Given this environment, it’s very easy to say fuck it. I’ll start Monday. Or someday. Just not today.

So the point is you need to have a strategy and get clear on what you want and why. This will be your north star that will allow you to bust through whatever obstacles you face.

IF YOU HAVEN’T DONE THIS WORK FROM DAY 1, PLEASE TAKE 5 MINUTES AND DO THIS. CLICK BELOW FOR DAY 1 HW.

Sleep & Stress

Ok, so now let’s recap the importance of sleep and stress. Sleep. Want an unfair advantage that will help you burn more fat, build more muscle, and increase focus? Sleep more. And on the flip side: if you want a sure-fire path to brain fog, junk-food cravings, and round-the-clock irritability, then deprive yourself of sleep. Sleep is that important.

I know in our “work hard and play harder” culture, we regularly push sleep to the back burner. But top performers are not skimping on sleep. Athletes like Lebron James and Roger Federer report getting 10-12 hours of sleep per night! Of course, you probably don’t have the physical demands of an elite pro athlete, so you probably don’t need THAT much.

Even still though, sleep is huge. You cannot neglect sleep and expect to feel and perform your best. For most of us, I would say that 7-8 hours of sleep a night is a good target. If you’re getting less than six, increasing your sleep should be your life’s top priority.

Stress is not good or bad. The Perception of stress, or how we view stress is very important. Most of us are aware of PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder. People who have had traumatic or very stressful experiences in life can relive them later in life. It can be crippling for people. And downright debilitating.

But there’s also something called PTSG – post traumatic stress GROWTH. If you want to dive deeper, you can check out Kelly McGonical’s book The Upside of Stress. There’s some good research papers behind this as well.

Recently I did a live presentation on the perception of stress where I talked about the 2 elements of stress.

1. How much TOTAL stress are you exposed to?
2. How well can you handle it?

Some people can handle more of it. And some people simply have more of it in their daily lives.  It’s not about getting rid of stress or running away from it. The absence of stress is not what we want. It’s more about the ability to buffer it, handle it, and manage it.

If you do have a large stress load, that’s where stress management tools come into play… Meditation, breathing, yoga, walking, light exercise, swimming, stretching, foam rolling, hot water therapy(shower or bath) all can be valuable tools for you.