Your breakfast should be earned, not given.

Good Morning everyone, hope we’re slowly getting back into the normality of the office/studio and business world — I know its taking a bit of getting used to, especially after months of working from home.

This morning, I woke up at my normal time, 04:30, and got myself geared up for something a little special. No I wasn’t getting dressed up to go to an early morning networking event and I certainly wasn’t dressing up to impress any one.

No, I had organised in my head to do a bit of a solid workout complete with a 5k run before I started the morning. My plan was to do the following:

• 50 Down Ups
• 100 20kg Deadlifts
• 100 10kg swings
• 50 2x 10kg clean and press
• 5k run (it is run day after all)

A nice workout, however, I wanted it a bit more raw, so I threw in what I’ve called my ‘Reminder Jacket’, a 10kg weighted jacket that when tightened stifles your breathing somewhat. I also wanted to do it all in 1 hour

Just after 5am I began the routine above, and headed out the door just after 05:30, whilst running I began to think about what we do to earn our bread and water?

Sure we go out to work, we work bloody hard, and I’m sure you do too. Business owners, employees can work in excess of 40+ hours a week not to mention the hours they put into their own self development

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

That first meal of the day, is breakfast, and it is often overlooked. Sometimes we grab something whilst we fly out the door with little thought, and often it isn’t something healthy, or indeed nutritional.

Before you make yourself breakfast tomorrow, or any other day, pause for a moment and ask yourself this question what have you done to earn that first meal of the day?

Sure you went to the shop and bought it, you didn’t have to wrestle a wild animal, you didn’t have to pick the corn or go through the process of turning that corn into a cereal.

So essentially, you did nothing to earn that first meal of the day. Now I’m not saying go out there and smash out a full workout, but make your breakfast rewarding, earn that first meal.

For my breakfast this morning I had 4 scrambled eggs, and a coffee and with what I had achieved before 7am, it made every forkful taste delicious.

Principle

In life we have 2 options, the first one is to do nothing and expect things to fall in our laps, we expect to have breakfast in the morning whether it’s a bacon sandwich or a Ryvita biscuit.

The 2nd, is somewhat harder, its a bit more painful, it requires effort, you get up, and you put in the work to earn your breakfast.

If you’re not into getting hot and sweaty before 6am, I mean who is, then perhaps try these:

• Walking (take your furry companion with you, if you have one)
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Mental work
• Read a book or finish the book you’ve started reading
• Define your plan for the day

I’m a huge believer in earning your food, and that first meal of the day is no exception. If you want to eat, then put in the work to make that first meal taste even more delicious.

What do you think? Do you think you should have to earn your first meal? Let me know in the comments below.

This story was originally published on www.linkedin.com.