So ater a busy few days in London last week with my business coaches, I’m holed up in west Cork for a few days R & R.
As with anytime I return from these intensive days of caoching and learning, my head is fairly fried. Lots of new ideas to implement, lots of areas to improve on, lots of challenges to my current mindset and ways of thinking and of course……….tons of excel spreadsheets- they completelty scramble my brain!!!!
But it has to be done if I want to move forward in my business so time to get stuck into implementing it all.
What I find really helps me after these intense learning courses is to give myself a few days downtime after them so that the information can settle into my head because, as I mentioned earlier, my head gets completely fried from the amount of information thrown at me.
This downtime is the perfect opportunity for me to focus on what I consider are the real foundations of longterm health, and it’s not simply going to the gym and eatig healthier. Well, at least in my opinion it’s not.
And while I’ve been giving some of these areas a bit of attention over the past few days, it got me thinking about what has made the biggest difference to my quality of life and longterm health over the past few years.
Here are 6 of the areas that have impacted my quality of life the most.
Consistent exercise: whether it’s a walk, a tougyh gym sesssion, an easy gym session, a 20 minute mobility session or an unplanned hike, making the time to do something on a consistent basis has done so much for my mind and body. Whether I’ve felt like it or not, I’ve focused on doing something every week and it’s that consistency that has made the difference.
Debt free: clearing our personal debt (credit union loans, credit crads, bank loans, etc) has impacted my stress levels, and therefore quality of life in a way thats hard to expolain unless you’ve done it. The removal of that stress is just insane when you do it. We will have a mortgage at some point on the future but without all that other debt dragging us down, it’s a lot easier to handle. We also have more cash available to do things that bring benefit to our lives like massages, hobbies, family experiences, better quality food, etc. What a game changer!
Overhauling my sleeping habits: I used go to bed at 1, 2, 3 or even 4am a lot of the time. This made getting through each day a huge struggle. No energy and no drive to do anything is a huge side effect of this sleepinmg pattern. It wasn’t easy to clean up and it took a bit of time, but it has given me a new lease of life as a result and made me feel SSSSOOOOOOO much better!
Quitting fizzy drinks: I used drnk 12 cans of coke/lucozade a day to make up for that horrendous sleeping pattern. When its a struggle to get through each day, a quick sugar fix seems like the easy option. But of course, it’s not. I ended up with gastritis (absolutely horrible pain) which I still have to manage to this day. Plus it robbed me of even more energy and let’s not forget the impacxt that much sugar had on my teeth, bones, risk of diabetes, etc. I tried everything from having 1 a day to 1 a week but always eneded up back at my old habit. Kicking them for good is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made- highly recommended if you’re in a similiar situation.
Quitting alcohol: This is somethiong I’m planning on writing a little series on in a few week, but alcohol and me were never a good match!! I stopped drinking just over 10 years ago and life just got immensly better and more rewarding. Stay tuned for more on this soon.
Learning how to save and budget: Money is one of those things that will absolutley crush you if you let it. For years I was clueless about money which is why I ended up with so much personal debt, and getting eductaed on how to handle it was one of the biggest, most chalenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done. And while I still have a long way to go, I’m in a much better place now with my personal/family finances. This means much less financial stress which is one of the biggest strains on our health today. It causes us to worry, work ourselves into the ground and lose focus on what matters the most to us. Learning how to save (and not blindly spend) and budget (simply having a plan ahead of time for my money) was one of the best investments I’ve ever made in my longterm stress management and wellbeing.
Summary
The take-home point is that you need to strart thinking about your health, fitness and quality of life outside of ‘gym-ing and dieting’.
It all comes down to how you consistently live your life , clarity on what’s important to you and a commitment to putting in the work to achieve that vision.
I saw the biggest impact in my quality of life when I made this switch in mindset and you will too.
Hope you found this useful- post any questions below.
Steve
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