Upgrade your happiness in just 5 minutes..

Confession: I love notebooks, planners, journals. Confession 2: I have stacks of them in our room, my office and in business office, some full of ideas, and some that have never been opened. But there is one kind of upgrade journaling I recommend to everyone.

it was designed specifically to help you “focus on the good in your life and become more mindful l, and life with intention”. If you try it, you’ll see for yourself in a week or two that it actually works.

It’s the 5 minute journal. Have you heard of it?
became popular a few years ago by Tim Ferris, an author and podcaster who specializes in maximizing the human potential. This technique is based on positive psychology. (And you know how much you’re in your head throughout the day 🤦🏾‍♂️)

Here’s the basic format ⬇️⬇️⬇️
EVERY MORNING list 3 things your grateful for, 3 things that “would make today great” and 1 daily affirmation.

EVERY NIGHT write down 3 amazing things that happen during the day, and a sentence or two about what you could have done to make the day even better.

Overall, this will help you to develop a deeper sense of control over your actions and your life. If you like journaling, try upgrading to this format for a while and see how you like it.
If you don’t normally journal, this is the perfect format to experiment with.

make it an intentional day!

Signs your core needs work… 🤔

Your core has 2 layers to give it extra stability and strength. Restoring your core begins with your innermost muscles.

💥 signs your core needs work💥

👉🏾Low back pain

👉🏾Poor posture

👉🏾Weakness in extremities

👉🏾 You hold your breath when you work your core

👉🏾 When jumping, laughing, or coughing you find yourself running to the bathroom

4 exercises you can do right now to increase core strength: Planks, Bird dogs, side planks, and glute bridges.

Use the power of your smart phone and video yourself while doing these exercises to see what changes you need to make to perfect your form.

Build a mind/body connection so you know what good form feels like, and all this while focus on breathing. This will help activate important deep muscles and this is often overlooked.

Train how you want to look, with excellent posture.

And remember… take your time and be patient!

Our longtime client Jen.

How getting enough sleeps puts you in the mood

💥Here’s why you’re always hungry💥

Did you know that we’re getting less sleep than ever? Almost 60 years ago, a survey of more than 1 million people found that most people got 8-9 hours of sleep every night.

By 2000, that number dropped to about 7 hours a night. And now almost 20 years later, sleep experts say we’re sleeping even less- with many of us only 5-6 hours a night!

Woah! That’s a big drop in a short period of time. I guess it’s not surprising that energy drinks are so popular, right? But “powering through” on too little sleep is not a good idea for the longterm health of your body.

There are two major hormone “pathways” that take a big hit when you don’t get enough sleep- including hormones that handle things like your sex drive, stress, hunger, and blood sugar…and (ironically enough) even your ability to fall asleep! It only takes a night or two for them to get out of balance.

I’m just going to hit on just a few ways your sleep affects your hormones.

HUNGER- when you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases two important hormones that affect your appetite.

Ghrelin is your hunger hormone, which tells you to eat. Leptin is your “I’m full” hormone, which signals you to stop eating. Having disrupted sleep can throw those out of whack, leading you to feel hungry- and stay hungry, even when you eat! 😫😫😫

As you can imagine, this can cause round robin effect, leading to weight gain and a long list of related health problems.

STRESS- lack of sleep can cause stress- and stress can cause lack of sleep. The two go hand in hand. Over time, your cortisol levels- which normally rise in the morning to help get you going, and lower at night to help you sleep- can get turned around, throwing your sleep cycle off.

LIBIDO- Being sleep deprived for one week can cut your testosterone levels by as much as 15% (even in women!) This can have a pretty big impact on your quality of life! It can be tempting to think of sleeping as wasted time, but it’s actually the opposite. It’s when your body recovers, restores, and recharges for the coming day, helping you live your best life!!!

Try this journaling technique to boost your fitness

Good Morning..

When was the last time you sat down and really thought about how you’re feeling when it comes to your health and wellness – the actions you’re taking, where you’re headed and what your big (and small!) goals are?

I’ve got a tip for you today that I personally find to be helpful, especially when it comes to healthy eating!

It’s an idea I borrowed from the field of education: it’s called reflective journaling, and while it’s meant to help students track what they’re learning (and how they feel about it!), it can be an awesome tool to track your health and fitness.

Basically, it’s like a food/workout log – except you record your ideas, thoughts, feelings, wins, and challenges as you create healthy new habits and try new things.

Journaling can be especially helpful when it comes to sticking with new habits, because writing things down can give you some clues as to why some habits “stick” more easily than others.

Journals work best when you write in them at regular intervals – daily or weekly – so you have a record to look back on to see what worked (and what needs work).

Your don’t have to make a lot of rules about what goes into your journal, and your entries don’t have to long involved writing projects. Even better, they can be short and sweet!

For instance, you might include workout information, whether you feel tired/energized, whether your eating is on track, any new recipes/foods you’ve tried, how you feel after eating certain foods, your mood/level of enthusiasm, etc.

Not only will your journal be a part of your support system and hold you accountable, it’ll give you a record of what’s going well, and what needs attention. Over time, you will notice patterns.

Tim Ferris (author and entrepreneur) journals every single day.

In fact, I remember reading in one of his books that he said something to the effect of (I’m paraphrasing here) If I want to look or feel like I did when I was 25, I could because I know exactly what I ate, what my workout was, and how I felt.

That’s REALLY powerful to be able to do that. Plus, once you’ve been keeping a journal for a while, it is fun to look back over progress. You get to see the new activities you’ve tried and the goals you’ve achieved.

I do have one suggested “rule” for your journal: Let it be a positive and empowering tool.

You can use it to coach yourself with positive reinforcement vs. nagging at yourself for missing a workout.

Basically, talk to yourself as if you were your own best friend. It goes a long way toward helping you uncover the underlying things that motivate you.

Getting into journaling is a habit in itself – I recommend setting aside a couple minutes at a regular time every day to jot down your entries. The end of the day is a good time, because you’ll have perspective to “wrap up” your day.

Or, if you are writing weekly, Sunday is a good day to review your previous week and set goals for the coming week.

If you’re not sure about your own wellness and fitness goals, I’d love to help. Just reply back to this email and we can chat to see if there’s anything I can do to help!

pricelessdirections@gmail.com

614-440-9311

Have a great day!

Mike Price

The Real Life Changer

Here’s why you’re always hungry!

We came across interesting numbers the other day that we had to share with you. If you’re feeling tired, you are NOT alone!

Did you know that we’re getting less sleep than ever? Almost 60 years ago, a survey of more than 1 million people found that most people got 8 to 9 hours of sleep every night.

By 2000 that number dropped to about 7 hours a night. And now almost 20 years later, sleep experts say we’re sleeping even less- with many of us only 5-6 hours a night!

Make sense why energy drinks are so popular? Powering through on too little sleep is not a good idea for the long-term health of your body.

The fact is, you don’t have to wait to feel the impact of too little sleep on your hormones. You might be feeling it today!

There are two major hormone “pathways” that take a big hit when you don’t get enough sleep- including hormones that handle things like your sex drive, stress, hunger, and blood sugar.. and (ironically enough) even your ability to fall asleep! 👉🏾 It only takes a night or two for them to get out of balance.

One pathway is governed by your pituitary gland and the other is your automatic nervous system. But they are intertwined, and they have a hand in virtually every function of your body. Keeping your hormones in balance is a huge part of feeling focused, strong, and vital.

Want to know how sleep affects your hormones?

👉🏾 Hunger- when you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases two important hormones that affect your appetite.

👉🏾 Stress- lack of sleep can cause stress- and stress causes lack of sleep! The two go hand-In-hand. Your fight or flight hormones like adrenaline and cortisol can rise and lower (affecting your blood sugar and insulin levels) making it hard to sleep or wind down.

👉🏾 Libido- being sleep deprived for one week can cut your testosterone levels by as much as 15% (even in women!) This can have a pretty big impact on your sex drive, making you feel less “in the mood,” less often!

All of this adds up to have pretty big impact on your quality of life!

My e-book Supercharge Your Sleep contains a lot of great info about sleep along with tips you can use to improve both the quality and quantity of sleep. It also contains info about when to get help for possible sleep disorders which are delaying your health and fitness results!

Join my Circle Of Influence now and receive your copy!