Ever wonder why the busiest people almost always tend to be the most committed to their health?
Despite working full time, running a business or managing a household and wearing many hats… chauffeur, housekeeper, personal chef, bookkeeper, babysitter… she still manages to prioritize her health.
She finds the time to exercise.
She makes dinner and enjoys it with her family.
One of the reasons is because she approaches her health like a business.
Here’s what I mean by that…
1. She schedules absolutely everything in advance and adds it into her calendar. Just like she schedules project deadlines, team meetings and business appointments she schedules her grocery shopping, meal prep, CrossFit workouts, family dinners, morning power hour, Chiropractic appointments, “me time”, yoga classes and purposeful playtime with her kids. All activities get an individual reservation in her iCal, Google Calendar or calendar on the fridge.
It may sound a little OCD to schedule something as silly as reading for thirty minutes before going to bed, but you will be surprised what that extra layer of accountability can add to your consistency in developing a new habit.
2. She creates rituals and rhythms to eliminate decision fatigue. Just like businesses ritualize opening and closing procedures, team training, placing orders, and month end meetings, you can make it a habit to ritualize going to the market every Saturday morning at 8, completing a Sunday Food Prep day from 9-1 or reserving time for family dinner Monday-Friday from 6-7.
No matter how focused and rational you are you can’t continue to make decision after decision without your brain getting tired. That’s decision fatigue. The more choices you make throughout the day, the more difficult each one gets, and your brain starts looking for short cuts… either to act impulsively or to do nothing.
Ritualizing tasks so they eventually become habitual is a great strategy to eliminate decision fatigue and help you make better decisions for your health in those moments that you are feeling impulsive, unmotivated or lazy.
3. She has a clearly defined vision and objective goals for her health. Just like she has a clear idea where her business needs to go and what objectives she’s working on right now to get there, she is certain what she wants her health and life to look like and has identified the action steps required to get there.
If you need help developing your vision, start by reading this. It will help you develop momentum and motivation to take a closer look at what you’re doing for your health, what you’re not doing, what you should be doing more of and what you need to do less of.
4. She invests in experts to help support her health. Just like she has hired an accountant, business coach or lawyer to help support the direction of her business, she hires a nutrition consultant, personal trainer or chiropractor to help her get the results she wants for her health faster and easier (even if she doesn’t have a plan or know where to start!)
She’s not afraid to delegate to someone who has skills she doesn’t have and sees it as an investment in her health, not an expense.
But if not knowing where to start when it comes to your diet sounds all to familiar I want to help support you to navigate your way back on track.
Start here! For more simple By Design recipes why not pick up your copy of the Eat By Design Cookbook. I’ve created it in the form of a 28-day meal plan (plus grocery lists!) so you don’t need to think about what’s for breakfast, lunch or dinner for the next month. Or you can grab the first 7 days FREE by clicking here.
Unfortunately these bad habits get more and more difficult to break the longer you wait to course correct, so please make sure you don’t wait too long to start changing them.