Every now and then when I am working with a new coaching client, I am dealing with someone who has really hit a wall. They have come to me, in a way almost as a last resort, because they are so deep in overwhelm, stress, indecision as you can be without actually burning out and they need support and strategies to work and live better.
To a lesser extent, I notice in the women I work with an ongoing tiredness, lack of ability to focus, indecision, low level anxiety and symptoms of stress like a whirring brain, difficultly switching off, feeling in fight or flight a lot, rarely off, calm.
If this resonates for you, my advice is this: before you start planning to grow your business, launch a new product, up your content game and the like - get the basics right. With women struggling in the way I have described, none of them have healthy habits and boundaries in place around the basic pillars of wellbeing.
To me the basics are:
Sleep
Nutrition & hydration
Access to fresh air and nature
Movement
Breathing
Two other additions to this are community and connection and the amount of times that we spend on screens.
If you are sleep deprived, running on caffeine, riding sugar highs and lows, neglecting your needs for genuine human interaction, doom scrolling social media and news content before breakfast and moving only from desk to car to couch, how do you expect to function well? To feel creative and inspired?
I listened to an amazing podcast episode recently with Dr Rangan Chatterjee interviewing a guy called David Bidler who is improving the wellbeing of teenagers through his Physiology First structure.
His opinion, and it’s a compelling one, is that the rocketing levels of anxiety and depression in our young people is best treated by first looking at their physiology, how much sleep they’re getting, are they dehydrated, how much time they spend on screens and being sedentary, what their diet is like.
Once you have them make simple adjustments in these areas, get them into a community of other young people improving and learning about how the body works, breathing and relaxation, most of them don’t have these problems anymore.
It’s the same for adults, we are no different. And habits that help you towards being well rested, hydrated, nourished, connected and relaxed are the bedrock of all those amazing creative goals you want to set!
So before you start going all in with business goals, financial targets and new product plans for 2024, why not connect with these basic areas over the next few weeks and start to form some better habits?
At the bottom of this email, my Gather & Grow members will find a link to a downloadable habit tracker to help them to start committing to and tracking new habits. At the end of a month, you could feel very different. (If you want the tracker just upgrade to my paid membership which is just £7 a month.) You will also get a special gift on Christmas Day which is something I currently have on offer for £35 in my shop - have a peek HERE.
Habits you could commit to could be;
Be in bed by 10pm
Drink 2 litres of water a day
Stick to the recommended amount of sugar (30g)
A daily lunchtime walk (rain or shine)
Maximum of two caffeinated drinks a day
Shut down all screens at 9pm
Connect with a friend every day
By writing your habits down, setting goals around them and tracking them, you are much more likely to success. Thinking ‘drink more water’ is not going to get you there!