Almost 50, feeling 20 - 6 powerful habits that will help change your life

Almost 50, feeling 20

- 6 powerful habits that will help change your life

IMAGINE:– Waking up bright and early, excited for your day. A packed day. You KNOW, you can rely on your brain to give you creative ideas and solutions AND you’ve got plenty of energy to enjoy your day. Your mood is stable. There is no overwhelm, stress or anxiety. You have clear boundaries. YOU ARE IN CONTROL! YOU own and run your life – Life is not running you. Does all this sound like YOUR day? It is mine now. Every day is a SUCCESS. I believe everybody deserves to live life to its best, so here are the habits I discovered and follow to enjoy my days, so YOU can copy and make your life more successful every day, too �� I am 49, full-time mother of twins10 and a 13yo AND full-time business owner, coaching clients and a team of professionals around the world. I have no cleaner or gardener, I cook from scratch, and we are an active family – tennis, football, running, cycling, music, gym, dog-walking…there is always something. I would love 48 hours a day, but I manage it all in 24 hours and still find time to socialise, sleep and further develop myself and I am bursting with energy �� It wasn’t always like this. As a young woman I had boundless energy and I gave my all but hit my first burnout before I turned 30. A few years later, loss of parents, horse, friends, caesarean and premature births, …life happened TO me. I had lost - at times probably given up - control. Now, I merely existed. I was autopiloting through the days to just get most necessary tasks done. I didn’t socialise, had no time for myself and went to bed ‘whacked’ to start a bad night’s sleep, only to wake up to Ground-hog Day, feeling tired and defeated before I had even put a foot out. I was depressed and in a dark hole. I thought I was eating healthy food! I was always outdoors with the kids and often complimented on how well I managed everything (do you know those moments, when others see you shining, whilst you feel at your lowest?). What had gone wrong and got me so low? In short: I had neglected my body and mind. That’s like expecting a race-car to win without fuelling it or training the driver. The crazy thing was, that I well knew WHAT to do and that self-care and quality nutrition are non-negotiable when you want to master your days, but I had stopped doing it. I had no chance for successful days! Now, success is different for everyone. It might be a great career, a home or a family for you, Olympic Gold, family time or waking up for others. Success is achievement that lets you know you have made an impact in a competitive world and makes you feel proud and fulfilled. HABIT NO. 1: TAKE AN EAGLE VIEW, DEFINE SUCCESS Write down what you do all day. Be an eagle and watch yourself from above. Then mark those actions, that nurture your mind and body.

Now write a list of things you want to do / that make you happy:

• Today • This week / year • In life.

Take a moment – this is invaluable ‘me-time’ – to think about:

• Who / Where YOU want to be • How you want to feel • What you want to have or do Define, what makes YOU feel valuable, feel accomplished, feel alive. And when you have ACHIEVED IT, acknowledge and CELEBRATE IT.

Be proud and use this moment as fuel for your next step and to grow, and memorise it as proof that YOU CAN DO IT! Goals and circumstances change, so do this regularly. This exercise was a huge step for me on the journey to change my life THE KEY TO SUCCESS is achievement in 2 areas: Wealth AND Health!

We are more programmed to focus on the wealth aspect of success and health is often ignored as a critical factor. But it was the focus on health, that turned my life around. And whilst it feels like magic, that I have more energy and vitality now than in my 20s, my success was not achieved by magic at all. Success is a MINDSET that you must adopt to become persistent and consistent in what you do daily. HABIT NO. 2: DO IT, STOP PROCRASTINATING

Procrastination is the devil in the process of trying to achieve your goals. Here are 2 books that I always found very helpful: • “Eat That Frog” – if you do the most difficult seeming task first, a huge burden is off your shoulders and the day will only become better • “The One Thing” – focus, do first what you get the biggest gain from and the rest will fall in place. HABIT NO. 3: MINDSET Mindset is everything. You can have a good coach, a goal and a plan – if you do not believe you can do it, even the best support won’t get you there.

Remember to

• Think positive • Believe in yourself • Be honest to yourself • Stay focussed (difference between being efficient and effective: Peter F.

Drucker once said, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that, which should not be done at all.”) There are many methods to strengthen your mindset and my tip is to try different ones to find the one that suits you best.

2 quotes are stuck on my fridge:

Make mindset a daily habit – it is the consistency that will bring you results. HABIT NO. 4: REDUCE STRESS Stress impacts our success significantly and REDUCING STRESS must be part of any life change. If we can reduce stress, we will sleep better, have more energy, stay focused, reduce pains, improve mental health. Exploring new ways to reduce stress was a key factor to change my life. Breathing, sleep, hydration and nutrition also affect whether you perceive a situation as stressful or you cope with it. HABIT NO. 5: EMPOWER YOUR BODY TO SERVE YOU Understanding the body and how it works has been my life-long passion! Our body is programmed to serve us physically and mentally. And like anything else you use – your car, your laptop, your washing machine… - our body, too, needs good maintenance and care to work properly and to prevent mental and physical problems. I thought I knew what my body needed, yet, in my dark hours, my body and mind were clearly showing signs of ‘unhappiness’. If we think carefully, it is the body that we tend to neglect and ignore on our quest to be successful. If anything, we complain about it and blame it when it does NOT perform to our satisfaction, e.g., when we feel fatigued, sleep badly, have brain-fog, suffer IBS, bloating, menopause symptoms or high blood-pressure… the list is long. Here are 5 areas to (re-)consider and easy, yet powerful tricks to make them more of a priority without eating up your lifetime. 1. BREATHING There are 4 different forms of breathing. The so called ‘Deep Breathing’ (Diaphragmatic breathing) is the best way to help us manage or improve: • Anxiety • Depression • Stress • Focus • Sleep • Recovery from exercise or exertion I love the simple 4-7-8 technique by Dr Weil. This method activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for relaxation and helps suppress the stress response. It’s great to reduce sudden anxiety or give you focus just before an important event (a speech, interview..). Done regularly, it helps prevent emotional ups and downs. (see box below).

4-7-8 BREATHING METHOD

Step 1. Sit comfortably, ideally without disturbance. Step 2. Gently press tongue against the back of your top teeth. Step 3. Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound. Step 4. Inhale for a count of 4 through the nose (closed mouth). Step 5. Hold your breath counting to 7. Step 6. Then, exhale again through your mouth for a count of 8. Step 7. Do a total of 4 cycles, repeating the previous steps.

2. WATER Our bodies consist of 75% water. It feeds cells and tissue with oxygen and vital nutrients and we must keep well hydrated, i.e. drink regularly. The public Eatwell Guide suggests drinking 6-8glasses (ca. 2ltr) of water daily, or more, depending on your activity level and the environment. But isn’t it just so easy NOT to drink as we are rushing through the day?

Top Tip:

Place glasses of water everywhere in the house – kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, desk, toilet, or porch… everywhere! Place them ‘inconveniently’, so that you have to move them out of the way, i.e. in front of your PC, on top of the kettle, on top of the remote control,… This will make you lift the glass and then you might as well have a sip �� Try this for a week - make it a fun ‘Who drinks theirs all first’ challenge with your family (kids love it) – feel the benefit and enjoy the new healthy habit. 3. EXERCISE The media is full of advice and experts on that. Start with 30minutes a day, e.g. brisk walking, to keep your systems moving. 4. SLEEP Eyes shut in a horizontal position is not sleep! It is merely a rest for some muscles. We need deep sleep, the sleep that repairs, manifests memories, produces growth hormone and allows the body to heal and reset. ‘Sleep hygiene’ includes fresh air, a calming atmosphere and least possible distractions for example. 5. EAT RIGHT As simple as this sounds, it’s not that simple. I won’t discuss details here, as nutrition is a vast topic. Just a little reminder to: • Eat fresh food & local produce • Increase the amount of raw foods/ salads and fibre • Reduce ‘boxed’ food • Use seasonal produce or frozen for best nutrient supply • Do a nutritional DNA Test to personalise your food-list based on your body’s blueprint HABIT NO.6: MEET YOUR GUT Implementing the habits above meant I now achieved in 24hrs what used to take me weeks. But discovering the science of the Microbiome and learning what tremendous powers it has over our feelings, decisions and behaviours took my life to new level.

“Trust your gut” is not just a saying

Our gut hosts an ecosystem of microorganisms, the microbiome. The body has outsourced many functions to this microbiome, we cannot survive without it. It is like the fuelling system (tank, filters, exhaust) in your car and responsible for making the nutrients we consume available for the body to use.

Your gut:

• Hosts/trains 70% of your Immune system to keep you well. • Absorbs nutrients and filters out

‘badies’; ‘leaky gut’ is like holes in the tank – food won’t fire up your (bodily) engine. • Sends 9x more messages to the brain than the brain sends to the gut.

Bad bugs = bad messages = wrong decision, actions, behaviours.

• Produces or activates 70% of your hormones, the all-important messengers to give you ‘umpf’, help you sleep, feel happier, take action, be brave and those that support your mental strength to cope with a bad experience or trauma. An imbalanced gut CANNOT produce the hormones you need to feel amazing. Fact! Hippocrates knew over 2,000 years ago “All disease begins in the Gut” and scientists today say, “Fix the Gut = Fix the Problem”.

The gut is like a Magic Box inside us and I have helped change mine and 100s of other people’s lives by sharing about how we can re-store its balance. When I embraced the new gut-wisdom and reset my gut microbiome, I solved issues that I had not even been aware existed: • Brain fog lifted • Sleep quality like never before • Energy levels reached unknown heights • Skin improvements • (Bad) eating habits (coffee and chocolate cravings) gone to name but a few results. There is plenty of information in the media; e.g. a Channel 4 documentary covered 6 methods to help restore good gut balance. (https://whypurify.co.uk/?tm=jr)

I love and recommend these books:

• ‘GUT’, by Guilia Enders; a great introduction to our Magic Box. • ‘Gut and Psychology Syndrome’ by

Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride; the gut-link to conditions like Autism,

ADHD, Dyslexia and Depression Now it is time to take action and gain better control over your life.

Take one step at a time. I hope my prompts help you focus and help you find YOUR best 1st step to start your journey.  Ask me for free eBooks In my clinics I combine science, nutrition and mindfulness to improve your health and performance with programmes built around YOUR lifestyle, delivered with a concierge level of service to help you become the best version of yourself.  I would love to hear your feedback  Send me your questions  Book your no-obligation

20 minute ‘Explore’ Call to find out how you can achieve your goals faster

CONTACT: Julia Riewald – Success & Health Coaching N +44 (0)7902 214534 E Julia@percent-edge.com