It was almost six years ago that I was sitting at the doctor, asking him if there was an explanation for why I felt beyond exhausted and unable to think clearly. After running a number of tests, he simply looked at me and said it was part of the aging process and I better get used to it. I was only 40 years old at the time and completely unwilling to even consider that I would spend the next 60 years sleeping away my days because I was too fatigued to actually live.
Instead, I started asking myself what I could do, even if it was small, to make a difference.
Today, I’m sharing three habits I created that I still rely on today:
- Create a sleep schedule – I had been staying up late to work for years on top of being a naturally early riser which meant I was only sleeping about four hours per night during the week. When it got to the end of the week, I was so exhausted that Fridays were a waste of time, and there were not enough hours in the weekend to fulfill the amount of sleep my body felt like it needed. So, I put myself on a schedule. I started going to bed at the same time the kids did (about 9:00PM) and started waking up at 5:00AM every morning, even on the weekends, getting a steady amount of sleep. After time, my body adjusted and now years later, I don’t even require an alarm to wake up. If I am not tired, I go to bed and read until I fall asleep, but I will still naturally wake up at the same time.
- Implement a morning routine – Instead of flying out of bed with my hair on fire and rushing to get ready and out the door, I started taking the first hour of the day just for myself. What I do in that first hour has evolved, but at the moment, I spend it reading some type of personal development book, journaling my thoughts and then planning my day out.
- Perform some type of daily exercise – One of my favorite stress relievers and tools for clearing my head is exercise. The discipline of doing it daily serves as an anchor for self care and I find that when I am keeping up with my exercise, everything else seems to fall in line. The type of exercise matters less than the discipline of consistency, so I do what makes the most sense at the time.
While I’ve implemented many other daily habits, these three specifically have stuck with me through the years and have simply become part of the way I choose to live. When thinking about the habits you can create in order to maximize your success each day, consider who you aspire to be and how you aspire to feel. Then, work backwards to intentionally create habits that align with that person.