Andy Neary argues that taking care of yourself first is not selfish, especially during COVID-19 when many people lose healthy routines. He shares a practical activity: write your five top personal core principles and make them non-negotiables. He offers his own list (health; gratitude; impact; consistency; simplicity) and emphasizes that prioritizing personal health enables you to be at your best for others ("put your mask on first" analogy).
Chapters
If you are not at your best, you cannot bring your best to anybody else in your life. I've been having way too many conversations with people lately who are telling me that, you know, I was in a groove, Andy, with my workouts until Covid hit. And I have to admit, I've kind of gotten out of that routine. I was meditating, I was visualizing, I was doing all these good things. And since COVID has come in and the lockdown and everything, I have to admit, I've gotten off track. I'm not eating like I should. I'm drinking a little too much. Listen, if there's one thing you can control right now, it's that you make sure you are at your best. Whatever that means to you. So here's an activity I suggest you try doing. I've done it. I did it weeks ago. I wrote down, I said, what are my five top core principles I want in my life? Now? These are selfish. So family's not number one. These are your individual core principles. For me, it's health. It's gratitude, impact, consistency, and simplicity, in that order. So number one is health. That means it is more important than anything else that could possibly go on my calendar. So if I have the chance to take care of my health, like working out, and it might be even over hanging out with family and friends, I'm going to do it. It's not selfish. It's a non negotiable. Because I know if I work out, I'm going to be at my best both here and here. So I can bring my best to everybody else. I suggest you do the same. Sit down, do this activity, Find out what your core principles are and then make them your non negotiables. They rule your life. If what you're doing doesn't align with them, you don't do it. It actually makes life a lot easier. So take the time right now to focus on you. It's not selfish. Remember what they say in the airplanes, Put your mask on first before you put anybody else's on. There's a reason you need to be at your best, so start working on you. Start having non negotiables. It's not selfish. It just means you are going to be at your best for everybody else.
