10 habits I hate about you

 Now I've successfully captured the attention of my fellow 10 Things I Hate About You fans who also had a major crush on Heath Ledger and read The Bell Jar purely because they had promised themselves it would somehow magically and completely inexplicably transform them into a 2.0 version of Kat Stratford overnight, let's get into the 10 habits I swear by to help me inch desperately closer to being THAT bitch. 

1) Read, Forrest, Read! 

 There are so many freaking books out there in the world it's kind of mad. I think I once heard one of my professors say about 500 new books every fortnight are published in the UK alone so essentially, in a single month more books are published than most of us will ever be able to read across the span of our entire lives. But, we can die trying right? 

We've all heard reading is great for so many reasons from improving empathy, decreasing depression symptoms (still seek help though pls), reducing stress and even expanding your vocabulary thus allow us to evolve into more intelligent, emotional and otherwise beings. 

That being said, it can be damn hard to find the time, money and motivation to pick up a book no matter how much we say to our friends we want to check out that new thriller novel before the film comes out. Because of this reason and this reason alone, I always tell people who confide in me with this issue to simply set a timer and read for just 20-25 minutes a day. It just a short ask, roughly the same length of time as an episode of Friends or Schitt's Creek and you'll gain the benefits without feeling like you are making much of a sacrifice. 

Here are a couple of my current recommendations

• The Discomfort Zone, Farrah Storr 
• The Choice, Edith Eger 
• Confessions of a Sociopath, M.E. Thomas 
• Am I Normal Yet?, Holly Bourne 
• Dreaming in Quantum, Lynda Clark
  
  
  

2) Healthy Teas

We'v all been guilty of searching on interest what the benefits of each type of tea is, we want to know which will calm us the most, soothe our bloating in the most effective way or help us drop the pounds the quickest so we can have our summer glow ups. Tea's are cheap, low maintenance, better than drinking coffee late into the day and can be consumed when reading your book for 25 minutes and having zero screen time right before bed. That will help you sleep better and wake up earlier in a much more refreshed state and as we all know, nothing screams THAT bitch quite like an early morning riddled with productivity. 

my personal favourites; 

• Lemon and Ginger 
• Peppermint 
• Green tea 

(I'm basic okay) 

3) Yoga 

I personally started yoga because of the break up/ personal glow up montage we see Georgia go through in the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging changed me on a spiritual level as a kid. Something inside me always has and always will want to live my life as closely to the icons of the early 00s films as I possibly can. I have a particular soft spot for Jenna Rink in 13 going on 30 and the best friends in13 going on 30. All of which I'm sure dip their toes into the yoga pool every now and then as we, as a society, hold the perception it's soul soothing and always go through phases of revisiting the alignment or lack thereof of our chakras.

It's a method of managing stress and managing you being able to tell people you did work out that day even though it was just 20 minutes of looking at Yoga with Adrienne's fluffy dog. I see no down sides other than the occasional pain when in downward dog. 

4) Walking 

As humans we have to do a lot to 'properly' look after ourselves and one of those things is taking 10 thousand steps every single day and i'll admit, so many days I won't reach even half of that and on others i'll triple or even quadruple it but I know when I do reach my 10k I feel infinitely better about myself and my day and it gives me a mini high knowing I have achieved something. Plus, walking is great to keep that bootayy and legs in shape Ladies. I see you. If you keep skipping the gym or avoiding those Madfit recommendations on your youtube this one could be great to shift your mentality to a slightly more positive place. 

5) Lists 

To keep you on track with your productivity kick making lists the night before or morning of your mega productive day will aid with structure and act like a sort of reward system where you get a surge of dopamine immediately as you tick something off the list. It sounds kinda boring I know but works for me whenever I make a list instead of just having a few tasks rolling around in my mind and when I look to my schema of That bitch she always has a to do list. I feel Elle Woods would never have gotten into Harvard Law School without her structure to do lists and study schedules. 

6) Getting experimental in the kitchen 

I'd like to just preface this point with saying one word dominants my life at all times and that is budget so don't freak out, stay with me here. 

If you're vegan like me or just looking for more plant based recipe's I suggest taking a look at the Lovinitvegan website as they have a massive recipe index which covers dinners as well as desserts and a multitude of other things. 

Also, hear me out-Tesco. They have some really great fuss free recipes that can be hard to find. Here's a link to their vegan pesto recipe I keep using. Its essentially just wacking basil, cashews, oil and lemon in a blender and stirring that in with your pasta and veggies of your choice and tastes super fresh. How much of that bitch will you feel telling people for dinner last night you just like casually made your own pesto from scratch? you're welcome. 

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/basil-and-cashew-pesto-pasta.html 

7) Allow yourself more time off 

You may have heard of the 80/20 rule where 80% of the results produced comes from just 20% of what you do/achieve

 or

The cliche 'less is more' and that can apply to the office and uni work too. 

The primary principle is this; allowing yourself ample guilt free time off tasks to fully relax will mean that during the dedicated time you are working you will be substantially more focused and be able to produce work of a higher quality than if you were forcing yourself to work when you can feel you may be burning out. You should forgive yourself be kinder to yourself because working for the sake of working will result in more mistakes and less developed ideas.  

8) Tackle any daunting tasks before you have your lunch 

then you can rest easy at lunch knowing the rest of your working day will be a walk in the park compared to the morning you've just had. I always think it's better to just jump straight in head first with larger or more important tasks rather than letting the pressure and anxiety build up and create a block for you. 

9) Longer showers 

Admittedly, not a great one for the environment or the bank account where bills are concerned but sometimes the difference for me between an average or slow morning and a super productive one is a slightly longer shower. I can allow myself room to properly breathe and mentally prepare myself the day ahead. Also, i'm a little bit of a water baby so being in a bath or shower really allows for me to have some of my best thoughts, i get filled with clarity and hit with inspiration and motivation being submerged in the water and i'm sure I'm not alone in that.  

10) solo serotonin sessions 

Apologies for the obnoxious alliteration here but what I mean by this is having a little mini dance party by yourself. This is one thing which never fails to reset my energy levels and put a smile on my face. 

They're great because they are so suited to anytime of the day. 

Having  a bad morning and struggling to get out of bed? Wack on a morning playlist and throw yourself a quick dance party. 

In an afternoon slump? dance party at 2pm. 

Feeling a little bored before bed after an evening of Netflix and zero social plans? get your energy out with a dance party. 

I find its great to have a good few playlists you've tailor made for yourself so you know you LOVE all the songs that could possibly bless your ear drums once shuffle mode has been activated but if you grow bored of those or don't where to start with making them here a couple approved of by yours truly; 

• Morning Dopamine by Sadiealdis
• I Hate Men by rovergard 
• She's angsty again by Gillian Mangan
• Women Power by Pedersen 
• Mood Booster by setthetone

Bonus tip/habit: 

podcasts! 

Podcasts to me are a happy medium between bopping to a playlist and singing into your hairbrush and reading. They're like a colloquial audiobook for the most part. 

Here are some of my current favourites; 

• Working Hard, Hardly Working 
• Call Her Daddy 
• How to Fail
• Morning Cup of Murder 
• Sentimental Garbage 
• Unzipped