The simplest change you can make today for increased energy, productivity, health, and happiness

This post is a part of the monthly, FREE, Hack Your Health Challenge. Join us over on the Life by Design Project Facebook page for more details, support, and celebrations.

It doesn’t matter what your health and happiness goal is, if you are an elite athlete, or if you are my 78-year-old neighbor who’s looking to “cleanse out all the toxins and meet the ladies.”

Hands down, one of the MOST important elements in creating massive shifts in our health and happiness is a magnetic and powerful vision of who we are as our highest, best selves.

You thought I was going to say the secret is eating kale, didn’t you?

Maybe your vision looks something like “I am strong, confident, and passionate. I wake up every morning excited to jump out of bed and start my day. I have deep, fulfilling relationships, and I’m doing work that changes the world.”

Maybe your vision looks completely different, and that’s OK – it’s who YOU are when you’re truly showing up in the world.

You’ll know you’ve articulated your vision when you feel your chest expanding.

When you step into it – you get that goosebumpy, butterfly feeling. The sheer possibility of this fantastic version of yourself gets you pumped and ready to take on the world.

The thing is, creating the vision is the easy part, maintaining it at the forefront of our focus is difficult.

If you’re anything like me, that vision and all its goosebumpy, feel-good, motivation can disappear in mere minutes as my alarm goes off reminding me of all the errands I need to run tonight or when I find the box of cookies hidden in the back of the pantry.

So if having that vision of your highest self is the key to pursuing a healthier, happier life,  the question becomes, how do we maintain that vision as something that is vitally important to us?

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The answer isn’t sexy, but it’s powerful – routine.

Routines are a sequence of actions that we do every day, most of the time without even realizing it.

Maybe you make your coffee and sit down to check Facebook every morning, or listen to your favorite podcast on your commute home. Hopefully, you floss and brush your teeth before you go to bed at night.

Elite athletes are well aware of the power of routines. Michael Phelps’ pre-swim routine is so powerful it helped him win 5 gold medals in Rio.

But Phelps’ astounding all-time Olympic medal records aren’t the only suggestion that routines work.

Research indicates that practicing  routines before an event, meeting, or even just before starting your day can increase how well we perform, our confidence, our resiliency and emotional stability (who doesn’t need  fewer emotional rollercoasters in their day?),and our overall satisfaction and perceived value in our experiences

This means that by creating and practicing routines throughout our day, we can effectively design days that are happier, healthier, and more impactful.

 

Developing a daily routine that brings your back to your vision of your highest self is the single, most efficient change you can make to see massive shifts in your energy, productivity, health, and happiness.

I’m not here to tell you what kind of a routine you should establish, we can spend the rest of the month playing with what works best for you.

Maybe what supports you best is reading a book before you go to bed at night or watching  youtube videos of Arnold before you hit the gym. Maybe you need a  45-minute long morning routine that includes sage burning, practicing yoga, and sitting in meditation. Maybe you need all of the above.

Next week, we’ll dive into examples of different routines (think morning, afternoon, evening, and everything in between) and specifically how to start creating your own routine that aligns you with your highest vision and gets you pumped to take on the world. So don’t worry about the specifics just yet.

Before we dive into designing new routines, the first step is to get clear on where we stand right now. So without further ado:

To participate in the challenge, this week we’re answering these questions on the Facebook Page:

How do you feel as you go through most of your day? Do you feel connected to your vision of your highest, healthiest, best self?

What routines do you currently have in your life? How are they working or not working for you?

We make hundreds of choices a day that do and don’t serve us. By choosing to design one simple routine that re-connects us with our vision of our highest selves, we can dramatically shift how we show up in the world. That’s one little step to your happiest, healthiest, best self.

To your health and happiness,
Julia

What routines do you currently have in your life? How are they working or not working for you? Share with us on the FB page!