By Tommy B. If you've ever sat out to watch a sunrise, you feel the energy of a new day, a new opportunity, and a blank slate. It's a reminder that this experience is short and what we did yesterday doesn't matter -- meaning, it mattered yesterday, but today is a new chance. It's a new chance to live a life of intention, enthusiasm and moving forward towards our dreams. In other words, we have an opportunity to craft a masterpiece. For many, the word masterpiece may trigger them and make them think they shouldn't be included in the same sentence...nonsense. We've all had those days where we truly moved the needle of our life forward, we connected with others in a deep, vulnerable way and we had an experience that left us laying with our heads on our pillow saying... Wow, that was awesome. In this post, I'll share 21 ways to make every day a special day

Have An Epic Attitude

In this timeless work, On The Shortness of Life, Stoic philosopher Seneca spoke about today being the day. How every single day is our day, a chance to embrace a new experience and live out the life of our dreams. To me, that means having an amazing attitude, despite our circumstances and truly understanding that yesterday's events have no real impact on what may happen today. We all have that friend that has a contagious attitude no matter if we’re stuck in hours of traffic and there’s something special about harnessing that energy.

Wake Up 30 Minutes Earlier

Waking up earlier is my #1 productivity and fulfillment tip for those who are looking to make incremental, yet impactful steps in their life. It doesn't matter what you do during this time, as long as it's important to one person: you. You may take time to read, write, or simply sit on your couch and contemplate life for a few minutes – as long as you’re intentional, it’s all that matters. According to this article on the Huffington Post, “One study conducted by The University of Toronto, found that “people who wake up early in the morning are generally happier and have higher satisfaction overall in their lives.” That can make every day a special day!

Get Your Namaste On

Taking anywhere from 3-20 minutes to establish a breathing practice, or yes, meditation will set the tone for the rest of your day to react less out of emotion and having the ability to choose how you see negative events. Breathing has immense physiological and mental benefits, and there's no way to do this wrong. Bonus points for those who “OMMMMM.”

Complete One High Level Task

Completing one action first thing in the morning is one of the most powerful tools to harness momentum. For example, writing, editing and shipping this blog post is the task I'm using to create momentum today. The key word here is: completion. Don't start something in the morning unless you're going to finish it and keep it very simple.

Get Moving!

Energy creates energy and getting moving in the morning will dissolve any negative emotions and get you focused on the present. It doesn't matter what you do -- a traditional gym training session, a high intensity workout, yoga, pilates, sprinting, hiking, it's the simple action of blood flow that stimulates your creativity and connection to your physical body. Not only will every day be a special day, but it will be a productive one on the workout front as well!

Craft A Plan

Crafting a plan is essential to having a masterpiece type of day – even if you’re not the planning type. Knowing what’s on your plate leads to clarity which allows you to easily make decisions and move forward with your life. One powerful tool to add is to schedule time to “let go” and block out spaces during your day to do whatever you feel like doing, combining the certainty of planning with the addition of spontaneous activity.

Don’t Check Email or Snapchat!

Whatever you do, do not check email in the morning and better yet, keep your phone on airplane mode. This is likely one of the most essential tools of the day, especially in the morning. The further you can push this, the more clarity you will have. Set a minimum time to check email, for me it's 9:00AM at the earliest when I'm up at 5:00, yet many days it can be 11:00 or 12:00PM by the time I get around to it. Sid Savara mentions the countless reasons why you shouldn’t check email or social media in the morning in a great article here. When you start your day with an influx of messages, you lose the ability to control your own thinking and start to react instead of act.

Turn Up Some Music You Love

Listening to music you love will increase your energy and put you in an awesome mood, use your intuition to pick something random and truly listen to the music. Dance if you feel so inclined.

Use The Power Of Gratitude

One of my favorite quotes of all time is: Your biggest problem or obstacle is someone's dream luxury. Any time you can truly, authentically dig deep and find all the amazing things in your life you can be grateful for, your internal and external state will shift and you will be open to receive more.

Lift Others Up With An Abundance Mentality

Send a few messages, texts, notes, tweets, and handwritten cards, whatever it may be to other people. Using this as a consistent habit shifts you into a mindset into abundance. Additionally, we all have "those days" -- and we never know what someone else is going through.

Have At Least One Meaningful Conversation

Every single day, have a deep, meaningful conversation with someone in which you both truly connect. To establish a connection that goes deeper than the surface area, it requires vulnerability and letting your guard down. That means telling someone how you really feel, unveiling a belief or a challenge and simply being real.

Complete One Action That Scares You

This one's easy, because we all have extreme resistance on a daily level. Pushing through this resistance is an amazing feeling and will get you in a powerful state. This could be anything, to be honest: posting a video on social media, talking to a stranger, trying a new fitness class with your friend -- your choice.

Laugh, Really Hard

Some of the tips above are somewhat serious; yet embracing humor is essential to not taking yourself too seriously. Finding the comedic angle in situations, surrounding yourself with others who make you laugh and having a light heartedness about life is crucial to feeling amazing.

Fight Negativity With Love

We can't control what people say about us and at some point, conflicts will arise. It may be your roommate, a co-worker, someone gossiping or a fight about politics online (note: don't engage, please). When you feel triggered, rise above and fight negativity with love and kindness, you will feel amazing for being in control of your emotions and the other person will soon regret anything that was said, even if they don't admit it.

Ground

Walking in nature is one of the best ways to connect with the Earth and you in a deep way -- walking barefoot in grass for a few minutes have been proven to increase fulfillment and happiness. Getting a few minutes outside no matter what you do is an essential part of crafting your masterpiece.

Eat Food That Nourishes You

We've all had those meals that seemed amazing at the time, yet we knew were full of processed food, sugar and a host of other things we don't want to know about. And then it hit us: energy slump, digestive issues and negative feelings. Nourishing our bodies every day with food that makes us feel good and is nutritious is crucial for our mental energy and clarity.

Perform A Random Act Of Kindness

Every day we encounter opportunities to help someone out, yet a lot of times we stop ourselves short because of our own ego, i.e. thinking: What will they think? Scratch that and do it anyways! Maybe you help an elderly person with his or her groceries to the car, maybe you ship someone a book by surprise or smile and compliment a stranger.

Force Yourself To Perform

This one's different and it's all about putting you out there. This can be anything -- an important meeting, an interview, filming a video, dancing in public, doing a fitness event, etc. There is something so powerful about putting yourself out there and showing up to some type of performance, no matter how small or seemingly simple it may be.

Journal Your Emotions

At the end of the day, use a journal to get everything you're thinking and feeling out of your head onto paper. This will help you unload the weight off your shoulders and see that most of what you're feeling isn't really too important. By making it real and putting it to paper, you can question each one and reflect on if it's worth keeping it in your headspace or not.

Create A Shut It Down Time

At around 9PM, I go on Airplane mode on my phone and stop watching TV...it's not easy, but this will increase the quality of your sleep in a major way. Training your body to have a time to start the process of recovery and rejuvenation is crucial, which is our next one.

Establish An Evening Ritual

While morning rituals get all the love, an evening ritual is just as important to wind down and let the day go. Some favorites include a warm bath with candles, getting a self-massage or foam roller, stretching, dimming the lights and reading and a combination of all of these. Our minds and bodies are extremely habitual and routine based and this will signal to your body... It's time. MindBodyGreen has a fantastic article on 7 things you can do in the evening to create a powerful experience the next day.

What's Yours?

There you have it...some easy ways to make every day a special day. Whether it is for today or the next day, taking these steps will help you find more energy, love, connection and fulfillment. Of course, not every day is going to wind up perfect but the more we will our day with things and people we love, productivity, kindness and energy, the less space there is for all the other stuff. What's your favorite from above or do you have one of your own to add? We'd love to hear - post to comments.