Hey, it's Jeff Sanders and I have a brand new course out that I think you're going to love. If your week feels overbooked every Monday morning, now may be just the right time to transform your calendar so you can feel your best and achieve your ambitious goals. My new 10 episode course helps you maximize your week with practical, actionable, and easy to implement management strategies. Maximize Your Week for Health and Productivity is available now, exclusively on Himalaya Learning. Himalaya Learning is an audio learning platform that provides an extensive library of courses straight to your ears from the world's greatest minds, like Malcolm Gladwell, Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, and more. To listen to this course and others like it, go to Himalaya .com slash maximize and enter promo code max at checkout to get your first 14 days free. Hope to see you there. I recently found myself overworked to the point that I was dying for not just a day off or even a week, but an entire month. And that's when you know it's time to slow down and change whatever it takes to get back to a healthy rhythm. This is the 5am Miracle, episode number 379, 5 Healthy Habits to Reset Your Over -Programmed Life. Good morning, I am Jeff Sanders and this is the podcast dedicated to dominating your day before breakfast. So a few months ago I was working on some really fun projects. A few of those you've heard about on this podcast. One of those is the Himalaya audio course that I just pitched at the top of the episode, as well as some other projects that have been in the works for a long time. The last year of COVID in 2020, I spent a lot of time in my studio, a lot of time on the website, reprogramming a lot of code, rebuilding my entire podcast studio from scratch. There was a lot of time spent basically alone in my house. Thanks to COVID. That was my new normal. Now that's not that abnormal for me because the last six years I've worked from home, but last year really put a pin on that and said, this is my life for a while. And what in that season was that I found myself getting really intensely focused, more so than I've done in a long, long time. Because I had the time to do so. Without the distraction of places to go or things to do, I was able to really spend a lot of time and energy on a few core projects and give my whole self to those few things. And so I was able to do that. About a year ago, I rebuilt the website and took about three and a half months to do that. Then you fast forward a few months, and I was working on the podcast studio rebuilding every single piece of gear from the ground up. Now I have a video studio that I'm building as well. And there's all these different components of my business that are based upon my home office. And so I knew that there was a lot of work to do. And frankly, in the past, it just was never a high enough priority because I had other things going on, you know, real life pre COVID. And so once I realized though, that now I have the opportunity to dig into something at a deeper level, well, why not just do that? Why not give myself the flexibility to say yes to these things that I may not have the time for in the future? And if I devote myself to those, I will have those things completed and then can build upon that foundation for future growth. All of that sounds wonderful on paper, but the practical day -to -day reality of the way that I focus is that I am intense. If you've heard this on the podcast before, then when I'm into things, I am really, really into things, which can backfire in a thousand ways. I've told this story in this podcast before about how I found myself in the emergency room about four years ago because I overworked myself, I burned myself out in a way that I never had done before and thankfully have not done since. However, on that note, I saw those tendencies returning just a few months ago. I saw myself saying yes to a few more things than I probably should have. You know, one thing I focused on a lot in the last couple of years has been what I call a health first approach, which means that my personal health is the first and foremost thing that I give my attention to so that I can truly be at my best every day. Well, during COVID, that was out the window. I basically just, I gained the COVID -19, right? I really, really seriously did. I gained weight in a big way last year and it was not healthy. My habits were bad. My healthy habits were off and I felt really just not the way that I wanted to feel, but because of the way that I focused so intensely on work, that's what I gave myself too. That was my priority. That was the thing I said yes to. And so a couple of months ago, I saw the signs of that. I saw the overwork, the burnout, the tendency to push too hard. I saw it playing out for myself in real time. And I've had this realization before. I've had these moments, these epiphanies, where I have that moment where I say, okay, this is not working, there's too much on the calendar, there are too many things happening at once, for whatever reason, whether it was I said yes, and there was an overlap of projects, or whatever the case is, you have that epiphany that says, something is wrong and I need to change. And so what I did immediately was I set out a new project to focus on my health and in this case, the new year just happened to be about a month away. And so I said, once the holidays are over, once we're done with all the family activities, once we're ready for the new year, I'm gonna slow down because I have to. Because if I don't, something serious could happen again. And I know this because it actually has happened to me. And because I have that awareness, the obvious nature of where I was was that if I don't change, the inevitable will happen. This is just, it's predictable, right? It's going to be my reality. So it was a struggle, though, because for that last month that I still had all this work to do, that I still had other things to complete, it was this real challenge every single day to be in that very clear, like dual nature of knowing that I'm not taking care of myself and still having to push forward on work. And that's tough. It's a tough place to be in when you have a goal that you want to achieve, and you frankly just don't have time for it. And you know that if you were to, in my case, if I were to shift and focus on my health prematurely in that case, that the work would then have a consequence. I would miss deadlines. I would have a real kind of price to pay for that trade off. And so that was also in my mind was that also can't be how I live going forward. There should never be a trade -off like that. There should never be that case where I have to choose work over health, or I have to choose a project or money or whatever the thing is, overtaking care of my basic needs. And so that was the epiphany for me starting this brand new year was asking these questions of can I find a new rhythm? Can I find a new way to exist that is healthier for me, not just in the here and now, not just the short term, but long term? Where will I be six months from now, six years from now? If these healthy habits can not just be part of my life for a detox session, or one month of focusing on slowing things down, but an entire lifestyle based upon health actually being the first thing I give myself to every day, knowing that if I'm healthy, I then have the ability to do everything else I want to do within reason. Health being the first priority is the thing that allows everything else to become possible. And then you can go through the process of filtering out which goals are most important, and then you can focus exclusively on those work goals while having the foundation of health that underlies the entire thing. So this was my challenge. How do I rebuild my healthy habits? How do I start from scratch in a way that will sustain me long term? Now for years in this podcast, I've discussed healthy habits. For years, I have shared strategies and tips and tricks and books to read and documentaries to watch and just, you name it, I've interviewed over 200 people on this show in the last seven and a half years who have phenomenal advice. But at some point, too much is too much, right? Like I'm sure as a listener of this show, you have not heard every single episode. If you have, congrats. I'm very proud of you, but at the same time, that's too much of me, right? That's a lot of information. And so from that perspective, what we're trying to accomplish in this world of personal growth and personal health and wanting to achieve large lifelong goals is there has to be a balance of inputs that we then can filter and act upon and do so in a way that's sustainable and healthy that never actually creates that scenario of overwhelm. That we don't feel mentally overwhelmed with too much information or physically overwhelmed from trying to do 18 things at the same time. These kinds of seasons will happen, it's almost impossible to avoid completely, but the awareness of knowing that this is our nature, or at least it's my nature, to find myself in that position where too much becomes the norm, where too many things are happening too often and that is my life, I can't accept that. Like that cannot be me in 10 years. And so if I don't want that in 10 years, if I don't wanna be that guy in the future, then I have to change who I am today. I have to change my habits today. And if I do so, then I have so much more hope for the future, so many more big goals that I want to achieve, all of a sudden become possible. And they're possible just in my mind to envision my future because I don't see those obstacles being there anymore because I overcame them and have systems in place to overcome them going forward. Not just once again for those short -term detox, let's say, but the long -term habits that sustain me for the rest of my life. So this episode is not just about a new year, new you kind of philosophy. I'm talking about a new you from the ground up. A new you that's based upon the habits that will sustain you for the rest of your life. A perspective shift that changes who you're going to be for the rest of your entire life. I believe that it's possible to have those moments where you make a change and that change doesn't fade away. It doesn't have this sense of being some short term momentum boosting experience. You go to a conference and Tony Robbins yells at you for three days and then all of a sudden you feel awesome. We're not talking about that. And those are great to go to, don't get me wrong. But that's just the short -term win and what I want, desperately what I want, is the long -term win. I wanna be as excited about my life in 10 years as I am right now. And as I was 10 years ago, if you go back to the beginning of this podcast, your episodes like one through 30, or maybe one through 100 maybe, the level of enthusiasm that I have towards my podcast and my life almost sounds like a character, it sounds like a cartoon show to me. I have, I don't know, like a higher pitched voice or I'm just more enthusiastic whatever the case is the me of seven and a half years ago was a very different Jeff Sanders than the me of today and I think that there's there's so many factors that play into that but one of them is the fact that seven and a half years ago my Health was a lot more important to me in practice not just on paper but in real life. Like literally running marathons every weekend. Kind of health. Like that's who I was. And honestly, I haven't run a marathon since. I talk about it a lot in the show I have in the past. But that's not who I am today. It might be in the near future. But this is why it's so important to have the healthy habits as the foundation because it doesn't have to be the old you, the current you and the new you in the future. Those three versions of yourself don't have to be radically different in a bad way. They can be radically different in a good way to see improvement over time, but what I've seen personally, with my own health, my own decisions, is that as time progressed, certain habits just faded and disappeared and have not returned. And as intentional as I want to be about my life, I am victim to my own decisions and impulses and distractions, just like anyone else. And so in large part, I do this podcast a reminder to myself to do the right thing. And I listen to other shows and I read other books and I watch documentaries to remind myself on a consistent basis to go back to being the version of me that I want to be. And honestly, in the last few months, that's not been the case for me. I have not been my best self. I have felt defeated in many ways by my own decisions and my own bad habits. And I can see those things just creeping up and building over time. And then when you think about the future, you think about it from the perspective of, well, how have I felt recently? And if I mapped that out going forward, would my habits compound to the point where I'm going to be a better version of myself or worse? In the last few months, the compound effect of my habits would only add up to a disaster and I could see that train wreck coming. And so the awareness of seeing where you have been recently, you can see that, you can feel it, you know it in your bones, if life is gonna be better or worse in the future. And if it's not going the way you want it to go, this is the time to shift gears. This is the time to reformulate who you are, so you have the confidence to say that, yes, not only will I be as good 10 years from now, I'm gonna be better, a lot better. And that kind of confidence is so rare because so many of us face so many challenges that feel overwhelming or we've had problems we've never truly solved, whether in regards to your health, in regards to your career, in regards to your family, there could be problems you literally have never solved. You may have struggled with your weight your entire life. if you've never had success in that area, seeing hope for the future seems like a fairy tale versus having had success in the past and then all you have to do is go back to the way that you did those things before, back to those good habits, back to the older and potentially better version of you and bring those things back to your current reality. Because that's how I feel pretty often. Fairly often I feel like, you know, the Jeff Sanders from 10 years ago was a pretty cool Jeff Sanders. He did a lot of cool things. Where have those things gone? Where has that guy gone? And I don't want to feel like high school or my best years. That's not who I want to be. It's not who I am. I don't look backwards and just kind of reminisce. I want to look forward and look to the present and be my best self now. Having said all of that, now that I've ranted at you for a while, I want to get to the core of the episode this week, which are the habits that I have implemented in the last couple of months to reset my over -programmed life. And if you want to take these things on for yourself to reset your life right now, starting today, you can, because these are powerful fundamental habits that can shift who you are, not just in the here and now, but for the long term. And the first habit of these five, no surprise here, reset your sleep cycle. This is the 5A miracle after all, so if you love early mornings or if you hate them, this is the time to reset how you sleep, and when you sleep, and where you sleep, and how your sleep benefits the foundation for your day. This is the one thing for me that I go back to over and over and over again because there is one thing that is true about a 5am miracle or about an early morning wake up call, which is that intentionally waking up early is actually miraculous. The name 5am miracle is not some play on words. I literally mean it's a miracle. Because when you wake up early and you haven't been doing so, when you get up on time, on purpose, with a plan, it will change your life. It will fundamentally change how you view your time, how you view your bedtime, when you wake up, how you feel, what you do, what you accomplish, and what your long -term goals will be. So if you want to change your life of all the things I'll say this week, I mean, obviously, a 5am miracle is pretty awesome. So give that a shot. And yes, if you want more information about that, you can listen to more of this podcast or of course get my book with the same title, The 5am Miracle. Having said that, the real challenge for all of the wake up calls is always about the bedtime. If you don't go to bed early, 5am is terrible. We all know this, it's not a surprise. So you have to figure out the best way for you how to shut down your evenings to go to bed on time. This is the name of the game, it's the thing that will change everything about your day for tomorrow is to go to bed tonight on time on purpose. So that's going to be your goal today. Go to bed tonight. Just relax, chill, slow down for just a few minutes and rest your eyes. And tomorrow morning you can wake up a few minutes earlier, 15 minutes earlier, and use that time for something you care about. Take 15 minutes and read a book, 15 minutes and do some yoga, 15 minutes and just sit in silence. Whatever the thing is that you need, take that time. And of course, as your time shifts, you can have 30 minutes in the morning or an hour or two hours or whatever the case is for you. those moments in the morning can redefine your entire day, redefine your productivity and make you a better version of you. This is extraordinarily important to be able to nail down not just the intentionality of waking up early but the intentionality of where your priorities are set. Because if you don't have intentionality baked around the times you sleep there's a very good chance you're not being intentional with what you do in the evenings or what you do in the mornings or the afternoons or the rest of your schedule has more flexibility than is what is actually beneficial for you because the more intentional you are generally speaking the more productive are and the more likely your goals are to be achieved. Now you don't need to be a type A person, that's not required, but it's helpful if that's your goal is to get these things really going in a smooth, rhythmic cycle. So tonight, go to bed on time, make your thing. Healthy habit number two, this is one I've actually stuck to over the 10 years without fail, which is to drink water first thing in the morning. I love my water. It's the thing that I just look forward to every single morning because I know that I am dehydrated and I know that having that water brings me to life in a way nothing else can. Actual hydration from pure water is a thing. Now in the past I would do things like drink an entire liter of water first thing in the morning. I don't quite drink that much anymore, but I still drink a decent amount. And the more of that water that I get in the morning, the more I'm able to stick to that habit, the more that I can postpone having coffee or extra caffeine, the more that I'm able to then wake up naturally to feel better sooner and to get to my first priority with a more natural enthusiasm for that thing. As opposed to just feeling groggy and waking up slowly. Now I've discussed before in this podcast that I love the idea of bouncing out of bed with enthusiasm. And that's totally possible, right? If your sleep cycles are set, if your fitness is set, and you wake up and you drink water and you hydrate, you can begin your day actually feeling enthusiastic and not feeling groggy and not feeling defeated and not feeling woeful about what the day will bring, but instead actually feeling like you're excited to begin the day and you actually want to go to bed as early as possible because you're excited about the next morning. That's the kind of enthusiasm that I want from my life. I want to look forward to tomorrow so much that I can't wait to get to bed tonight. It's that kind of lifestyle change that I want for my own healthy habits, my own priorities, my own business, my own objectives. And so that's what I'm trying to restructure and water for me has been an essential component to that because actual true hydration will energize you, honestly in a way nothing else can. And the third healthy habit to reset your over -programmed life is to read what you need. Personal growth has been essential core aspect of my life for the last decade. And one of the most important things that I do for my own personal growth is to read amazing books and to do so at just the right time. So this is a concept I discussed years ago in the show called just in time learning. And it's one that I have just loved for so long because it really changed the way that I view not just personal growth or reading or being educated on a topic, but to specifically target information that is relevant right here and now. Which means if you have a goal you're working on right now, a current project, a current focus, something that matters you, that you are enthusiastic about, that you're focusing on, that you want to see results in and you want those results now, well then now is the best time to learn about that topic. An alternative example would be to read a book on a topic that you can't actually act upon for the next few months or years, that you essentially have read the book at the wrong season in your life. That's what I've tried to avoid for so long by simply asking the question, what's going to be the most helpful for me in this current season? Is it my personal finances? Is it my health? Is it my business I'm trying to grow? Whatever the thing is you're working on, that's what you learn about in the here and now. And when you do so, when that is your focus, when you wake up and you open a book and you read for 20, 30 minutes in the mornings and that book is focused exclusively on the topic you're trying to learn about, it can change your life. Because then all of a sudden you're not reading because someone told you to read. It's not some professor in a classroom who assigned some textbook for you to dig into for an assignment. We're talking about information that you want to consume because it's relevant, it is actionable, it is helpful, it stokes your curiosity, and it makes you want to dig in further. Those are the kinds of reading sessions that I want, and those are the kinds that I get when I have a specific focus for my personal life, for my business, for my family. Whatever the thing is I want to learn about, I find a couple of books that target that topic and I dig in on those things first thing in the morning. One of the best parts about me shifting my sleep schedule to wake up earlier is it gives me those 30 minutes, that hour of time before my daughter is awake, before my wife is awake, that extra time for me to say, if I have 30 minutes, if I have an hour, what could I do at that time that would change my life or at least change my day?