Monday, February 3, 2014

Super Bust, Motivation for your Monday

February 3, 2014
By: Sarah Boha

With six more weeks of winter and a Super Bowl game that felt more like watching college football; you may need some motivation to kick off your Monday!  Here’s some good news to make your week a little better. 

Drink your morning coffee

According to Harvard School of Public Health, research over the past few years suggests that drinkers of coffee were correlated with protection against type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, and liver cirrhosis.  The latest studies on coffee and mortality found that people who regularly drank coffee actually had a somewhat lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease than those who rarely drank coffee; this result needs to be confirmed in further studies, however…or as my college professors would say, “Correlation does not mean causation”.  I say, go ahead and order that caramel macchiato.   For more information on coffee and February’s American Heart Month, see, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/coffee/ and http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

Plan out and visualize your week with helpful tools

It’s proven, the successful take a few moments out of their day, whether it’s the beginning of the week or early in the morning, to map out their schedule.  Make a list of what you need to accomplish in your day and check it off as you tackle each task.  Plan your outfits the night before or for the entire month; with apps like NetRobe or StyleBookApp, you can inventory your current wardrobe and schedule what you’ll wear everyday on a calendar – never wear the same outfit twice in one week again!  Also, make a list of things to look forward to over the weekend or throughout the week, it will give you a greater motivation for your work.

Take time to exercise, even at work

Ever have a work week so jam packed that you can’t make it to the gym?  Not a problem.  Exercise in the office by doing lunges or simple stretches from your desk chair.  Don’t typically work out or get bored with the gym routine?  Change up your workout this week by trying something new, mixed martial arts, dance and yoga are an interesting change of pace to lifting weights.  Try a class at Central PA Mixed Martial Arts in State College, http://www.cpamma.com/

Smile
Research in several psychology studies show that smiling, even when you force a smile, boosts your endorphins.  Smiling releases serotonin and works with the neuropeptides in the brain to relax the body and lower your blood pressure.  Not to mention that it makes you look great, in a 2011 study by researchers at the Face Research Laboratory at the University of Aberdeen, subjects were asked to rate attractiveness and smiling.  They found that both men and women were more attracted to people who wore a smile as opposed to subjects that did not.   


So if you were rooting for the Broncos or you’re not coming to terms with six more weeks of winter or both, shake off the negative and get a great start to your week.   Motivation doesn’t have to be hard, take simple steps to make your life easier, more organized and healthy.  In dedicating a few minutes to enjoying that first sip of coffee in the morning, visualizing your week or getting a stretch in between typing up that contract at work, you may find yourself with a more productive week.    

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