Is it me or does Melbourne Cup signal the start of the crazy season where not only are we pushing to meet deliverables before the Christmas holidays hit but, our wellbeing can get seriously off track given all the social events popping up?!
Before you know it, your sleep turns to s$%t due to that extra beer or two, dinner turns into canapés, your morning exercise is sidelined for work catch-up and you feel the slow demise of your energy levels as you mentally count down the days until you can collapse in a big holiday heap…
Does any of this sound familiar?
We start to unconsciously spiral. Healthy routines go out the window and we become short and snappy with the people around us.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way! What if we could actually hit the holidays with energy in our tank and the emotional capacity to enjoy the time with our loved ones. Not possible I hear you say! Well, I’m here to let you into a little secret that experts recommend and, we work on ourselves and with all of our clients, to enable us to pace the race…A formula that will turn the spiral of ‘unhealthy’ on its head and use a little insight from Superman himself to kick the crazy season ass!
Who’s with me?
Consciously navigating the crazy season
What the experts recommend during times like these are regular resets to renew the focus on your wellbeing fundamentals. If we don’t these unhealthy habits can become the new default way of operating, which is completely unsustainable for the human, body, and mind.
If we operate like this it’s a shortcut to disease and breakdown (hello Christmas cold), however, with simple lifestyle changes we can effectively turn it around.
So how do we prevent burnout when the race is on? What we need is a strategy to reset and get the spiral moving us towards feeling healthy and energised again.
Small things matter
The best strategy to pace your race is to remember those small things, done regularly, matter. Especially when you are under pressure and feeling time poor.
So let’s first identify some of these small things in your world that could be spiraling you into ‘unhealth’.
As we channel our inner Superman or women now ask yourself “what is the number one habit that could be helpful to reign in or stop completely during this time?”
We call this your kryptonite habit.
For me, it’s not eating a healthy dinner at a good time. When I eat rich food late in the night or go beyond 1 glass of wine I find that it interrupts my sleep patterns and I wake up feeling tired and sluggish.
If I plan to eat before I go out and set a 1 glass limit I find this makes a huge difference.
Now ask yourself “what is the number one habit that could be most helpful to maintain during this time?”
We call this your Keystone habit.
For me, this is my morning walk, something about getting out in nature and being mindful first thing always energises me and sets up my mindset for a brilliant day.
When time gets squeezed I can cut my usual 45-min walk to just 15 minutes and I find this still has a positive effect on my energy for the day (and is much more realistic to achieve). I put this in my diary as a meeting to make it a ‘non-negotiable’ and this helps me plan out a realistic time and timeframe, given everything going on. it’s about setting yourself up for success and being realistic vs setting yourself up for failure and risk spiraling out of control…
+1 or -1
I’ve written about this before but remember, at any given moment, you could choose to follow the spiral of unhealthy or interrupt it. We love this thought of + 1 or -1 and it goes like this… in any given moment we could take a small +1 step in the direction of our health or a -1 step away. The secret is in just catching ourselves in a -1 or -2 and realising that we can choose a + 1 in any given moment, to get back on track. Back towards a healthy spiral, we don’t have to write off a whole week if we binged on a late night take away…do you know what I mean?
Daily 5 to thrive
Want to go a step further? Create your daily 5 to thrive this crazy season to help you consciously pace the race by having a solid plan in place to do 5 small things that charge up your energy daily.
Our aim is to produce valuable content that helps you make a positive difference to your health and wellbeing. Therefore, please do give us feedback on whether you found this post useful via info@clarety.com.
To your health and happiness,
Clare Robinson
Founder & Head Coach
P.S. Here are 3 ways we can help you personally or, the people within your company, take advantage of what’s coming:
- Join our next ‘Energised Leaders’ Coaching Program
Do you struggle with starting and maintaining healthy habits when you are busy? Would you love to be inspired and held accountable to make some healthy habit changes? Just hit reply to this email with ‘ENERGISE’ in the subject header and we’ll send you all the juicy details. - Request your complimentary ‘Pace the race’ planner.
Want to go deeper on this month’s theme for yourself or with your team? Reply with “WORKSHEET” as the subject and we’ll send you our planner that will help you map our your Kryptonite and Keystone habits + your daily 5 to thrive in more detail. - Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team in your business to support you through a major leadership challenge or to develop a healthier workplace culture, then reply to this email putting ‘PRIVATE’ in the subject line, tell me a little about your business and what you need some support with and we’ll get back to you asap.
