I want to talk about how to not sacrifice your health to grow your business or career. Now, I work with a lot of high performers, entrepreneurs, high level executives, business owners, people from all different walks, different spaces and different parts of the world. And through my journey and through my work, I’ve noticed that the ones that are the highest performers, the most successful, the people that really stand out from their peers, that achieve at a different level, are those that have a really strong ethic and ethos around their health habits.
Around sustaining high levels of energy. Around protecting their mind, their body, their physical level of energy, and how they show up in their preparedness in life. And it’s really remarkable how this correlation and almost causation to success and achievement has shown up in all of these different situations and kind of scenarios and case studies. So I want to talk a little bit again about the strategies that I’ve developed and the others that I’ve worked with have developed, to really not sacrifice your professional growth in your business or in your career.
So one of those is developing and implementing really strong morning and evening routines. Now, you might have a couple of things that you do regularly. You might not do the same thing every day. And that’s okay. But what I will say is that the trend that we’ve seen is those that are at the top of their field, that are really performing at high levels, have certain things on autopilot. By that I mean, there’s certain things that they don’t even think about, that don’t even occupy the mind space, but they’re just getting them done. And their success and help habits that support them and their goals and their vision.
So with a strong morning and evening routine, again, some of these habits that are in these routines show up in a lot of the different routines of some very successful people. And I’ve read numerous studies on this and seen this anecdotally through people again I’ve worked with, but some of those habits that I’ve found apparent in the routines of the world’s highest performers and most successful are this.
Health Habits
Habits around exercising regularly, almost every day. Nutrition habits. Eating the right things, being on the right diet. Not eating a lot of starch and carbs and sugar. Using supplements, vitamins, taking these regularly to help support again your nutrition and your health and energy. Hydration. A lot of people forget about this. I made it a goal this year to really better hydrate and to be more intentional about it. So I’ve counter event reminders on my phone for throughout the day, four or five times a day where I drink, I think it’s a liter and a half each time, so I’m drinking a gallon of water by the end of each day. It’s a lot of water, but it’s really helping me feel better, flush my system, help my immunity, and just stay healthy.
Reading
Another big success habit, again in these morning routines of the highest performers is reading. Consuming information, not just nonfiction and self help and things that can help you in your career, but fiction. Imaginative works, literature, history, historical nonfiction. All of this is really apparent, and it’s important that you safeguard time to do this to enrich your mind and expand your thinking.
Journaling
The other thing is journaling. Writing gratitudes, vision exercises. Affirmations too. It’s another strong habit of those high performers that can be typically found in a morning routine. And again, the reason why routines are important is because it creates certain levels of foundation. Where it’s a baseline of success and functioning. Where these habits really can support your health, your energy, your success. And they get to a point when after 60, 90 days, they become automatic. You don’t have to think about them. Like brushing your teeth, or tying your shoes or making your bed in the morning.
The reason is these little acts, these little things of order and creating flow in our life really are reflective of how we live the rest of our life, because I firmly believe how you do anything in life is how you do everything in life. Think about that. I didn’t come up with that quote, I can’t remember who did. But how we do anything in life is how we do everything. If we have a sloppy room and house, and we don’t do our laundry and things are a mess, well, chances are our life’s probably a little disarrayed. Maybe our finances are out of order. Maybe there’s disorganization personally and professionally. And that’s not what you need to create, again, a really high level of performance and achievement in your life.
Be Intentional About Taking Time Off
So, couple of other things that I do, again on how to not sacrifice your health, is being intentional about the time that you take off so that you don’t burn out. So that means turning off at a certain point. Respecting your time enough to realize that tomorrow’s another day. That you can get things done tomorrow. For me, I don’t do a great job of this I’ll fully admit. I sometimes work late in the office, and I don’t have a family or kids, so I’m often working past eight or nine. But we should turn off at a certain point. And we should realize that, that will actually help preserve our mindset and make us better performers. And be more effective when we’re not just working all the time and we’re not burning the wick at both ends.
We need to protect our personal time. Our hobbies, create space in our life for those. And also protect our sleep patterns so that we can unwind properly and get a good night’s rest. Or we can really rejuvenate and be a better performer the next day. So that’s something else I do, is really safeguard that time off. And really pre scheduling vacations. This is important too.
Schedule at least one vacation per quarter for a year, where you can, even if it’s for just a long weekend or a few nights away, really unwind, reset, recharge. Because when you return, I’ve found you’re so much more focused and intentional. So that’s really, really important, is pre scheduling vacations and not scheduling anything during them. Not sacrificing them, and largely staying off the grid, meaning not working while you’re away. Cover and spend enough time before you go so that you’re comfortable not having to work while you’re away.
So these are just a couple of habits. Things that I have found, again in the world’s top performers and most successful people, that they have apparent in their lives and routines. To really not sacrifice their health, their wellbeing just in the pursuit of success. Their goals, their vision. Because there’s a lot of successful people out there, but there’s also a lot of successful people out there that aren’t healthy, that aren’t happy, that aren’t fully fulfilled. And I want to make sure that you’re not one of those. That you achieve your goals and your vision. And that you do so in a way where you maintain and preserve your health. You support a healthy mindset. A high level of energy, and purpose, and intentionality and fulfillment in everything you do.
So hopefully you got some value from this. If you did and you’re somebody who likes to share that, please share this with somebody that this might also benefit as well. Again, leave a comment below, like this. Shoot me a DM. But again, I really hope that these strategies, these things about how to really help you not sacrifice your health and wellbeing and mindset just for the sake of achievement and ambition, can move the needle a little bit in your life. So to your success and happiness. We’ll talk to you soon.
Read more about habits on Keir’s blog HERE.