I used to feel overwhelmed pretty much every day. My to-do list always exceeded my work capacity. There was always more to do than time to do, or at least that’s what I told myself.
I hear from my clients all the time that they are stressed, overwhelmed, have too much on their plate and they drop the ball on self-care because it’s just too much.
If feeling overwhelmed by life & obligations is getting in the way of taking care of yourself, you MUST make a change. Now. You cannot wait until the kids are older or you have more money saved. It has to happen now. This is more about mindset than workload and it’s time to take control.
I have a really simple strategy for days I feel overwhelmed. It is SO BASIC but it has changed my life.
Sometimes we dismiss simple solutions because they seem too basic, but this one has been a game changer for me.
I realized that my to-do lists were made up primarily of things that I wanted to get done, that needed to get done at some point, but weren’t critical for the day to which I had assigned them.
If I feel overwhelmed, I’ll take a look at my to-do list and evaluate every item on there and ask the following question:
Is this something that must get done today or just something I’d like to get done today?
80% of the things on my to-do list weren’t’ critical for the day to which I had assigned them. Sure, I wanted to get them done but the things that were absolutely CRITICAL for the day were far fewer in number.
Though I don’t take this approach every day, I absolutely turn to it when I’m overwhelmed. Every single thing that isn’t critical for the day at hand gets removed from the list.
Couldn’t be more basic, ya know? But it works!
I no longer put myself in the trap of exhausting myself with the things that aren’t critical for the day & then feeling pressured at the end of the day to rush through the things that are critical. I wasted a lot of energy because I wasn’t prioritizing and doing first things first.
Today, for example, the only things that must get done for Primal Potential are:
this blog
tomorrow’s Daily Motivation Podcast
tonight’s Masters Club webinar
Are there 25+ other things that have to get this week and I’d love to tackle today? Of course. But I can immediately ease my mind and feel more in control when I only look at what must be done today.
A workout is something I choose to fit in, but at the end of the day, it’s not required. I did make time for it today, though not at my normal time. I had to push it back a while to make room for today’s priorities.
I wasn’t really in the mood for the gym today but a 30-minute warm up and 15 minute workout made me feel infinitely happier and more energized.
On the food front:
Around 10am I had Paleo Power Meals spaghetti squash with meat sauce. It was literally the only thing I had in the fridge since it’s delivery day & I haven’t picked up this week’s food yet.
Around 3pm I had chicken & broccoli over cauliflower rice and dinner was steak frites around 6:30pm.
I picked up a bottle of Polar seltzer this weekend – pineapple grapefruit flavor – omg, it’s totally my new favorite!
I’m so excited to have one of my Fat Loss Fast Track clients on the show today. She’s in the trenches of creating lasting change and refining what works best for her body & lifestyle.
After feeling great about her first 12 weeks in the Fat Loss Fast Track, she struggled with enthusiasm, engagement & consistency in the second 12-weeks.
She talks candidly about cycles of success and how she’s fighting back to recreate momentum.
I think it’s powerful to see & hear what strategies work for people and how they overcome obstacles. Today’s episode is a great example.
If you listen much to the Primal Potential Podcast, you know that I’m always asking people to evaluate if what they are doing works for them. It’s a huge mistake to blindly follow a way of eating that doesn’t give you the results you’re looking for. Like I said yesterday, it really doesn’t matter if it works for someone else. It doesn’t matter at all. All that matter is if it works for you.
While this is an important thing to keep in mind related to what, when & how much we eat, it’s also really, really important related to how we move.
I would dare say that the majority of people who workout don’t ever really evaluate what is working for them and what is not.
Are you getting stronger?
How do you know?
Are you getting leaner?
Are you getting more mobile?
Are your pains & discomforts improving?
Too many people just go through the motions of working out the way people go through dieting. They’re following someone else’s strategy, or rules or program without paying attention to their own bodies.
Guys. Working out is not the endgame. Improving your body is.
If you have pain or discomfort, you should be working to resolve it, not to ignore it or power through it.
If you have limited mobility, you should be working to improve it, not to avoid it.
If you have a weakness, you should be looking to improve it, not just endure it.
I talk about this a lot more on tomorrow’s podcast (episode 345) but please do not spend more attention on working out than you do on body work.
Everyone, whether they workout or not, needs to prioritize body work.
What’s body work?
Working on YOUR body. Not for aesthetic gains but for healing, mobility, flexibility, alignment and stabilization.
I’ve shared before that I go into the gym 30 minutes early and work at home on my body every day. This has nothing to do with my workout. It has to do with my body work.
I work on breathing exercises. I work on flexibility. I work on my posture and alignment.
If I have pain, I work to fix it. If I have weakness, I look for the root cause and monitor my improvements.
I’ve recently been re-reading Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett (it’s very textbook like, for those of you who are considering it) and it’s a powerful reminder that we will not drift to optimal health.
You can’t just show up at the gym and do what you’re told and expect to live in your best body.
Honestly, I think body work should be prioritized over working out because your workout benefits will be minimal if you aren’t taking care of your muscles, joints, pelvic floor, alignment and breath control.
Where can you start? Posture. Stretching. Foam rolling.
I am not a body work expert and I don’t play one on the internet but my point today is this: is what you’re doing working for you? Is your mobility increasing? Are you becoming more flexible? Are you resolving your pain? Is your stress incontinence going away?
If those things aren’t happening, it’s time to make a change.
Today is a crazy day. My schedule is all out of whack and I’m getting things done later than normal. I’m kinda bummed…this is the first day that I’ve been in town and unable to get to the gym. While I could focus on the obstacles and not workout, I choose to focus on the opportunities and get a workout done at home.
In addition to lots of stretching & foam rolling, I did 5 rounds for time (RFT) of the following:
20 med ball thrusters
20 push-ups
20 cal bike
I would have preferred to get to the gym, but even when there’s a lot I can’t do, there’s even more I can do.
On the food front:
Since I worked out later in the day, I had more of a “breakfast” meal today – a shake made with collagen powder, almond milk, cacao powder and greek yogurt.
I was feeling pretty hungry around noon time but had a couple of conference calls and wasn’t able to eat right away. Per usual, the hunger faded and I was far less hungry after the calls than before. I love noticing those things. I think it’s really empowering & helps me be less reactive to hunger. When I had the chance, I had steak frites (with sweet potato fries) from Paleo Power Meals.
A couple hours later I had a mini meal of grilled chicken and my early dinner was a cobb salad. My preference is to be done eating as early in the day as possible to maximize that overnight fasting window. Today I was done eating around 5:30pm. I love that!
I got the best card in the mail yesterday. One of my client-friends (it’s not fair to call her a client because she really has become a friend in the process) sent me a fantastic thank you note. In addition to being super thoughtful, it made me laugh & I knew I had to share the story with you guys!
As you can see, she suggests that when I write a book there should be a chapter titled “Tim Ferriss was never a fat girl.” I think she’s exactly right & I’ll tell you why.
The client who sent this card is a rockstar. In the past couple of years, she has dramatically changed her body, her health and her whole life. I’m not sure how much weight she has lost, but I’d guess somewhere between 50-80 lbs.
At some point in the past couple months, however, she began to struggle. She wasn’t as enthusiastic about her goals, she was getting bored with food and she stopped doing a lot of the things that had created her success and momentum.
She reached out for some guidance and I suggested we hop on the phone and chat about it. I asked her what kinds of things had changed – what things she had stopped doing that she knows worked for her in the past.
One change she mentioned was the incorporation of “cheat days“. It wasn’t something she had done before but, after a tremendous amount of progress, she read The 4-Hour Body (by Tim Ferriss) and decided to adopt his idea of a cheat day where you can eat anything you want for a day.
After the cheat day, she was struggling to get back to fat loss friendly choices. Since introducing cheat days, she was indulging in more things, more often. Her progress stalled and she didn’t feel in control of her choices.
After listening to a bit more of her predicament, I told her that I too had read The 4-Hour Body and I have no doubt that Tim’s strategies work for him. But, Tim Ferriss was never a fat girl.
Tim Ferriss didn’t struggle with obesity, with food obsession or with the things that go along with both.
Just because it works for Tim, a white guy with a lean build, doesn’t mean it will (or even should) work for you.
I’m not picking on Tim Ferriss – this is true for anyone. Just because a particular food strategy works for that beautiful fitness model you follow on Instagram doesn’t mean it will or should work for you.
Here’s what matters: is it working for you? Are you getting the results you want with that strategy?
In the case of this client-friend of mine, she could be totally convinced that there’s merit to a cheat day and she can find 1,000 people who swear it works for them. None of that matters. It wasn’t working for her. So, it’s not for her.
Don’t distract yourself with what works for other people. We have different backgrounds, different mindset, different metabolisms, different hormonal imbalances. All that matters is what works for YOU.
Not what should work for you, not what could work for you, what DOES work for you.
What gets you results, makes you feel amazing and is sustainable.
Got it?
Unapologetic non sequitur…
Today’s workout was absolutely awesome in all the right ways!
“Hang Tough”
AMRAP 4:
27 Hang Power Cleans (115/80)
27 Wallballs (20/14#)
27 Calorie Bike
Rest 4:00
AMRAP 4:
21 Hang Power Cleans (115/80)
21 Wallballs (20/14#)
21 Calorie Bike
Rest 4:00
AMRAP 4:
15 Hang Power Cleans (115/80)
15 Wallballs
15 Calorie Bike
The 4-minute cycle was just enough to allow for speed & intensity while being able to recover before going hard again. I loved it!
I also did 5 rounds of a 100-cal cycle on my Airdyne bike throughout the day at home. I’m so glad I got my new toy!
On the food front:
I had a couple cups of cold brew coffee before my workout and then picked up a coffee with a splash of heavy cream on my way home from the gym.
I forced myself to get through a couple work projects before having “breakfast” which was a smoothie with almond milk, cacao powder, coffee & raspberries.
Why fruit in the morning? Because I really pushed hard on those hang power cleans today and I thought it would be a nice recovery meal. Golden Rules = carbs at night OR post workout.
I had steak and veggies from Paleo Power Meals in the early afternoon & dinner was a cobb salad with grilled chicken (I added extra chicken).
Can sun exposure increase your metabolism? Can it help you burn fat more efficiently?
The answer is yes. In today’s episode we’re going into the science of sun, your skin & hormones to look at how moderate sun exposure can minimize cravings, reduce inflammation, increase energy and support your metabolism & ability to burn fat.
I know our society talks about the dangers of the sun and tells us all to put on sunscreen before we walk to the mailbox but here’s the reality: sun burn is bad, the sun is not.
There are many health benefits of sun exposure beyond vitamin D and we’ll be talking about them today!
