Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Friday, February 8, 2019
How to Establish a Daily Routine to Become Your Best Self
A routine can help you stay on track
throughout your day but it can do so much more than that. It can reduce stress
by not helping you not to frantically try to remember everything you need to
get done and keep your sleep schedule regular. Additionally, it can help you
keep goals in mind such as slotting in gym time or remembering to eat a healthy
lunch every day.
Setting a routine can seem a little daunting
at first, though. Luckily, it isn’t as hard as you might think to use a daily
routine to help you become your best self.
Make a List
Before you put a plan into action, there has
to be a plan in place. Take a few minutes one day and start to write down what
you want to get done during your day or even your week.
For instance, what do you need to do each
morning before you go to work? How many times a week do you want to hit the
gym? What tasks are necessary to complete daily at work?
Once you have these questions in place, you’ll
have an idea of what needs to be worked into the daily routine. If you already
have a daily routine that you are trying to improve upon, follow a similar
path. What parts of the routine work? Which parts need to be changed?
When creating your routine, start with set
tasks. For example, your work hours should be noted before you try to come up
with a time that you can use for tasks that aren’t on a set schedule.
Don’t be afraid to get detailed when listing
what you need to do either. If you want to make sure you remember to wash your
face each morning or make some tea before you go to bed, put this on your list
of items to schedule.
Start with Your Mornings
For a successful day, it’s important that you
start off on the right foot. In other words, you probably aren’t going to have
a good day if you’re jumping out of bed and running out of the door first
thing.
Instead, start your schedule by planning your
mornings. Give yourself plenty of time to wake up and complete your morning
ritual before you have to head to work.
To plan this, think of all the things you want
to do in the morning and how long that will take. This will help you to plan on
when to set your alarm. It will help a lot if you start the habit of not
snoozing your alarm several times and make sure you do your routine in order.
You might want to get up at 6 then brush your teeth and then put on a pot of
coffee every morning until it becomes a habit.
Next, Midday and Late Afternoon
During the week at least, much of your midday
is probably spent at work. This means that you probably already have a general
routine set up. When you get to work you might check your email and work on
spreadsheets while the afternoon is reserved for meetings.
The biggest part that you’ll want to make sure
you don’t skip lunch. Even if you can’t get out of the office, bring along a
healthy packed lunch that will keep you going throughout the day.
When you get off work in the late afternoon or
early evening, you can schedule in goals such as an hour at the gym before you
head home.
Evenings
Your evenings should be dedicated to
preparation and winding down. After you have dinner, it helps your mornings to
complete tasks such as choosing your clothes for the next day or packing a
lunch.
It’s also a good idea to schedule when you are
going to go to sleep just as you schedule when to wake up. This ensures that
you get the proper amount of sleep each night. The general suggestion is that
you try to get around 7 hours of sleep a night. Remember to schedule in a
little extra time because you probably aren’t going to fall asleep the minute
you lay down.
Plan the Weekends
On the weekends, it’s okay to let yourself
sleep in and schedule a lighter routine. However, if you simply allow yourself
to sleep the whole weekend away, you’ll be behind on things you need to do and
it will be difficult to transition back into the week.
The weekend is also a great time to schedule
errands that are hard to fit into your work week. Sundays are a great time to
do your weekly grocery shopping and meal prepping.
Give Yourself Some Extra Time
This is a dual point. First of all, try to
schedule in some time for yourself. Maybe you want a half an hour to read
before you go to bed or time to meditate or do yoga in the morning. If you only
schedule in work and errands, you are likely to get burned out.
You’ll also want to be sure that you schedule
in a little more time than you need for certain tasks. There will be mornings
that you sleep an extra few minutes or weekends when the line at the grocery
store seems monumental. By scheduling extra time, you are ensuring that these
kinks in your day don’t ruin your whole routine.
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
How to Foster Children's Creativity with Arts&Crafts
Creativity
is highly valued throughout our entire life, it is the ability to find hidden
patterns, make connections, perceive the world in new ways, generate solutions
and “think outside the box.” Creativity is beyond being the next Master of
Arts; it is also being highly skilled in managing your personal and
professional life. However, contrary to many believers, this is not a magical
gift some people are just born with. Creativity can be learned and sharpened
like any other skill.
Why you should incentive your child’s
creativity
The early
years of a child are the best moment to praise and encourage creativity. Young
children have not yet been surrounded by rules, laws and so on. Their mind is
innocent, genuine and free of any judgments. Magic tales are real, and
everything is possible during this age.
Why is art so important
Crafts and
arts not just increase creativity as well it helps to develop motor, social,
mental and emotional skills. A simple crayon drawing can teach counting pieces
and colors, experiment different materials, and if properly encouraged can even
boost confidence. A child who feels free to experiment and make mistakes may be
more skillful while analyzing and solving problems.
How to inspire creativity with crafts and arts
Kids need
some time far from tablets, video games, and commercial toys. This is important
to the child have time to have other types of experiences, learn what they like
or don’t, being free to make mistakes and have a sense of control.
Define your child’s space for mess
You can
have a room for this, or any area you prefer. Throw an old cloth or newspaper
on top of a table and let your child be free to experiment. After the art or
craft is done, also encourage them to help you clean the space and tide it up.
Avoid adult direction
Creativity
should flourish without adult directions, so try not to be so bossy. Allow them
to feel free and autonomous to explore their ideas and put them into practice.
Don’t give suggestions as: “Why don’t you draw our family¿” or “why don’t you
use more colors?.” Even if the child just draws a single dot in the middle of
the paper.
Explore the process
It can be
hard to read a kid’s mind by just watching what they are doing. Ask them to
articulate the ideas behind the drawing or craft. This will not only help you
understand them better, as it will encourage them to practice communication
skills.
Supplies should be easy to access
You don’t
need a huge budget to do this. Spare a drawer or cabinet accessible for the
kids and have some old boxes, crayons, empty paper towel rolls, and paper.
Supervise if they need to add scissors and duct tape to the creative process.
Also, encourage them to tide it all up afterward.
Encourage different kinds of craft
Creating
things with their own hands has a meaningful impact on a child’s emotions. They
can feel good about their creation and express themselves through it. Learning
how to sew, for example, can provide benefits such as mature their fingers
dexterity, learn patience and self-regulation, how to make critical decisions
and boost solving problem skills. You can start teaching your kids to sew
whenever they feel like it. It is never too early to start, but in this case
you will need to have a higher level of supervision and be there all the steps.
You can begin sewing small things, maybe some felt projects that require less
pointy needles. And it is okay if you need to finish the project for them or
just give final touches to it. The important here is for them to have a sense
of making efforts, teamwork, and accomplishment. When they get older, chances
are they will be able to finish all by themselves and feel good about it too.
Materials to always have on hand
Crafts and
arts are not only rainy or snowy days. Have some of these materials available
at the house so your kid can jump into action any time. Remember you don’t have
to invest in crafting materials all at once. Start slow and check your child
preferences. Then, you can decide to pursue more and better quality materials.
• washable paint, paintbrushes
• stamps
• crayons, colored pencils, scissors, glue,
glitter
• plain and colored paper
• felt, fabric, buttons
• ribbon, yarn, string, beads
• drinking straws, egg cartons, cardboard
tubes
• magazines, newspapers, catalogs
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