Last year, I committed to a full year of reading in Hebrew.

I decided to read one book a month in Hebrew, not just to expose myself to the leading experts in my field of Personal Development here in Israel and learn as much as I can from them, but also to improve and upgrade my vocabulary and to challenge and push myself. Almost 20 years ago, I studied at University in Hebrew as well as complete my post-graduate qualifications in a “foreign” language, and yet today, there are so many times when I still feel like a brand new immigrant, fresh off the plane with a strong South African accent, trying to find a specific word. Don’t get me wrong, I am so proud of and love my African roots but because I work in both English and Hebrew, it is really important for me to keep developing this area. So I accepted the challenge upon myself.

Full disclosure: It was so tiring, took up so much more time than I ever anticipated and needless to say – it was seriously hard!

(I like to think I’m a strong reader. But this took me ages. I had to look up countless words and concentrate that much harder. It was tough to say the least.)

One year later, and super proud of my achievement, it inspired me to take on another challenge: a full year of daily SAVERS.

For those of you familiar with The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod’s Life Savers are part of my coaching practice and have become an integral part of my daily routine too. I can’t imagine a day without them. They have become as automated and normal to me as making my morning cup of coffee!

I committed to a full year of SAVERS and I highly recommend it.

SAVERS stand for:

• Silence
• Affirmations
• Visualization
• Exercise
• Reading
• Scribing

I have adapted his version to make it more personal and more of my own and I have stuck to them diligently for a complete year.

They have given tremendous focus and positivity to my day, helped me live with greater purpose and intention and given me access to an energy and passion that used to be much harder for me to recruit.

These are my 365 daily practices.

They take me approximately 45 minutes every day.

Silence: I spend 10 minutes in silence every day. (Sometimes in thought, sometimes in prayer and sometimes in meditation, sometimes doing absolutely nothing). This time is literally GOLD. Now that I have studied and researched the effects of this magic on our brain and not just experienced it first hand, it is nothing short of transformational.

Just do it!

Affirmations: I choose 2 daily affirmations which I repeat to myself plenty times throughout the day. They are brief positive messages that have literally trained my brain to feed me what I need to hear when I need it most.

This past year, one of the affirmations I repeated daily was:

I can handle what comes my way.

I can handle what comes my way.

This statement became a mantra that has helped me keep the faith through some awfully painful, uncertain and fearful times. After repeating this message consistently, my sub-conscious began to internalize it so much that I started believing it. We are stronger and braver than we could possibly know and we can get through hard times. The right mindset is crucial. What positive messages do you repeat that help you?

Visualization: I visualize how I want to show up each day. It can be hugely overwhelming to picture yourself a year or two from now, but choosing how I want to show up just for this day is manageable.

Each morning, I trained myself to take the time and ask:

Who do I want to be today?

How would that ideal me show up for this day?

(As a look ahead at the schedule that awaits me, what do I see, feel and hear….How do I perform, how do I speak, what presence or state of mind do I want to embody today. It is so easy to focus solely on a “to do” list. Trust me, a “to be” list is equally important).

This visualization helped me decide who I wanted to be each day and gave me a sense of personal leadership and power, without having my day decide what kind of person I am going to be for me.

Up until now, many times, my day was in charge of me. If it went well, I was well. If it went haywire, well, you can imagine. Now, I feel more more in control of the kind of person I want to be, no matter what shows up.

This was the hardest muscle for me to strengthen. It’s an ongoing process of choosing to be present, mindful and the master of choice in any given moment. Easier said than done, but so worth it!

Exercise: I do a run or my online workout. Sometimes these workouts are short and can be literally 20-25 minutes only but they raise my heart-rate and they make me sweat and they remind me to cherish my body and the miracle of health. I always feel so charged and great afterwards. Endorphins simply rock!

The comprehensive benefits that working out has on our mind, body and soul are well researched and well known by most, but I will add that everything is honestly better for me after a workout: my attitude, my thoughts, my outlook, my productivity: everything.

Reading: I read every single day, even if it’s just a page. Reading nourishes my soul. (I am referring to reading something inspirational. I literally drink up these books as if they are the only things that can quench my thirst on the hottest day). There is so much to learn it’s truly amazing! I also love biographies, romance and super suspense-filled novels, however this reading is specifically reading that can expand my horizons, motivate me and give me something meaningful to work on within myself.

I have an amazing library and list of books I can recommend you! We live in a day and age where they is so much out there to enjoy. Treat yourself to the best gift!

Scribing: I answer 3 questions every night:

What did I learn today, what am I proud of today and what am I thankful for today?

When I read back my notes at the end of the week, it really helps me see progress, growth, grab some strength and fuel me – especially on hard days.

Truthfully, some days the answers to these 3 questions seem to fly out of my pen effortlessly it is so easy to see my blessings and lessons and wins if its been a rock-star kind of day and then on other days, when I mess up, and experience a setback, or things just don’t work out as I had hoped and everything seems to be going wrong, I have to sit and search with a microscope or tweezers to try and find them. And that’s OK. It’s all part of the process. I have learned over the year of scribing that we always find what we are looking for. So I consciously make myself look for the answers to these 3 questions to end off my day.

These 6 daily savers take me 45 minutes in total and have become a habit that I absolutely love.

I wonder what my next one year challenge will be, do you have one?