We’re up to day 3 of Enough BS! This call was all about how to deal with “high highs” and “low lows” and *show up* at your best. If you’re gonna rock your purpose in life, you’ll need to know how to deal with the lows and make every day a *better* day.
If you missed the recaps of the previous days’ calls, click to catch up on the notes from day 1 and day 2.
Wanna view these notes as a PDF? Click here.
Takeaway #1: How to deal with “high highs” and “low lows”
Sometimes, lows are unavoidable. We can’t control everything that happens in our lives, and every now and then, we’re gonna have bad days. But there are things we can do to make our lows higher (and our highs higher, too!).
Greatness = Consistency on the fundamentals
We want to create foundations to help us always show up at our best, whether we’re having a good day or not. These foundations are our fundamentals, the things we do every day, no matter what, to keep us in integrity with our values. What do you need to do daily to feel and perform at your absolute best? Narrow it down and ask yourself, what’s the #1 thing you can start doing in your life that, if you did it consistently, would have the most positive impact?
Crafting a morning ritual that feels good *to you* is an awesome way to set in place some rock solid fundamentals, since how we wake up sets the tone for the rest of the day. What can you prioritize in the AM? You might want to get up a little earlier to meditate, exercise, read, drink a green smoothie, or do some journaling. Check back with your values and see what would make sense to you and help you rock your day from the get-go.
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Takeaway #2: Exercise your willpower muscle
Do you ever look at people who get a whole bunch of stuff done and assume they’ve just got more willpower than the rest of us? Not the case! Willpower actually works like a muscle – it gets stronger the more we use it. But how exactly do we train it?
WTF interviewee Kelly McGonigal has some great tips. First, get into the habit of recognizing when you’re about to do something that’s harmful to your goals and out of integrity with your values, like reaching for a chocolate bar when you’re trying to lose 20 pounds! If you can realize what you’re doing, stop the action, and take some slow, deep breaths, you’re sending a signal of resistance to your brain and training it to develop more willpower. Kelly also suggests meditation, physical exercise and 7-8 hours of sleep each night to help us stay on our game and keep our brains sharp.
One other thing to note is that your willpower is strongest in the AM, which is why it makes sense to rock that morning ritual!
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Takeaway #3: Manage your energy, not your time
We’ve all heard of time management, but it’s not the number of hours we work that determines our effectiveness; it’s about the *quality* of those hours. Time is a finite resource, but we can always refuel our energy reserves and work with our bodies to get the most out of the time we put in. Recovery and rejuvenation are just as important to our success as the actual energy we expend.
WTF interviewee Tony Schwartz has a ton to say about this, including the fact that our bodies are designed to work in 90 minute cycles. Aim for short bursts of full engagement, and pay attention to what your body is saying. When you feel yourself getting tired, hungry or restless, or you’re starting to slump, you’re probably due a time-out.
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Peep This Too
Take a look at My Morning Routine to get some inspiration for your AM ritual.
Check out this video, in which Kelly McGonigal dives deep into the psychology of willpower and talks about how we can get more of it.
Tony Schwartz’s website, The Energy Project, features some awesome tools and tips for managing your energy and getting the most out of your time. His book, The Power of Full Engagement, is also pretty revolutionary and provides an in-depth look at high performance and rejuvenation.
HW + Action Steps!
Think about the following questions:
- What’s the #1 thing you can START doing in your life that, if you did it consistently, would have the most positive impact?
- What’s the #1 thing you can STOP doing in your life that would have the most positive impact?
- How can you *consciously* start your AM?
What was your biggest takeaway from day 3? Share it in the comments below!
Use the hashtag #EnoughBS on Twitter to discuss the big ideas with the other participants.
You can still get involved
The live action might be over, but you can still grab the course and work through it at your own pace. Just click here for the info.
You can also join our private Inner Circle where we’re gonna continue these conversations weekly. Check it out!
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Hey Jacob! I wanted to leave you a comment with one of my favorite big ideas from yesterday and honestly… there's just so much goodness cram-packed into these calls (and also in the follow-up blog that has links to more awesomeness) that it's almost impossible to pick just one idea. Definitely a good problem to have! LOL. I'm totally loving it! Thanks Jacob!
Hey Lori, Hahahaha… Love it… A good problem hehehe
My #1 takeaway hmmm… Loved the Fear and Anxiety excercises (very empowering)… And Managing Energy over Time!
Looking forward to today's call (or should I say my bedtime call hahaha as I'm generally on my bed in my PJs as it starts at 11pm here)… Jacob's my best ever bedtime stories hahahaha
Mwah
Vicky
[…] you’ve missed any of the call notes so far, click to check out day 1, day 2 and day 3. And if you’ve no idea what Enough BS is all about, it’s not to late to start rocking […]
Just thought… Some of this applies to Day 4 lol… The managing energy over time was from Day 3
[…] you’ve missed any of the call recaps this week, click to check out day 1, day 2, day 3 and day […]
[…] so we need to treat ourselves that way. It means staying consistent on our fundamentals (which we touched upon during Enough BS). It means scheduling time to recharge, rejuvenate and look after […]