A healthy leader is a good leader.
Diet and exercise and rest are important to good health.
But it can be difficult to keep up with all of those all of the time.
Leaders are busy people.
It’s hard to imagine being on top of all of those things all of the time, plus doing well at all of our leadership duties and personal responsibilities.
But it’s not that hard to imagine doing just one thing in just one area, is it?
What if you just ate better?
What if you ate healthier, natural, nutritious food? Would that be a big step in the right direction?
I bet it would. Even if you didn’t eat healthy all of the time.
One Meal Per Day
It would probably help quite a bit if you ate even just one healthy meal per day.
That seems achievable, doesn’t it?
Now, imagine doing that, starting tomorrow morning. Because you can get started right away. And it will make a big difference.
I will show you how.
I know that mornings are busy. But, of all the parts of the day, you probably have the most control over what happens in the morning. After that, things can get crazy and become difficult to wrangle back under your control.
So, our strategy will be to attack early. We will make our move before things get too out of hand.
Mornings is where you have the best shot. Unless you are traveling, you have total control of your environment.
You Are In Control
The food in the fridge is the food that you put there. You control the menu of options.
So, what if you put just one healthy option on the menu? And what if you selected that option every morning?
That would give you a quick, easy, and efficient way to eat at least one healthy meal each day. What’s great about this is that you will be starting your day with a healthy meal. That gives you good fuel early.
It also starts your day with a strategic action. What better way for a busy leader to kick off her day?
Two Kinds of Energy
You are giving yourself fuel. And a nice little morale boost. Your energy is likely to be higher when you know you are doing something important and strategic. It feels empowering to exert that sort of control over a situation.
Busy Morning Breakthrough
The only problem with our plan so far is that busy people tend to have busy mornings.
Let’s standardize the recipe. That leaves all the decision making out of the morning routine. And it allows you to establish a repeatable process.
What if you had one easy to make, super-healthy morning meal that required only a few simple ingredients? One that didn’t even require cooking?
The Success Shake!
Fresh, healthy food, blended into a smoothie is one of the quickest, easiest, and healthiest ways to start your day. And it’s easy.
Here is the formula:
1.5 cups of water
1 banana
1 tablespoon of almond butter (like peanut butter but made from almonds)
1 tablespoon of flax seeds
1 big handful of kale
1 cup of frozen organic raspberries
1/2 teaspoon of fresh lemon or lime juice
I’m not a nutritionist. And I didn’t create this formula. I just know that it’s packed with all sorts of healthy stuff.
Kale is often referred to as a “super food.” Flax seeds are apparently full of omega-3. And almond butter contains protein.
What I do know is that this is definitely healthier than any other breakfast I’ve ever had. It also tastes great and takes less than 5 minutes to make.
I’ve been having this drink — what I like to call the Success Shake — every day now for over 120 days. It’s a great way to start the day.
Even if I fall off the wagon later in the day, which I often do, I know that I started my day with something healthy.
Over time, it has also influenced other eating choices that I make throughout the day. Those choices tend to be healthier because I’ve started my day with healthy intent.
Your Recipe for Healthy Success
The secret is to find something that works for you. Feel free to copy the success shake. Or make up your own.
Maybe you already have a favorite recipe for something similar. Now is the time to include it in your daily regiment. Make it part of your healthy start.
Do something simple.
Do something easy.
Do something quick.
Do something that you can repeat every day for at least 30 days. Once you hit the 30 day mark, it will start to become a habit.
What’s great about developing a solid habit is that it starts to feel weird to break a habit. It would certainly feel odd to me now to start my day any other way than with the success shake.
Take leadership of this one thing and improve your leadership capabilities for the entire day. Every day.
