What’s Your One Word?

“One Word That Will Change Your Life” will inspire you to simplify your life and work by focusing on just ONE WORD for the entire year. Yes, just One Word can create clarity, power, passion, and life.

Last spring Coach Boyle passed this book out to everyone on staff. His one word? Being a better HUSBAND. To be a better husband, he’d also have to be a better father, which would mean he’d have to manage his time better, therefore, he would have……

We call this the snowball effect. Everything you choose to do because of your one word positively effects all the actions that follow. Alwyne Cosgrove wrote one of my favorite articles of all time “The Goal Snowball” about this very topic. #SmallWins

My One Word this year? SLEEP.

Over the past 3 years I’ve run myself into the ground. I was averaging between 4.5 and 5 hours of sleep every night. That includes most weekends. WHY you ask? I caught the “success” bug. My whole life became the pursuit of success, knowledge, and paying off my school loans.

This video explains my thought process perfectly….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfoFGGyRvU

*Scroll to 3:00 min – “Some of you want too sleep more than you want to be successful!”

Monday through Friday my first client was at 5 am. I’d work until 5 pm, then I’d try to beat traffic to get to massage school from 6 to 10 pm. Saturdays I either worked 6 to 3 or had class 9 to 5. At one point I was working Sundays too, but even I have my limits.

I chose that road for myself. I don’t regret it, and no one forced me to do it. And I did pay off my school loans, in only two years.

With that being said, my body and mind paid for it…. (see picture below)

For the past 24 days I am proud to say I’ve slept 7+ hours a night. I feel like a whole new person. My mood and productivity specifically. Check out my Heart Rate Variability scores & Average Resting Heart Rates from a week in October, that I wasn’t sleeping, to this past week…. *My average resting heart rate was in the mid 70’s!! Not good. 

(Heart Rate Variability aka HRV = how ready/able is your body to recover from the stress that you are about to put on it. Anything above 80 for me is great. Anything below that means I’m in trouble. October, I was in trouble)

Nov-13	HRV	Avg HR		Jan-14	HRV	Avg HR
10/30/13	69.4	70.3		1/6/14	83.9	62.7
11/5/13	75.7	63.4		1/7/14	76.8	62.9
11/6/13	70.6	78.1		1/8/14	84.4	60.7
11/8/13	69.4	75.3		1/10/14	83.3	64.4
11/13/13	69.8	76.3		1/11/14	85.7	54.9

The goal for the rest of the year is 7 hours a night. January 1st I changed my schedule around to accommodate my goals. Maybe that means I take a few less clients and cut down on the weeknight socials, but you only get one body, take care of it.

What’s your one word? http://getoneword.com

Recommended Reading:  I had 5 articles ready to share but I scrapped them after I found this TED talk. Russell Foster; cites every major study done on sleep, explains why we need it, shows sleeps harmful effects if you don’t get enough, and how you can get the best nights sleep of your life. Take the 20 minute to sit down and watch it. It could change your life.

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This article was written by Movement As Medicine co-owner and CFSC Coach Brendon Rearick. He can be contacted at brendonrearick@gmail.com