Reading Time: 3 minutesThis is the suggested Well-Being Practice for week three of the challenge. If this practice does not work for you (for whatever reason), then you can choose from one of our 3 Foundational Well-Being Practices. If you are a veteran player or these three practices are not new to you, then feel free to select from our comprehensive list of Well-Being Practices.
This Week We’re Doing First Things First
Simple Instructions:
- Before you leave to start your “day,” get either your exercise or mobility points.
- For exercise, you do not need to do your full workout for the day, simply do something to get 10 minutes of activity or exercise before the busy part of your day starts.
- This could be done with a simple routine of sit-ups, squats, and push-ups, it could be a 10-minute walk around the neighborhood, 10 minutes of online yoga, or anything else you consider exercise.
Watch this video for an explanation of this Well-Being Practice from Whole Life Challenge co-founders Andy Petranek and Michael Stanwyck.
Why Is Doing First Things First Important?
What do we love more than lists? Checking things off lists! And why? Because it means we’re making progress in the things that matter.
The Whole Life Challenge is a game in building simple habits into your day that help you manage some of the things that matter — including your health and fitness. Turning a behavior into a habit is a learning process, though. And one of the best ways to find new habit-building strategies is to experiment.
My day is not always as predictable as I think it’ll be. Sometimes there are things that keep me at my desk. And, frankly, sometimes I’d rather keep working on what I’m working on than stop and go to the gym.
But when I get a small dose of exercise in at the start of my day, I feel much less stressed when that keep-working-or-go-to-the-gym decision time comes. If I can get to the gym, I go. If I really want to (or have to) stick to my work, flexibility is an option without feeling like I’m blowing it. The same goes with having something unexpected pop up in my day. It no longer throws my whole exercise plan for a loop.
So, this practice is not about “doing your workout” before you leave for work. It doesn’t mean you have to get up an hour and a half earlier, get ready, go to the gym for an hour, get home, clean up, and rush through breakfast before work just to get your Well-Being points for the day.
This week’s Well-Being Practice is actually a chance to start your day with a bang. To move or stretch to bring your energy up and to brush off the night’s cobwebs. It’s also a chance to take dominion — to find a new opportunity that matches up with your commitment — and to not let “the day” dictate how it’s going to turn out.
For More on This Practice
If you need ideas for a quick exercise or mobility session, check out these resources on our WLC blog:
- Targeted Stress Relief: 10-Minute Follow Along Yoga Flow with Sima
- 5 Easy Yoga Poses That Will Revitalize Your Tight Hips
- Exercise with Andy: Living Room Workout 45
- Andy’s Morning Mobility Routine: 2 Follow-Along Videos
- A Simple Bodyweight Workout You Can Do Anywhere
He graduated from UCLA with a BA in philosophy as well as a degree from the Southern California School of Culinary Arts, and feels food is one of the most important parts of a life - it can nourish, heal, and bring people together.
Michael believes health and well-being are as much a state of mind as they are a state of the body, and when it comes to fitness, food, and life in general, he thinks slow is much better than fast (most of the time). Stopping regularly to examine things is the surest way to put down roots and grow.
He knows he will never be done with his own work, and believes the best thing you can do for your well-being starts with loving and working from what you’ve got right now.
