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How to get up earlier

Hey, friend!

Happy second week of the year! If you’re like me, you are working on implementing something new in your life this month. If one of your goals is to get up earlier, this blog is for you!

I typically get up between 4:30-5am to kick off my day and constantly get asked how I do it, so I wanted to share a few tips and tricks to get your day started a little earlier than usual. It doesn’t have to be at the time I wake up, but just earlier than your normal time to maximize your day. Here are a few tips to get your day started earlier:

  • Sleep earlier – This may be the hardest one, but by far is the most important. In order to find your routine of getting started earlier, you need to find out how many hours your body needs to sleep. It is recommended you get at least 6, but preferably 7-8 hours of sleep per night. I have found that my body can live with 7 hours of sleep and be happy. I am not sleepy halfway through the day (after some caffeine of course!) and have enough energy to workout in the morning. So if you want to start your day at 4:30am, like I do, you need to be in bed by 9:15 at the latest to give myself some time to unwind and be asleep by 9:30. In order to establish a routine, I recommend you try it for three (3) weeks straight, including the weekends. Let’s be real – you are busy on the weekends, so if you can’t be asleep by 9:30 (in my case), then set an alarm 7 hours (or whatever your sleep time is) from the time you fell asleep. This will help set you up with a routine and gives your body consistency and you will later find yourself waking up at your desired time.
  • Get excited!: Know why you’re getting up earlier, and what you will be doing. When you are getting ready for bed, re-connect on why you are getting up. Remind yourself how great you will feel after doing “X” therefore it is worth waking up. You should know EXACTLY what you will do when you get up as well. For example, if it is working out – will you be doing cardio? If so, running? Stairmaster? Or is it a specific routine? Again, takes the thinking out of what you will do that morning. I take this one step further and find a quote on Pinterest that I can relate to the night before. I have since started a “motivation” board on Pinterest to motivate me the night before and get me excited for the morning. In my case, I workout as soon as I wake up, so my quotes are usually about fitness.
  • Set your clothes out: If you are trying to get a workout in either sleep in your workout clothes, or set them in your bathroom next to your toothbrush to get dressed easily in the morning. This is a HUGE time saver, and allows you to run on auto-pilot. You should prepare everything down to your watch, socks and shoes. Also have your water bottle ready to go.. That takes time and energy in the morning that you don’t want to worry about.
  • Set your alarm further than arm distance away: This forces you to get up to quiet is down. If it is possible and you can hear the alarm, set it in the bathroom on top of your clothes so if forces you to get out of bed and you can even start changing right away. If you allow “snooze” too many times, you will likely not get up in time to complete what you wanted.
  • Drink water: YUP! You are dehydrated from not drinking all night, so water will help you wake up and hydrate your body. If you need a little extra push, take some caffeine right away.
  • PRO TIP: Have your go-to playlist of music that pumps you up! Have a dance party and get into the groove!

 

As you can see, most of the work happens before the morning, so prep is key in starting your day earlier. Try these steps on a consistent basis, at least for 3 weeks and I am positive you will be waking up earlier and feeling UH-MAZING!

Do you have any other tips to get up earlier?

 

XO,

Gina

 

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The power of habit trackers

Hey, doll!

Want to make sure you stay on top of your New Years resolutions? One way that I like to keep track of my goals and habits is through a habit tracker. I found that many BUJO (bullet journal) junkies make these so I started them back in 2017. You don’t need a journal to start one, you can start one in any planner or journal that you have. There are also some printable ones if you find yourself not wanting to create on yourself.

I like habit trackers because you are able to see how you are doing on specific habits in one area, at a glance. You can track different habits every week, but typically you should be trying to create and maintain new habits on a monthly basis, right? They say it takes 21+ days to create a habit so it is best to make them on a monthly basis. I track my Miracle Morning habits (SAVERS) on here, my eating habits and even my sleeping habits. If there is an area where I am struggling, or trying to focus my energy on, I will also add that to my tracker.

Aside from visually seeing how you are doing on your habits, you are also physically practicing reading the habits every single day and checking them off. You are interacting with the habits that you want to create every day, manifesting them, which also ensures that your habits are top of mind.

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Do you use a habit tracker? What do you track? If not, you should try it out and let me know how it goes!

 

XO,

Gina

 

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2018 Favorites

Hey, friend!

Can you believe another year passed by?! SO crazy! I feel like the older I get, the faster the time passes by. This year was a great one and I got to experience some pretty awesome things, including turning 29 a couple weeks ago… EEK! I am officially in the final year of my 20’s.

A few of my favorite 2018 events and things that I will be talking more about in my blog are:

  1. Traveling and Adventuring: I absolutely LOVE to travel, try new experiences and see new places. We visited Guadalajara, Mexico, went on a cruise to San Juan, Puerto Rico, St. John, Virgin Islands, Nassau, Bahamas, Amber Cove, DR and we went to Cabo, Mexico. We tried Snuba for the first time which was pretty awesome! We also got to experience Splash House for the first time which was a pleasant surprise. I went on a river boat and tried wakeboarding for the first time. I was initially scared of it since I hurt myself snowboarding in the past, but this was a different experience and it was such a rush!
  2. Practiced self-care: I set a goal to do something every week that made me happy and it changed the way I went about planning my week. Every week I would ask myself: “Am I doing something for myself that will make ME happy?” It could be anything from buying myself my favorite coffee, sleeping in, waking up early to complete my morning routine, taking a dance class, exercising outdoors or even putting on a face mask and reading. This question fundamentally changed my year to bring me more happiness and fulfillment.
  3. Completed my first triathlon sprint: This was a goal that I was really excited about since I retired from half marathons in 2017. Completing this race gave me a challenge that I needed to push myself and prove that I am a versatile athlete. The entire year I focused on  how to become a stronger version of myself which added up to a successful race. This goal has now pushed me to do more races and hopefully place in the top 10 in my age group in 2019.
  4. Spent quality time with my loved ones: I am the eldest of 7, am married and have an amazing group of friends. This year I was committed to being more thoughtful. Whenever I hung out with my loved ones, I made sure I was present and there when they needed me most. These experiences brought me so much fulfillment and happiness and I am committed to continue to be present when I am with my family.
  5. Hit my 5 year marriage anniversary: This is a HUGE one! Being married to my high school sweetheart and best friend has been one of my biggest blessings. We continue to grow together as a couple and as individuals. Our anniversary this year makes me so proud of who we’ve both become and the achievements we have accomplished together.
  6. Expanded my team at work: I am fortunate to have grown my team at work which has made me an even stronger professional. I continue to work on myself to be a stronger professional, trainer and leader.

What were your highlights of 2018? How are you going to use those memories and lessons to fuel your fire in 2019?

Xoxo,

Gina

 

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Hi, I’m Gina!

Welcome to my blog! I am a 29 year old living in San Diego, CA. I love all things fitness, traveling, brunching and learning. I married my high school sweetheart and we have been together for 12 years, married for 5! I work in human resources at a large organization by “day”, and have been in the industry for 11 years working with building strong company cultures, hiring top talent, conflict resolution and leading training and development courses across several disciplines for all levels in the organization. On my free time, I am doing all other things I share here. 

I started this blog because, as I approach the end of my 20’s, there are so many things that I feel we can share, learn and talk about together. As I continue to learn and grow, I would love to take you along my journey so it can hopefully help you out and inspire you to take action towards becoming the best possible version of yourself!

The topics on my blog are the things that my girlfriends and I talk about, so it’s a very free-flow blog that is meant to build community and open up conversations around the things that we are facing on a daily basis. You will find things about: health & fitness, travel, career lessons, self-care and most importantly – honesty.

I hope that you enjoy my content and we connect on Instagram to get to know each other better!

XO!