When your body doesn’t get enough rest at night, you are more likely to eat unhealthy food the next day. Even missing one good night’s sleep can destabilize your blood sugar, which reduces your physical and mental stamina. Maximal Achievers play the long game. When we work hard, we know we need to rest just as hard. According to a study published in May 2017, people who don’t get enough sleep, eat significantly less protein and more fat. They also also show or experience a heightened motivation to seek food for reward. So the bottom line is if you don’t get adequate sleep, you can expect an increase in temptation for more unhealthful foods than you typically experience. Now you know what to expect, and you can be prepared to break the cycle. Making positive choices for food input requires a strategy, an actionable plan made in advance. Let’s start with three simple motions you can use to keep you on point: One is Amp Up Your Hydration. Two is Use Caffeine as a Tool, Not a Crutch. Three is Stabilize Your Blood Sugar. We cannot always be where healthy food choices are accessible, but now we know, we can lay down the blueprints for making healthy food and drink options accessible in the environments where we often find time to eat. Maximal Achievers use the three motions to make a plan in advance, so they can shield themselves from the negative consequences of short term sleep deprivation. It is always possible to fuel our bodies with the Positive Input we need to live The Maximal Life!

As the only resident inside your body, only you have access to the ancient wisdom within yourself. No one else knows better than you what is going on inside your body. Getting in touch with the physical dimension of your being is the single most powerful way to ground yourself in the present moment, and retain agency over what is being read by others. There is  a simple body awareness exercise, to assist in focusing your full attention on your physical and emotional body. This technique is called REPORT and stands for: Responsibility, Exhale, Pay attention, Outline, Recognize, and Take action. Responsibility. It your responsibility  to place ALL of your attention on yourself for just the next two minutes.   Exhale. Take three slow, deep, full breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.    Pay Attention: Close your eyes, and mentally visit every part of your body. Really pay close attention to each individual area within yourself, and when you are ready, open your eyes.  Outline: Create a verbal outline of all that you notice; Start with your feet and work your way up.   Recognize. Sometimes when we declare the truth of our body, the sensations shift as a result of our new awareness. Simply to recognize your body’s reaction to being acknowledged.  Take Action. Take an action that benefits you in the present moment. If your shoulders are tense, relax them.  Whatever you experience anytime you practice REPORT, you will encounter a conscious, whole- body experience. And help you lead your Maximal Life.

Consider how your routine can suffer a setback due to something simple such as one red eye flight, anoddly timed conference or just an unusually long day. Your well settled day can get disrupted. Suddenlytime management is difficult, you feel groggy in the middle of the day, tired for no reason! According to statistics, about 40% of Americans don’t get enough sleep at night and as many as 44%between age 30 and 49 sleep less than six hours in a day. This hampers your personal success, cognitivefunction, energy levels and ups disease risk. Here are a few simple tasks for how do you bounce back from short term sleep deprivation. Resist the urge to hit ‘snooze’ after a late night. Get out of bed and take a cool shower to really wake up.Drink some waterto rehydrate. Don’t miss your workout if that is a part of your morning routine.Remember to eat a proper, nutrient rich breakfast to stimulate the brain and offer sustained energy. Getsome sunlight to send the wakeup message to the body and brain. Begin with the most important tasks while you are fresh. Instead of coffee, sip on green tea or an herbalconcoction such as Ashwagandha, which supports the metabolism and acts as a tonic. If you feel sleepy inthe afternoon restrict the nap to no longer thana 20-minute power nap. A Maximal Life isn’t about sprinting or short spurts of activity; it is about a steady speed that can remainconstant over time–it’s about developing the endurance for a marathon.

Our brain and gut are connected by an unimaginably dense network of neurons that constantly take information back and forth. Because there are just so many neurons and neurotransmitters in the gut, scientists now call it the second brain. Just as the brain can make the gut feel wrenched, likewise the gut can make the brain feel peace or pressure. There are many things that we cannot control in life. However, our diet is one aspect that is within our control. By carefully choosing what to put into our gut and rejecting that which is toxic, we not only control our physical health but our mental wellbeing as well. Choose foods that are high in nutrition such as seasonal produce, plant-based protein and low-glycemic carbohydrates. Choose probiotics and prebiotics to keep your gut healthy. Choose a healthy protein shake with L-Glutamine, an amino acid that’s absolutely essential for peak physical and mental performance. Make one positive change today. Replace a gut destroying food item with a gut enhancing alternative. As Maximal Achievers, we cannot accept sub-optimal energy levels and a compromised immune system as a way of life. Do what it takes to build a strong, healthy digestive tract.

We have all seen how advancing age seems to rob people of vim and vigor and strength. Sarcopenia is a condition in the elderly where the muscles seem to shrink in size and loosen, the body loses strength, and energy levels are no longer what they used to be. One's quality of life and range of activities deteriorate as the body becomes frailer, weaker and less mobile. Researchers have found a connection between diet and lifestyle and muscle mass later in life. Researchers have recommended a daily dosage of quality protein, but more importantly a per-meal protein recommendation. Seniors should aim for 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. This would help to compensate for the way that protein uptake is blunted when carbs are consumed along with protein. Don’t wait until you experience the debilitating weakness of old age. Start to bolster up your body’s muscle stores with high quality protein right now. Find realistic ways to make sustainable changes to your lifestyle. The goal of healthy ageing–a process of developing and maintaining the functional ability that enables well being in older age–starts right now. Maximal Achievers invest in your healthy tomorrow, today! Keep living the Maximal Life.

The first and last hour of everyday has a tremendous impact on the quality of our overall lives.For this reason, we refer to those hours as bookends. They are the pillars on each side that stabilizes everything in between. Let’s focus today on that final hour of the evening, right before you go to bed. Maximal Achievers think about that last hour as a way to reflect on the day and a means to set up for the next day.The first key to developing a Maximal evening ritual is determining what time you want to fall asleep each night, and keeping that time like you would keep any appointment. That entire hour before bedtime, is your evening bookend.The second key to a Maximal evening routine is to disconnect. Switching off your technological connections to the busy world of tomorrow will settle your senses in to a much calmer and peaceful present moment. Read a book, take a hot bath, or have quiet time with your spouse. The third key to a Maximal evening routine is to reflect on what was good about today and explore what will be good about tomorrow. Keep a gratitude journal on the nightstand and make that list a part of your evening routine. Be patient with yourself and be willing to start slow. If you can be consistent with just one nightly ritual, you will soon be confident to add more later.

Maximal Achiever, Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers neighborhood once said, “Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from hard work, but for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”  In past episodes we have discussed the value of bringing humor in to the workplace. Now we know, that when we share a laugh in the midst of a hectic work day, we groom our minds for living in creative possibility. Taking time to engage in playful banter, having a lively conservation at lunch, or taking a leisurely stroll outside during the workday, diffuses difficult, stifling energy, and inspires the mind to find creative solutions to challenging situations. When we appease that child within us (Our Creative Genius), when we delight ourselves with a bit of play, we induce a state of mind that feels challenged, focused, and alive!  We all have a focused, excited genius within us. It lies dormant within us, waiting like a child waits at the door, wanting to go outside. Unlock the door and unleash your Creative Genius, with daily intentional playtime. As Maximal Achievers, we play. Here’s how we play to win the long game: Put the fun back in your day and play wherever you are

Being with family nourishes the soul. Prioritizing family time is so vital that it influences the health, wellbeing and success of each person in your family. Including YOU! According to an ongoing Harvard study spanning over 75 years. Where 60 people of the original participants are now in their 90s. Close, happy relationships protect us from the problems of old age. The quality of your relationship helps your longevity. People with strong family connections live longer. Decline in brain function is slower. Memory stays sharper for longer. Even satisfying financial success at work seems to depend upon warm, close relationships.  When you win at home, you win at work! Don’t let your work gobble up your time, Find ways to put family first. You see, as Maximal Achievers, we are all crafting big business lives and creating happy family lives. It’s all about paying attention. Finding the time to play together, dream together!  As Maximal Achievers we work smart to give our loved ones what they desire. The coolest gadgets and the trendiest clothes may offer transient satisfaction but what we really strive for is to make lives better! It’s with our time that we need to be most generous! Protect your time for family and watch how success, satisfaction and sheer joy provide time for YOU.

Our brains are keenly tuned into scent. An adult can distinguish between over 10,000 different smells. Scent is the only sensory system that does not have to pass through the complicated circuitry of the brain before being processed. Odor molecules bypass the brain's thalamus and gain immediate access to the amygdala which is the supervisor of all of our emotions, experiences, and memories. Therefore, smell directly stimulates emotions. Smell is the sense most strongly tied to memory. The information from our sense of smell is fast tracked to its destination more effectively than any other sensory neurons in our body. Essential oils have been proven to increase productivity and well-being in the workplace. Citrus is effective for boosting energy and making the mind more alert. Grapefruit can keep you from falling asleep at your desk. Lemon helps with focus while filtering stale air. Lavender is known for its relaxing, effect and provides natural antibiotic properties. Rosemary is associated with improved memory and can help with headaches, mental fatigue, and physical exhaustion. Cinnamon is a stimulant and a great choice when driving long distances or pulling long hours. The easiest way to use essential oils to improve productivity is with a nebulizer, vaporizer or a diffuser. Curate your environment for your own personal health, productivity requirements, and your Maximal Life using essential oils. This also helps to motivate and support your team from within to feel alert and at ease while they tackle their to-do list.

In today’s culture, the word balance is widely touted as a virtue to be strived for. We are told we need to find balance between our work and our home life. Balance time spent with family and time spent with friends. Balance with food, exercise, emotions, energy, and even balanced spirituality. The concept of having balance has been overused to the point of exhaustion. For the most part, all we really seem to know is that we're supposed to want it. And if we don’t have it we should feel guilty about not being better at keeping it. When a scale is in perfect balance, nothing is happening. There’s no movement, dynamic, or vibrancy. Which means NO LIFE. As Maximal Achievers, We play the long game, and like a pro-athlete we are masters of rhythm; testing out one way and then the next, keeping what works and discarding what isn’t serving us, as we continue to press forward maintaining momentum. Geniuses aren’t balanced. Geniuses maximize the benefits of the ups and the downs inside the rhythm of life. The key is to realign ourselves as rhythmic beings in a rhythmic world, By understanding your own rhythm, planning and committing to the seasons of your life, you will create a flow and rhythm that harmonizes with living The Maximal Life.