Are you listening to your body’s algorithm? Are you creating consistent daily routines that make a difference in the outcome of your day-to-day?
Here are some things to remember to live your best life.
#1 Feed the mind
Your mind is the strongest muscle in your entire body. A strong mind can push you through any reasonable obstacle. It’s so important to stay plugged into a really good book. This helps to challenge the brain to continue learning, and to keep it motivated with positive reinforcing thoughts daily!
#2 Get plenty of sleep
Because our brain is the strongest muscle it retains important memories of relevant information that prepares your body in advance. If you feed it negativity, you get negative results. You feed it positivity, and it gives you positive results. The brain is always trying to be a step ahead. Preparing for errors it learns and overcomes. Our brains have signals that remind us of where the errors are in the algorithms. If we ignore these signals injuries are bound to happen and that is why sleep is so particularly important for healing. I’ve learned from colleagues and authors before me that the body goes through dramatic physical healing and repair between the hours of 10pm and 2am and then psychological repair between 2am and 6am. Can you imagine if you stay up late or disrupt your natural sleeping pattern what it’s doing to your body after time? It’s no wonder we don’t feel good. This will surely cause the cortisol to elevate and negatively affect the regenerative process. This process alone – getting plenty of sleep at the right times – can set the tone for a successful day. I have learned this firsthand. Throw this off and I can promise you it can be one of the reasons why anything good you introduce to your body for energy, weight loss, etc. will not work. If waking up early is tough, do it anyway and get used to it! There is nothing that says you can’t take a nap in the afternoon if you can squeeze it in.
#3 Establish a morning routine that sets the tone for the day
Teach your brain to always wake up early or to wake up at the same time every day and be consistent. That’s the key. Discipline yourself and learn to understand your body’s circadian rhythm. Everyone is different. I remembered challenging this statement and telling myself that if I sleep through until noon because I’m a late-night person it’s ok because it works itself out. Or that if I work a midnight shift and rearrange my schedule, I’ll be ok. But I could never understand that even if I adjusted my body after a while my body still doesn’t feel well. Unfortunately, the reality is our body doesn’t make an exception to the rule. Bottom line… remember, the body’s physical healing and repair process is between 10pm and 2am and 2am and 6am for psychological repair. So, if we are up during those times when does the body have a chance to heal?
#4 Make your bed
This is a great task that can start your day off on the right foot. It’s the little things that can change the trajectory of your life in today’s world. It really gives you a sense of accomplishment that can set the tone for you to have a productive and successful day. At the very least, it will keep you from crawling back into bed and wasting your day away. I highly recommend one of my favorite must-read books, “Make Your Bed” by U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven (ret.).
#5 Create solid daily routines
Plan your day the day before, not the day of. Remember, your brain plans for errors and does this the night before. Therefore, setting up your day on the same day confuses the rhythm of your brain. It’s as if you are late to the party. Do you ever get that feeling of not being prepared even when you thought you were when setting up your day, or feeling like you’re behind or can’t seem to catch up? Or, how about feeling overwhelmed because you accidentally woke up late and now your day is not planned? You’re just setting yourself up to waste the day away. Be intentional and prepare ahead. Go as far as having a week-at-a-glance beforehand to sit in front of you. You’ll be surprised how adaptable your brain is when having a set routine every day that can create a positive environment when you train your brain to think far enough in advance. You’ll start to see how life starts to get easier. It’s that lazy, “stinkin’ thinkin’” we need to remove from our lives that creates that unwanted long-term stress. Now remember, everyone is equipped differently in how we manage our preparedness. Some of us don’t need to write it down or see it far enough in advance. Some of us have the ability to handle it internally and that’s cool, but just recognize outcome if it is not working then writing it down and reminding yourself with a journal or calendar might be better and more effective.
#6 Feed your body
It starts with feeding your body right throughout the day. Stop thinking of food as a reward and start thinking of food as fueling the body at each meal giving you the right energy source to balance hormones. Unfortunately, as we get older our body will become resistant and sometimes you may need to aid the body with supplementation. Sadly, doctors are not widely educated on natural supplements and so prescriptions are widely advocated instead. Therefore, taking the extra mile learning to supplement with the proper vitamins and minerals, plus adding antioxidants to your body may help give your body the push it needs to get over the plateaus we encounter and can be the answer to many of our problems. If we stop thinking of food as a reward but as a fuel and shift the reward and fun to exercising or lifestyle activities, now we can have a great outcome to balancing your body effectively to win! Adding exercise, whether it be low impact, high impact or just simply incorporating movement into our everyday chores and lives can be the ticket to so many benefits. You need it for strengthening all aspects of your body: your heart, lungs, losing excess weight and maintaining muscle tissue as we get older (unfortunately gravity doesn’t become our friend), is key to a better life. Most every successful nutritional program or nutritional product works when done right. We see how it will work for some or it wouldn’t be out there for you to try but the only one that will work for you is the one that you’ll stick with. That is what sets apart those who have success and those who do not.
So, if you ever wonder why you don’t feel good inside and out, why you can’t stick to a daily routine or change your mindset, constantly resisting or giving up too soon – It’s about flipping that switch! If your mind isn’t right, and you’re not intentional in the process, you will never stick to whatever you set out to do. Finally, the key to making all these tips work is consistency. Make it a habit to surround yourself with positive and productive activities: reading, planning, eating, exercising, and doing the little things to reinforce to yourself that you can complete what you set in your mind to do and there’s nothing you can’t accomplish!