5 Simple Practices for Success

It’s a great day to be alive!

The trees are turning colour, football is back in full swing and I have worn a sweater for a week straight. Life’s good.

I had no idea what I was going to write about when I woke up this morning. But as it always seems to go, exercise helped me get past my creativity block.

Today, I am going to talk about the five simple practices for success. These are things you can focus on every single day and are very easy to incorporate. Unfortunately, I couldn’t think of some snazzy acronym to make it more memorable. But speaking from personal experience, when I make these five things a priority, I don’t have to remember; my habits become automatic.

As I list these practices, think to your own life. Where are you succeeding? Where can you improve? And as with all practices, things take time to develop. Just because you aren’t perfect off the bat doesn’t mean it hasn’t worked. Give these five practices a chance - they’re worth it!

1. Eat

As many of you know, eating (and disorders therein) have been a a focus and a struggle for me in my life. I have spent many hours researching and learning about how food affects my body and others. But before I move forward, I have to make something clear: I am not a nutritionist, nor a doctor. PLEASE, do your own research and consult professionals for specific, personal advice. Although many doctors are lacking when it comes to nutrition, there are many resources online with proven results. I recommend Mike Dolce, Abel James, Shawn Stevenson or Dr. Rhonda Patrick. Now that that is our of the way, here’s my two cents:

a. Seriously, EAT!

There is a misconception that to lose fat and to be healthy, one must eat less. This is very misguided. The less we eat, the more we slow down our body’s processes. I’m all for portion control and not stuffing ourselves, but the take away here is this: it is not how much we eat that matters. Rather, it is what and when we eat that makes a difference.

b. Eat real food

As Mike Dolce says: “Don’t count calories - make calories count!” There is so much garbage in the western diet. Sugar, refined carbohydrates and chemicals are not what our bodies were made to process. Regardless of your nutritional perspective (Vegan, Vegetarian, Low Carb, IIFYM, Paleo, Carnivore, etc), we can all agree to one thing: eating foods processed in a factory is going to have less nutritional value than eating something from a field. The more REAL food we can add it (organic vegetables, organic grass-fed beef, free-range chicken/eggs, etc), the more benefit we’ll get from our meals. Remember, what you eat is LITERALLY what you become on a cellular level. Choosing to eat healthfully will change the way you feel, think and perform.

c. Take a break

Relentless advertisements and snacking leave us slaves to psychological hunger. Most of the hunger we feel is a chemical reaction in our stomach expecting food - thanks ghrelin! Further, our ancestors did not eat three square meals a day plus snacks; most days, they would not eat until they hunted down an animal. And without refrigeration, they had to make use of all of the animal, meaning no counting calories. In other words, their days were spent fasting and feeding.

Giving our digestive system a break isn’t a new concept. If you have a minute, I highly recommend researching intermittent fasting. It is what I use on a daily basis, and has numerous health and anti-aging benefits.

2. Move

Our bodies were meant to be used. Sitting in an office or in front of the TV are relatively new concepts for the human body. As Bruce Springsteen famously said, “Baby we were born to run!”

I have already talked at length about the benefits of exercise, especially when concerning mental health. If I could summarize why making movement a part of your every day, it is this: When we move, our body’s processes get to work the way they are meant to. Muscles are used. Bones are strengthened. Disks are aligned. Chemicals are regulated. Exercise is truly key when it comes to physical, mental and emotional health.

3. Sleep

I must apologize. I don’t believe I have given enough attention to sleep since starting this blog. Even with an on-point diet and exercise routine, your health WILL suffer without quality sleep.

We live in a culture which promotes unhealthy habits. I can sleep when I’m dead. Sleep is for the weak. The early bird gets the worm. While I enjoy and strive to get up early and get a jump on my day, this does not come at the expense of sleep.

If you have not read Shawn Stevenson’s international best seller Sleep Smarter, make this a priority. If you need one reason to think sleep is important here it is: Quality sleep reduces all cause mortality by 40%. 40% less chance of dying! Are you serious?

Other benefits include fat loss, better moods, better exercise and recovery. All from getting efficient sleep. I encourage anyone who reads this to pick up a copy of Sleep Smarter. It’s affordable and worth every penny. I can personally attest to the changes in my life once I got my sleep straight.

I’ll end this section with some simple things you can use everyday. First, when you wake up, drink 32 oz/1 litre of water and get your body moving. This doesn’t have to be a crazy workout, but anything helps (pushups, air squats, burpees, yoga). What this does is spike your cortisol, or your get-up-and-get-going hormone. Cortisol and melatonin (sleep hormone) act opposite of each other. A spike in cortisol in the morning means a bigger release of melatonin in the evening. The “tired and wired” feeling most of us have throughout the day is due to our cortisol/melatonin cycles being out of whack.

Second, have a screen curfew. The blue light emitted from our phones and TV encourage cortisol release. Giving your self between 30 minutes and 2 hours before bed of no screens will dramatically change your quality of sleep.

Third and finally, aim to get 7.5-9 hours of sleep a night. Our sleep works in cycles of 90 minutes; getting four to five full cycles of sleep promotes the best benefits. also, sleeping between the hours of 10 pm and 2 am produce the greatest hormonal benefits, so aim to be K.O’d by 10 each night.

4. Socialize

Us humans are social creatures. We were never meant to do this life thing on our own. The western culture again comes back to haunt us: we are encouraged to be individuals who never ask for help. We see needing support as a weakness. This couldn’t be further from the truth.

My father recently took his 22-year sobriety cake. This is nothing to to blink at - what an accomplishment! At an early age, he learned that he couldn’t trust anyone. This led to a life of emotional and physical isolation and a lifetime worth of pain. Thankfully, he asked for help one day. His choice to seek support changed his and his family’s life forever.

Regardless if you consider yourself an introvert or an extrovert, having a dependable and supportive tribe behind you is essential to living optimally. If we can make socializing a daily part of our lives, we reduce our feelings of loneliness and abandonment, which lead to many issues.

Have a listen to my podcast on Surrounding yourself with positive and supportive people for more on this.

5. Struggle

This practice is your wildcard. This is your chance to personalize your life.

As I spoke about in the podcast on flow, when we find an activity which is just challenging enough and believe in our abilities, feelings of apathy and anxiety are diminished. This is what I call embracing the struggle.

This could be exercise, art, sitting with negative emotions - whatever your passion is in life. When we push ourselves, we will be surprised at the results. We are capable of so much more than we realize.

Lean into the resistance in your life on a daily basis; you will grow!

That’s all for today! Thanks for reading, share with your friends and put these practices into effect. Our lives are what we make them - it’s time we start to dictate what we decide to do. Every small, positive decision you make is a step towards control.