Let’s face it. There are a ton of books out there, plus live and online courses, geared toward helping you achieve success. Whether it’s creating a successful business, happy relationships or your ideal bodymind health, there’s lots of media available to help you attain your goals.

However, what happens once you get there? We’ve all seen athletes in the world of sports reach the top one year and then crash down the next. Performers like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Kanye West and Eminem, to only name a few, have all cancelled concert dates and even complete tours due to exhaustion.

So what’s the trick to not only achieving success but also maintaining success long term? Well, Brendon Burchard and Jack Canfield are two people who seem to have it figured out. Brendon is the world’s top high performance coach having taught a million people so far in his live and online courses. As part of his High Performance Coaching Certification Program, Brendon leads a 5 day live training where he is teaching for 10 – 12 hours per day. Each day he walks about 10 miles on stage and burns around 6000 calories! How does he do it without collapsing? He follows his own advice and lives his High Performance Habits that he talks about in his NY Times bestselling book by the same name. High Performance Habit number two is Generate Energy.

What about Jack? He was born in 1944 (you do the math) and in 2018 he had well over 50 speaking and training dates scheduled in cities all across Canada and the US. And, that’s not counting his travel days plus running his multi-million dollar a year business! How does he do it? He lives the Success Principles that he and Janet Switzer wrote about in their NY Times bestseller, The Success Principles: How to get from where you are to where you want to be.

In this article I’m going to share with you some essential strategies needed to not only avoid burnout, but to also help you fuel up for long term success! In my book, Stressed Self to Best Self™: A Body Mind Spirit Guide to Creating a Happier and Healthier You, I wrote several chapters about the following strategies to help you be your Best Self™. I’m going to recap them here for you now.

1. Water and good nutrition: You can’t expect to drive 1000 miles or kilometers on a quarter tank of gas. So it makes sense that if you’re going to fuel up for long term success you need to be putting good stuff into your body.

When your brain is fully hydrated it’s about 80% water. However, the majority of people chronically dehydrate themselves by drinking too much coffee and alcohol. Both are well-known diuretics or dehydrators. On top of that, they don’t drink enough water.

Years ago I had a patient who was having daily headaches and had been taking Tylenol for them for almost two years. When I reviewed his fluid intake, it turned out that he was only drinking water about once a week after he played hockey! The rest of his fluid intake was coffee, juice and pop. So I explained to him the importance of water and how much he should be drinking. I saw him a couple of weeks later and he said he was headache free! When I pointed out to him how much Tylenol he’d taken over the past two years when all his body really needed was water, he was floored!

The research varies when it comes to recommendations for how much water you should drink. On average, women should be drinking about 2L of water per day and men closer to 3L. This will need to be increased depending on exercise, climate, whether you’re pregnant or breastfeeding and how many caffeinated and alcoholic beverages you’re consuming. Two important things to note are: by the time you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated and if your urine is almost clear coloured then you’re well hydrated.

With regard to nutrition, unless you have a specific health condition, like diabetes or food allergies, for example, eating healthily isn’t complicated. As the saying goes, garbage in – garbage out. Brendon and Jack could not be doing what they’re doing at such a high level if they lived on junk food! Good water intake and healthy food make for high octane fuel for long term success!

 

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2. Regular Exercise: When our schedules get busy one of the first things to go out the window is exercise! However, if you look at people who have achieved and are sustaining success, they all have regular exercise routines. Ellen DeGeneres, Madonna and multi-passionate entrepreneur, Marie Forleo (who runs an 8 figure a year business) all have fitness regimens that they make a priority. The key, of course, is to find the type of workout that works for you. It might be hitting the gym with your personal fitness trainer for an hour long workout, going to your fave yoga or Pilates studio for classes or it may be walking for 20 minutes a day. As I tell my patients, be sure to work with your body, not against it! Remember, you should check in with your medical doctor or other health care professional before you start a new exercise program. I also feel working with an athletic therapist, sport physio and/or sports chiro is important to make sure you’re aligned and that the fitness program you’re choosing is the right one for you. Over the years I’ve seen so many people get excited about working out, only to do too much too soon or do the wrong activity and end up injuring themselves.

So while it may be tempting to dump your workout when time is tight, exercise is a definite must if you want to stay in the game for the long haul.

3. Sleep: I know this is one area that I need to work on more. I tend to get my second wind around 9 pm and, if I’m not careful, I can easily stay up way too late researching, writing or creating my next course! The majority of people are sleep deprived. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of burning the candle at both ends and not getting enough sleep. However, I would say that most people aren’t getting good quality sleep because they don’t have a good night time routine, also known as sleep hygiene. Staring at your laptop, tablet or TV screen right before bedtime is a big culprit. So is drinking coffee, pop or alcohol.

Another thing that is important is to create habits like listening to guided meditations right before bed. The bodymind health benefits of meditation are now well documented. Meditation also helps to relax your mind so you can fall asleep more easily. Harvard Medical School has a number of recommendations to help you create healthy bedtime habits and I’ve included a link to an article for you in the Resources section. Remember, sleep is the time when your body and mind are supposed to be regenerating. When people reach burnout, chronic lack of sleep is often a prime contributing factor.

4. Make time for yourself daily: An excuse I hear from many of my patients, especially women, is that they “don’t have time” for themselves. I’ve fallen into this trap myself. However, the truth is, if we had a dentist or hair appointment, would we just ignore it? Of course not! It’s in our schedule so we honour that. Well, guess what? You can do the same thing for yourself! Just the way you book appointments in your calendar, book some time for yourself. It might be for 15 minutes a day or a couple of hours. You might choose this time to meditate or read a fun book. Whatever it is, this needs to be non-negotiable time for you and nothing else. If someone wants to impose on your time, just say, “Sorry, I already have something scheduled. Let’s book for a different time.” Taking ownership for your time isn’t a luxury – it’s essential for your long term bodymind health and wellbeing.

So if drinking enough water, eating healthy foods, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, meditating and making time for yourself sound like pretty basic things, it’s because they are. However, they’re the most neglected and overlooked bodymind health strategies. They’re also the keys to fueling long term success!

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