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10 Small Steps to Improve Your Physical Health

February 15, 2017 | 3 Comments

I think we all want to be physically healthy. No one would intentionally choose to be tired, sluggish, overweight, or sick all the time. I don’t know anyone who wants to visit their doctor more often in order to be prescribed more and more medicines for illnesses and diseases. But, statistics show that, in the main, we’re getting less and less healthy over time.

From repeated acute colds and minor illnesses to devastating diseases without a cure, physical health is something that many Americans struggle with in some form or another.

The truth is, it can be hard to keep up with all the changes in the recommendations that the government makes for our physical health. There always seems to be a new scientific study that contradicts the last one. And in our busy culture, who has the time to worry about their physical health anyways? It can often feel like a full-time job to make and eat the proper food (sourced in the proper way), get the recommended physical activity each day, and take the myriad of vitamins and supplements that are marketed to us.

The reality is that physical health doesn’t have to take all of your focus and time and living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean completely overhauling your entire life next Monday. Finding our way to being truly healthy physically isn’t an impossible feat, but it is a process. We must learn to be intentional about the choices we make regarding our food and activities and we must learn to take small, gradual baby steps to lead us in the direction of our goals.

Today, I want to share with you ten changes you can begin to make to move closer to being more physically healthy. Don’t try to implement all of these next Monday. Instead, try to pick the one that is the most challenging for you, or the one that you feel would make the biggest difference in your life right now. Then, slowly start to incorporate the change into your life. Choose to take a small step toward this new goal all throughout your day. Each small step will add up and over time, you will begin to see some big differences in how you feel. Once you’ve mastered one, go back and begin working on whichever other change will make the biggest difference for you.

And if you mess up and fall off the rail one day, just make the next right choice. You don’t have to wait until next Monday or even tomorrow to get back on track. Just make your next choice a better one.

1. Get Enough Sleep

The number one, most basic way to improve your physical health is to get enough sleep. Preferably, you should be getting an average at least 7-9 hours of sleep in each 24 hour period. I know, easier said than done, especially when you have young kids or your to-do list is long, but sleep should be one of your top priorities. It will make everything else easier.

If you are looking for a way to easily track your sleep each night, I would highly recommend getting a wearable fitness tracker that can detect your sleep patterns. I have a simple FitBit Flex and it is really convenient to be able to see not only how much sleep I’m getting, but also to be able to track how the quality of sleep I am getting each night.

2. Drink More Water

The general rule of thumb is to drink to thirst. Pay attention to your body and when you are thirsty, grab a drink. Your body is pretty amazing and knows how much you need to drink, you just have to learn to listen to it. If you don’t trust your thirst mechanism, another useful tip is to drink about a half ounce to an ounce of water for each pound of body weight. This means if you weigh 135 pounds, you should be drinking between 67-135 ounces of water each day. Use your thirst, your activity level, and the weather to tell you if you should be on the low end or the high end of that range.

One of the most important things to do to incorporate drinking more water in your day is to actually have a portable water cup that goes with you everywhere. So often we get caught up in the busyness of our day that we just don’t have time to run out and grab a bottle of water (not to mention how expensive it can be to constantly need to buy bottles of water each day). You will rarely see me out and about without my water cup nearby. I have gotten to the point where I can’t stand the feeling of being thirsty, so I always make sure I’m prepared.

For the longest time, I carried around these plastic insulated tumblers. They worked great and lasted for years. But I tend to be a bit clumsy and after dropping each of them several times they started developing cracks. Last week I upgraded to these stainless steel tumblers to give me a little more durability. Whatever you do, choose a tumbler/mug/cup/bottle that will work with your lifestyle. You might need something fully sealed that you can throw in your purse or maybe you prefer a glass option. Need help with pacing your water intake? Try a time-marked water bottle to keep you on track all day.

3. Eat More Whole, Unprocessed Foods

The closer your food is to the way God originally made it, the better. Start by eating fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meats. Fill up on the good stuff, so you don’t have room for the junk. You likely won’t completely avoid packaged and processed foods, but the goal is just to aim for the majority of your foods to be whole, real, and unprocessed.

Grabbing a piece of fruit for your afternoon snack is just as easy as opening a bag of chips. Eating a salad with your dinner only takes a couple minutes more than taking a second portion of the meal. Think about small ways you can include more real food throughout your day.

4. Cut back on Sugar

I didn’t say “never eat sugar again”, but if sugar is something you regularly consume, it’s time to start looking for alternatives. Stop buying candy and other sugary snacks and instead, choose to fill your desk and home with healthier snack alternatives. If you’re looking for something sweet try to choose something like fruit instead of a piece of candy If you feel the need to sweeten something, choose a natural sweetener such as honey or real maple syrup.

Be sure that you don’t just replace table sugar with fake sugar. “Fake sugars” or artificial sweeteners are worse for you than table sugar, so be sure to avoid things with artificial sweeteners such as sucralose, sorbitol, xylitol, aspartame, etc. (Hint: if it says “diet” on the label, steer clear.)

You want to choose naturally occurring sugars like those found in fruits, milk, honey, and real maple syrup. I buy honey in bulk and use it nearly everytime I might normally use sugar such as in baked goods or to sweeten tea, yogurt, oatmeal, and many other things. I have this huge bottle that I picked up from Costco so it lasts a while.

5. Be Physically Active Every Single Day

You don’t have to run a marathon every day, but you should move your body in some significant way on a daily basis. If you are like most people I know and your job involves sitting at a computer all day or some other mostly sedentary work, you need to make sure to add some physical activity to your schedule, preferably something that gets your heart rate up and causes you to break out into a sweat.

It takes me 5 minutes or less to break into a sweat on my daily runs, so this doesn’t have to be something that takes a significant amount of time. The key is consistency so it becomes a habit. Some ideas are a brisk walk on your break, taking the stairs to get to your office, doing a few exercises before jumping into the shower in the morning or just before bed.

6. Get Outside Each Day

Even if it’s rainy, even if it’s snowing, even if it’s cold, especially if the sun is shining, I firmly believe that everyone needs some fresh air each and every day. Take a break for just a few minutes at work and walk outside, take a few deep breathes, soak up some sunshine if it’s around, and take a moment to relax and notice your surroundings. Nature, even if it’s in the middle of a busy downtown atmosphere, does good things for your soul. Breath, notice, and enjoy.

7. Take Your Vitamins and Supplements

So your diet isn’t perfect. Even if it was, with the way our food is produced these days, it is likely that you still need some additional supplementation to fill in the holes and gaps in your diet. I do not believe you need to spend thousands of dollars on vitamins and supplements. You do not need to take a supplement for everything and you shouldn’t. Be careful what you choose and be sure that it truly is filling in the gaps in your diet.

Personally, I take a daily multivitamin, and an omega-3 supplement (because I hate fish, so I definitely don’t get enough in my diet). I also take a probiotic supplement on occasion and have been known to add in a magnesium supplement at times.

8. Get Regular Exams

No one wants to go to the doctor, but going to the doctor for preventative checkups can mean less sick visits down the road. Go to the doctor for your annual physical and woman check at least once a year. Go to your dentist twice a year. And get your eyes checked regularly. Most insurance plans cover these visits in full, so be sure to take advantage and have your overall health evaluated to make sure you are as healthy as you think you are.

9. Manage Your Stress

Your brain controls a lot. Your physical health can be very closely tied to your mental health. The more stressed, anxious, or fearful you are on a regular basis, the harder your body has to work to be healthy. All of the tips I’ve listed above can provide tremendous help in keeping you healthy but if you are chronically stressed and busy, your body will pay for it.

Always make time in your schedule for yourself. Be sure to pursue the passions and hobbies that interest you. Prioritize self-care, rest, and relaxation. Take time each day to just breathe and be. Learn how to manage stress and remove the circumstances in your life that cause you excess stress (or change the way you think about things that can’t be removed). Get professional help if you need a little assistance in overcoming your anxieties and stresses. Don’t live your life in a chronic state of stress, you were made for more than that.

10. Don’t be a victim.

So often I hear women use their circumstances as an excuse for poor health and this is garbage. There is always something you can do. Do not give up the power and control of your life to a diagnosis or genetics or any other reason you want to give. Just because you have a bad health diagnosis doesn’t mean you should just throw up your hands and give up. In fact, it is all the more reason for you to prioritize your physical health to counteract the illness or disease.

Alternatively, don’t use the excuse of genetics or family history to allow you to stay unfit, unhealthy, and overweight. There is always, always something you can do to make yourself healthier and overcome the limitations of your genes and family history. The same goes for difficult life circumstances. You may not have any power over your genetics or your history, but you get to decide what you do about it today. Don’t give your power away to excuses. If you want to be healthy make healthier choices, starting right now.

Today’s Action Step

Pick one of these 10 items to be your focus. All throughout your day for the next week think of this one thing and begin making decisions to be healthy. Take small steps to lead you to your goals. You can find better health, it starts with your next healthy decision. Share in the comments which area you will be focusing on first.

Be sure to download my free food and wellness tracker to log the changes you make and the results you see.

Additional Resources

11 Fast and Healthy Breakfast Options

8 Key Areas to Explore When Life Feels Out of Balance

10 Ways to Make Fitness a Family Affair

Why Losing Weight Should Never Be Your Goal

How to Workout Every Single Day

I’m trying to share more overall healthy tips over on my running Instagram profile. Be sure to follow me there for more tips and inspiration.

What if you’re missing out on what matters most?

October 19, 2015 | 1 Comment

Several years ago, after literally years of job hunting, I was finally offered a new job. I was so excited about this opportunity. I was finally able to move away from a position that I had been uncomfortable with for far too long. The new position had tons of potential for career growth and opportunity, it made me feel like I was helping people, and the people I was working for were really great.

I knew there would also be some uphill battles with the new position. I was coming into a mess and it was my job to fix the mess and create a smooth, efficient system that I could replicate in other areas. It would be a challenge, but I fully believed I was up for a good challenge and couldn’t wait to get started.

My husband has always worked long hours at his job, for as long as we’ve been together. At the time that I took this job, we had an 18 month old little girl. We were nervous about how to balance life with both of us having demanding jobs that required a lot of hours for a while, but my new job had the promise of some flexibility with the long hours, so I was confident that we could make it work.

A Valentine’s Day to Forget

It only took a couple weeks on the new job to start panicking. It was Valentine’s day and my husband and I were supposed to be out on our romantic date. We had barely seen each other since I started the new job and I was literally aching for some calm, peaceful time to reconnect with him over dinner. But as we sat down in the restaurant my work phone started going crazy. I was on call 24/7 with this job and had some major issues that needed to be addressed immediately.

I remember sitting at the table in this lovely restaurant with tears streaming down my face as I furiously worked on my phone, trying to fix everything so I could get back to our nice dinner with my husband. I was so tired and so crushed that my big hopes for this great job were not coming true.

For the next three months we continued to struggle to make it work. Many days I worked until 2-3 in the morning, came home and crashed, and then turned back around to get back to work at 8 a.m. the next day. Needless to say, I didn’t see my daughter or my husband very much during this time.

I did make some progress in the job. I was able to learn the ropes and develop some processes and systems to make things easier and more efficient for everyone. But that on call phone, never stopped ringing. The demands and problems never stopped coming. I felt like I was on the verge of drowning nearly everyday, I was exhausted, burnt out, and longed for just one peaceful day without interruptions.

The Breaking Point

A few months into the job, my grandpa passed away. As we crowded around his hospital bed praying and singing hymns as he slowly left this world, the phone in my pocket started buzzing. It was a Sunday afternoon and there were important things I needed to get done for work. People were panicking, needing me to make calls and send messages. But nothing was more important for me, than being right where I was, saying goodbye to my grandpa, and being with my family.

I took a leave of absence the week of his funeral. I handed my on call phone to someone else and insisted that somebody else figure it out while I was gone. Everyone understood and did their best to leave me alone. I sat at my grandpa’s funeral listening as everyone talked about his life. Talked about how much he would be missed. Talked about how important his family and his faith were to him.

I was reminded that life is short and life is blessed and life should be well lived in accordance with what’s important. A thrilling, challenging job with a lot of potential, no matter how well compensated or how noble the work is, should never stand before the things that are most important in life.

I quickly remembered the things that were most important to me were my faith, my husband, my child, my self, and my extended family and friends. Sure, I wanted a job that would help me make a difference in the world. I wanted to achieve success and support my family financially. I wanted to overcome the challenges of my position and help my employer succeed. But none of that was more important to me than my God and my family, which were, at the time, buried in the stress of my exhaustion and mess of a life.

Learning to Trust

Back at home I sat down with my husband and through tears let him know that I needed to quit my job. I didn’t have a backup plan. I didn’t have another job to fall back on. And we had nothing in savings. Financially, this could ruin us. But finances, I learned, were not the most important thing in life. It is only through God’s grace that my husband agreed that this was the right decision and the next week I notified my employer that I was leaving.

Over the next five weeks I tied up all the loose ends at work, trying to leave them in as good a position as I could. I trained several people to do different aspects of my job. And on the home front, I started saving every penny possible. I shuffled some things around financially to give us a tiny little cushion that I hoped would last a month or two until I could figure something else out. It had taken me years to find this job, I was so terrified that I wouldn’t find another job in time.

I prayed more than I had in a long time. I put all hope and trust in God. I knew He had a plan. I knew He was bigger than the mess I had created. And I knew He loved us enough to take care of us.

Back in Balance

I ended up unemployed for two full months. The money I had scraped together lasted until the very day my first paycheck came in from my new job. The timing could not have been more perfect. My new job didn’t have quite the exciting potential as the old one and the pay wasn’t quite as good, but I had realized by this point that money and career success were not my priorities. This new job didn’t have an on call phone, it didn’t have work expectations outside of 8 a.m.-5 p.m, and yet it still involved doing work that I loved, and making a difference in people’s lives.

Being a working mom has challenges. Whether you work because you want to or work because financially you need to in order to support your family, we don’t live in order to work. Our work should supplement our living. Our work should never take the place of our priorities.

For many of us, work isn’t the problem either. Maybe you’ve stretched yourself too thin volunteering for too many events and committees, maybe you’ve said “yes” to your kids too many times regarding their extracurricular activities, maybe you’ve let your smart phone addiction get a little too crazy and you miss out on the life going on right in front of you.

We are all different. We all have different priorities, and we all have different challenges and choices that threaten to pull us away from the most important things in our lives.

Think about what is most important to you. Remember why those things (people) are most important to you. And then take an honest examination of your life. Are there things you need to start saying “no” to? Are there events and activities that you need to pull away from? Do you need to make some changes to your current way of living to make room for a better way of living? Do the people that mean the most to you in this world actually know and feel that they are the most important thing to you? What changes can you make to shift the focus in your life onto what matters most?

It probably won’t be easy to make these changes. You may be nervous, uncomfortable, or downright scared. It may be incredibly difficult, painful, and require even more out of you for a while. But if you want to live a life that matters, you have to focus on what matters the most.

Joy is a Choice

March 18, 2015 | 4 Comments

I’m working on getting my morning routine back on track. Since I work from home, it is really easy for me to stay deep in my warm bed until the last possible minute of the morning. I’ve given up on the snooze button altogether and just shut off my alarm the moment it tries to wake me. My children have become my alarm clock. I roll out of bed when the kids start making noise, throw some cereal in front of them and then I spend an obscene amount of time checking every app on my phone. Eventually, I notice the time and start panicking, I throw clothes on myself and the children and we rush out the door. It really is a terrible way to start our mornings.

Last night, I made the decision that I was taking back my morning. I would wake up with an alarm, leave my phone on my nightstand, and start my day with the Bible and prayer, a proper shower, and finish with calmly and peacefully moving the children through their morning routine. It was all planned out in my head and I knew it would be perfect. Except, every single time I get the itch to “have a perfect morning” everything goes wrong. This happens with such great frequency that I created alternate plans last night for how the morning was supposed to go should the usual problems try to hijack my good morning.

Joy doesn’t appear just because you wish it.

And of course, they did. Sometime around the dreary hour of 1:00 in the morning my daughter started crying and whining in her room. I stumbled to her and I really have no idea what her excuse was for not being able to sleep, I don’t think I even listened, I just ordered her to my bed so she could get some snuggles and I could get back to sleep. If you’ve ever tried to squish two grown adults and a wildly wiggly five-year-old in a queen size bed, I’m sure you can imagine how much sleep I got over the next three hours lying sideways in my one inch of bed space. My husband goes to work at an ungodly hour, so he wakes up for the day shortly after 4:00 am. It provided just enough noise and light that my daughter decided she needed to get up for the day at that time too. I spent the next two hours trying to ignore her, hush her, and make her go to sleep. I failed miserably.

And then at exactly 5:59, one minute before my alarm was to go off, she says, “Mommy, it’s 9-5-5! Can we puh-lease get up now?” in her loudest, whiniest voice. Have you ever been woken up one minute before your alarm was set to go off? Logically, I understand that one more minute of sleep would not do me any good, but all I could do in that moment was weep over my one minute of lost sleep. I angrily ordered my little girl out of my room, which of course just made her crumple to the floor and cry. And then, my arm started buzzing, the silent alarm on my Fitbit was officially declaring the start of my day. This was not the perfect, peaceful, happy morning I had planned so well last night and we weren’t even five seconds in.

In that moment, I had a choice. Do I continue to be a bleary-eyed grouch, ruining everyone’s morning? Do I ignore my crying daughter and roll over and try to get more sleep, giving up on my well-planned morning routine? Or, do I choose joy? Do I choose to focus on the good? Do I choose to notice the gifts I’ve been given instead of the trials?

I chose joy. I had a short little self-talk in my head as I lay in my warm covers while my daughter whined on the floor. “I love her. She is amazing and sweet. She is excited to start her day and wants to start it with me. That is a blessing. I am awake, step one of my morning routine is a success. I have not ignored my alarm. The morning is not ruined, but it will be if I don’t get out of this bed and hug her. My sleep last night wasn’t perfect, but it was sufficient and by God’s grace I will have all the energy I need for this day. I choose joy. I choose a good morning. I choose love.”

And with that, I pulled off my covers, grabbed my little girl and held her tight. I breathed in her sweet little girl smell and thanked God for the gift of her. The rest of the morning went reasonably well, we made it to school drop off on time (early actually), and I was able to get started on my work day fully showered, dressed, and with a good attitude.

Joy Happens Because You Choose It

Joy and happiness are feelings, but feelings don’t just happen to us randomly. Feelings are not determined by our circumstances. Feelings are not controlled by some external force. Our feelings are a result of our thoughts. We get to choose how we feel. All day. In every moment. Joy is a choice.

You don’t have to have bad days. Sure, there may be bad circumstances that happen, but your reaction to those circumstances is what determines the result of your day. You can choose to fix your thoughts on the negative aspect of things, you can choose to dwell on your misfortunes and struggles. Or you can choose to focus on the good. You can decide to think about opportunities, hopes, blessings, gifts, and second chances. You can let your thoughts dwell on things that are right, lovely, and admirable in even the darkest of circumstances. There is always something good to be found, and when you find it, let your thoughts think on that good, because then you will begin to feel joy.

Choose joy. Choose the good. Choose to see the light. Joy will never find you. You aren’t going to stumble into happiness and it can’t be attained by striving.

The only way to find real joy and happiness is simply to choose it.

Today’s Action Step

Stop your day for a minute. Think about the thoughts that have been running around in your head. Notice how they are making you feel. Happy? Frustrated? Angry? Sad? Blah? If you don’t like the feelings you are feeling, pick a new thing to think. Think a thought that will lead to the feeling you wish to have. It is that simple. And that hard.

Additional Resources

All of Brooke Castillo’s podcasts are amazing, but check out this one on What Prevents Joy to start.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

17 Small Ways to Make the New Year your Best Year

Embracing Negative Emotions without Getting Stuck

Finding the Energy to Last All Day

March 6, 2015 | 1 Comment

One of the biggest things that all moms complain about is not having enough energy. I know I regularly find myself counting down the minutes until bedtime so that I can collapse into my own bed. And don’t even get me started on the afternoon slump that hits around 3 o’clock nearly every day. I wish that the energizer bunny was real and could share some of his tips, because most days I find it nearly impossible to keep going, and going, and going all the way until the end of the day. My patience starts to wear thin right around the time that I start scrambling to cook dinner, which just happens to be a whopping ten minutes after I pick up my kids. After dinner cleanup I just want to plop myself on the couch and mindlessly scroll through my Facebook and whatever other endless vacuums I can find to suck me in on my phone. I most definitely do not want to work on laundry, referee fights between the kids, or even play whatever silly game they have come up with for the evening. I just want to relax in quiet and brainless activity.

And I used to let myself relax all I want. Netflix would get turned on the moment my kids walked in the door from school/daycare and it would stay on until I got bored and declared it was bedtime. I say “I used to” like I’ve got this all figured out. I don’t. I’m not sure I ever will. But I am working really hard on this and I’ve seen some tiny improvements in the last few weeks, so I’ve decided that my tiny progress allows me to say “used to” like I know what I’m doing. We’re in this together ladies, the struggle is real.

We are trying to cut down on the nights filled with Netflix at our house. I’m trying to actually play with my kids, whatever they want to play, which lately involves bending at the waist and pushing trucks around the living room, a great workout for your bottom if I might add. I’m trying to get a little laundry done at night so baskets of clothes aren’t spilling all over our lives. But mostly, I’m trying to actually use the limited amount of time that I have with my kids each day to truly spend time with them and enjoy them, to learn about their day, to make sure they realize that they are important to me, and to show them how crazy in love with them I am. It is extremely frustrating that the most important people in my life get about 3 hours of my day. Three teeny tiny, short hours. And then the day is over. I love my job, I love the work I do and the accomplishments I achieve, but it most certainly is not without sacrifice. And I hate that it leaves my family with just 3 exhausted hours of my day. So I’m trying to make the most of it. I’m trying to ignore that it’s just three hours (and some days even less). I’m trying to forget my exhaustion and disregard my to do list and just be present with as much energy as I can muster for those most important few hours of my day.

If you struggle with this too, here are some tips and tricks I’ve learned to help me find the energy to keep going through those last few, most important hours of the day. As I said, I’m not perfect, I don’t have this all figured out, but when I really try to focus on this area of my life, these are some of the things I’ve found to help me.

1. Get enough sleep at night

Did you know that sleep deprivation is considered a form of torture by Amnesty International? If you go without food for a week, you’ll probably feel like crap, be a lot skinnier, and really hungry, but overall, you will have survived just fine. But what if you go without sleep for a week? After just a few days, you will literally lose your ability to function. We cannot survive without sleep, and we most certainly cannot thrive. If you are lacking energy, the first thing you should look at is the amount of sleep you are getting. If it is less than 7-9 hours per night, you need to get more. It really is that simple. So many people have convinced themselves that they can survive just fine on less sleep than recommended, but countless research studies have proven over and over again that 7-9 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period really is the right amount for grown adults (kids need more in case you didn’t know).

I understand that sometimes this just isn’t possible. Small children tend to wake up at all hours of the night, many nights a week. Both my five year old and two year old still wake up at least one night a week and demand my attention, sometimes most nights in a week. I can’t control everything. But I can control my urge to stay up till midnight trying to power clean the house, catch up on all my TV shows, or read a great book.

2. Drink more water

Take your weight and divide it by two. That is the minimum number of ounces of water you should be drinking each day (example 130 pounds would be 65 ounces of water per day, or a little over 8 cups). This should be water. Not soda. Not juice. Not coffee. Not energy drinks. Not even, my beloved milk and tea. I’m not saying you can’t drink any of those things, I’m just saying you shouldn’t count them in your daily water needs.

I know there is research out there that will tell you that it’s okay to count all of those non-water drinks as part of your daily water needs, but I think that is unwise. Drink your necessary ounces in water and if you’re still thirsty, go ahead and drink something else. But do not replace water with other fluids. Your body runs on water. The majority of your body is made out of water (55-65%), not soda or coffee or milk, so you should replenish it with water.

When you wake up in the morning, the very first thing you should do (after going to the restroom maybe) is drink at least 16 ounces of water or more. Your body wakes up dehydrated every single morning, so please, give your body the thing it needs the most in the morning, a long swig of crystal clear water. Re-hydrating a dehydrated body is the fastest way to find a surge in energy, staying properly hydrated is key to finding energy to last all day.

Also, if your pee is orange or bright yellow and you haven’t taken any vitamins in the last hour or so, you need to get yourself some water right away. This means you are dehydrated. If you notice that you get an afternoon slump in energy and your pee is orange, congratulations, you have an easy fix. Get thyself some water and rejoice in such an easy solution.

3. Sweat everyday

Do we all know that exercise gives energy? I’m thinking everyone “knows” this in their brain, but it’s really hard to remember this when you are feeling exhausted and can’t imagine going outside for a quick run. But it’s true, exercise is an energy inducer, not an energy sucker, especially if you are properly fueled and hydrated.

Too busy to go for a run or to carve out time for the gym? Join the club. Fortunately, life has options. Try waking up early while the kids are still sleeping and getting a workout in, or doing your workout on your work lunch hour. You could spread out your workout in 5-10 minute increments throughout the day, which is actually a great way to get small bursts of energy to last all day. I’ve also helped my 5 year old lace up her tennis shoes so she could join me on a quick jog around the block and we’ve been known to have family dance parties, family push up contests, and occasionally we all do a round of jumping jacks before dinner. Modeling health is actually really important for your kids, so don’t be afraid to let them see how important exercise is to you.

4. Don’t starve yourself

I know, you want to lose weight and the only way to lose weight is to cut calories and burn calories. It’s an easy in and out calculation. But also one that must be balanced carefully. Going back to what I said earlier about going for a week without food, not only would you be weak and hungry and skinny, but you’d be a beast to be around. Hangry is a real thing (hungry and angry if you’ve never heard of it). If you’ve deprived yourself all day, your brain is not able to work at it’s full capacity, which makes you an impatient grouch, incapable of using the rational part of your brain to deal with those you love.

If you find yourself feeling grouchy, hangry, and impatient at the end of a lean calorie day, it might be wise to add a good healthy fat snack to your plate. Contrary to old beliefs, healthy fats do not make you fat. Fake fats can and sugar most certainly can, but healthy fats are good for you. The fuel your brain uses to continue functioning is fat. If you cut out all fat from your diet, your brain will really be sluggish. And if your brain is sluggish, your emotions will be all out of whack (your emotions are controlled by your thoughts, and where do your thoughts come from? Oh right, your brain). Healthy fats include things like avocado, coconut oil, nuts and nut butters, eggs, olive oil, and fish.

5. Supplement, when needed

We all know what it feels like to be up all night with a sick child and have a full day of work scheduled the next day. And we’ve had nights where we’ve been up tossing and turning and stressing over a very important meeting or appointment the following morning, which just makes that morning appointment that much more difficult. Some days, our energy reserves are just going to be really low, and there is nothing we can do (short of taking a nap) to fix it. On those days, give yourself permission to indulge in a little energy crutch.

Anyone who knows me well, knows my secret. Nearly every single day of my life for the past fifteen years I have had at least one Spark. It is an energy and mental focus drink that works amazingly well for me. It has vitamins and amino acids to help with mental focus instead of just sugar and caffeine like many other energy drinks. There is no crash, no jitters, just nice sustained energy to help me get through my days as a busy working mom. I’m not saying to live on energy drinks, I’m just saying, when all else fails, sometimes “you gotta fake it till you make it”. Whether you choose coffee, a Spark, or that rare can of soda, give yourself permission on the hard days to just survive.

What tricks have you found to help you find the energy to last all day?

Sleep: Your greatest hindrance to doing it all

September 19, 2014 | 5 Comments

Raise your hand if you got at least seven hours of sleep last night? What about eight hours or more?

Do you prioritize sleep or your to do list more?

Do you count down the minutes until your children’s bedtime so you can go to bed too or so you can get more stuff done after they are out of your way?

When the car is quiet on your way to or from work, do you ever have to fight to stay awake behind the wheel?

Are you frustrated by the rings under your eyes or how quickly your skin is aging?

Do you seem to catch every cold that goes around?

Do you crave carbohydrate heavy foods and then feel comatose after indulging in them?

Are you constantly swinging from one emotion to the next, seemingly affected by every story or circumstance you encounter?

I could go on, but I’m sure you’re starting to get the point. Sleep deprivation is one of the most common problems that busy Americans face, and it is also one of the most dangerous. It just so happens that fixing sleep deprivation usually isn’t that hard because it’s self imposed. Some people truly do have a medical condition that causes sleep problems, but most of us just push sleep lower and lower on the priority list in our attempt to do it all, have it all, and be it all.

The reality that most of us know deep down is that we can be infinitely more productive when we are well rested than when we are skimping on sleep. We often feel like if we just stay up an extra hour to get more things done, we’ll be more productive. But time does not equal quality and time also does not equal productivity. Performing at our best, the ability to focus, mental alertness, and physical energy and stamina are far more important to productivity and quality than time.

Parkinson’s Law

Have you heard of Parkinson’s law? I bet you’ve seen it happen over and over again. Parkinson’s law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Don’t believe it? Think about the day before you last took a vacation at work. You likely worked extra hard to get everything completed that day to tie up all your lose ends and finish all of your tasks before you left for vacation. We often achieve more on the day before vacation than we typically do in a week. How do we achieve so much in so little time? Parkinson’s law. We know we don’t have much time so we focus, we work hard and fast, and we’re determined to get it all done. We’re often excited about our upcoming vacation which helps keep our energy levels up to produce the results we need to leave for a stress free vacation.

So what does Parkinson’s law have to do with skipping sleep? I’m glad you asked. The answer is that you will never “get caught up” if all you do is throw more time at the problem. Giving more time to your to do list is not the answer. What you should be focusing on is the quality, the performance, the productivity factors going into your efforts to knock out your to do list. One of the easiest and most beneficial changes you can make to increase your performance and productivity is to get an adequate amount of sleep. Your mental focus will improve. Your energy will improve. Your attitude will improve. And all of those improvements will lead to the greatest change in your performance and productivity. All because you put your to do list aside and went to bed just a little bit earlier.

Doing it all

Now, I’m sure some of you are wondering at this point how in the world you are supposed to sleep without tackling everything on your to do list. The secret is that you change your priorities. Right now you are prioritizing your tasks, all of the things you need to get done today. What is the worst thing that could happen if you don’t get everything done? Hmm, well, most of them will still be there for you to work on first thing in the morning!

If you have a big presentation due at 8:00 am, great. Go to bed early, get a good night’s sleep (8 hours!) and wake up early enough to prepare for your presentation before 8:00 am. Getting a good night of sleep will not only help you as you prepare but will help you as you present. Remember Parkinson’s law, you could spend four hours the night before when you’re mentally and physically exhausted, or you could give your best self for one hour in the morning and likely make an even better presentation.

I’m not advocating that you procrastinate and wait to do everything right before it needs to be done. That’s not really helpful at all. But I am advocating that today, you go to bed early. Start today and keep going. At first, it will be rough. You will feel like you are leaving a lot of things undone, but after a few days of well-rested, energized, focused work, you’ll find that you are catching up much quicker than you ever imagined. Give it a couple weeks. Prioritize your sleep every single night so that you can make sure that you are giving your body and your brain the rest that it needs and just see what kind of results you can achieve.

Happy sleeping!

PS – Some of you might be in a slightly different season of life. Say, perhaps it is not your fault that you are sleep deprived and staying up all night. You might have a newborn baby waking you up at ungodly hours and demanding food and play and diaper changes. For you, I give you this post of Ten tips for the sleep-deprived mom. Don’t beat yourself up for lacking sleep in this season. This too shall pass. For the rest of you, just go to bed!

10 Small Steps to Improve Your Physical Health

1. Get Enough Sleep

2. Drink More Water

3. Eat More Whole, Unprocessed Foods

4. Cut back on Sugar

5. Be Physically Active Every Single Day

6. Get Outside Each Day

7. Take Your Vitamins and Supplements

8. Get Regular Exams

9. Manage Your Stress

10. Don’t be a victim.

Today’s Action Step

Additional Resources

What if you’re missing out on what matters most?

A Valentine’s Day to Forget

The Breaking Point

Learning to Trust

Back in Balance

Joy is a Choice

Joy doesn’t appear just because you wish it.

Joy Happens Because You Choose It

Today’s Action Step

Additional Resources