Life is stressful.

Nearly all of us have to wake up at an hour that isn’t quite right, go to work, eat the right foods in the right amounts, do house chores, and find time to exercise each day. When things pop-up or something changes our daily rhythm it can all of those things even more overwhelming. So, sometimes things take a back seat so that our days get a little less stressful and sadly that step back usually comes at the expense of taking care of our selves. 

We all get to this point in some form or another. We are humans and we live in a society that is obsessed with progress. When bosses are always asking, “what have you done for me lately?” and old friends are asking “what have you done since we last saw each other?” We can lose sight of our every day happiness and sacrifice it for tomorrow’s promises.

Let’s start with the cornerstone of why your coaches at Vegvisir do what they do, getting you to your perfect day!

Setting The Compass

A couple years ago when I just finished my 1st year of being a gym owner, I had spent a lot of time realizing that what makes a good coach, does not always make the best business owner. So, I decided to illicit the help of a business mentor. Just like we have On-Ramping for our CrossFit classes, I had to go through an On-Ramp for running a business. I had to analyze why I was doing what I was doing and our business. There were plenty of drills that helped me do this, but the one that I repeat every 6 months is this:

What Is Your Perfect Day?

Take out a sheet of paper and write down what is important to you. What would you have in every day that would make you happy on a regular basis?

Family? Pets? House? Car? Location? When do you wake up? What time do you go to bed? Do you exercise? How so? 

I want you to write down from when you wake up to when you go to bed, what would be involved in your perfect day! Now, I’m not asking about what is your perfect vacation day. I’m asking your daily life! In reality, a good percentage of us would actually choose to still work! It might just be on something different or not working as long each day. You currently workout at a gym because you already have a goal in mind for your health, so fitness would be in there in some capacity! How much family time would you have? We love our families but we also occasionally need some “me time!”

There is an endless list of things that could be in your perfect day, what matters is that you right it down and acknowledge what it is! And something else to keep in mind, you might not have to change a lot of things in your day as you analyze what your perfect day is! 

For Example:

My perfect day involves waking up when the sun rises and easing into the day with a breakfast that isn’t rushed. Then I would work for 2 hours on the gym and then have lunch with my family. Going outside to play with the Border Collies. I would live in a house with a big enough garage for Katelyn to do her furniture remodeling and still have my truck inside. I would work about for about 90 minutes at Vegvisir each day (with a fully healed elbow) and then coach 3-4 times per week at our gym that hopefully will have helped 10,000+ Houston families improve their health by the time that is no longer a realistic amount of time for me to workout that long. The gym is in its’ new permanent space and it turns out 90%+ of what we hope it will be. I hope to be able to travel once a month for a weekend get away and take Katelyn and I’s 1-2 kiddos on a week long trip whenever they have their long breaks at school. 

Break It Down!

You can go into as much or as little detail as you like. I tried keeping it short because I know this is a long blog post. But, when I look at my perfect day, I’m already living a good chunk of it already. Most days, I am woken up by the sun and get to have that slow breakfast. I get to play with the Border Collies every day and I workout 90 minutes a day. Those are huge wins that were a part of my original perfect day exercise from 2 years ago. You should feel the same way looking back on what you’ve accomplished since the last time you thought about your goals! Celebrating wins is incredibly important for accomplishing goals. If this is your first time doing a drill like this, view it like doing a 1 rep max back squat! You’ll get to look back and do the same thing the next time you do this drill! 

Now, look at all the things you said that you aren’t quite there yet on. Those are what your long term goals are! Some of these things might mean you’re on the right path or you might need to make changes that put you in the right direction for you to get there. But, what matters is that you now have a true north to aim at. 

If it seems far away, THAT IS OKAY! This shouldn’t dishearten you. If you wanna lose 100lbs, you won’t lose it in a day. Wanna build up a retirement plan? That takes years of planning. Want to get to bed earlier? Sure you can go to sleep on time tonight, but it is a hard habit to break and takes most people weeks to really change that pattern. 

We use these long term goals to set the standard for our behavior change and we can break them down to make them more attainable.

For instance:

I wanna lose 100lbs!
Start by joining a gym with coaching and setting out a goal of going to the gym 3 times per week and reserve those classes ahead of time to add that extra incentive to go!

I wanna build up a retirement plan!
Find a financial consultant and they might give you a goal to set aside X% of your income into an IRA (or whatever a real financial advisor might suggest!).

I want to go to bed earlier!
Start by trying to fall asleep just 15 minutes earlier each night and setting an alarm to plug your phone in 15 minutes before bed time!

Get After It!

Each of your goals can have smaller goals and can be broken down. What matters is that they are now realized as priorities because prioritizing yourself isn’t selfish. Your mood is infectious to you and everyone you care about!

If you are grumpy because you haven’t slept a full night in 3 years and are staying late at work for your boss in hopes that one day it will get you that raise, your loved ones can sense that. Frustration with the lack of progress can create behaviors that only bring about more stagnation.

Where as, if you focus on creating your perfect day and set aside just set aside 1 hour every day to prioritize you and working towards your perfect day, your victories will create more victories. Your happiness will become infectious and you’ll inspire the people you love to create change in their own life. After all, when you see someone who looks like they are living their best day, don’t you go “I’ll have what they’re having?” *Dad Joke Self-High-Five*

So, what is your perfect day? Let me know by shooting us an email to vegvisircrossfit@gmail.com with the subject “My Perfect Day!” or tell us in person by signing up for a your free No Sweat Intro through THIS LINK!