4 secrets to turn your day from mundane to magical

Isn't it great to wake up feeling excited about your day ahead? To know that whatever you're doing that day, it matters, it's meaningful. What if you could feel like this every day?

Well, guess what? You can - no matter what you do right now.

I'll share with you some ideas of how, but first, let's back up a little. For me, there's no more inspiring profession than what I do. My work as a coach helps people to live their dreams (what a privilege) and I've just completed a life-long ambition to become a published author (well, I've done the work... now I have to wait for the book to come out in October). Yet, even though I'm doing what I always wanted to do, this Monday morning I didn't leap to my desk with enthusiasm. I slumped there, bleary eyed and wanting to go back to bed.

"If you can't muster enthusiasm for the day," I asked myself, "how can you expect to inspire your clients?"

This could have been one of those days we all have, where things feel like walking through glue. But instead of wallowing in my Monday blues, I got on the phone to a wonderful coach friend of mine, Nikki Armytage - The Life Stylist. She helped me remember that your day goes whichever way you choose it to go. Any day can be mundane or magical.

Something that was magical for me as a six year old girl was the carousel at fairgrounds. I would pick my favourite horse and enjoy the speed and motion and independent feeling the experience gave me. Yet, ten years later at 16, the carousel was the last ride I wanted to try. It was too slow, too usual, too childish. "Boring!" I yawned and went to sit on a bench and grumpily do nothing.

Like the fairground, we can 'grow out of' the magic of enjoying our lives. Something new in our lives goes from being exciting, to being mundane with shocking speed. What was once a thrilling new job becomes an obligation; what was once a shiny new relationship gets dulled and routinised. So how do we keep that magic feeling of stepping into the fairground as a six year old? How can you live in your own permanent fairground?

Here are four secrets that work for me:

1) Look at through the eyes of a six year old. Imagine you were six again, looking at your life, with all that awe and wonder for the world. Everything, from driving a car, to going shopping at Tesco, to choosing your own dinner would be magical. That's how your life really is when you look at it - a series of magical moments that hold much more potential than we ever notice.

2) Go for playtime. As John Williams writes about in his book Screw Work Let's Play, it is possible for us to play and work at the same time. I'm pretty sure no six year old would sit at a desk and work for hours on end, so see what happens if you don't either. Play! Sit on the floor, ditch your laptop, play a game, draw a picture... do something that brings the magic back into your life. And then when you restart your activity, you'll feel fresher and you'll do it better.

3) Notice your 'candy-floss'. Candy-floss is all the stuff we have to feel good about in life. If you were standing in a fairground right now, your arms would probably be full of candy-floss, if you only chose to notice. Count all the things you have to feel grateful for. How many of the things you have ever wished for have come true? When good things happen, it's easy for us to forget about them, but if you focus on feeling grateful the magic will stay in your life.

4) Never go to the fairground alone. It's not much fun sitting on a rollercoaster on your own. To keep your day from becoming mundane, look to people around you to play with. Be lighthearted with each other. Do something unusual together. Connect. Give them your energy. The more you invest into the people around you, the more magic they will give you back.

What else do you do to live a magical life? Please share your ideas below :O)