Life throws us many challenges and through the last year we all have faced the uncertainty and challenge of the pandemic, as we move forward full speed ahead be the best version of you. When we are happier and healthier we are in our peak area of performance setting the standards to open the doors for success in life. Below are ways you can become more happy, healthy & successful living the life you envision.
Hydrate yourself.
Begin your day with two glasses of water. NO Caffeine. Our bodies are actually dehydrated when we get up each morning.
I know the saying… Everyone runs on Dunkin’s but in all reality the truth is, they really don’t. As a society we have become so accustomed to caffeine that we use it so often to get ourselves back on track. When we are feeling sluggish or off and underperforming.
What truly makes you run (from one that is training for a marathon) is the vitamins and minerals your body needs to perform. Keeping your PH level at the peak level. Maximum PH is a 7.4.
A good night sleep and intensive exercise produce higher quantities and quality of energy than caffeine ever will. A holistic approach to life is essential. Toxicity out.
Get a good night sleep.
7-8 hours is essential to be productive for most people. The benefits of getting a full night sleep include:
Boosting your immune system
Strengthen your heart
Increase Productivity
Better Mood
Increase Memory
Increase workout and maintain healthy weight.
Assure your daily regimen includes getting the sleep that is essential for you.
Be an early riser. Go to bed early. According to Harvard University biologist Christoph Randler found that early sleepers and risers are more productive, more likely to anticipate problems and minimize them efficiently.
Waking up early allows you to proactively and consciously design your day. You can begin with a morning regimen that sets the tone for your day. Beginning your day for you providing self care and self-respect by putting yourself first. Begin your day setting the expectations.
Exercise is essential.
We all know the benefit one feels when they exercise. The endorphins it provides when you get in a good workout. Your focus clarity is much sharper for the day including your energy. As a runner, biker and yogi myself I
Healthy Weight
Reduces the risk of heart disease
Improve mental health and mood
Keeps your mind sharp
Strengthen your muscles and bones
Reduce risk of some cancers
Improve your sleep
Improve sexual health
Increase your chances of longevity.
More optimistic, satisfied, and conscientious in life.
If you are not an avid exerciser begin with 30 minutes of the exercise of your choice for 3-4x a week increasing biweekly and including additional exercises. Try something new...
As I train for my first full marathon now a days I understand the challenge that you face when you begin running, as I began running and participating half marathons and sprint triathlons when I was in my high 30’s, it can be challenging for those that want to begin running, don’t get discouraged, take it a step at a time walk first, then gradually include running then increase your running each time obtaining the goal of running the distance you set out to completely. Same with any exercise take it a step at a time but outline the goal that is SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time defined) for YOU!
Begin the day with gratitude.
As we know gratitude provides opportunities to appreciate what is going well in our life and allow us to open our minds to the greatness it provides. As Tony Robbins says, where focus goes energy flows. Focus on what is going well even if it is difficult in times of uncertainty. Begin your day on reflection. By allowing yourself to focus on what is going well it is setting your mind for clarity to focus on the goodness that surrounds you opening your mind to move forward with possibilities and success.
Continually gain knowledge in your purpose.
Extraordinary people seek education and learning. The most successful people continue to seek knowledge and are constantly learning. Its never ending. Don’t think because you are successful that you cannot do better. There is always another standard to pursue.
For those that do not enjoy a good read go for an audio book or from the latest news skim the book for what is important receiving the outcome. Podcasts are another great opportunity. Connect with those that have gained the success you seek to achieve as we all know proximity is power.
Journal your progress.
Take five minutes each day to journal. What went well that day. Provide the specifics outcomes for the day focusing on your goals and having gratitude for the opportunity’s life provides. Celebrating your wins. They are one step further to your success.
There are many apps or even hardcover journals to pick from decipher one that resonates with you and commit to spending the time.
List your goals
Make a list of the top goals you seek to achieve and progress towards them each day. Where do you want to be in a year? Possibly 5 years. Assure the list contains both personal and professional and they are SMART goals as described above.
Most people have it backward: They design their ambitions around their life rather than designing their life around their ambitions.
What are the things you absolutely must do before you reach your destiny? Start there. Then design your life around those things. When you understand your purpose it makes it second nature to outline the goals for you and create the strategy. Stephen Covey explains in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Begin with the end clearly in mind.” Focus on the outcome.
A simple mental exercise that might be helpful is imagining you only have 30 days to live. What would you do in those 30 days? Now imagine you have five years to live. What would you do during those five years?
As professor Harold Hill has said, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”
Make a list and follow-up working towards your goals with the strategy to pull it through.
Discontinue refined sugar.
Study after study shows that refined sugar is worse for our brains than it is for our waistlines. According to Dr. William Coda Martin, refined sugar is noting more than a poison because it has been depleted of its life forces, vitamins and minerals.
Similar to caffeine, if you stop suddenly eating refined sugar, you will experience negative withdrawals. Consider the long-term advantage what would your health be like a year from now if you were completely refined sugar-free? What would your beliefs be at that time?
Refined sugar has been shown to effect our mood and our decisions.
Envision what it will feel like to be without.
Disconnect from technology.
One items I always recommend to my clients is not to look at their phone prior to going to bed or when waking in the morning. DON’T review your messages focus on you. When you review the many messages received it sets a precedence for the day.
If you have not caught on already, human beings are highly addictive creatures. We love our coffee, refined sugar and technology. When we use a specific item to fill in the voids in our life to feel fulfilled we need to create alternative ways to be fulfilled in those areas more positively. We can be highly effective when we use these tools for our effectiveness not be overly consumed in the need to be connected. Your body gets an cleanse when you fast. Your mind could use one, too. Unplug yourself.
Reconnect yourself to life and the ones you love focus on the priorities that are most important to you in life.
You will be blown away when you see how much more connected you feel to your loved ones when you can give them your heartfelt attention. It may feel awkward and challenging for some at first but having a real-life conversation, connecting without looking at your technology every few minutes, but trust me, you’ll see more that life provides and feel the positive benefits within you.
There should be specific guidelines and rules for disconnecting. Outline the rules that are right for you. Decide on a day or specific times that you will disconnect and appreciate the benefits it provides.
Stop consuming the news or reading the newspaper.
The media outlets have an agenda. Their goal is to appeal to your fears by inflating extreme stories often portraying by their liking and that of their listeners. Peter Diamandis, one of the world’s experts on entrepreneurship and the future of innovation, says, “I’ve stopped watching TV news. They couldn’t pay me enough money.”
Stay realistic with your own life and focus on what is most important to you. Do not let your mind be consumed with stories of what is not going well in the world that are disheartening leaving you in fear of living. Allow yourself to step back and face reality on your own terms not by what the news is presenting to you.
Acts of Kindness go a long way to make someone else’s day.
Taking the time to help other people is one of the greatest joys in life. Helping others opens you up to new sides of yourself. It helps you connect deeper with those you help and to humanity in general. If you have not opened up to the opportunity you missed your mark. Giving is the reason for living.
Learn to love the cold.
Cold water immersion radically facilitates physical and mental wellness. When practiced regularly, it provides long-lasting changes to your body’s immune, lymphatic, circulatory and digestive systems that improve the quality of your life. It can also increase weight loss because it boosts your metabolism.
A study found that cold showers can help treat depression symptoms often more effectively than prescription medications. Cold water triggers a wave of mood-boosting neurochemicals that make you feel happy.
For me, waking in the morning after a gratitude practice and a workout plunging into the cold waters whether in the shower, the pool, the ocean, the snow literally wakes your mind and spirit providing a heightened alertness to begin the day the most vibrant you. Its inspiring on so many levels. It also increases your immune response, willpower and weight loss. Decreasing stress
If you are just beginning… start with replacing your hot shower with a cold one. check out Wim Hof’s methods and begin with a 2 minute shower. Welcome to the Official Wim Hof Method Website.
Especially in New England in the winter months. There is nothing that compares to putting your bare feet in the snow to begin your day.
Be thankful say “thank you”.
There is nothing like the feeling of appreciation. It’s amazing when you meet someone who is expressively and genuinely grateful. When they place their heartfelt efforts for you. The simple words of Thank YOU can go a long way.
Simply put acknowledging someone with thank you and lifts the persons spirits knowing they are appreciated. When a thank you comes from a place of gratitude and humility there is nothing that can compare.
Say “I love you” to the people that mean the most to you.
According to neuroscience research, the more you express love (like gratitude), the more other people feel love for you. Sadly, people learn absurd mindsets about being vulnerable and loving in relationships.
Expressing your love at least three times a day to the most important people in your life is an important step to being the best version of you.
Regardless of your age, gender, physical or mental everyone around you needs love and affection. There are reasons to be affectionate providing a releases of oxytocin. By hugging and expressing your love it encourages bonding, reduces, pain, and creates an overall calming effect. The numerous health benefits of lowering blood pressure, stabilizing mood. The mental, emotional, and social advantages of hearing the words can help you maintain positive, long lasting relationships, increase your confidence, and self esteem in addition to building trust.
Remove all non essentials from your life.
From the possessions you own and do not use to the people that do not support and encourage you to be the best version of yourself. Most of the clothes in your closet, you don’t wear. Get rid of them. The people that are not supportive of you in your journey let go, they are sucking energy from your life.
Getting rid of underutilized resources and disorder is providing direct motivation and clarity to you. When all of that untapped energy gets removed, a new wave of positive energy enters your life. You can use that energizes you to focus in more useful and productive ways.
Understanding some people cannot be easily let go of than others, if this is the situation find alternative ways for you both to support one another. If it does not happen, limit the time spent allowing yourself more energy for you. Proximity is power. Make friends with people that inspire you. Those you spend most of your time with is who you will become.
Who you spend time with is important. Your comfort level is one of the clearest indicators of your character. Are the people you spend most of your time around inspiring or degrading, hard-working or lazy?
What beliefs do your friends have?
What goals are they pursuing?
What is ambition for success?
What does their health look like?
As the saying goes… misery loves company. Do not let them hold you back. Move on but never detach from the love you have for those people. Many clients come to me feeling bad that they are not deserving of the success they acquired due to family circumstances. Understanding it was all within them to them to make it happen.
Focus on healthy options:
When it comes to you the most essential thing is providing it the nutrients it needs to maintain health and vitality. As there is only one you. Make it your best. Focus on the essentials that provide the most efficiency in your health. A few suggestions:
Stay on a 70/30 range of water soluble foods like fresh fruits and vegetables with 30% other. I personally like to focus on fresh organic for its additional benefits but everyone’s beliefs are different focus on what is best for you.
Juicing is another way to get loads of vitamins and nutrients from fruits and vegetables and help protect against cardiovascular disease, cancers and inflammatory diseases. By providing your body the vitamins and nutrients it needs it also helps to guard against oxidative cellular damage from daily cellular maintenance and exposure to chemicals and pollution.
Take a few days of juicing, celery juice alone (literally no lemon) provides essential benefits to get your body to a peak state of it ph. level and detoxifying. I always feel enormously better after juicing. Even beginning the day after water intake with celery juice or dragon fruit. These provide benefits to get the body to detoxify what it needs to let go of to be the best you physically. Your mind, body and spirit will thank you!
Schedule time for self-care.
In our quest for success and working remotely, many of us have become workaholics with little to no balance for life. Relaxation and rejuvenation is crucial for success. Just like a good workout, without rest, your body becomes fatigued, run down, causing illness.
Many times, people approach their lives a lot like a workout without rest. Instead, they take stimulants to keep themselves going longer and longer. But this is not healthy. It also limits productivity and creativity eventually leading to burnout.
Assure along with your daily routine you schedule time for what is essential for you. A vacation. A day at the spa. A massage. A day fishing with the guys. Whatever is important for you to rejuvenate and refresh. Schedule it an make it happen.
Commit to saving & giving 10% or more of your income.
Many of the wealthiest people in the world attribute their healthy financial life and abundance to giving some of it away. Most people are trying to accumulate as much as they can. But a natural principle of wealth creation is generosity.
From a spiritual perspective, When we die, we don’t take our money with us. So why hoard it?
As you give generously and wisely, you will be stunned by the increases in your earning potential. You will develop traits needed for radical wealth creation.
As Tony Robbins says.. “Giving is the reason for living”. So live being the best version of you.
Change your beliefs around money.
Many people have an unhealthy relationship with money. It is likely what they were taught and not necessarily their fault. In order to be financially free as so many strive for, you need to alter your beliefs and feelings around money.
Here are some key beliefs some of the most successful people in the world have:
Anyone can make as much money as they want in a free market economy.
The bigger the problem you solve to change the world, the more money you acquire.
Think big when it comes to money: $100,000, $500,000, why not $1 million? Where your focus goes your energy will flow.
What you focus on expands. If you believe in scarcity, you’ll have little. If you belief in abundance you receive it.
If you believe there is unlimited abundance, you will attract it.
You’re not going to be discovered, saved or made rich by someone else. If you want to be successful, you have to build it yourself. So widen the scope and broaden the opportunity.
When you develop a healthy relationship, around money you will have more. You will not spend money on items that are irrelevant to your success. You will focus more on value than price.
The universe is yours when you find the right opportunity and purpose that fits you.
Have more than 3 income streams.
Then most successful, the wealthiest peoples income comes from multiple sources and know people who have more than 50.
What would happen if you set things up so you were getting income from three to five different places each month? What if several of those were automatic?
With intentional and focused work, you can have several income streams as well. Focus on what is important to you making the changes needed in the world. Its all in the strategy.
Celebrate your progress.
Set your mind up for success and celebrate your progress. No matter how small. Each step forward is a step in the right direction. When you reach a significant goal assure to the time to celebrate.
Some of my clients like to celebrate their wins simply by acknowledging their success by placing their hands on their hearts. Others have their hands in the air saying yes! While others may feel more significance by purchasing something they always wanted. I for one enjoy a good trip, to my happy place, Nantucket that is!
There are so many ways to live a happier and healthier life. Do what you believe is right for you following you integrity. Be the best version of you 😊 Outline the strategy to your success.
Begin living the life you envision. Schedule a complimentary discovery session with Ack Professional and be the best version of you.
Comments