MINDSET

As you can probably tell by now, fitness (or anything for that matter) is a big ole’ mental game you’re playing with yourself.

We discussed in the video about periods of highs and lows, peaks and valleys - I like to call these patterns of existence, but I do feel that sounds a little too deep for fitness haha. But they’re important you become aware of them.

Why? What we’re doing here is literally forming THE NEW YOU. And you currently have a set mindset habits and environment that you’re pretty used to by now. That’s why change is never easy. But we can make it simple!

1) Your first action item is to get a piece of paper and pen or even a google doc or something.

Highs - take a moment and start to brainstorm your highs.

Or in other words, the moments you feel on top of the world! You’re killing it at work, you’re hitting the gym, your diet is on point, your relationships are great, and so on.

Lows - take the next moment and start to brainstorm your lows.

Or in other words the moments where you don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t get to the gym, work is crazy, your stress feels through the roof, your day is happening to you, NOT for you, and so on...

There will ALWAYS be highs and lows. It’s the seasons of life. We aren’t trying to get rid of those. That would be fighting mother nature. BUT what we are trying to do is catch your patterns that pull you back into your old habits.

Say for example:

-If you get carried away with eating out, then you fall off your plan -Maybe your house is a mess and it’s adding to your mental stress -Maybe you procrastinate work and that causes you to skip the gym.

A personal example regarding mindset habits and environment is when I don’t plan my day the night before, I end up being more reactive instead of feeling like I’m winning my day, getting shit done.

I end up pushing aside my ME time to destress, relax, etc. If that happens too much, things start to slip.

The GOAL with this exercise is to get yourself more aware of your old patterns so you can continually self-correct and keep yourself more consistent 🙂

ENVIRONMENT

Your environment has such a HUGE impact (I’m sure you’ve experienced this all your life).

It could be a spouse, friend or even a stranger in the gym that could get you in your head, later leaving you starring at the mirror disappointed in yourself.

Maybe it's the snacks on your counter that leads to a whole night of FFFFFFFFF IIIIITTTTTTTTT wooohhooo!

Or things that get in the way of you getting to the gym, say not having your clothes packed beforehand, the stress of the day, Stranger Things (great 3rd season though) and so on...

The following is what I’d like you to think about to improve your environment:

Audit

Take an audit of your day. What’s going on hour to hour? Can you free up time somewhere with something more productive to your goals?

How can you start planning ahead more to stay proactive throughout your day to be in more control?

Automate

The more you don’t have to think about something, the easier it will be to stick to, you’ll save more will power, you’ll stick with it long enough to turn it into a new habit:

Packing your gym bag the night before
Planning your meals (or where you’ll be eating) ahead of time
Cleaning up your counters and cabinets
Surrounding yourself with the right people (or podcasts, books etc)

HABITS

And finally, here are some things you can actually start putting into your day to day environment.

Something I’m BIG about is considering ALL aspects of your life when reaching your fitness goals.

For example, if fitness becomes a full time job of meal prepping and in the gym 6 times per week, it’s only a matter of time before you give up on that.

More so, if your stress gets out of hand, or you’re barely sleeping for example, those things are going to make adhering to your plan more and more difficult.

So here are some core things to have your mindset habits and environment basis covered:

Sleep

No one should ever get shamed for sleeping. We need it. We grow, repair, and destress ourselves when we sleep.

It’s not only about sleeping more though. It’s about quality sleep. I view sleep in cycles. Each cycle is about 90 minutes where you go through light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep.

Getting 8-9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night might not be in the cards for everyone. So for that reason, aim to get in 35 cycles per week.

That’s ideally 7.5 hours per night of sleeping. To get the minimum effective dose of sleep.

If you have a night of less than 7.5, you can make up for that in the afternoon in between 2-4pm with a 30 minute power nap (I love using an app called brain.fm for them) The power nap will count as a cycle towards your weekly 35.

Throughout the week you can either catch up with naps or sleeping more on some nights as long as you hit at least 35 cycles per week.

Stress

Stress of course is sometimes good and needed, but what really messes people up is chronic stress - that stress compounding more and more, to even creating anxiety and panic attacks.

If you want to keep showing up for work, your family, everything in your life etc. - you must show up for YOU first.

Schedule this time into your day or at least a few times per week. Some of my favorites are:

Meditation
Foam rolling and stretching • Epsom salt baths
Journalling
Laying out in the sun

Self care goes a LONG way, don’t neglect it.

Hydration

Keeping up with your hydration is so important, here’s my favorite ways to do so:

1) The elixir of life. I have my clients drink these every morning and it changes the game from feeling tired and groggy to ready to start the day.

Never go straight into coffee before hydrating yourself.

You just went all night sleeping without any water.

• 12oz of spring water or filtered water
• 2 pinches of pink sea salt
• 1/4 squeezed lemon

2) For the rest of the day, aim to drink half of your bodyweight (pounds) in ounces.

Don’t drink tap water - filtered or spring is best. You can even add a little more sea salt to increase absorption and hydrate your body more effectively. Are you ready to start revamping your mindset habits and environment?