by Kerry Taylor
Man! A new decade is upon us, a new damn decade. So much has happened and so much has not happened that we set out to do this past decade. I’m coming at you fromm a different angle this year. Instead of telling you a better way to achieve your goals this year, I would like to give you a few simple things to shoot for as you ring in the new decade.
1. Sleep More
In the go-go pace of our society we deprive ourselves of the one thing that can help us get what we want out of life. More sleep will help with managing and keeping diseases and sicknesses at bay, will increase our level of performance, will increase your focus, and have you energized. I find it so important that I invested in the Ouraring to help me with my sleep schedule. If you’re like me, and can’t get that many hours of sleep in, try to fill in the gaps with naps if you can. Not what we want in a perfect world, but not everything has to be perfect to get great results. Shoot for 7-8 hours of good quality sleep.
Ouraring Sleep Tracker
2. Take some “you” time
I have learned a hard lesson in life, but glad I have learned it and have been encouraged to make sure I apply this to my life. Last year I took 2 real vacations, yeah buddy! It made me realize what everyone has always told me, take the time, you need it to relax and recharge your batteries and clear your head. If big vacations aren’t your thing, then take a day or two, or even take a staycation. I promise you won’t regret it!
3. Be more present and limit the electronics
Everyone should have this on their list of goals to shoot for every year. How many times have you been out and looked at people that are supposed to be spending some type of time together but are both on their phones not interacting with each other? Maybe it’s even you. The phones have taken away the best parts of life, the time we get to spend with each other when we can. Shoot to limit the screen time when you’re with others or when you’re alone. I guarantee all of your relationships will be so much better for it. And for God’s sake, call or FaceTime each other instead of texting.
If you’re interested to see how much screen time you spend on your phone:
Iphone: go to “Settings” -> “Screen time” - this will tell you exactly where you’re at and allow you to make some adjustments to force you to make this a habit
Android: go to “Settings” -> “Battery” - click the battery icon and it will tell you how much time you’ve spent on the different apps
4. Sit less
You’ve heard or read this a million times before I’m sure, but I’m going to continue to shine a light on this one to make sure you push to make adjustments. We sit for everything- driving, flying, work, eating, socializing, using the bathroom, and watching television, just so you get the idea.
Sitting is associated with our obesity epidemic, amongst other things, because we have even less energy expenditure. If you can just stand up, your body will burn more calories, add a few steps and you burn even more, you get the idea. Sitting is also linked to early death factors. I can go on and on about why sitting as much as we do is bad, but I think you get the point. This can be easily adjusted. It’s as simple as setting an alarm for yourself to get up every hour, and to make sure it happens, keep your phone away from you to make sure you stand up to go get your phone and turn the alarm off. If you want to have fun with it, get up and dance at your station for a break and then get back to work.
5. Eat more one-ingredient foods
What do I mean by that? Eat more whole foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, fish, poultry etc. What you see is what you get, no one has done anything to these to make them bad for you. By having these as the basis of your nutrition plan, it will help to reduce your risk of certain diseases, reduce your body weight and have your body operating at optimal levels. If you’re not a whole foods person, focus on adding a little bit here and there until your nutrition supply is made up of mostly one ingredient foods. You’re welcome!
These are all simple, right? Even better, if you just add these 5 little changes to your life and make it a hard goal to push for in 2020, you will be at another level as far as your health. That, in turn, will have you crushing it in every other aspect of your life. So let’s go for it, you have the ability to make these changes if you just focus up on them. Until next time, continue to live life 1 degree above the rest!