Before getting too creative with your goals for the year, be sure to examine where you stand with the basics.
Well folks, we made it to 2021. Finally leaving 2020 behind us can have many reaching with enthusiasm toward lofty goals. Everyone is so eager for change. But in the end, today is just the day after yesterday. We can’t just expect things to change… we have to change.
As is typical, people’s diet and exercise plans and other desired habits probably took a hit during the holidays. The “anything goes” mentality between Thanksgiving and New Years leaves many feeling ready for a fresh start every January. The problem this past year is that the “anything goes” lifestyle probably started long before Thanksgiving. By summertime it was easy to have a “2020’s ruined” attitude, leaving a mirage of excuses in the back of our minds.
"This year is a wash."
"2021 will be better."
"I'm just trying to survive this year."
But now 2020 is over, and so the mirage has dissipated. People are ready to stand up, brush themselves off, and accept that if you want your life to be different…you have to take responsibility and put in the work.
They probably feel fine about this “work”… right now. Motivation is unrealistically high at the beginning of a new year. But before you start promising yourself that you’re going to finally learn to play that musical instrument or speak another language - both worthwhile goals - let’s take a step back and focus on the basics.
Chances are, there are some very fundamental things that you know you should be doing, but aren’t. Things that are scientifically proven to improve your overall health or sense of well being. But, you don’t tend to them regularly, if at all. And now you are looking to bypass all that in favor of more complex but exciting habits. Why? Why ignore the ones that you know for a fact make a difference in your life and impact everything else?
I’m not going to argue that music or language or dance or other creative pursuits are not worth the effort. They are! I believe they can increase your fulfillment, not to mention stave off cognitive function problems down the line. What I am saying is that in order to maximize their benefits, a strong foundation needs to be in place. Those creative pursuits need to be happening in a brain and body that are physically healthy. Don’t skip ahead to focus on second- or third-tier pursuits at the expense of maintaining a solid foundation.
Take an honest look at yourself, and if these cornerstones need work, make getting these behaviors to be more consistent and automatic your focus. Once the foundation is in place and you are living in integrity, it makes your pursuit of more complex goals all the more likely to be successful.
The Four Cornerstones
It won’t surprise you to learn what the cornerstones are - drinking enough water, moving your body, eating something green now and then, and getting enough quality sleep. They’re boring. You’ve heard it all a thousand times. It’s hard to get excited about improving something so… elementary. But these are the most basic building blocks of feeling good. And when you feel good you’ll be happier, more productive, and more fun to be around.
Hydrate
The first of these is probably the easiest to make automatic and yet also the most often ignored. It’s simple people. Drink water. I know so many who survive on 2 coffees with breakfast, a soda with lunch, and a beer or glass of wine with dinner. I’m not even saying they have to stop doing any of those things! I’m just saying, in addition, they should drink some water now and then to support healthy brain and body function.
There’s no set in stone answer as to how much water you need. It depends on many factors, including your activity level, the climate you live in, your age, and how much water you get from foods and other beverages. Some recommend getting between 1/2 ounce and 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight every day. That’s a wide range. But if you aren’t even hitting the lower end of that spectrum, it’s something to shoot for. Commit to drinking 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight every day for a few weeks and see how you feel. You can adjust from there but it’s a starting point. Monitor the color of your urine. If it’s not regularly pale yellow or clear, you need more!
I have managed to make this behavior simple and automatic. I don’t even think about it anymore. I have a 32 oz. water bottle that I fill to the top first thing in the morning. It's always right there with me… on my desk if I’m working, in my car if I’m running errands. Having it within arm’s reach has resulted in me automatically swigging from it throughout the day. Some people hesitate to hydrate because they don’t want to be up all night with multiple trips to the bathroom. Neither do I! I make it a point to finish my first 32 oz. before lunch, and finish my second bottle before dinner. Then I can lay off throughout the evening and not be bothered by it during the night. Create simplicity around this habit. It’s not easy to drink water throughout the day if you have to take a trip to the kitchen or water cooler to make it happen. All too often we sit down at our desks and the next thing we know it’s four hours later. Get a large water bottle and turn it into your constant companion.
Move
The second cornerstone is exercise. Move your body. Stretch. It doesn’t take a genius to know that sitting at a desk all day and then sitting on a couch all evening, day after day, is detrimental to both your physical and mental well-being. We all know this. So why do so many people do it? If you already have a fitness routine that works for you, I commend you. Keep it up! If you are struggling to stay consistent or even get started, begin with something simple - like taking a walk.
Results of a study released last year indicate that those who walk 8000 steps per day are half as likely to die as those who walk 4000 steps per day or less. On the one hand, it’s a little silly. You can’t cut your chances in half forever. We’ll all die of old age eventually. Still, the evidence is compelling. You can read the short piece about it from the Washington Post here, or read the results of the actual study here. Those who were regularly getting their 8000 steps per day were half as likely to die from any cause - including things like cardiovascular disease and cancer - over the next ten years.
Anecdotally, I know an older gentlemen who read about the study and decided to get a Fitbit to see where he stood. He was shocked to find that he wasn’t even close to the 4000 step mark, let alone the 8000 step recommendation. He decided then and there to get 8000 steps per day. He didn’t change anything else. He didn’t adjust his eating habits or start doing any strenuous activity. He simply walked his 8000 steps per day, every day. Over the course of 7 months he lost 30 pounds, was sleeping better, and felt great.
I just got a new watch for Christmas and it counts my steps automatically, so I’ve been paying attention to this statistic. I usually go for a run a few times per week. But I was curious whether, on days that I don’t, I come close to that 8000 step mark. I’m happy to say that I do, but that’s only because I walk my dog multiple times each day. It’s easy to see how someone who isn’t making it a priority (and doesn’t have a dog) would regularly fall short of even the 4000 step mark.
So, what to do? Decide you’re worth it. You don’t need an expensive watch or step counter. You can download a free app like ‘Pacer Pedometer & Step Tracker’ right to your phone. I used to think people who counted their steps each day were a little over the top. Who cares how many steps you walked? But it does matter - and now, more than ever. With more people working from home, shopping from home, and limiting recreational activities, how many steps are they really getting? You don't know unless you track it.
Now that I have 8000 in my head as the standard, and an easy way to track it, I do pay attention and make sure I exceed that number every day. I’m not worried about my cardiovascular health. Still, the 8000 steps is an easy goal to aim for to make sure I’m still moving my body on days when I’m being lazy or recovering from a long run. If we know that doing it is so good for us, and it’s so simple, wouldn’t we be fools to ignore it?
Eat
The 3rd cornerstone is eating healthy foods. There are countless lifestyle choices out there from the seafood diet (“I see food…I eat it”), to counting calories, to managing macros to intermittent fasting. I’m no dietician… and what works for me won’t necessarily work for everyone. But I’d say chances are high that you probably already know whether you’re getting enough green veggies and whole grains, or eating too many cheeseburgers and potato chips.
Success often comes down not to knowing what to do, but why to do it. Filling that gap can bring inspiration and motivation when it’s lacking. I personally found great value in the documentaries 'Forks over Knives,' 'Game Changers,' and 'Cowspiracy' to name a few - all available on Netflix and YouTube. They challenged me, and I learned something. If you can’t commit to a whole documentary, check out this short Ted Talk. It’s less than five minutes long and hard to argue with.
I went hard core whole foods plant based vegan for about a year and a half some years ago. I did it for a mix of reasons… my personal health, not wanting to support an industry that raised animals in such horrible conditions, as well as the environmental impact of the great industrial meat complex. While I did feel great living that way, it was very very time consuming. It takes a lot of effort to plan all of your meals while hardly eating anything that comes in a package. It’s near impossible to stay on track while traveling, and it can be socially awkward if the restaurant or your hosts aren’t serving something that complies with your lifestyle choice.
People also struggle with going “all-in” on anything because it’s so final. If you tell yourself no more meat forevermore, or no more desserts, or no more soda… it’s bound to backfire. You might feel anxious at the thought of never having a steak again… or deprived when others are chowing down on that birthday cake. Or a defeated sense of “I can’t do this” when you slip up once - even though you’ve been doing great.
Instead, it's useful to work cheat days into your life, and then stick to them. If you watched the Ted Talk above you know the speaker recommended “Weekday Veg,” or eating vegetarian during the week and whatever you want on the weekends. My husband and I decided to take this one step further. We eat vegetarian all the time but give ourselves two cheat days per month. We didn’t go full vegan because we love real cheese too much, and still eat eggs. On our cheat days, we can eat whatever we want - but often we stick to our typical habits for breakfast and lunch and only cheat at dinner.
The structure allows us to just live our lives. It's easier to say no to temptations - like delicious smells coming from a food truck - because we know we’re not saying no forever. We can find that same truck next month if we want to spend a cheat day on it. We can plan our two cheat days in advance if we have social engagements scheduled. If not, it gives us some flexibility and the ability to be spontaneous. We’re not limited to weekends only, and find it easy to only cheat two days per month just like we committed. We don't feel deprived at all but are eating meat only two meals per month - vice the 60 meals per month for someone who eats meat at lunch and dinner regularly.
There were times when I’d “try” to be a vegetarian but would come up with excuses all the time. I’d tell myself “I am vegetarian most of the time…but today I made an exception because <insert excuse.>”
It smelled so good.
There was nothing else to eat.
I was starving.
It's what they were serving.
Letting myself cheat some of the time in an unplanned way, led to me cheating all of the time. When I have a planned number of cheat days, it’s much easier to stick to that and not cheat outside of those days.
Maybe you don’t want to eat less meat. That’s fine. But is there something you do want to eat less of? I encourage you to try the ‘Weekday Veg’ method with whatever it is you would like to cut back on. Maybe you’ll only eat dessert if it’s Saturday or Sunday. Maybe you won’t drink alcohol except on weekends. It doesn’t even have to be diet related. Maybe you’ll give up social media during the week and check back in on the weekend. Give it shot. It’s an easy way to curb an undesirable behavior with black and white lines of when it’s acceptable and when it’s not. It helps you cut back in a huge way without attempting to give it up forever. Let me know how it works for you.
Sleep
The final cornerstone for our foundation is getting enough quality sleep. Notice I said quality sleep. It’s not enough to give yourself that 7 to 9 hours in bed every night, although enough people struggle with that alone! But how is that time spent?
I am a notoriously bad sleeper. Every night it seems I just lie there awake for hours… checking the clock…waiting to fall asleep. I finally fall into a deep sleep sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Then - I either sleep in to make up for lost time, or wake up early and feel groggy. I found I was spending 10 or more hours in bed every night - but still not feeling rested.
This new watch I just got also has the ability to track my sleep stats and give me a score. Finally I had a method to verify whether I really was up all night, or just thought so. I wasn’t surprised when it reported the first two nights that I had only slept for around 5 hours, despite being in bed for 9 hours. I also only got 10 minutes and 17 minutes of deep sleep on those first two nights. This just won’t do.
For someone who is trying to optimize productivity and get more out of life - spending 9 hours in bed to only get 5 hours of sleep is unacceptable! That’s four wasted hours! I knew I needed to learn to fall asleep faster, and stay asleep longer. If I’m only going to get five hours of sleep, it would be nice if I only spent five hours in bed! But optimally, I could get 8 hours of sleep (with only 8 hours spent in bed) and feel fantastic every day.
Knowing there was a problem and finally having a way to track any changes was the kick in the pants I needed to actually do something about it. My entire life I’ve just thought to myself that I suck at sleeping - but I never made any lifestyle changes to actually fix it! Not anymore. There is plenty of information out there. I got some useful tips from this piece about sleeping like a caveman. Most of them you probably already know - but don’t act on - just like me. For example, we’ve all heard not to look at screens for the few hours before bedtime - but how many of us forgo the TV and our phones for a real book after dinner? We sleep better in the night if we exercised that day, but not too late in the evening. Obviously it helps to limit caffeine and sugar intake. Finally, it’s good to get some sunlight in your peepers as soon as you can after waking up.
So, I decided to prioritize changing the quality of my sleep. Try some new things. Track my progress so I know what’s working - and implement those techniques into my daily life. I got some blue blockers from Amazon and started wearing them after 6pm - especially if I have a tv, phone, or computer in my face. If you don’t know, these are glasses that block out the blue light from your devices so your natural melatonin production isn’t inhibited as nighttime draws near. You can read more about how they improve your sleep (and productivity) here.
I started dimming the lights around the house. If it’s dark outside, I don’t want it super bright inside. I started wearing an eye mask and ear plugs to sleep at night. I started logging my sleep score and some notes every morning. Wouldn’t you know it, I’m already getting over an our of deep sleep each night now! I’ve slept an average of 7h 44m the past few nights with only 8 hours spent in bed. It’s working!
Ownership
It just goes to show - if there is some aspect of your life that you aren’t happy with or needs improvement… fix it! It’s so easy to just tell yourself “that’s the way it is,” or “I can handle it.” But why? If there are simple things to try that might make a world of difference over time, why wouldn’t you? If I can go from spending 10 hours in bed each night to only 8, and still have the same amount of rest (or more) - that’s an extra 60 hours per month or 720 hours per year to spend on something important! What could you do with an extra work week of time every month to work on whatever was important to you?
You’ve probably heard of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I won’t dispute it. But I like to think of our path toward self-actualization in terms of the habits we cultivate along the way. The foundation supports the pyramid.
So that is my plea to you as we embark on a new year. Dare to be brilliant at the basics. If your water intake, activity level, eating habits or sleep quality aren’t regularly ‘brilliant,’ stop accepting that as okay! Take some ownership of the situation, and figure out what small changes you can implement on a regular basis to really up your game.
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