So, 2022 has come in like a flash. From a not-so-typical year to another, there is one thing that rings true: the importance of needing to start taking care of yourself and get healthier, starting today.
The truth to this all is: no matter if you are an entrepreneur, an ambitious professional who is now finding themselves in a new situation working from home or the hardworking “juggler” who is trying to manage your 9-5 or a late night shift and life all at the same time – wellness is at the foundation to everything you do, how you feel and the efforts you put out every day. If you don’t have your health and well-being, everything else is impacted.
So it’s time you start looking at your wellness from an honest, 360 degree perspective if you are trying to get healthier.
And it starts now: 👇🏻
1 | Have a big enough reason
“I want to lose the 10-20 pounds I’ve gained throughout COVID!”
A common goal you may have fall succumb to this New year. Does it sound familiar?
This is one goal, like many others such as “I want to be healthier, etc.” that sound good, but just miss the mark and here’s why.
Whether you lay out a strong, clear goal or a ‘foggy one’ like the latter, I want you to ask yourself, “are they strong enough reasons why that will help push me even when my motivation is low?”
The truth of it is that when you start focusing on getting healthier, your motivation can be at an all time high. You can be clearly set on your goal(s) ahead and hit the ground running. But motivation comes and goes. Losing weight doesn’t seem to matter as much on long hard days when your motivation is tested and in the end, you may decide, “eh, I’ll start over Monday.” Then the cycle starts over again, you gain more weight, leave yourself frustrated and then pick up motivation to start again.
Having a strong enough reason why is absolutely essentially. Although weight loss may be super beneficial to your health or your focus can sound amazing like “I want to get healthier,” it needs to be so strong that you would run into a burning house for.
Here’s how to start: when you find yourself laying out a goal, just simply ask yourself 3 questions:
“Why is this my goal?”
“How will this impact my life”
“What about this goal would make all my effort worth it?”
You’ll be shocked at what you find. And that is your actual reason why and the goal to focus on.
Ready to try this out? Share with me one of your goals in the comments and let’s explore it.
2 | Make the most of your circumstances rather than circumstances making you.
In the past year, have you found yourself saying:
“I’m too busy to eat healthier right now…”
“I am trying to keep my sh*t together and I can’t commit to anything right now…”
“I never know what my schedule is going to be so I can’t make any changes…”
“Getting healthier is too overwhelming and time consuming…”
“I’ll focus on my health when I have the time…”
If you said yes to any of these or another variation, keep reading.
In the past year, there has been a lot that has felt out of our control and in the way it is but not all of it. What we eat, how we choose to take care of ourselves, where we spend any extra time or money on – is within our control.
The reality check 👉🏻 what feels like harmless statements have been the very excuse that has been holding you back. Take this as your reality check to longer let life happen to you. Instead, make the most of your circumstances and choose what area you are going to start taking control back.
Ideas to start:
– Find yourself home more? Pick up a new healthy hobby that makes you happy
– Can’t to go to the gym? Use many of the free online apps, take part of online classes, create your own workouts
– Want to eat healthier? Look at what you are eating and see what area needs most attention and then focus on that area first.
– Find yourself feeling awful after looking at social media or watching the news? Detox from it or limit your time with screen time limitations.
Don’t let excuses and circumstances define you any longer. Take control back today.
What one of these areas can you begin so you can start making the most of your circumstances?
3 | Busyness is your enemy, intentionality is your antidote
Trigger alert. It’s about to be a doozy.
Let’s talk about the reality of being “busy.” We have all said from one time to at least a dozen times in one given week, how “busy” we are. Whether that’s true with actual work that is effectively moving you towards your goal or just keeping you busy, here’s some food for thought.
While I was reading the #4HourWorkWeek over the holidays, this one statement stood out to me: “Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.”
Think about it. There are infinite options to keep you busy that we tell ourselves “are important.” But let’s be clear. Busy does not mean important, is effective or productive. Keeping busy is often used to avoid doing what truly needs attention and can be uncomfortable to do, especially when it comes to health and pushing you out of what’s comfortable.
Being “too busy” or “not having enough time” to focus on getting healthier is one of the top excuses I have heard out there.
So instead of falling in that trap, take a step back and go through this process.
1) Where are you spending your time? Just quickly jot down what you are doing. (morning, afternoon, evening, weekdays, weekends)
2) What can be eliminated or lessened?
3) What are 1-3 ways you can intentionally choose to spend time that supports you getting healthier?
Still feel like you don’t have the time to do this process above? Instead of saying “I am too busy for this,” say, “I am not making it a priority.”
This is your reality check. Lead with intentional action to move you closer to getting healthier, without “busyness” being the excuse that stops you.
When has busyness gotten in the way of you taking care of yourself and in your journey of getting healthier?
4 | Don’t overcomplicate, simplify
Overwhelming, overcomplicated and time consuming. Just a few strong words of what other describe “getting healthier” feels like to them. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
Simplification is one of my mottos in every aspect when it comes to your 360 degree wellness, starting with your nutrition.
In my Simply Wellness System private coaching, I breakdown how to build healthy meals in literally minutes to save you time, energy and ‘know how’ but in the meantime I’ll give you some of my favorite meal building formulas.
1️⃣ Choose a high quality protein:
Grass fed meat, organic tofu or tempeh and even cold water fatty fish like salmon or seafood like shrimp will do the job.
2️⃣ Add a fiber as your friend:
Fruits & veggies – all kinds on the table! You can also add options like ground flaxseed or hempseed too!
3️⃣ Boost your energy by adding a high fiber carb:
Whole wheat, barley, couscous or gluten free options like brown or black rice, quinoa, buckwheat or oats.
Looking at your meal as a simple formula can be a super time saver to building meals in minutes and allow you to get out of the headspace thinking you have to be eating another salad, smoothie or need to order out your lunch (even though you work from home) to save time, even when trying to get healthier.
This is healthier done simple. When it comes to get healthier, what needs some simplifying for you?
5 | Variety is king
So you’ve started eating healthier, what’s next?
No matter what level you are at when it comes to your nutrition – a beginner to an advanced mastery level, there’s one thing that you want to do for sure…
Prevent boredom.
Eating the same thing on rotation may have worked in the beginning, but you may find yourself asking, “what else is there?” Whether you are ordering out from Hello Fresh the same meals or making the same bro-style diet menu with broccoli, chicken and rice on rotation, things have got to change.
Variety is king. So what’s that mean? Intentionally choosing a variety of foods will be key for the sustainability aspect of eating healthier. You can only go so long eating the same things (and you’re family told me the same).
So I’ve put together a quick “how-to” guide on including variety in your nutrition for different healthy eater levels:
– The beginner: start with choosing 1 new food per week to explore. Have a family? Choose it together at the store and get the kids involved in making it so they have buy-in.
– The intermediate: work with the seasonal variations of foods for winter, spring, fall and summer local to your area. Explore what’s in season and start swapping some of your staples for those seasonal items. Create a rotating menu from there.
– The advanced: take it to the next level by diving deeper into what variety your body needs based on cycles. For women, dive not only into the specifics of what is appropriate for what week of the cycle your in but also why and explore more of those foods that fall into the why category to expand your options.
– The mastery: apply not only the seasonal + cycle aspects of your variation, but now take it to the next level with bioavailability variations to get the most out of your nutrition at the right time for your body.
What level do you fall on?
P.S. Still need a little help? Pick one of these to start and book a chat with me on a power wellness consult where we can simplify a strategy right for you.
6 | Restoration tool or lazy excuse?
What do sex, exercise and sleep have in common? You’ll find out!
In a time that forced everyone to slow down from the typical “go go go” lifestyle that has had you in “flight or fight” mode running on pure adrenaline, you may have noticed one thing.
The need to slow down, for rest and restoration.
*which can be really really hard to do* as I speak to that personally…
When it comes to 360 degree wellness, our physical pillar of wellness includes elements like: healthy libido + sex life, nourishing exercise and restful sleep + sleep routines.
Out of those three elements alone, which needs the most tending to?
If it’s sex: take the time to acknowledge if you and your partner are like “passing ships” and time has gotten in the way. If that’s the case, make deliberate time for it and challenge yourself to an “O” challenge (yes, ask my clients I have given them challenges like this).
If it’s nourishing exercise: stop and take a moment to see what you’re doing not only aligns with your goals but also what you need? If you need more rest + yoga because its your menstruation week, then do it. If you know you need to build more strength, focus on weight lifting or strength amplifying exercises. If it’s taking it a little easier because your recovery time is prolonged, give yourself rest or an active movement day.
If it’s restful sleep + sleep routine: how is what you are doing now impacting your sleep? Whatever that first thing you answered, focus on that first step to bettering sleep.
Because when it comes to physical restoration, you need this trifecta of sex, exercise and sleep to restore the body. Rest and nourishing yourself this way is not lazy or something you don’t have the time for. It is essential.
What trifecta area will you focus on?
7 | Healthify your home
When’s the last time you’ve taken a look in your pantry or fridge and done a massive clean out?
Did you know that simply by having what you need easily accessible makes getting healthier 10x easier? If not, now you do!
Many times, you’ll find yourself pushing foods around the same foods or just looking and saying, “we don’t have anything…” or binging on the leftover junk food from the holidays before anyone else gets to it, leaving you with the not-so-wanted left over foods options.
So here’s a quick list of labels or identifiers to leave behind in 2020 and healthify your environment:
Leave behind:
- Diet
- Sugar free
- Carb free
- Fake products made up of things you don’t understand labeled “vegan” or “keto”
- Enriched
Bring with:
- Organic – USDA certified
- Grass-fed
- No sugar added
- Whole grain
- Easy to read ingredient foods
By taking this step of healthifying your home, you’ll thank yourself all year long.
Have questions? Drop them in the comments.
8 | To drink or not to drink
Did you drink enough water today?
Whatever you naturally answered to yourself (Yes…uh no….I don’t think so), add drinking more water to the top of your list.
It’s one of the “low hanging fruits” that most people struggle with day-in and day-out. Water plays infinite roles within the body that should quickly get your attention: your energy + how you feel at the 3pm slump, your (lack of) pooping and continued full feeling, cotton mouth and stringy saliva that plays a role in digestion…plus so much more.
So stop and start paying attention to what you drink. First and foremost, water is the best thing you can drink (along with high quality electrolytes) when trying to get healthier. Here’s how:
1. Drink water. Most simple form 😉
2. Use a competitive edge with yourself or others: what’s your goal? Track it and go after it with a notched bottle like camelback or a habit tracker.
3. Use bigger and reusable bottles like either of my Hydroflask or Yeti. Bigger bottles cause you to drink rather than take sips.
Bonus: flavor it up with non-artificially sweet options.
What helps you drink more water?
9 | Perfect time to build simple habits
Do you struggle with keeping up your healthy habits? If you said “YES,” keep on reading!
The power of a habit is one of the most simple, yet overlooked aspects when it comes to getting healthier. Habits are the very thing that is ingrained in your everyday life, regardless if you like it or not. You do them daily, most of the time without even thinking or realizing it.
Habits are the foundation to build success, wealth, connections, health and deep transformations from the inside out starting with our mindset to the actions we do daily.
If you are going to get healthier, start looking at your habits as the stepping stones for your routine which are the map for your goals! (Mind twist, I know!)
Try this Simply Wellness habits assessment to start:
– On day 1, try to write a list of as many habits that you notice. What are you doing automatically? What feels good? What feels forced? What’s lacking? Dump your insights in a list.
– On day 2, take this list and create two columns. Column 1: what you like. Column 2: what needs attention which can be anything you don’t like, what feels forced or what’s lacking.
Now that you know what needs to stay vs what goes, you can start honing in on just ONE habit you will focus on moving forward. From there, we can break this down into the most simple steps, where you don’t even have to think about it.
What’s your “Set It and Forget It” Habit you’re going to focus on? 😉
P.S. Want to develop sustainable habits? We dive right into this in the Ultimate Wellness Kickstarter. Available in resources now!
10 | Know what you want – ultimately.
Have you fallen in either of these traps that keep you from getting healthier?
1) “When I make X dollars, then I will do what I want and focus on taking care of myself and get healthier…”
2) “When I do X, then I will get healthier and do what I want.”
This framework has done more harm than helped you and here’s why. 👇🏻
If you don’t know what you want and how the vague phrase of ‘getting healthier” actually helps you in a way that makes all our effort worth it… then this is what happens.
You’ll keep changing the ‘X’ to avoid the latter of getting healthier and “doing what you want” because that invites fear of failure, fear of success and fear of uncertainty for the future. Don’t let these fears be the thing that hold you back.
Instead define what you want and what would excite you that would make your effort all worthwhile!
What is that thing? This is your ultimate push to getting healthier. Share with me in the comments.
If you are trying to get healthier for 2022, head on over to the Simply Well Society now and get started immediately. Your healthier future you awaits…
xx Sammy
