Do you know why I decided to make this video today?
I am fed up of seeing fitness and health “influencers” dictate this “perfect” notion of living that is so unrealistic to real people that have work, jobs, family commitments, cultural commitments and life to contend with.
I have been a proponent of sleep for a long time, discussing the powerful benefits of sleep and why we need to protect it as much as possible, yet I am also fully aware that the hour before bed, especially as a parent is the only time you are going to get to spend with your loved ones through the week.
This movement of never watching TV, never having down time, constant personal development and growth needs to simmer down a little, because it's causing people more harm than good.
For example, how many times have you listened to a podcast or read a self help book and it tells you: you need to wake up at 5am to master the day, you need to drink an immune boosting, gut health improving, emotional, physical and spiritual detoxifying green juice blend every morning, don’t forget the apple cider vinegar, you need 10k steps per day, standing desks, no TV’s, you need to exercise, do yoga, oh wait yoga isn’t as good as pilates, oh wait you need to do both and strength train and do HIIT and cardio and an intermittent fasting ketogenic diet following the 12-8, 5-2 principles and make sure you are listening to a new podcast or audiobook but at the same time do a digital detox too.
The list is endless.
I could have gone on forever then, discussing the health hacks that if anything just cause more complication, more information overload and lead to even less positive action being taken.
So I did what I do best? I listened. I spoke to the clients I work with and I looked at their results. I looked at their plateaus. I delved into the reasons behind the successes and the struggles.
Then I came up with these 5 strategies my clients use to get incredible results without even thinking about it.
- Prioritise- They make their goal the priority of the day and fit it into the schedule. Once the session, the shopping or preparation is planned it is locked in and rarely will external circumstances, aside from an emergency change that. This is all built around the family as well, so the priority doesn’t come up against resistance or friction to making it happen.
- Move- Movement is so underrated. Take the science away from it and just logically it makes sense to be active. I see the most successful clients are as active on weekends as they are through the week. Getting up, taking the family out for the day, going to the park, walking the dog and scheduling in early gym sessions so they don’t detract from family time. The idea is to make movement as natural as sedentary behaviours without building restrictive rules that it must be done in a certain environment or that its not worth it if it isn’t a high intensity.
- Nourishment- As simple as it sounds, the mindset towards food with my high performing clients is, I choose to eat the foods that nourish me, rather than I restrict foods from my diet. This simple change has such an empowering impact on my clients journey. The knowledge that the delicious foods they are consuming are also packed full of what their body needs to thrive rather than merely survive. The macronutrients such as protein, fats and carbohydrates along with vitamins and minerals that fuel our metabolism, physiological processes and keep our bones, nails, hair and skin at an optimal level of health. When your mindset towards your nutrition is one of love and gratitude rather than a fixation on the things that you “can’t” have, then you are well on your way to success.
- Habits- Whilst we know 7-9 hours of sleep for most will be optimal, it won’t always be practical. Particularly for the parents of younger children among us. Rather than giving up on sleep and winging it, the clients that progress the fastest will take control of what they can to make the best of a given situation. Let's take sleep for example, say your last hour before going to bed tends to be a mixture of absentmindedly scrolling through social media or watching a tv series, a successful client will keep that in there because it is part and parcel of life or a happier relationship (trust me you don’t want to see Jussi’s angry face when I tell her there is no time to catch up on Power. They will adapt this habit, whether its popping on some blue light filter goggles, using the scrolling time to map out a few key priorities for work or general life for the next day to make it more productive or whip out a pen and paper during TV time to jot down the sudden rush of things that need to be done, map out why today felt so great or not so great and figure out a few things that will be done differently tomorrow.
- Challenges- The highest performing clients will look for a new challenge to push themselves. Whether its as basic as getting an extra 5 mins on the cardio machine, pushing an extra rep out of a weight or changing something that is deep set, such as how they handle their emotional response to a circumstance, like comfort eating when tired or stressed. The clients that accept there is something that can be done better, challenge themselves to do better or to find alternative solutions to challenges will inevitably be the ones that improve the quickest. The mindset towards a challenge is always beautiful to see, when you can detach yourself from the short term pain or struggle with the knowledge that this will inevitably yield the results you desire, there is nothing that will stop you from success.
Ultimately, these clients have changed their narrative and broken the cycles that caused so much personal struggle for them. Now they are reaping their just rewards and if you apply this to your journey so will you
