Fit for Life: Morning Anxiety?
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Matt Espeut
They have their kids in the car and are about to start their day in a state of anxiety, fear, stress, and the feeling of being behind the eight ball all day long.
The chances of having an organized and productive day are probably slim for these people, and they most likely aren’t the ones going above and beyond expectations, and excelling at their jobs.
This is due solely because they didn’t take the time to prepare.
They didn’t focus on what is required to be organized and productive.
Instead, everything is rushed and performed in a state of panic.
They fly by the seat of their pants, and are in a reactive mode, instead of being proactive and prepared to tackle their day.
It takes habits, focus, then action in order to eliminate everyday stress on every level of our existence.
It may seem like a chore while you’re doing it, but it will make your life flow much better.
Hence the quote, how you do anything is how you do everything.
When you are organized with your time it carries over to your house, car, office, and life, therefore everything becomes more organized, and you can accomplish tasks more efficiently in all areas of your life..
Rather than telling you what problems and issues we encounter on a daily basis, let’s go over some solutions so we can create and apply some simple habits to make our days less stressful and rushed.
Personally, I am grateful that I am my own boss, make my own schedule, and am NOT one of the people I see on the road eating in the car. (I usually eat in the car because I’m starving and can’t wait to get to my destination, not because I didn’t allocate the time to sit and enjoy my food.)
With that being said, I still need to work my ass off and be productive in order to build a successful business that runs efficiently. If I don’t work in the early am, I am at the gym long after the general population is home.
I have a flexible schedule, but my time requirements are the same if not more than others, therefore I still need to be structured and organized with my schedule in order to be productive.
Some things you can implement today in order to lift the stress of everyday life off your shoulders, and actually sit and eat a healthy home-prepared meal.
- Start your day the night before. Do a “brain dump” and list ALL the important things you need to accomplish the next day in order of priority, and leave it where you can access it through the day. I use my I phone notes for my weekly “BIG 5” tasks, but I still put the pen to paper on a daily basis because it feels great throwing away a list after you check everything off. (think daily victories or wins). This will also put your mind at ease and relieve anxiety when you are trying to fall asleep, by not trying to remember your next day tasks.
- Prep your food and water. Even if you like to prepare your food fresh for the day, get it all together so you can find things easily and not waste time in the a.m. When I need to be in for the early block, I add dry protein to the Ninja cup, place the peanut butter and banana next to it on the counter, so in the morning I just add almond milk and blend.
- Lay out your clothes. I have a simple dress code, however, I put everything together so I don’t have to make decisions or fumble around in the dark to find my clothes first thing in the morning. If you are an early morning gym person, get your gear together. If you workout later in the day, pack your bag and leave it near the door.
- Clean up your house. Do the dishes, pick up your dirty clothes, and wake up to an organized situation. If you have yesterdays clothes still on your bedroom floor, and dirty dishes in the sink, you will wake up to a mess, and that will create more anxiety throughout the day.
- Get to bed on time. Reverse engineer your wake up time and be sure you are going down 6-8 hours before you need to get up. If you like to watch tv to fall asleep, set a sleep timer so the tv shuts off automatically and doesn’t disturb your sleep cycle with static at 3am.
- Wake up immediately and NEVER hit snooze. This is the kiss of death. You start your day wasting 9-18 minutes of valuable morning time because you think you are getting some extra quality sleep. This is not the case. The sleep you get isn’t quality because you will lay there thinking about the day ahead of you. Not only that, but you start the day with a loss because you lied to yourself, and that’s a sign of low self integrity. You set an alarm because you make a commitment to yourself to wake at a certain time, then you break that promise by hitting snooze. Its like knocking over the first domino in your day to be late, frustrated, and in a panic all day long
- Put your alarm as far away from your bed as possible. This prevents hitting the snooze because you NEED to get up and turn it off. Once you are up, there’s no excuse to jump back into bed.
So there is a simple list of little hacks to help you create better habits and avoid being one of those people cramming fast food down your throat and putting on lip stick in the rear view mirror.
We all have some forms of stress in our lives, and living under pressure, and being filled with anxiety isn’t any fun.
You can’t prevent EVERY problem that comes your way, however taking a few simple steps and being prepared will arm you with the tools to solve them more efficiently.
Go into your day fully rested, prepared, and ready to conquer.
Chalk up a few victories first thing in the morning and build momentum so you don’t need to stress about the small stuff.
Try implementing these habits into your daily routine, and give me some feedback about how well they worked.
Committed to your success,
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