3 Habits to Start Today

If you’re serious about building a profitable business that you love – you must be serious about self-care. I’m not talking about hours of pampering, there’s a time and a place to treat yourself. I’m talking about forming a habit of self-care. You are your company’s biggest asset and for many of you, if you are not able to work or your brain is on slow-mo because it’s exhausted, your sales and revenues suffer. So, self-care is not optional. It must be built into your DAMN Plan. You must make and take the time.

There was a time that I believed that, if I just worked harder, worked more hours . . . I would make more money. Can I just say that is BS? It’s not the number of hours you work, it’s the productivity in your hours that matter. If you are rundown, mentally exhausted, and feeling like all you do is work – your productivity will drop like a rock. And you will hate your business. Who wants to go to work – if you dread it? 

For myself and for the hundreds of women that I have helped, implementing these three habits into our morning routines improved our health, our outlook on life, and yes, our businesses. 

So, here are the 3 habits that will improve your productivity:

Habit #1 Get your body moving – first thing in the morning.

Like me, if you are not an exercise fanatic, keep it simple. I go for a brisk walk. I measure my walk by time (20-30 minutes), not distance. In our busy lives – time is easier to commit to. Believe it or not, a 30-minute daily walk will create significant mental and physical health improvements.

The hardest part is to get started – so here is how I got my backside out of bed. I made it fun! I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks in the morning, so instead of listening on my deck while drinking coffee. I popped my earbuds in and started walking. Pairing something you think of as “work” with something you consider “play” is called habit stacking according to James Clear – author of Atomic Habits and for me, it reframed walking as fun – because I got to listen to my books.  I finished his book on my walks, too.

Habit #2 Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day.

If your body is dehydrated – so is your brain! It makes it hard to think. Oh and most of the time when you think you are hungry and grab snacks at your desk – you are most likely thirsty. So, I have two tricks for you to start drinking more water.

#1 If you think or feel hungry, drink a glass of water before you raid the fridge. Second, keep a bottle of water on your desk and track how many ounces you’ve had. And Yes, you will be using the bathroom a lot more, which will keep your body moving. Ha!

#2 If you find it hard to drink that much water in one day, go back to your college days and learn how to chug again. If you only do one of these steps to jumpstart your self-care – drink more water. It will increase your energy and focus, help curb cravings, clear up your skin and the list goes on.

Let me know by commenting Yes or No – if you find it hard to drink ½ your body weight in ounces each day.

Habit #3 Be grateful.

Find one thing to be grateful for every day. This is all about staying in a positive frame of mind. A positive mindset is critical to being productive and healthy. According to Mayo Clinic researchers, the health benefits of positive thinking aka being grateful may include everything from greater resistance to the common cold to Better cardiovascular health.

I choose to be grateful and positive because I know for a fact that it increases my resilience which we know – living through this pandemic and being able to quickly find solutions and pivot is business gold.

We all have our struggles, and some days are harder than others. Finding things in my life to be thankful for kills the inner madness and keeps me facing forward. 

So practice this simple mindset habit – you can even do it while walking or standing at the sink chugging your first glass of water. 

Say thank you! Say it out loud. If you want to add what you are thankful or grateful for – fine, but if all you can think of on any one given day is to be thankful that you have another day to get after it and fulfill your purpose on this earth – I say that is good. My hope is that you will dedicate regular reflection time for gratefulness and adopt an attitude of gratitude. 

Now you know my three morning habits that I practice every day to keep myself and my business healthy. The hardest part of starting any new routine is finding the time and being consistent. Way too many people use lack of time as an excuse for not doing self-care, like I said earlier, in business and frankly in life, the owner’s self-care is not optional. So to get past the I’m too busy excuse, download The DAMN Time Tracker Tool at the bottom of the page. 

This tool goes way beyond finding time for self-care. Using this simple tool, my clients have become more productive by discovering their time-wasters and working on their DAMN Time Plan. By eliminating time-wasters, they found they could actually work less and had more time for family, friends, and activities. You can learn more about The DAMN Time Tracker Tool in my How to Stop Wasting Time video where I explain how the tool works.