By Have you ever thought about your perfect day? Not the dream day when you are sitting on a beach sipping cocktails without a care in the world, but a realistic perfect day. What i’m talking about is the perfect day, that you planned out, that you perfectly owned. That’s what Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex
This book is right up my alley. I discovered Aubrey Marcus during a podcast interview he was doing with Tim Ferriss. During the interview I appreciated his candidness and optimism about helping people live their best life. And being as “live your best life” is one of my mantras for 2018, I was hooked. This book is a representation of how Aubrey lives his life, and encourages others to do so as well.
Many personal development books focus on subtle changes to help you make lasting change, over a long period of time. We’ve all heard that saying that a habit is built in 28 days, and in order to make change you must create habit. I’m not arguing the power of habit, nor is Aubrey; but this book takes an opposite approach. Instead of making small changes over time, what if you planned out exactly what an optimized day is in your world, planned for it accordingly, and then Owned That Day. This book walks you through what an entire optimized day could and should be, from sunrise to sunset; and better yet it’s all backed by science.
You want to know the best way to start your day? Aubrey explains the science behind starting your day with exposure to sunlight, salted lemon water, and getting your body moving. Cold exposure therapy and breath work, you can bet that just like Tony Robbins, Aubrey stresses the physical and metaphysical reasons why you should be starting your day with these activities.
Aubrey also focuses in great depth, the influence that diet and exercise have you your mental and physical health. This book emphasizes the the importance of making healthy choices, specifically eating more fat and less sugar, to minimize blood sugar spikes and mood irregularity (#hangry). As the founder of a supplements company, Onnit, he also stresses the value of adding supplements to fill in the gaps of your diet to ensure you body is performing at peak levels. Prior to reading this book, I had actually ordered Onnit Supplements
When it comes to work, this book stresses a work-smarter-not-harder attitude of working in the most efficient way possible, through controlling caffeine intake, posture, developing sleep hygiene, and blocking out distractions. The book also points out importance of utilizing drive time during a commute to grow, learn and practice mindfulness. Have you eve heard of a binaural power nap? I hadn’t until this book. Aubrey and his labs have tested the benefits of using binaural beats to help brain-wave entrainment. These beats target specific brain waves to help you achieve more restorative results from a 30 minute mid-day nap. Although taking a nap is not always an option for many of us, this concept of optimizing your down time, to increase your productivity is something I can get behind.
This book covers every aspect of your life that you would want to optimize during your day, many of which aren’t covered here, as I don’t want to spoil your reading experience. Throughout the book, you are given realistic prescriptions of how you can optimize every aspect of your life, from beginner to advanced. The book doesn’t suggest someone who has been sedentary to go out and try to through hundreds of pounds over your head Olympic Weightlifting Style; instead this books tries to meet you where you are to help create an attitude of improvement and to prevent burn out. This is one of my favorite books I have read in a while, and I highly suggest it to anyone looking to feel healthier and more productive every single day.
**If you do want to order a copy of this book for yourself, follow the affiliate link above. It’s no cost to you, and I get a little something-something! Happy Reading! **
