You wanna know the wildest (yet most simple) thing?

For someone to ask, “how are you” and for you to answer truthfully (and wholeheartedly) “absolutely amazing!” Not the ordinary, “I’m good” but to actually feel and answer “amazing!” Because the truth is, I’ve never felt more amazing in my life than I do now. It’s almost like having a veil revealed over your eyes where you can see and experience life in itself. To feel amazing in your body. To appreciate every day. To see the beauty in life itself with the smallest things like actually seeing the trees swaying and birds chirping. It is the wildest yet most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced and I’ve felt that more than ever in my life. And because most high performers, such as yourself, may say “I’m good” but collectively feel dissatisfaction from an unknown place that is feeding cycles of anxiety daily, the need to do more and achieve more – well it’s time we break that pattern and rewire the way we think, approach and be. It is my sole mission – to help you and others alike feel THAT type of alignment to actually live LIFE fully and truly experience happiness.

And this will be the perfect restart to just that 👇🏻

Spring Clean Your Life to Feel Amazing (and not just say that you’re good but mean it!):

1 |  Your Life: What works for me?

When’s the last time you were priority número uno? When asked, most people answered, “years!” Whether it’s because you are balancing a skyrocketing career, scaling business, taking care of your family – there is one theme here. You always come second (or third, fourth down the line…) and let’s be honest, that can only last so long until you reach a screeching halt from multiple melt-downs induced by stress or anxiety. 

So instead of doing the same thing, same routine, same days like they are on repeat. Be open to see what is being forced vs what works for you by asking yourself this:

At the end of the day write down and answer, “What worked well for me today?”

Begin taking note of this and this is where realignment begins. When you have this list of what worked for you, pick one and start adding that in while you eliminate something that is forced. This is what I call a 1:1 alignment exchange.

2 |  Your “Off-time:” Do you even have it?

Do you ever feel like you have to be “on” all the time? For many years, I felt that same way. From a high performer standpoint, the natural pull to “keep up” makes you feel like you have to be on all the time, but there’s a truth for it. Sometimes what you really need is to be “off.” To learn how to relax so when you are “on,” you are on 100%, fully energized with more focus and space for creativity than ever rather than working on fumes. This in turn, provides a positive feedback loop to all those that you take care of or things you help with.

Whether you are working from home (#WFHLIFE), bring your computer home to work or are scaling your business from home – it’s important to set in off-time. It’s no wonder why we feel like we have to be “on” all the time when you are trying to juggle so much all at once and find yourself bouncing back and forth between different tasks like this. So instead, time block “off-time” for you and give yourself permission for that. Whether it’s in the morning, after work or in the later evening, this downtime is needed to feel good.

Most often, when we are trying to feel good, we first focus on  tangible aspects that we all hear of such as “workout time,” your sleep schedule, taking a lunch break and although important, downtime is often overlooked because some may perceive it as “not as important” or even lazy. So learn how to relax by deliberately planning in off time. Set on the schedule or set in your mind mentally. This will do wonders for the way you’ll feel. What does downtime or being “off”  look like to you?

3 | Your Sleep: Are you counting sheeps or the hours until you have to officially get up?

“I’m soooo tired.” Did you say that as the first thing when you woke up this morning?

What if you were that person who woke up feeling energized, excited and alive for the day? This isn’t the energy you can “fake it til you make it” type. This energy comes from within and it’s hard to contain because it’s that present! The truth is that can be you but it takes intentional action to better your sleep. And it starts with getting to know how this is linked to the circadian rhythm. 

The circadian rhythm is a continuous internal process within us that helps with sleep and wakefulness. Or better known as your 24-hour body clock. This body clock is connected to hormones like melatonin and cortisol. Ironically, these same hormones are largely influenced by chronic stress that many of us experience as high performers with jammed packed schedules that can include late night working habits and poor sleeping habits. These poor habits lead to changes in cortisol surges that keep you up when you should be sleeping and sleepy during prominent work hours like 1-3pm. 

So take a step back and reset your internal clock starting here:

• Commit to a consistent bedtime just 30 min earlier than you have been going to sleep to begin. Each week knock it back 30 min until you are in your ideal sleep time
• When you wake up, expose yourself to natural light as much as possible and step outside! No matter the weather – go do this!
• Create what I call a “power hour” before bed to wind down the mind, avoid exposure to blue light / screens and promote a restful sleep 

If you want to not only feel well rested, energized but all around physically healthy – focusing on healthy sleeping habits is key. And that project of yours that you are working on until the wee hours of the night? Yea it can wait until the next day. You’ll find that productivity and efficiency you want to be much higher the next day…

Cool gadgets to try? Red light therapy before bed, bucky sleeping eye mask during sleep, & Philips SmartSleep Sunrise and Sunset Simulation Alarm Clock to use to help you gently wake!

4 | Your Schedule: Is that a dumpster fire?

It’s no wonder you are up until 3AM working late, always thinking about work, feeling behind, and waking up early feeling unrested, tired and tired of being tired. That’s a recipe for disaster and it starts with taking a look at your schedule and cleaning it up and clearing it out! High performers wear different hats at all times so it’s important to organize, focus your time and understand what works best for you.

If you work from home or create your own schedule, outline boundaries with clear start and stop times. Yes this might sound obvious, but actually verbalizing what these are and then making sure these are communicated with your clients and team is essential. (HINT HINT)  By “being on all the time” or being “available 24/7” is training the people and clientele you work that you are always available and that’s just not the case. 

Being “available” 24/7 only creates work life imbalance, a cycle of self guilt that your clients or team will think that you are slacking on a project if you don’t respond right away, unspoken expectations that you are always available and then you may be finding yourself always dodging between one task to another and your schedule begins to look like a chaotic mess of unproductive time that leaves you in meltdowns. 

So start with outlining boundaries, communicate them and take a self dive into your personal beliefs by looking at boundaries as a form of self respect, self love and self priority. Do you believe you are worth it? I do, now do you?

5 | Your Screen Time: It’s like shots have been fired from social media…

Lately, have you been feeling  triggered by anyone’s posts? Or constant scroll leaving you feeling crappy? As much as social media can be inspiring, it can be equally triggering.

So let’s make a few things known before diving in. You have a life outside of social media, outside of work and outside of worrying what others are doing. Create the space you need from social media by taking these 5 steps.

• First analyze what is triggering you and then why you are feeling triggered. Take note of that. Then trash whatever leaves you feeling bad, mute them or unfollow altogether.
• Turn off your notifications. This in itself is a trigger. You are triggered and distracted everytime you see a notification pop up on your cell phone or desktop. Every distraction leads to less productive time and therefore less effective time to use your time towards what you want. Rather than social media dictating where your time goes. This also helps prevent the urge to answer back right away but do it when you schedule that time to.
• Turn on screen time app limits. If you have not yet – do so now! Much of living is spent outside of screen time so give yourself that reminder when you have hit your limit. 
• Move your phone away. During projects or time blocks, simply moving your phone away will create a barrier so you are less inclined to pop on mindlessly.
• Social detox. Start with a day, then a weekend and then a week. Plan to schedule in this social detox week once every quarter. Watch at how much you’ll get done, how your focus feels renewed and creativity spikes. This is the space for nurturing yourself so you can give back to you and to others fully energized and refreshed.

What’s a social detox or limit you can put in place? What has helped in the past?

6 | Your Liquids: It’s 5PM somewhere, right?

1 part COVID pandemic times

1 part work from home

1 part wear “all the hats” and juggle “all the things”

1 part “when’s the last time I got dressed?”

1 part “oh I forgot to drink (or eat) today…”

…is the recipe for a Burnt Out, Work From Home Juggler. Sound like you? (hint: you aren’t alone! Many others are feeling this way, too)

With COVID times, it is far too easy to let more alcoholic (or caffeinated) drinks slip in than you had before. One drink turns to a bottle of wine and soon enough you are having multiple bottles (or sugary coffees) each week which can be a disaster on how you are feeling, on your waistline and leave your internal organs dying of thirst (metaphorically speaking of course…).

This is a great starting place when it comes to making change, starting with your liquids! Replace 1 alcoholic drink or caffeinated drink for 1 glass of water or herbal tea. That’s all! This starts the process of being aware of what has become a habit versus what actually helps you feel better.

7 |  Your Foods: Is it helping or hindering how you feel?

For one moment, stop and pause. Think about what you ate in the last 24 hours. (This in itself might be a big task) In this fast paced lifestyle, it’s often filled with 1 of 2 things. One, either forgetting to eat until you can’t ignore hunger signs any longer. Or two, grabbing something quick or getting delivery in from UberEats, PostMates, you name it with something that gives comfort with a side of heartburn + heavy stomach. 

Yeah, neither of those situations sound like they are helping at all. So rather than doing a full “diet overhaul” in what you are eating, start looking at adding in more foods that help you feel your best. But do it in one simple way. 

Add in one fruit or vegetables you actually enjoy into your day! Then plan when that will be so you can start being more intentional with what you eat.

Last step, start asking yourself, Is this helping me or hindering me every time you go to eat.This opens the lines of curiosity, self awareness and intentional action with yourself to start paying attention to what you eat and how this itself can directly change how you feel! 

This is the power of nutrition.

8 | Your Activity: Ummm so about that…

Are you going through the motions just to “get it done?” Find your mind trailing off during a workout where you are mindlessly following but physically present? Or you’ve just told yourself, “I don’t have time” and haven’t exercised, worked out or moved in ways that you know you’ll feel better after? 

Lack of movement or mindless movement is directly correlated with how you feel! As one of my good entrepreneurial friends once shared, “motion = emotion.” So if you want to feel good, get in the habit of moving and moving in a way that feels food rather than forcing yourself to do things you hate or something you previously thought you didn’t have time for.

Quick go-to movement recipes any high performer can add in to their routine:

• Desk yoga on a break with a 10 minute walk
• 2- 10 or 20 minute walks or walking meetings
• Short 2-3 round of bodyweight workout (push up, jumping jacks, planks, burpee, lunges) with any modifications 

Look at how you have been looking at workouts or movement. Start to view it from the perspective of motion = feel good emotion and schedule this in.

9 | Your Mindset: Who’s your inner roommate? Let’s meet.

Everyone has self talk. This self-talk comes from our own core beliefs, thoughts and associations we’ve developed over the years. And as nice as that can sound, this inner roommate can feel like a b*tch and be one of our biggest critics. The best thing? We can rewire, reprogram and install new beliefs and thoughts that dictate our reality and the actions to follow.

But before we can get there, become self aware of some of your most triggering thoughts that can bring on moments of anxiety or stress. But where do you start? Just take note of when you feel the most stressed and anxious and see what self-talk is happening.

Are you using words like bad vs good, should vs have to vs need to vs want to? Just write down this thought. Then see how you can reframe this very thought from a new perspective. What would you tell your client? Your friend? Your family member if they said that thought? Challenge it. Then repeat that new thought back, write it down, and post it somewhere you’ll see daily to make that nagging anxiety or stress to start going away.

It’s amazing what power our mindset has in how we feel, what we do or don’t do and the very actions we take. Your success starts here and is where health and happiness meet.

10 | Your Habits: Slowing you down or pushing you forward? 

This was a game changer for me. There are a lot of ways to go about reforming and looking at your habits, but as a high performer, it’s important to look at what’s working and eliminate the rest.

At the end of the week, do a quick recap and jot this down in your planner or electronic note:

What did you learn this week?

What will you keep, improve, start and stop doing?

What worked well? What didn’t?

This is a quick way in real-time to measure your habits so you can make weekly adjustments without overhauling your whole schedule or routine each week. One planner I recommend is the @Stil planner for each quarter or @clickup for an electronic system!

Welcome to the “wellthy” lifestyle, where your success flourishes because your health and happiness wasn’t sacrificed but came together!

What do you want to know about next?