a really nice book and start keeping a journal! This way you can document your plans and your progress more systematically and you will start building a knowledge bank of your own personal development and leadership. Namaste.

Be kind

To be kind. When talking to people about being kind it is not always positive. As if you can be TOO kind and then it turns into something negative. But to me it really is only positive. Having a kind approach always helps no matter what. Being kind to other. Treat others like you want to be treated yourself. You cannot expect from others to be kind and treat you well if you are not kind yourself, right? Be kind to yourself. Do not forget, kindness is also taking care of yourself. Why do a lot of people have so much higher demands on themself than on others? Give yourself what you give to others! At least. Maybe you give yourself a small gift once and a while, to celebrate finishing a task at work, for doing yoga daily for a month or another setup target you have. Big or small. You decide! So keep being kind – that will make you and the people around you feel so much better. Namaste.

Get things done

One of the things that can be really stressful is how to find the time to get things done. You have your LONG to do list, job related things, personal activities, social events (well, maybe not that much at the moment, but we will get there again), and the list often goes on and on. As much as I love the to do list, I need also to plan my time properly, more in detail. What I find very helpful is not only write the to do list, but also, plan on WHEN I will do this? Starting with prioritizing the list, what is most important, what can wait for next week and so on. Then I write in my calendar when and how long it will take, so blocking the amount of time it will take. Maybe your calendar will get full too soon, and then you need to look into the list again. Is everything in the list really necessary, or is there anything that can be removed? And things that are not that urgent can be done in 3-4 weeks. Etc etc. In the end you will have planned all your to do’s and you can throw away the list. Feeling in control of time, and that you know exactly what to do and when! Please do not forget to put in the plan your daily yoga practise, your meditation or mindfulness sessions, your time to learn new things, time with the family and loved ones. Everything that you really want to prioritize and put on top of the list. Good luck with planning and getting things done, hopefully without feeling a lot of stress. Take care. Namaste.

“The things that get scheduled are the things that get done”

Robin Sharma

Take good care of yourself

When you take care of yourself you really take the role of leading yourself in the right direction. I believe that this is the most important thing you can do if you feel that your energy levels are not where they should be. If you take the time to do some exercise every morning (preferably yoga and meditation), to invest in yourself, then you take care of both your body and your mind, your head, heart and soul. By exercising every day you will get lots of energy and build a strength not only in your body, but also you will feel stronger mentally. It does not have to be more than 15-20 minutes per day to make a change. Also, when you exercise every day you will not be as hungry for sweets or other unhealthy food, so you will also take care of your diet. Last, when you eat right, exercise, you will have the energy to think straight. To make the right decisions and to be able to focus on the right things.

If you are wondering about the test with the 5 AM club? I really am amazed that I have been getting up at 5 for 1,5 week now 🙂 I really hated early mornings in the past, and now I am actually already experiencing some good results. Being more prepared, more calm, more focused, and my body is stronger. This is of course also because I have been working out daily since the beginning of 2021, so not only due to 5AM, but the 5AM makes it possible for me to exercise ´first thing in the morning so I really can make this happen. So if you haven’t tried already, try exercising every day for some period! Starting today! It will help you take good care of yourself. Namaste.

The Success Hour

This is now my second week trying the 5 AM club method with Robin Sharma. I really like getting up early it turned out.. Why? Because then I finally get some time on my own, to exercise, to think, to learn new things. This is really the foundation of a Success Hour. And the energy level gets higher, and I have done a lot this past few days that I never have had the energy to do for at least months in the past. The only backdraw is the evenings, at 7 PM I get really tired, and bedtime is already at 9.

Today my 20 minutes exercise was a session of Yoga with Adrienne, one of my favourite yogis online, when doing some light workout. Her session “Change and Drain” felt appropriate this morning, since this is exactly what I am doing right now. Trying to change a habit, to set a new morning routine, a new exercise routine, and of course, it is a bit of a struggle. Have you tried to change a habit sometime? If so, how did it go?

Hang in there!

I really am longing for some social events and togetherness right now. Think to be able to go to a party! Put on your best dress, your best perfume, your finest/ favourite jewelleries and just dance the night long, talk, hug, laugh – all those things that felt so natural and given only a year ago. But we all need to hang in there! This will change, I truly believe that, with the vaccin, even if we turn into some kind of “new normal”, and in south of Sweden where I live, we are waiting for the spring to come. With the spring the flowers will come to live again, the garden will flourish again and for me, the spring weather also gives me a lot of new energy. Until then, I keep reading books and listening to podcasts to keep growing in different areas, I keep making daily workouts, yoga of course, and also some jogging, and trying to celebrate the small things, as often as possible. And why not put on your best dress, your favourite perfume, and turn the music up, even if you are alone, and at home?! What do you do to hang in there?

A little goes a long way

This expression has become my mantra lately. To do something little every day to change, improve, rebuild, refocuse, or whatever you decide. I have chosen to practice yoga every morning since the start of this year and it has really given results already. Usually I practice for 20-30 minutes, but sometimes more, for one hour or so, and sometimes only for 10 minutes, when the time is not enough.

In the experiment with The 5 AM Club, I have chosen sessions of 20 minutes all week and that feels enough. Combined with jogging (1-2 times a week) since yoga and jogging are the perfect combo! (there will be a separate blog post on this soon). Every day giving a moment for training, to reflect, to learn, to grow, gives a LOT in return. To watch a webinar every day, listen to a podcast, watch a TED Talks or anything else you are interested in. In this way, you can build your skills with more knowledge every day, a little at a time. Try it! Give it a week or two, at least. Start the morning with yoga or any type of exercise that you like, and decide that you will learn something new every day (at least 20 minutes). It will hopefully give you some new inspiration and increase your desire to both learn and move every day. Wish you the best! Be A Yoga Woman.

Second day rise before the sun

It went pretty well to get up from the bed today. But tomorrow I will set the clock at 4.45 because today I was not started with my training (20/20/20) until 20 over so I plan to change that until tomorrow. The feeling of fatigue during the day has not been as great as I thought today either. But the first 22 days should obviously be really hard so we will see how it feels tomorrow 🙂

Because I like to do yoga in the morning, this is what I did for just over 20 minutes. Yesterday vinyasa yoga and today more medical yoga with more stretching. Both variants are nice but the morning training is supposed to be more “sweaty” so tomorrow I will do power yoga I think. It is very interesting that my thoughts are so clear and focused early in the morning. Also this morning I got some new good ideas and felt I had the time to structure my day before the meeting day started. Really a nice feeling of control that lasted the rest of the day. I also like that you write down and reflect for the next 20 minutes. I bought a nice book in pink before I started this journey, and this will now be my daily journal. In this I write down what I feel, think, and want to achieve during the day. Also, thoughts about yesterday, what was good and what could be improved. The last 20 minutes are dedicated to personal development. Choose a podcast, a good book, a video course in a topic that interests you and in which you want to develop. For me, both yesterday and today I have been watching 5AM club videos, to teach me more and a bit like pepping to continue.

In the evening I have to admit that I was really tired both yesterday and today, so at 19.30-20 there were some big yawns from me while we watched some film the whole family. Now I have prepared with my training clothes and I am ready to turn off the light. Sleep well. I’ll write more again tomorrow!

Beautiful!

Do you get more effective by getting up (really) early in the morning?

Is it really worth it, to get up at 5AM in the morning? Today was the first day when I put the alarm at 5, to see if 5 AM Club is something for me. I have to admit that I was very sceptical yesterday when I went to bed if I was to wake up at this early. But it was no problem. I even woke up BEFORE the alarm, strangely enough. And it was no problem at all to get up. Or to do yoga for just over 20 minutes before I continued to write down in a book my thoughts and reflections for the day. I ended my first hour (“the success hour”) by listening to Robin Sharma talk about his 5 AM Club training to learn more.

I have to say that I felt very alert and had some good thoughts during the first hour and also the next. Full of energy, I ate breakfast and then the rest of the family woke up. I felt refreshed, happy and energetic and after a while with them I was able to start my working day at the computer. Still way before my first meeting, so I had the time to plan my day, answer some emails and do some first, more demanding, tasks. It was only at lunch that I started to feel a bit tired. Managed to get my energy back with some lunch and then went for a walk in the sun.

The next “low” did not come until late in the afternoon and now that it is almost 7PM I look forward to go to bed at 21-21.30 which is my plan, after spending a little more time with the family. So the first day with 5AM club – approved I must say! It will be exciting to see if it is as easy to get out of bed tomorrow …

%d bloggers like this: