I’d like to focus exclusively on your health here for a minute.

What kind of results are you experiencing today? Are you feeling inspired and full of energy all the time? Are you satisfied with your body and level of personal fitness – or at least working hard towards that end? Or do you feel lethargic and beat down, worn out? Out of shape and not feeling like you’re at the top of your game?

The single most important thing for you to realize is that right now there are countless people experiencing exactly what you’re experiencing; but even more important, there are countless people experiencing the exact OPPOSITE of how you’re currently feeling. Grasp the real importance of this: if you’re feeling tired and “out of it” all the time, stressed out and falling out of shape, there are countless others who have turned that around in their lives and found themselves with boundless energy and inspiration, the body of their dreams and an incredible state of health and overall vitality. You can do this, and it’s entirely possible for you.

On the other hand, if you’re experiencing incredible health right now…just realize that your daily habits have taken you there. Never take your daily habits for granted, but rather maintain and continually build upon them in new, exciting ways. You know where you stand on this scale. With 1 being a state of chronic disease and 10 being a state of incredible, luminous health and vitality, where would you place yourself on a scale of 1-10? Ground yourself and realize that this is just your starting point on a path that will lead you beyond what you ever thought possible.

This becomes possible for you through your DAILY HABITS. Your daily habits are the actions you take consistently every day that either move you progressively forward or progressively backward. Your current daily habits are the cause and effect that determine your health, fitness and energy levels. All of the results you’re experiencing today, and will experience in the near future, stem from your current daily habits.

Let’s pull out the magnifying glass. Zooming in on fitness, if you never worked out and just sat at a computer all day, you’d likely have less-than-optimal personal fitness levels. On the other hand, if you live an active lifestyle and commit to a few powerful workouts every week, you’re on course to enjoying an incredible body and experience of life. It’s not your genetics. It’s not your lack of time. It’s not because of work. It all comes down to the effectiveness of your daily habits.

In changing your results, you need to take a glance at cause and effect. The causes are your daily habits – the actions you take consistently every day. The effects are the results you’re seeing – your state of health, personal fitness, energy levels, mood, enthusiasm in life, mental performance, etc. To change the effects (your results), all you have to do is change the causes…your daily habits.

The only way to really see your causes – and the effects they bring you – is to become aware of them. The best way to do this is through a daily checklist of some kind. It could be on a small notecard you carry around in your pocket, a folded 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, a task list on your cellphone, or any other way you can think of. The true value of this practice is first and foremost building an awareness of your current habits. By taking the same actions consistently every day (or every week), you can track your results and see which actions are really panning out for you and delivering value to  your life.

It’s almost like running a business: you wouldn’t just hire someone to do a few random actions for your business each day. You’d have a step-by-step plan for them to get the most out of their time. Manage your life in the same way. Track your daily habits and notice how they make you feel. If certain ones instantly improve your mood and energy, keep them and even see if they could be improved upon! The ones that take away your energy, ditch em and  replace them with new, empowering daily habits.

Here’s your 60-second action step of the day:

Grab a notecard or quickly fold up an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in half. Whatever you chose to go with, hold it so it appears tall from top to bottom (not short and side-to-side). Title your card or paper, “Current Daily Habits” and brainstorm some ideas. Include your morning routine as it is today, and then think of some ways you could improve it. This could means batching tasks together, such as bathroom tasks, to save time and energy, or adding new habits that give you energy in the morning. Include your work schedule as a single habit, and if you have a lunch break in-between schedule that in as well.

=> Here’s how mine starts out as a real-life example:

Current Daily Habits:

* Watch MindMovie and Review Goals/Objectives

* Morning Water w/ Celtic Sea Salt

* Shower Up

* Superfood Smoothie w/ Fresh Greens from Garden

…………………………………………………

I start my day by watching an inspiring “MindMovie” – a blend of pictures, affirmations and music to get and keep you focused on what you want in life. I then head downstairs and grab my morning glass of water with a pinch of celtic sea salt (for electrolyte content). After that splash of hydration, I then shower up to start my day and make a tall superfood smoothie for breakfast (heading outside to the garden to grab some fresh greens to blend in). This gives me the mental clarity, focus and concentration I need to tackle the day head-on.

I include this just to give you an idea about how you can innovate and improve existing systems. Notice how I have that glass of water before my shower, which allows me to hydrate myself in the morning before eating breakfast. It’s always about the little things we do each day – our daily habits. Start your list now and leave me a comment below  — if you’re up for it, even post a few of your own daily  habits! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Unleash Your Vitality,

– John Brackett

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think!

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I hope that you’ve had a chance to think over what this term “lifestyle freedom” really means – the core concepts of natural health, personal fitness and lifestyle freedom are all intertwined but clearly not the same thing. To me, lifestyle freedom encompasses the first two and so much more. Lifestyle freedom is about living the lifestyle that’s calling out to you – the life you desire at the deepest level. The problem is that most people shut down and dust away those deep-seated desires that would actually lead to the kind of lifestyle they’re yearning so deeply to live.

Lifestyle freedom, as I see it, has nothing to do with abdicating responsibility or being “free” of your personal challenges, obstacles and requirements. Rather, it’s simply being authentic and genuine enough to live the lifestyle that feels right to you. That lifestyle may seem to come across as something like the social norm, or it may be the calling that’s so far out and so out of your comfort zone that you might try to tune it out. What’s important to realize is this: everyone is driven by slightly different desires.

Studying entrepreneurship, it becomes apparent that there are 2 main groups of people: those motivated by the quality of their own lifestyle, and those motivated by the growth of the business/brand/identity. Some people absolutely thrive off building up businesses, and are willing to let their health and relationships slide to fulfill that desire. Others put their own individual lifestyle first, and have their work become a means to that end – always placing health and relationships before their committment to their workplace.

It’s eye-opening to see that everyone is driven by their own unique desires and aspirations. It’s so easy for others to compare and judge based on their own perceptions, perspectives and beliefs – and to get lost because of it. Achieving lifestyle freedom has everything to do with listening to where you want to go, and not where others think you should go. Finding the balance of a lifestyle that works perfectly for you is paramount, because it affects how you feel every single day – your enthusiasm for your career, your drive to eat a healthy, natural diet, and your spark for personal relationships and connecting with others. Just remember this today: lifestyle is the only real difference between any two people satisfied or frustrated with their lives. Live the lifestyle that’s calling out your name, and you’ll find that stress and anxiety fall away as easily as they came to be in the first place.

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

P.S. I’d like you to complete a single, quick exercise for me. Here it is: grab any piece of paper and a pen or pencil (8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper works best). On the top, write down the title, “My Perfect Day”. Now make sure you’re somewhere you can focus for just a few minutes here – write down all of the parts of your perfect day, from waking up in the morning to going to sleep at night. Don’t bring in the past here, but build on it. If you’re tired of going to bed at 1:00 am, write something like “I fall asleep easily and peacefully at 10:30″, or just “go to sleep at 10:30 pm”.

If you could have the perfect day (let’s say perfect weekday), what would it look like? Write down how you would wake up and spend your day, if you would work the same hours, if you’d change your routines and any meaningless habits and practices you may have picked up along the way. Write it all down and stop putting this off – give it 5 minutes and create your “perfect day”…you’ll be surprised at how much insight this gives you into your current lifestyle and the lifestyle you’re being called out to live.

Leave a comment below and share your thoughts, ideas and opinions on this post!

You guessed it: it’s that time of year again (for those of us here in the US). December, when things start getting a little colder outside and we find ourselves spending more and more of our time inside. There’s no problem with this in and of itself, but it does mean that we need to find more ways to start getting active, keeping up both our personal energy levels and our immune systems. The best way? Get moving! Here are 3 quick reasons to start getting in motion with a new personal fitness ritual or routine:

3) Longevity & Vitality

Multiple long-term studies have shown that those who exercise and enjoy an active lifestyle can expect to live a few more healthier years than their less-active peers (one study averages at about 3.5 extra years). How much would you treasure those few extra years of life? The ability to enjoy quality time with your grandchildren and pursue your passions? It’s absolutely worth it, but that may only motivate the long-term thinkers out there. Here are the other 2 reasons, with much more tangible effects:

2) Never Getting Sick

What I mean here is that exercise is the “pump” for our lymph system. Vigorous exercise and deep breathing stimulates lymph flow, which moves out all the toxins, viruses, etc; challenging workouts literally pump out the garbage from our bodies! Note that it comes out in many different ways, including your sweat – which is the #1 reason on the list of why to shower after a workout ;) Regular exercise dramatically enhances your immune system and gets your lymph system up and running, so you’ll definitely want to stay active this winter!

1) Mental Clarity & Energy

My personal #1 reason to exercise is the extraordinary mental clarity that comes immediately with any vigorous, stimulating workout. A 30-45 minute workout at the gym will do it for sure, but you can get the “mental clarity” effect dramatically in 2 minutes or less. Here’s how: jumping rope and jumping jacks. The movement of these 2 exercises gets you active, increases your heart rate, stimulates lymph flow and clears your “mental fog” right out of your head in no time. If you’re ever in one of those situations where you wake up in a fog and need some clarity quick, just try these two together (maybe 1 minute of one and 1 minute of the other). You’ll be blown away by the simplicity, but mostly by the effects.

I’ll personally do just these two exercises before sitting down to work at the computer in the morning, and then have an all-out, scheduled workout later in the afternoon. I find that the combination gives me extreme mental clarity and boundless energy all day to get done what I’m really after. For these reasons, mental clarity & energy constitute my #1 reason to exercise today, and sum up the true value of personal fitness.

I hope this will get the gears turning for you and that you’ll consider committing to a regular workout schedule for the wintertime here in the US. It’s a great time of year, and staying healthy, clear and full of energy will only help you to enjoy it more!

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett

Unleash Your Vitality,

John Brackett