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Want to change your life?

Most people think that the best way to do this is through giant leaps and grand gestures.

But the truth is that this approach is usually unsustainable, and all too soon, our motivation fizzles and we revert straight back to our old ways.

Instead, a far more sustainable and effective approach is to focus on the small choices you make every day. 

Over time, it’s these seemingly small habits that move the needle most and can make the most significant difference to your life.

So in this episode, I’m sharing the 15 simple habits I do everyday that have radically improved my health, happiness and productivity more than anything else.

Press play now and prepare for massive motivation!

In this episode we chat about:

• The non-negotiable habit I start every morning with (1:54)
• How I use daily visualization to supercharge my goals (2:59)
• The power of working out at the same time each day (4:04)
• The life-changing magic of sauna (4:47)
• The eating hack that aids digestion and helps us avoid energy slumps (6:06)
• Why I plan my meals the night before (7:01)
• My simple but genius approach to food prepping for stress-free meals (10:06)
• How to simplify your eating to save time and get more done (11:19)
• Why I swear by an early bedtime (11:55)
• The ultimate hack to limit your TV watching (12:55)
• The daily practice that helps me read more books (14:49)
• How I revolutionized my sleep through one simple habit (15:49)
• The power of Mama Nature for epic health and lasting happiness (17:42)
• The phone setting that will change your life (18:55)
• The unique thing I do in my kitchen everyday that brings me huge amounts of joy (20:22)

Episode resources:

• SheLaunch (join here)
• Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Open Wide by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Comparisonitis by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Time Magic by Melissa Ambrosini and Nick Broadhurst (book)
• Bon Charge blue light blocking glasses (Use the code Melissa15 for 15% off)

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The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy.

[00:00:00] In episode 558, I am sharing with you 15 habits that have radically improved my health, happiness, and productivity. Grab your pen and paper and let’s dive in. Welcome to the Melissa Ambrosini Show. I’m your host, Melissa, best selling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl, Open Wide, Comparisonitis and Time Magic.

And I’m here to remind you that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word. Each week I’ll be getting up close and personal with thought leaders from around the globe, as well as your weekly dose of motivation so that you can create epic change in your own life and become the best version of yourself possible.

Are you ready beautiful?

Hey, beautiful. And welcome back to the show. I am so excited you are here because today I’m sharing [00:01:00] with you 15 habits that have radically improved my health, happiness, and productivity. And you guys know me. I absolutely love talking about health. I absolutely love it. I live and breathe it. It is part of who I am and it’s such a deep core value of mine.

So I want to share with you 15 habits that have really moved the needle for me. So if you’re not driving, grab a pen and paper, write these down and I would love so much for you to implement just one of them this week and let me know on Instagram and then next week you’re going to implement another one or you can just go all in.

And implement all of them all at once. You do you, but these are a game changer for me and something that I’ve been doing for so many years now. It’s just part of who I am. And so I’m so excited for you guys to hear them. Okay. Let’s kick off with number one, meditation and prayer in the morning. [00:02:00] Now this is a non negotiable for me.

So. I go to bed early so that I can wake up early to do this before my daughter wakes up. Now the meditation grounds me and centers me while the praying provides a much needed spiritual connection that feeds my soul. I am so deeply committed to that first thing morning meditation and prayer and I do it every single day.

Now I used to be totally committed to my two meditations a day, 20 minutes in the morning, 20 minutes in the afternoon. And, I’m going to be honest with you, since having Bambi, I don’t always get in that second one. Before Bambi, yes, religious, every day, I would get them in. But now, mm, it doesn’t always happen.

Or it might only be a ten minute meditation. But I always aim to do it, and I always just do, even if it’s five minutes or ten minutes, I do aim for something. But that morning meditation and prayer are essential for my health, happiness, and productivity. Okay. [00:03:00] Number two, daily visualization. So after my morning meditation and prayer, I always visualize my goals.

And here’s a little tip. I want you to smile as you see your goals already manifested. Now this tiny act triggers positive emotions and raises your vibration making you a magnet for your goals. So you want to manifest and visualize from that high vibrational state and when you smile it changes the biochemistry of your cells.

And it radiates positivity and high vibration and it’s a higher frequency and that is the place you want to manifest and visualize from. So after your meditation or even as you’re still laying in bed, before you get out of bed, I just want you to visualize your goals. You can even visualize your day, visualize what you want to achieve for that day, whatever it is, but visualize your big goals in all the different areas of your life, maybe for your health.

Your relationships, your career, whatever it is, but do [00:04:00] visualization. It literally can take 30 seconds, but it is so powerful. Okay. Number three, set a time for your daily workouts. So fixing a specific time for daily movement has helped me so much. For me, mornings are best. I love that time to move my body because Bambi is still sleeping and I can focus solely on my workout.

And if I don’t set a specific time or if I leave it until later in the day, it’s way too easy for other things to get in the way of that workout. And for my workout to slide down my mental list of priorities. But having a set time ensures that this does not happen. Okay? Now, a lot of these habits might sound familiar.

You might have heard them before. You might have read about them or even tried them at some point. But here’s the catch. Just knowing about them isn’t enough. You need to actually do them consistently to see results. So with that viewpoint in mind, [00:05:00] let’s skip to number four. Regular sauna sessions. Okay, so I don’t actually do a sauna every single day, but the two to three times I manage to make it happen each week are blissful.

Saunas can boost your mood, clear your head, and make you feel so good. And I also love that I can get work done while I’m having a sauna. So I’m being productive whilst I’m detoxifying, which is so amazing. There are so many benefits of infrared saunas, so many. And we live in such a toxic world now that we need to be doing these saunas.

And so for me, I love my weekly sessions. I probably do, yeah, two to three a week. Now I didn’t do saunas whilst I was pregnant and breastfeeding with Bambi. And I wouldn’t advise doing them while you’re pregnant and breastfeeding. Some people do. Some people say it’s okay. Some people say it’s not. For me personally, it was just a no.

And I would [00:06:00] definitely check with your holistic doctor before you do them when you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. Just a little caveat. Okay, number five, eat at set times. So just like your workouts, we eat meals at the same time every day. This not only brings a predictable rhythm to our life, it also aids digestion and helps us avoid those energy slumps.

So we eat breakfast at around 7. 15, we have lunch at around 11. 30, and we have dinner at 5. And of course, you know, 15 minutes here or there, whatever. Like, we’re not. strict about this, but we kind of work our life and our work around that. And we aim to always be sitting at the table as much as possible and really be mindful with our food and take deep breaths before we eat.

And we say a little prayer and we say what we’re grateful for. That really beautiful environment to eat in is very conducive to aiding digestion. And also creating a beautiful home and family environment. So we love [00:07:00] eating at the same time. Okay. Number six, do meal planning the night before. So every night whilst Nick and I are doing the dishes after dinner, we discuss the next day’s meals and we write it down.

I just like pick a random piece of scrap paper and I write BLD breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and two lines in between them. And I write what we’re having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And I might just write chickpeas, sweet potato, salad. That’s it. For breakfast, I’ll do oats. I’ll write oats. Happy face. If you see my Instagram, you’ll know that I do a fruit happy face for Bambi every morning.

I might write smoothie, whatever. So in the morning, I don’t have to think. I don’t have to think, oh, I forgot to soak oats or, oh, I forgot to soak chickpeas. Oh, we’re out of sweet potato. So we do this ritual whilst we’re doing the dishes. It takes probably 10 seconds [00:08:00] and our future self the next morning loves us for it.

And it also means that in the morning, Nick and I are not having a conversation about what we’re eating that day. I don’t have to ask him, what do you feel like? What do you want? It also allows us to plan out balanced, highly nutritious meals. So how we eat. is we always have a balanced plate. We always have healthy carbohydrates, things like sweet potato, pumpkin, those things.

We have healthy fats. Think avocado, olive oil, olives, etc. We always have healthy protein, beans, lentils, and then we always have fiber. Okay, so salad. lettuce, you know, all of those yummy things. So we make sure that our meal is balanced and highly nutritious. And by writing it down every night, we are setting ourselves up for success.

We also eat very simply during the week. We are not doing fancy meals that take a long time to cook. [00:09:00] We are keeping it very simple during the week because during the week we are getting up and we’re doing our routine and we are getting into either mum mode or work, whatever it is that we’re doing. But we don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen during the week in the morning.

We want to get on with our day. But on the weekends, it’s a lot slower and we take our time and usually that’s when Nick will do pancakes or something really yummy like a curry or something like that. But during the week, we keep it super simple. Really, really simple. And that works for us. Is it a little bit repetitive and a little bit boring?

Yeah, but it’s nutritious and it’s balanced. And I don’t want to spend hours and hours in the kitchen during the week. I want to get on with my day. I want to get outside with Bambi or I want to go to play group or whatever it is that we are doing. So keep it really simple. Keep it simple because if it’s not simple, you’ll think it’s too complicated.

Then you won’t prepare and then you’ll go and grab junk. And I don’t [00:10:00] want you to do that because that is not good for your health, happiness or productivity. Okay. So keep it super simple. So number seven, following on from doing meal prep the night before is. We do our food prep in the morning. So I start prepping a whole day’s food in the morning.

So while I’m making breakfast or cleaning up after breakfast, I will cut up root vegetables and put them in the oven. I will cut up a head of broccoli and steam it. I will put the beans in the pressure cooker. And I will have all of that food done so that when it comes to lunchtime, it’s already there.

It’s already all done. My future self thanks me and loves me for it. So that means that in the morning I can go out with Bambi and we can go to the beach or we go to play group or go to gymnastics, whatever we do. And we come home and it’s all done. I don’t have to do anything. It’s so helpful. And it only takes a few minutes, but it makes the rest of the day’s meal so much easier.

And not to [00:11:00] mention so much healthier. And also like there’s been so many times where in the past I’ve been out and I’m like, Oh, I’ve got to go home. I’m tired. I’ve been at the beach or whatever. And then I think, Oh, I’ve got to make lunch as well at the same time, or I’ve got to make dinner, but it’s already there.

It’s already done. So your future self will love you for that. Okay. Number eight. I’ve already spoken about this one, but I’m going to reiterate it again. Simplify your eating. So like I said before, on the weekdays, we keep things very simple and straightforward. Follow this formula. Healthy carbs, healthy protein, healthy fat, and lots of fiber.

And by keeping things simple, it frees up time so that we can focus on family and our work. And like I said before, and then on the weekends you can get fancy, you can do your pancakes, all of those things. But just simplify your eating. Doesn’t have to be really challenging and doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

Okay. Number nine, go to bed early. So I am in bed, like [00:12:00] it just depends. Bambi goes to sleep at seven. I am in bed sometimes, like the earliest, probably like 730. Sometimes I’ve been in bed by 715, 730, 8, 830 is probably the absolute latest. Bye. An early bedtime works so well for me. It means that I get enough sleep and I wake up well rested.

And honestly, I probably couldn’t even stay up till midnight if I tried. I don’t think I could. I would be asleep. So, get to bed early, this is so good for your health, your happiness, and your productivity. So many people speak about it, so many experts, so many doctors, so many scientists, it is proven to improve your mindset, your happiness, your productivity, and your health, so just do it.

Do it for a week and see how you feel. I’m so committed to early bedtimes, I just love it, absolutely love it. So, get to bed early. Okay, next up, number 10 is limit your TV [00:13:00] watching. So we don’t actually own a TV or a couch. And we turned our lounge room into Bambi’s playroom. But I should preface this by saying we are currently renting whilst we build our dream home and we sold all of our furniture in our last place with the house.

So, we don’t have a couch, we don’t have a TV and we haven’t for A really long time now and we absolutely love it. There is no temptation to sit on the couch and binge watch TV. Now if we do decide to watch something, sometimes on a Friday or a Saturday evening, we may watch an episode of something and that will just be on my laptop and we do that downstairs in the guest bedroom and we only watch about 30 minutes.

Because I have this gift of falling asleep very quickly. There’s no way I could watch a movie. I wouldn’t last, absolutely would not last. So limit your TV watching. I would say just, you know, commit to like one [00:14:00] episode just before you start watching, say, okay, I’m just going to watch one episode or I’m just going to watch 30 minutes.

Otherwise, if you don’t set that boundary with yourself. You end up watching five episodes and it’s midnight and then you kick yourself for going to bed so late, okay? So make a commitment to yourself before you start and stick to it and then get to bed as soon as you can. And make sure you are watching it with your blue light blocking glasses on if you are watching it.

We always wear our bond charge. blue light blocking glasses and I actually have a code for them. You can use the code Melissa if you want to grab yourself a pair, but I would never ever at nighttime be looking at a computer, my phone or a TV without my glasses on. It is essential for helping you fall into that deep sleep very, very quickly.

Number 11, read before sleep. So reading a few pages of a book is the perfect transition into sleep mode. It is our nightly ritual and we love [00:15:00] diving into different worlds and broadening our horizons before bed. And as an added bonus, without a TV to eat into our reading time, I get through way more books than I otherwise would.

Now, in saying that, I used to read probably a book a week before Bambi. That does not happen anymore, definitely doesn’t happen anymore, but I still am always reading something and I absolutely love, absolutely love reading. And I have this gift where I can really only get through a couple of pages before I fall asleep.

So. It does take me a lot longer, a lot longer to get through my books these days, but always have something inspiring on the go. Any of my books on your nightstand would be amazing. Okay, number 12. We already spoke about this one, but wearing blue light blocking glasses around the house. So the blue light emitted by your screens and artificial lighting [00:16:00] can disrupt your sleep patterns and lead to a whole host of downstream health issues.

Now to combat this, we wear blue blocking glasses as soon as we have to turn any lights on. Now the difference this habit has made to my sleep is insane. We also have low blue light lighting in our house that makes such a difference. Now, like I said before, we are renting, and so we can’t actually change all of the light bulbs in our house that we’re currently renting.

In our new house, we are doing what is called circadian lighting. So we have specific healthy lighting in our new home that is not going to emit any blue artificial light in the evening. How cool is that? So we won’t even have to wear our blue light blocking glasses in our new house because our whole house is going to be healthy circadian lighting.

How fun is that going to be? I’m so excited for that. And by the way, if you don’t know, we are building our [00:17:00] dream toxic free beach home at the moment. I’ve got a highlights on my Instagram and I’m sharing as much as I can, but it’s still quite early stages. I mean, like walls are going up, but I’m going to be doing podcast interviews with all of the suppliers and the people that we use to create this toxic free, healthy beach house.

And I’m so excited for you guys to. come along this journey because I get so many questions about healthy homes and I am just so excited that this is happening for me right now. They say that we will be in September 2024, so we’ll just see. Fingers crossed. I’m so excited to take you guys along for the journey.

Okay, number 13, get out into nature as much as possible. I aim to get outside as much as I possibly can every single day. Now this means that workouts, meals, catch ups with friends and play dates with my daughter are often [00:18:00] outside. Now whether that’s our backyard or the beach or a national park near our house, it actually doesn’t matter.

If it is nice weather and not raining, we are outside. The only time I’m not out there is if it’s raining. Even then, sometimes Bambi still wants to go out, so we’ll go out. But get outside as much as you possibly can. It is so good for your health, happiness, and productivity. It will actually make you more productive.

Going for a little walk, or just going and taking a few deep breaths outside. It is so recalibrating. You’re soaking up and drinking in and breathing in all of those beautiful negative ions that are so good for you. So get outside as much as you possibly can. I know for me, when I have spent too much time inside, I start to feel really flat and down.

And all it takes is getting outside and I feel instantly better, uplifted, happier and healthier. Okay, number 14, switch your phone to silent. [00:19:00] So our phones are almost always on silent unless we are waiting for an urgent call, which has probably happened like once in the last 10 years. That constant ringing and pinging of your phone can send your cortisol levels shooting through the roof.

It can also take you out of the precious present moment with your loved ones. And it can break your concentration if you’re working. Silent mode is our default, and we are so much calmer, happier, and more productive for it. Put it on. I mean, unless you’re like a midwife, a doctor, or a doula, your phone needs to be on all the time.

But, you know, most of the time, for a lot of people, it doesn’t. It actually doesn’t, unless it’s part of your work. For me, it is not part of my work. So I can choose to have it on and you know, I usually arrange a call with someone if I’m going to have a call with them. So we kind of know, okay, we’re going to chat at this time or whatever, but most of the time we do them over FaceTime or even [00:20:00] zoom these days, but turn your phone on silent if you can, or even just for periods of your day.

It’s so annoying when you are at someone’s house trying to have a dinner party or lunch or something like that and someone’s phone is just constantly going off. It is so distracting. And not fun because you’re trying to have a deep conversation and all you hear is the pinging and the dinging. No, not fun at all.

And then this brings me to the final one, number 15, daily dance offs. So at least once a day, we have a family dance party and we all have the biggest grins on our face during these silly dance off sessions. It is so much fun and the joy that it brings to Bambi, oh my gosh, it is so cute. She loves it so much.

So we usually do two songs in the kitchen. after every dinner. So that’s kind of what we do, and we absolutely love it. [00:21:00] And we usually play two of the same songs, or maybe there’s like one other one that we play, because Bambi loves them. And she just is beaming from ear to ear, and it brings her so much joy, and it brings us so much joy, and it’s such a great way to shake off the day.

So definitely do some daily dance offs. So much fun. And sometimes she’ll just say to me, Mom, I dance party, Mom, I dance party. And I’m like, okay, like this morning after breakfast, she wanted a dance party. And so we had a dance party. So yeah, you just got to flow with it. And it’s so good for you. It is so good for your health, your happiness, and your productivity.

Try it. One minute, one song, just try it and see how you feel, okay? So there you have it. A personal playbook of 15 habits distilled from years of learning, tweaking, and refining. These habits might seem small when viewed in isolation or when looked at one day at a [00:22:00] time, but with the addition of one of the most powerful forces on the planet, consistency, these small actions compound and in the end are what truly shape our days and eventually our lives.

So start weaving even just a handful of these into your daily routine and I promise you, you will be looking back a year from now amazed at the huge strides you have made. So here’s to starting small while reaping big rewards. I am so excited for you to try these. And to improve your health, happiness, and your productivity.

Now, if you got a lot out of this, please subscribe to the show and leave me a review if you haven’t already on Apple podcasts, because that means that we can inspire and educate even more people together. And it also means that all of my episodes will just pop up in your feed so that you never have to go searching for a new one.

Now, jump on over to Instagram at [00:23:00] melissarambrosini and tell me what you got from this episode. Which one of these 15 are you going to implement today? I would love to hear from you. I absolutely love chatting with you guys in my DMs, so please come over there right now. Before I go, I just wanted to say thank you so much for being here, for wanting to be the best, healthiest and happiest version of yourself and for showing up today for you.

You rock. Now, if there’s someone in your life that you can think of that would really benefit from these 15 habits, please share it with them right now. You can take a screenshot, share it on your social media, email it to them, text it to them, do whatever you’ve got to do to get this in their ears. And until next time, my darling, don’t forget that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be SO grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple podcasts, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

P.S. If you’re looking for a high-impact marketing opportunity for your business and are interested in becoming a sponsor for The Melissa Ambrosini Show podcast, please email pr@melissaambrosini.com for more information.

P.P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.