Are you hangry?

Hungry + angry = hangry. Has this ever been you? So often we get stuck focusing on all of the details of getting what we want that we forget to think about our health. Results? You sitting there hangrily trying to rush through an endless to do list that you’re starting to hope leads you right off of a cliff.

Do you really need that next big business seminar or could you maybe just try taking a walk everyday? Is the biggest problem in your business your website or are you getting 5 or less hours of sleep per night? Do you really need better marketing or are you just hangry?

Grinding is for losers.

For many of us, life is about pursuing what we want by focusing on getting the results we’d really like to have. This works well for some, but I’d offer that for most of us, this approach is titanically wrong. Focusing on the end goal makes life a slowly less and less fun grind. On the other hand, by improving your self care and focusing on the process rather than the outcomes and shiny rewards, you can sore above what you thought you were capable of.

Do not be the heroic schmuck dying on the floor.

If you’ve ever taken a plane flight, you’ve heard the stewardess go through her “in case of emergency” speech. Something like, “In the event of an emergency oxygen masks will be deployed from overhead…please be sure to secure your own mask before assisting others.”

If you’re running around trying to help everyone without first taking care of yourself, you’ll soon be lying unconscious on the floor, definitely not helping. Similarly, if you’re running around chasing every business opportunity or online course that comes your way while ignoring your business’ #1 asset, YOU, you’re in for a fall. Do not be the heroic schmuck dying on the floor.

The soul oxygen of self care.

If, on the other hand, you listen to the lady and put the mask on, you’re useful again. You can tend to others and generally help make the situation better.

Taking the time to focus on the fundamental self care habits of eating, moving, sleeping, and breathing just a little more each day is like soul oxygen that will eventually permeate into every other aspect of your life. Breathe enough of it and you’ll soon find yourself on an upward spiral to a changed life, shiny rewards be damned. Let’s put on the mask.

Bread and butter.

If you’ve ever done any kind of business, sport or other awesome pursuit, you’ve probably heard the idea that fundamentals are huge. My old wrestling coach Mr. Jones called our most basic and important moves our “bread and butter” and he drilled these fundamentals into our minds and bodies day in and day out until it came naturally to us. The result? We crushed it.

Why don’t we apply the same principle to our daily lives? We could be focusing on improving our fundamentals of eating, moving, sleeping, and breathing a little more each day, but we don’t. We could put down the screen and get to bed a little earlier, but we don’t. We chase shiny things. We run around putting out fires and focusing on external results while our oxygen mask sits uselessly to the side, the clock ticking ominously.

Put on the mask and let’s do this.

Rather than spending all of our time thinking about external results and information, let’s spend some more time today thinking about how we can put on the mask of soul oxygen by taking increasingly better care of ourselves day in and day out. Let’s spend less time chasing strategies, metrics, and other external markers of success and more time improving from the inside out so we can show up fully charged and ready to give our gifts.

Here’s to drilling that bread and butter as we get a little bit better each day on our way to the person we want to become and the life we want to live.

How about you?

What’s your #1 self care habit that if you decided to improve that just a little bit today, would have the biggest impact on your life tomorrow? If you’re feeling it, I’d love it if you’d leave a note in the comments and let me know your most important self care habit that’s improved your life the most.