Live a Life in a Day

This is episode 314 of the Empowered Team podcast. Welcome to the Empowered Team podcast where we unlock the secrets of self mastery for leaders who want to elevate their impact in both leadership and life. Your journey to being your best so you can give your best starts here and now, your host, executive coach and life strategist, Kari Schneider.

Welcome.

Welcome to the Empowered Team Podcast.

Today we're going to talk about living a life in a day. Why? So that you can have the most fulfilled experience of your life instead of constantly delaying the joy or the fulfillment or the real connections that you really, really want. So what does this look like and what's the research behind it? But really I'm going to share what I do because it's worked for me. Why? Because I would say over a year and a half ago when I was diagnosed with Graves Dise, I realized that a lot of things in my life needed to change. And then several months back we lost a very good friend of ours in a car accident and I literally started to have this thought and overwhelming feeling from those experiences of life is too short, don't wait. This prompted me to restructure a lot of things in my life. It also prompted me to get two horses. It prompted me to book travel differently. It prompted me to do a lot of things. However, I think that most of us are in this same boat where we're not necessarily doing or experiencing some of the things we might really want to on a day to day basis. And I'm not just talking about fomo. And you know, you only yolo, you only live once, as in fear of missing out. And you only live once. I'm talking about doing this intentionally so that you really feel great about your life. You really feel great about the things that you're doing. So that's the concept behind living the life in the day. And then when I thought about doing this podcast, coincidentally I had asked my daughter about what would be her perfect day. And when she described her perfect day, it basically consisted of hanging out with her friends, doing a bunch of things with her friends. She adores her friends. And so I thought interesting. And I love that she loves her friends and she's at that key age of really, really connecting with her friends. However, I realized that her perfect day was very dependent on external circumstances, having her friends over or being with her versus internal circumstances, really something that she could control to have her perfect day. So I found that very interesting because if everything is dependent on an external circumstance, people coming over, people being in a good Mood, the weather, being great, having a certain experience in life. If everything was dependent on that, then we would really have a hard time living a perfect day or experiencing wonderful days on the regular basis. So I thought about that and I also dug into some of the research behind it. So I would encourage you, as you listen to this podcast, to think about how you can incorporate what you really would love in a wonderful life. What would. What would mean a wonderful life to you? Does it mean you've had incredible experiences, lots of fun? Does it mean you have certain daily practices? What does it look like to live the life or feel the way you'd want to in the most amazing life? And the other part of this is to really be intentional and engaged with the experiences you're experiencing. If it's breathing the air, if it's going into a work project, if it is being with someone else, what does it mean to experience that so that you really get the most out of it? You're squeezing the juice out of that moment, squeezing the juice out of life in general in the things that you're experiencing day to day. And then also having those small moments have big impacts. I can easily think of a few different moments with my father that are memorable and I choose to have them be memorable. Even though they were small moments, they were maybe 30 seconds, but there was such presence and such compassion and such appreciation for each other that it really solidified the relationship. And those small moments created big impact for me. Now those can be any moments for you. Those could be anything that we create meaning in that small moment. So really utilizing things that don't have to be profound or momentous, but the small things that really become meaningful and being able to stack those small things to an experience of an amazing day or an amazing cumulation of days that make your amazing life. And then lastly, I want to point to really steering clear of the someday mentality. I did that a lot. And the mistake for me was that it started a long time ago. The mistake for me was that I was prioritizing with something in my life and believing that prioritizing with that thing meant I couldn't do something else. Early on in university, my boyfriend and I were in school, in the uni, in the in the States and in university. I really, really wanted to go and experience working on a cruise ship. I felt that I wanted to go experience different places, I wanted to try out different cities, and I thought that I'd never been on a cruise ship. To be honest, I never have been on a cruise ship. Yet even. But I thought that being on a cruise ship would be a perfect way to experience multiple places in the world without having to spend the money on it because I was a poor university student and I could work on that, that cruise ship by whatever. I could teach fitness classes, I could waitress, things that I knew how to do and I could work hard. I thought it would be this ideal scenario. But because I was in a relationship with my boyfriend, I told myself that I couldn't go experience that because that would mean be too hard on the relations. It would become a long distance relationship. We wouldn't be able to communicate because back then there weren't these amazing cell phones and wi fi and whatnot at the time. This was in the early 90s, so. But I remember this mentality happening very early on in my life. And then when I had my daughter, even things I was a single mom, but even things like I wanted to play club soccer and I didn't because I was prioritizing with her evening activities and I only had so many resources for child care coverage at the time. So I kept putting these things off until my injuries from working in my business for so many years prevented me from being able to play club soccer. And it made me look back and go, huh? I've put so many things off that I really wanted to do for reasons I made at the time that seemed like the important right reason, not realizing I could have done both of those things or I could have found a way, or I could have incorporated those things into my life in some form or another and I just didn't know it. So I'm going to share with you six rituals. I think I have six. How many do I have here? Six, seven rituals, daily rituals that I have that have me feel like I'm living a life in a day and I do these things every single day. And then I reverse engineered it. So once I'd actually listed down these seven daily rituals that I do every single day and they're not going to seem like much, they're not going to seem momentous or like rocket science, but I tell you, they have me feel amazing every day. But once I did these and once I share these with you, then I went back, I reverse engineered it and I took a look at, well, what's the research behind this? When people do these things, is there research that provides any insights as to what the impacts are? And so I'll share those with you as well. So first off, first one, I get up, I get out of bed, I open the curtains, because the curtains are keeping it darker in the room. And if I'm away, if I'm on the restoration project of Wycliffe Lodge, if I'm there, I look out the window or I step out into the day and I literally say hello to the day, say hello to the sun. I try and go walking or working out when the sun is rising. So I end up exposing my eyes to the morning sunrise sunlight, those early rays of light. I am moving at that time. So in that space of time, I open the curtains, I greet the day, say hello to the day, show appreciation to whatever I happen to see at the time, like the sky or the trees or even the weather. And then I get outside and I move. I might be walking, I might go and lift weights outside or in the gym, I might be running whatever it is. And likely I'm with an animal. So not only am I outside, not only am I moving. And I probably expressed a simple, quick form of gratitude. All of those things are happening every single day. Another one is that I connect with loved ones or animals or both every single day. So my family, my friends, especially my clients. I adore working with my clients. The people that I work with, I connect with them. And it's deep connections. It's not just surface conversation, it's what is really being experienced by one another so that we have those deep connections. Number three is nourishment. I used to we when, when I was a single mom and money was really, really tight, I used to only buy apples or oranges as my fruit. And the reason I only bought apples and oranges is because the grapes were really expensive, the berries were really expensive. I didn't want to buy anything that would go bad. So I was confident that the oranges would last or the apples would last sometime and they were cheap. And so that's what I bought. And now I eat berries almost every morning because I love berries and they're good for me. They do amazing things. I eat a salad that I love every single day. I try and cook foods that I really love, and when I don't want to cook, I don't cook. I make sure I've got enough food that lasts, it's healthy and that I absolutely love. So nourishment really, really key for me now, the research on that, I didn't really look at that because it's pretty obvious that eating healthy foods is going to be one of the best things for your overall health, for your body and your physical health. Number four is purpose driven work. So I engage in work that aligns and this changed a lot once the once I was diagnosed with an autoimmune illness because I literally stopped taking any new clients. I let go of contracts that just weren't or I let contracts end that I didn't want to renew and I let go of clients that just weren't fully aligned and and I kept the clients and the contracts that I really enjoyed working with and really lit me up and I've continued that. So purpose driven work. Not only is it work that I get to create, I get to offer support and help to make impact on people's lives, but it's also with people who I agree with or I love what they're up to in the world. It may not be something that I would do, but it's something I feel great about supporting them doing so that the impact that I'm having has greater impact by supporting them and their impact in the world. I love that creating podcasts is another way to do that. So I get to interact daily with my purpose driven work with people I care about. Number five is incorporating this one's week, I call it weekend activities or fun into my daily life. So this could be things like meditation, playing pigs, pickle, pickleball, watching a video or a movie or usually because I don't want to watch a lot of have a lot of screen time or watch a lot of tv. Then I'll watch a part of a movie or I might watch a couple of of reels or just something that's entertaining to me but without getting sucked into binge watching anything. Doesn't matter whether it's social media or tv, I do not binge watch anything but to entertain myself with fun I love that could be spending time with animals, horses, hiking, something fun and laugh worthy, dancing, being goofy, any of that. I want something like that in my daily life. Any. All of the above. One of the above, any of those things, something that's fun and weekend worthy. In my daily life, that is is. It's. It brings in the spark, it brings in the joy, it brings in the laughter, it brings in the zest for life, the aliveness in life. And that is what I love. And then multiple outdoor breaks. So I already told you I got outside in the morning, but you may not realize that that's not it. I get out again in the afternoon, I get out again in the evening. I if it's in nature, that's even better. I'll try to be in nature as much as possible, but minimally Outdoors, it is fresh air, it is brighter light, it is getting the rays of the sun when they go up and down, it helps align circadian rhythm. There are so many things for it, and I haven't even gotten to the research for it. And number seven, I meditate at noon or at lunchtime, after I've eaten lunch. So sometime in midday and before bed. So sometimes it's one or the other and sometimes it's both. But definitively, every single day I will meditate. And those are all the ones that I practice daily. Now I took a look at the research behind this and I think you'll like this a lot because if you're doing even one of these, you'll find real benefits that are coming from this. So research led by Robert emmons and Michael McCullough shows that practicing daily gratitude, I like to just say thank you to the sun for rising that day. Thank you for the day. For me having another opportunity for the day. That kind of daily gratitude can significantly enhance happiness, lower stress and improve your overall health. Come on, just that. So simple, so easy. Then we've got another one, the exercise, physical activity. We know that. But here's the other byproducts from physical activity that you may not know. And this has to do with significantly improving mood, decreasing anxiety and depression. And it also works on the brain as well. So regular movement boosts cognitive functioning with your overall mood. And when you do it early in the day, it has an sets the positive emotional tone for the entire day, which is a really cool thing because you set this, this positivity before you've even done anything other than your movement outdoors. Now, when it came to my connection with loved ones and animals, I loved this research by the Harvard University's Long Term Adult Development Study. You may have heard me reference this study before because there are so many nuggets from this long term study. It reveals that meaningful social connections are one of the strongest predictors of long term health and happiness. Prioritizing your daily connections with loved ones is the best investment in your emotional and psychological long term well being. We're talking people in their 50s who have amazing relationships, have greater happiness and health in their 80s. Not just happiness, not just relational connections, but actual health in their 80s. They made that correlation. It's amazing. All right, here's another one. Purpose driven work research like Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, have found that purpose driven actions, even in small daily dosages, contribute to a stronger sense of fulfillment. Now that's not rocket science. However, this is what we love. Why not? We want to be our best so we can live and give our best, not just to be our best. All right. Incorporating the fun and the weekend activities. This is research by Stuart Brown, leading expert on play. And this person suggests that incorporating play or fun activities into your daily routine, like pickleball or horsey time, it promotes creativity, joy and stress relief. Play is not just a leisure activity. Humans are designed for play. This is an essential part of mental and emotional health and developmental health for children and young adults. So really, really key part we're meant to play. This is fun, this is good, this is great for our brains. And then our. My multiple outdoor experiences, my multiple breaks outside, spending time outdoors is linked to improved mental and physical health. And the research by Gregory Bratman and colleagues found that exposure to nature can reduce rumination. What? Yes, rumination. That going over and over the same topic or, or thoughts. This is a key factor in anxiety and depression. When we ruminate, it supports anxiety and supports depression. We tend to ruminate on thoughts that aren't supporting us or things that just aren't helping our lives. So it enhances cognitive functioning and increases overall well being. So people who consciously incorporate their outside time into their daily routine tend to experience less stress and better emotional regulation. Go figure. Awesome stuff. And I got to thank my dogs for that and the horses for that because they get me outside all of the time. If I don't feel like going myself, I've got that nudge from them going, you know, I know they need it. And I even mentioned the word outside. You know what's going to happen. Tails, a wagon, leashes, a grabbing, you know, all the things and then the daily meditation. So mindfulness practices like meditation have been shown to reduce stress, enhance focus. So we're talking cognitive function here and promote emotional balance. Research from John Cabot Zinn indicates that people who, people who practice mindfulness daily tend to experience lower levels of burnout and greater resilience in the face of challenge. Challenges. Why? Because we have the perception that we have perspective and we understand what we can handle and that it's going to be okay. Very, very cool. So here's some practical tips to kick you off on starting to live a life in a day. We're not talking about adding more things. We're talking about balancing the structure of what your day consists of so that you can feel like you're really fulfilled every day. It's like, wow, this is my day. I am so lucky. I love my day because this is how I balanced it out. So here's one of the things. Creating a daily schedule that includes time blocks for work, play, connection and personal growth. Now, here's one of the things that I always used to do. I used to only allow myself the fun thing, the play, the whatever, after I've done the work. And what I've found is that I can flip that around. If I flip that around and do a little bit of play first, it doesn't impair my work. In fact, if I do the meditation, I work better, more focused, more efficiently. If I do the fun thing, like the outdoor morning time with my dogs, or a little run or a little explore, guess what? Again, I function better and more focused, even in the things I don't like as much, the hard things that might just need to get done. So it's a wonderful thing. Daily planning. Plan something fun in there. Reflection. I encourage you to reflect at the end of the day how well you really experience that day. Was it one of those days? You're like, well, what does that day need? What does that day need more of? What does that day need less of? What would you love to insert into that day? And then experimentation. So we've got the daily planning, we've got the reflection and then experimenting. I was afraid to go and play pickleball in mid morning when I booked it the first time. Why? Because mid morning is when I work my butt off every single day. And I usually push it until noon and then finally I'll give myself a break. But if I've done that five days in a row, I can promise you by the last day or second last day of the week, I'm not feeling great about the work I'm producing. I'm a little bit fried. So the first time I booked that pickleball, a little apprehensive. But then I found I went back into work feeling great and feeling like I kind of started the weekend and felt good about what work I had to finish anyway. So experiment, try it on. It doesn't mean that the order that I described or the things that I described are what you want to have in your day and what you want to have to feel that fulfillment of living a life in a day. But what I do encourage you is not to delay the things until next year, until next week, until you're retired. I encourage you to live them now. Because we just don't know. We don't know what life is going to throw at us. We don't know what tomorrow brings. So why not give yourself that gift today. And for me it's living my best, healthiest, fulfilled, biggest contribution type of life every day. And it includes lots of fun outdoor nature, meditation, people, animals. I love it. I love it all. So if I can include it in some way or another in ways that keep me fulfilled, I'm going to do it. I encourage you to do that as well. So again, some daily planning. Play with that schedule. You don't have to try and crush it for eight hours straight. In fact, your brain doesn't operate that way. Reflection look at the end of the day. Is it a day that you look back on and go that was an amazing day. What would make it an amazing day? And experimentation. Experiment with injecting fun things in here and there. Things that really light you up and live allow you to live the life you really want. There it is folks. That's for you to live more of your empowered life, more of your best self mastery so that you can live the life you really want so you can be your best to live and give your best. Go get them. Share this with someone who would love to live a amazing life in a day and have a wonderful rest of your week.

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