Oh no! It's back to school!
Surviving transitions
👋 Hello, my friends. It's been a crazy couple of weeks here with summer coming to an end, school starting and work kicking back into full gear. It’s hectic and stressful but I have to thank my wife for reminding me (in my own words) that we GET to do all of this…
3 things to share with you today:
The latest episode of the Intentional Wisdom podcast
Some thoughts on how to handle transitions
The best content I've consumed over the last 2 weeks
Let's do it!
Ep.12 - Dan Go - Fitness After 40
I'll admit it. I was a little bit intimated to interview Dan Go. Known as "The Fit Founder" on social media, Dan has amassed a huge following of 200k+ on Twitter alone and has become a very well-known personality in the fitness community.
Dan is a fitness coach who works with high-performers in the business world to help them achieve that same level of success in their fitness and nutrition.
I asked Dan to come on the show to talk about Fitness After 40... one of my favorite topics as you know.
Specifically, we talked about:
Nutrition - Dan shared his view that "how" we eat is as important as "what" we eat
Fitness - We talked about the optimal balance between strength training and cardio, and Dan's "must-do" strength movements
Sleep - We got into details on environment, routines, supplements and even some more unorthodox things like mouth-taping, which Dan has personally had success with.
I covered more on this episode and shared a few video clips in this Twitter thread.
As always, please check out the episode and let me know what you think. Bonus points for reviewing the podcast on Apple Podcasts.
Transitions
We all know it. Especially the parents out there. Transitions suck! When something in life changes: a job, a relationship, even a season, it just takes time to adjust.
For all the parents out there, we are in the thick of it right now. Summer is coming to an end. School is starting. Our workloads are back with a vengeance. And it's all hitting at once.
The reality is that it's just tough. New routines to work out. New teachers and coaches to navigate. New projects to take on. You name it, someone wants your time: NOW.
It's during these periods of transition where we can feel particularly overwhelmed. Maybe our sleeping patterns change. Maybe our fitness routines get thrown off. Maybe we just feel like we can't possibly manage all that's being asked of us.
Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet to make everything get easier. But when it comes to managing our lives there are some simple things we can do to try to keep our stress levels manageable. Here are some of my favorites:
Prioritize sleep — every stress in our lives gets worse when we we are tired. Go to bed earlier than you think is necessary. You'll be better at every part of life tomorrow. Check out the podcast above for tons of tips on better sleep.
Get organized — Lists, lists, lists. One for everything your kid needs to get out the door for school, one for all the tasks you need to accomplish this week at work... Get it out of your head and down on paper. That's the easiest way to keep it from nagging you at midnight when you're already stressed about not getting enough sleep.
Get help / delegate — if you're taking on more or new responsibilities, you need to give some of your existing ones away. Look at every part of your life and ask yourself "Am I really the one who needs to be doing this?" Chances are there is a lot that you
canneed to give away. Don't be shy. Make that one decision that will save you 1000 future decisions.Move your body — What happens when you don't let a dog move and get its energy out? It goes sh&t crazy and tears the house apart. You think we're different? Think again. Want to get the crazy out? Move. A lot. Every day. Start with a step counter. If you're not getting 10,000 steps a day, change that. Watch the crazy slowly recede.
Give yourself a break — If you're exhausted or sick or just can't keep up...Take a day off. Or sleep in late, or skip a workout. Give yourself some grace to not be perfect. You've got enough stresses in times like this. Don't add perfectionism to the list.
Simple stuff. But easy to forget. Easy to get stressed. Easy to blame our kids or our spouse. It's no wonder why! Welcome back from summer, and congrats, every part of your life has now been sped up to 100mph!
Focus on getting the simple stuff right. Sleep. Exercise. Nutrition. (I didn't even get on a soapbox here about alcohol but that, too). A little more intentionality about taking care of ourselves can go a long way toward making the transitions in our lives more manageable.
So go take walk. And bring me with you. (Or at least me in the form of the Intentional Wisdom podcast.)
Content Diet
How our brains clear waste while we sleep (3-mins)- Jeff Iliff (Neuroscientist): A short, super-insightful video on what happens in our brains when we sleep, and why it's so critically important for disease prevention and optimal health.
15 of my favorite books! — One of the best ways to ease stress particularly at the end of the day is to lose yourself in an incredible story. I love history books that read like page-turning fiction. Here are 15 of my favorites. Humble brag: Two of my favorite authors (Erik Larson and Candice Millard) followed me on Twitter after I posted this last week.
Be a better leader, spouse, and parent…
If you heard my podcast conversation with Jesse Pujji, you'll know just how transformational the Conscious Leadership framework has been for him. I'm doing more and more learning in this area myself and have recently listened to a number of podcasts with The Conscious Leadership Group's co-founder, Jim Dethmer. I recommend this conversation with Jim and Tim Ferriss to go deeper into this. Hugely beneficial stuff for anyone looking to improve as leaders, as parents, or as spouses.
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That's it for this week. The quick update on Charlie: No news is good news! He is responding well to seizure medications and hasn't had a seizure in over a month so we are feeling grateful!
Thanks for reading. See you in two weeks!
Greg