Take More Steps, Live Longer

Most of us have heard we should be logging 10,000 steps a day to stay healthy and fit. 

That guidance originated decades ago with a marketing campaign in Japan designed to promote a pedometer. 

The 10,000 number has since caught on around the world and is often the default daily goal setting in smartphone apps and fitness trackers. 

But the original basis for the number was not scientifically determined.

Now more recent research has given us a better understanding of the relationship between daily steps and overall health. New findings on this topic were just published in March 2020 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

Researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute on Aging, as well as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that the number of steps a person takes each day does indeed have a strong association with mortality.

For the study, the researchers tracked nearly 5,000 U.S. adults aged 40 and over who wore accelerometers between 2003 and 2006, and then followed their mortality status through 2015 via the National Death Index. 

The investigators were able to isolate the association between mortality and step number by adjusting for demographic and behavioral risk factors, body mass index, and health status at the beginning of the study.

The findings revealed that a greater number of daily steps was significantly associated with lower all-cause mortality. 

More specifically, taking at least 8,000 steps per day was associated with a 51% lower risk for death from all causes compared with taking 4,000 steps per day or less. 

Going up to 12,000 steps per day was associated with a 65% lower risk of dying compared with taking 4,000 steps.

Although correlation does not necessarily mean causation, based on this new data everyone should aim to tally at least 8,000 steps per day, and going beyond that is even better (presumably there is a point at which it becomes too much activity, but that isn’t a meaningful risk for most people).  

If 8,000 steps sounds daunting, note that this recent research found no association between step intensity and risk of death after accounting for the total number of steps taken per day. 

This is consistent with data from the world’s Blue Zones where people live the longest — they engage in routine natural movement throughout the day, but don’t pump iron, run marathons, or join gyms. 

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This new research proves once again that our bodies were designed to move. 

Take more steps, live longer. 

But you can take those steps on your own terms, without suffering through dreaded workouts. 

The key is to be consistent and to stay active every day.

The Real Secret of Brain Health

Dr. John Ratey has studied the brain for more than 40 years.

As a psychiatrist, he has always been interested in how we can make our brains function better. And while he appreciates the magic of modern medicine, he has found that lifestyle factors have the most profound effects on the brain.

In particular, he has found that exercise is the No. 1 thing we can do for brain health.

I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Ratey last week at his office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to learn more about the effects of exercise on the brain, and what we can all do in our own lives to reap the benefits.

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Dr. Ratey grew up as a competitive junior tennis player in Pennsylvania and competed in the US Nationals, so he was exposed to the power of sports and exercise from an early age.

And he was always fascinated by the brain, earning his first job out of college at Harvard’s Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC).

But it wasn’t until attending the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in the ’70s that he really began to understand the causal link between exercise and brain health.

During that time, he learned about a hospital in Norway that was offering depressed patients to take either antidepressants or participate in an exercise program three times a day. Remarkably, both groups got better at the same rate.

That really piqued Dr. Ratey’s interest and he started to more closely follow exercise in the medical literature. His focus turned to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) when he learned about a Boston Marathon runner who developed symptoms of ADD after a knee injury forced him to stop running. The runner went to see Dr. Ratey and was put on ADD medication. However, after his knee was rehabbed and he was back training again, it was determined the medication was no longer necessary. That was back in 1982.

Dr. John Ratey

Since that time, Dr. Ratey has established himself as one of the world’s foremost authorities on the brain-fitness connection. He has written numerous bestselling books, including the groundbreaking ADD-ADHD Driven to Distraction series, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, and Go Wild. He is currently a clinical associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

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Today, people have become much more aware of the effects of exercise on the brain.

Dr. Ratey said public interest in this topic really took off in the mid ’90s and it’s never stopped.

“Today we just know so much more about what exercise does,” Dr. Ratey told me. “It is simply incredible how powerful it is for the brain. Forget about its effect on blood pressure, sugar loads, weight, buffing you up, all that. That’s a given. But the effect on your brain is amazing.”

The health and wellness boom over the last decade, and related media coverage, has exploded our awareness of what exercise can do to improve mood, anxiety, stress, learning, creativity, and motivation. Dr. Ratey said exercise is also the No. 1 weapon to prevent against brain erosion (including dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease), cancer, and inflammatory disorders.

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Most people already know about the benefits of exercise by now, so I wanted to ask Dr. Ratey to prescribe the perfect type of exercise for the brain.

“The best exercise is something that you enjoy, with someone, done outside, in nature, and something that you’ll come back to,” he told me.

He said the ideal exercise is something that will get your heart rate up and force you to use your brain. You have to pay attention when you’re outside, which is why a trail run is much better than running on the treadmill, for example (Dr. Ratey has the trail running injuries to prove the concentration required).

But I was a bit surprised when he went on to discuss the ultimate exercise for the brain.

“I always tell people, the best exercise probably that you can do is dance,” said Dr. Ratey.

He did qualify that he meant vigorous dance that gets your heart rate up, not just flailing around. The reason dance is so powerful for the brain is because you have to practice and mentally focus on the right movements. Additionally, you have to follow music, and often stay in rhythm with a partner or group. All of that puts an incredible demand on your brain.

“The more demand on the brain — it’s just like the more demand on your muscles — the more you’re going to build,” said Dr. Ratey.

In terms of cardiovascular exercise, Dr. Ratey is a huge fan of high-intensity interval training. “The more demand on your cardiovascular system, the better it’s going to be,” he said.

He also highly recommends squash. “That’s an incredible game,” he said. “High-intensity, probably the best aerobic workout I can think of.”

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So does Dr. Ratey follow his own advice?

Best practices are fine, but I wanted to know what he actually does in his own life.

“My routine has always been to stay very active,” he said.

Dr. Ratey has always had a habit of exercising in the morning. He has found the cognitive and emotional benefits of morning exercise stick with him long after the workout has finished.

He was an avid squash player for 30 years until a shoulder injury caused him to stop most racket sports. But even when he was a serious squash player, variety was always paramount.

In those early days, he would supplement his squash by going to the gym in the morning for weight training and a treadmill or elliptical workout. He was even one of the earliest adopters of the StairMaster, keeping one in his house (“We were animals on it!” he told me).

These days he does a lot of walking and running. On the day of our conversation, Dr. Ratey had gone for a morning run around the Charles River in Cambridge, and he was signed up to run a 5K over the weekend.

He also has a personal trainer come to his house twice a week for weight training. Although Dr. Ratey still does most of the exercises on his own, the trainer helps prevent injuries.

Dr. Ratey also spends a lot of time in Los Angeles with his wife, and they routinely start their west coast days with a morning 1.5 hour hike.

He and his wife have always been serious exercisers. Even their vacations are chock full of physical activity.

“Our ideal vacation is a place we go to called Rancho La Puerta, where you get up at 6am with a group of people,” he said, telling me the full group can be as large as 150 people. “And we climb a mountain for 2 or 3 hours in the desert in Mexico. And come down. And then every hour on the hour during the day there is another exercise activity you can participate in — yoga, tai chi, dance, spinning, the gym, circuit training.”

That’s Dr. Ratey’s perfect vacation. So you get the idea about the role exercise plays in his life.

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Putting it all together, I wanted to see what recommendations Dr. Ratey has for all of us to preserve our brains as we age.

“The secret of brain health in general is knocking down inflammation,” he said.

There are a number of ways to decrease inflammation, but he says exercise tops the list. “It’s the No. 1 recommendation for cancer treatment,” he said. “No. 1 is exercise. After obviously treating the cancer. But why? Because it boosts the immune system so greatly.”

After that, you have diet. Dr. Ratey says diet is probably as important as exercise, especially as we learn more about the microbiome and what food does to our body and our brains.

“I recommend to my patients and to everyone, limit your carb intake,” he said. “Especially processed food, which has mainly carbs in it.” He also advises to keep sugar levels in check, and to get sufficient protein and vitamins from your food (not from a pill).

One diet trend Dr. Ratey believes could have a beneficial impact is a daily fast — not eating from dinner the night before until lunch the next day. Most people say you can’t miss breakfast, but “Yes, you can,” says Dr. Ratey. “Because fasting is a way of stressing the body and stressing the brain in a very non-toxic way. And when you stress the body and the brain, you build it.”

Finally, Dr. Ratey stresses the importance of social connection for brain health. He said our addiction to electronic devices is stealing from our face-to-face human interaction with other people (not to mention, causing sleep deprivation which has negative health effects — Dr. Ratey doesn’t allow any screens in his bedroom). The addictive nature of screens is arguably the biggest problem in today’s world, according to Dr. Ratey. But exercise can be a very powerful antidote — especially exercise that fosters social bonding.

That’s why he is a huge proponent of joining a club or group exercise classes. He cited the amazing social networks (real, human social networks) that are built at fitness groups like Orangetheory and CrossFit. He said clubs like that bring together a wide mix of people who form genuine friendships around the common goal of improving their exercise. “A big part of the magic there is how the connection makes everything better,” said Dr. Ratey.

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Exercise. Diet. Social Connection.

With the major boxes checked, I asked Dr. Ratey if he had any final tips for brain health and longevity.

That’s when he was reminded of how a spry 92-year-old once answered that question:

“Sex!”

Of course, it probably helps to have a good sense of humor in the long run as well.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for health, happiness, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

My Philosophy on Diet and Exercise

There is a lot of complicated and confusing information out there about diet and exercise.

But that is primarily because “experts” want to sell books or patent their own method.

In reality, the true experts agree on the fundamentals that are most important for a healthy life. And that shared understanding is what is most important to know and incorporate into our own routines.

I have read countless books and articles about diet and exercise, and experimented for many years with what works best in my own life. After all of my learning and testing, here are my key takeaways on diet and exercise:

Diet

There is no doubt that diet plays a central role in health and vitality.

The one thing that all experts agree on is the bulk of your diet should be fruits and vegetables. If you follow just that one piece of advice and make fruits and vegetables at least 50% of what you eat, you will be light years ahead of most other people.

Eat a variety of whatever fruits and vegetables you like (the only things that don’t count are white potatoes or any type of fried vegetables like French Fries). There are valuable nutrients in all fruits and vegetables, so fill your plate with them. If you do that, you will also be crowding out most of the bad stuff.

The rest of your plate can be filled with healthy protein and whole grains. If you are vegan or vegetarian, you can get protein from all kinds of beans, nuts, and seeds. If you eat meat, it is fine to add in some fish, chicken, or beef. But meat should be considered a side dish or condiment, not the main course. Avoid processed meats, such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and cold cuts.

Whole grains provide a great source of fiber. You can round out your plate with unprocessed whole grains such as oats, quinoa, or wild rice. Minimize processed grains such as bread and pasta, unless you are an especially savvy shopper and know how to avoid the junk (which is hidden in nearly all packaged bread these days).

Applying this philosophy, a great meal would be a large salad with lots of veggies, quinoa, and some salmon. Or a veggie stir fry over wild rice. Or oatmeal with a heavy dose of mixed berries and walnuts.

If you build your plate around fruits and vegetables, and round it out with healthy protein and whole grains, there just won’t be room for the real problem foods (such as white bread and pasta, and packaged sweet and salty foods). And even when you do indulge from time to time, it won’t be that big of a deal if you normally eat according to this philosophy.

As for beverages, drink water, tea, and coffee (without milk/cream or sweeteners ). A little bit of alcohol is okay, but limit it to a drink or two at night. Avoid sugary drinks such as fruit juice and soda.

This all probably sounds like common sense eating principles, and that is exactly the point. Stick with these basics and forget all of the other complicated stuff. You will be much healthier as a result.

Exercise

Movement should be an essential part of daily life.

The current exercise guidelines call for 150–300 minutes of exercise per week, which equates to about 30–40 minutes of exercise per day, assuming you exercise most days. I think that gets it about right.

I recommend dedicated cardio exercise for at least 30 minutes per day, with 1–2 off days per week (which would give you at least 150 minutes of exercise for the week right there). I personally go for a 30-minute run in the morning at least 5 days per week, but your form of exercise can be whatever you enjoy most (walking, swimming, cycling, etc.). And feel free to mix it up from one day to the next. I run at a moderate pace, just enough to make me breathe heavy and get a sweat going.

I also recommend some of your exercise be a bit more vigorous (in addition to, or in place of, some of your moderate exercise days). I turn up the intensity by playing squash 1-2 times per week, which taxes my body and my mind with the complex movements and strategy involved. You can dial it up a bit with a sport you enjoy (e.g. soccer, basketball) or any other type of workout that you like (Peloton, group fitness classes, etc.).

You should also build in some strength training and flexibility exercises at least two days per week. You could make this a part of your weekly routine by doing yoga and/or light weights on your cardio off-days (or lighter workout days). While the bulk of your workout routine should be cardio, incorporating some strength training will keep your muscles and bones strong, and flexibility training will keep your body loose and pliable (counteracting the cardio which tends to tighten you up).

To summarize, get at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise nearly every day. Dial up the intensity for 1–2 of the workouts. And round out your routine with strength training and yoga 1–2 days per week.

Beyond your dedicated workouts, use your body as your mode of transportation as much as possible. Walk or ride your bike to work or to the store if that is a possibility. Make it a habit of always taking the stairs. If your default mode is to use your body to get places, you will rack up even more meaningful physical (and mental) benefits.

If you do track your activity, a good goal is at least 10,000 steps per day (factoring in your dedicated workouts and all other activity throughout the day).

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There you have it — my philosophy on diet and exercise. This approach takes into account all of my learning and personal experiences, and is built around basic and highly-effective guidelines.

I truly believe if you eat and move in this manner, you will add energy to your days and healthy years to your life.

Andrew Merle writes about living well, including good habits for health, happiness, productivity, and success. Subscribe to his email list at andrewmerle.com.

Why I Go Offline for 12 Straight Hours Each Day

I go offline from 8pm - 8am every day.

This means that I disconnect from email, social media, and internet for 12 consecutive hours each day.

This habit initially started with avoiding email first thing in the morning and last thing before bed, based on advice from from Tim Ferriss in the The 4-Hour Workweek. He said that one simple change would be a life-changer, and it has been for me.

I then extended to a full digital detox for 12 straight hours — including about eight hours of sleep and two hours immediately after waking and two hours just before going to sleep — after reading the book The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey.

I have been able to stick with this “12-on, 12-off” approach for the last several years and find that it greatly increases my overall productivity and peace of mind.

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Disconnecting for 12 straight hours isn’t as hard or extreme as it might sound.

Roughly eight of these hours are spent sleeping, which I now prioritize based on sleep’s proven health benefits. I keep my phone on airplane mode during this time to prevent unwanted disturbances (I can be reached on my land line in case of emergency). I have personally found the ideal sleep hours to be 10pm - 6am (or 5:30am depending on the morning), in order to maximize my mornings and evenings while still getting enough rest.

Upon waking, I like to start the day with 10 minutes of meditation, 30 minutes of exercise (usually running outside), and then enjoy a cup of coffee while getting ready for work, followed by breakfast with my family.

This morning routine puts me in the right frame of mind to tackle the rest of the day and be “all in” at work. I also find that many of my work breakthroughs or ‘aha’ moments come during these pre-online morning hours. All of this would be derailed if I checked email or went down the rabbit hole of social media first thing in the morning.

I try to keep my work day to 9 hours (10 at most) because productivity has been shown to go down dramatically after that point, and I can feel this dropoff. I also find that setting hard office hours forces me to get my work done in that amount of time, much like a work deadline does. Getting home by 6 or 6:30pm (most of the time) enables me to spend time with my family, eat dinner, and then do a last check of email if necessary.

I then like to spend the last 1–2 hours before bed offline, taking care of personal items, hanging with family, and relaxing after the long day (which for me includes reading, writing, enjoying a glass of wine, or watching TV).

Checking email too close to bed makes my mind race with all of the things I need to do, making it very challenging to fall asleep. I am better prepared to read and respond to those emails the following day when I have the time and am well-rested.

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All of this means that I am offline for 12 hours per day — from about 8pm - 8am (this window can shift up or back by 30 minutes on any given day). I also try to avoid email and social media for one day each weekend.

Keeping this schedule enables me to prioritize the things that are most important in my life — my family, my health, and my work. If I was always connected and attached to my phone or computer, I am sure that each of those three buckets would suffer.

Your schedule likely looks a bit different than mine, and that is to be expected. This is not a prescription for exactly how you should structure your time, or intended to be a one-size-fits-all approach. You should find the routine that works best for you. But I do believe that we all need enough time offline to gain perspective and make time for the things that truly matter.

I have found that balancing my online and offline time helps me to achieve balance in my life overall.

The Secret to True Happiness and Making a Unique Impact on the World

What if I told you that there is one main secret to true happiness?

And that this secret also guarantees that you will make a truly unique impact on the world?

And live a fulfilling life without regret?

It turns out that this secret does exist.

It is actually incredibly simple.

And it is something that you have and nobody else does.

The secret is being yourself and totally owning it.

Or as Neil Pasricha, #1 bestselling author of The Happiness Equation, says, “Be you and be cool with it.”

As he describes, “There is nothing more satisfying than being loved for who you are and nothing more painful than being loved for who you’re not but pretending to be.”

How true.

This point is validated by the number one regret of the dying, which is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”

Of course a key word in that line is “courage.” While being yourself is a simple concept, it is challenging to implement.

But it is worth striving for. Every day.

And only you know exactly what that means for you.

As Pasricha says, “Settling in to your true, weird, authentic self isn’t easy, but it’s the most satisfying way to have everything.”

If you are already living a life true to yourself, continue down that path. It is the right one.

On the other hand, if you sense that you could lean in to being you even more, do it.

Whatever you love to do, resolve to do more of it.

Don’t have the same regrets when you look back on your life.

Be you and be cool with it.

It is the secret to happiness, fulfillment, and making a truly unique impact on the world.

As Oscar Wilde said, “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.”

The Benefits and Simplicity of Meditation

I recently wrote a piece ranking the Top 20 Habits for Happiness, Health, Productivity, and Success. The list is subjective, based on my research, reading, learning from experts, and personal experimentation over the years.

Although the list has generally been well-received, readers pointed out one noticeable omission:

Meditation.

While there are habits on the list that relate to mindfulness (e.g. Singletasking — Doing one thing at a time and paying attention while doing it), meditation as a specific habit doesn’t show up.

And that’s because I had never tried it.

There is an abundance of information out there about meditation, but until now I hadn’t really paid much attention to it.

But now that I’ve had a chance to take a closer examination, the benefits are undeniably profound.

Meditation improves our physical health, including lowering blood pressure, boosting the immune system, and increasing our ability to cope with stress.

And meditation has been shown to bolster our minds — actually changing the brain in ways that lead to reduced levels of anxiety and depression, improved attention and concentration, better self-control, and greater overall psychological well-being.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that meditation is a favorite practice among celebrities and business leaders alike. Steve Jobs was famous for his devotion to mindfulness and meditation as a pathway to stress reduction, mental clarity, and creativity. And here are just a few more examples of high-profile people who de-stress with meditation:

• Jack Dorsey, CEO and Co-Founder of Twitter and Square, wakes up at 5am every day to meditate
• Oprah Winfrey has a meditation ritual that she practices every morning
• Anderson Cooper attended a week-long mindfulness retreat for a story we was working on, and the experience was so impactful that he now integrates meditation and mindfulness into his everyday life
• Jennifer Aniston says her daily meditation practice kick-starts her day, reduces her stress levels, and makes her happier
• LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner blocks out time on his calendar every day to think and meditate, and has talked about the importance of meditation in the business world

All of these benefits and examples had me ready to get started, but I was still under the impression that meditation was a mysterious, long and complicated process reserved primarily for Buddhist monks.

But it turns out that meditation is actually incredibly simple, as I learned while reading Chris Bailey’s best-selling book, The Productivity Project. In fact, only a few minutes of meditation can produce amazing results.

Meditation is this easy (adapted from Bailey’s book):

1. Find someplace quiet where you won’t be interrupted, and sit upright in a relaxed but alert position (a chair works well for most everyone)
2. You can keep your eyes open or closed, whatever helps you feel more alert and focused
3. Set a timer for how long you want to meditate (it is recommended to start with 5–10 minutes. Bailey, for example, now meditates for 30 minutes per day)
4. Focus on your breath. Don’t try to control or analyze your breath; just observe it and the physical sensations that take place in your body as you breathe in and out
5. When your mind wanders — and it will wander — just bring your attention back to focus on your breath and the physical sensations. You’ll have to do this repeatedly while you meditate

That’s it. And this simple practice, as Bailey says, “helps you regain control over your attention — and by extension, your brain — and prevents it from wandering when you don’t want it to.”

This simplicity had me ready to take the plunge.

While this all seemed easy enough to do myself, as a total newbie I decided to get started with guided, 10-minute meditations via the Headspace app upon the recommendation of a friend.

I just completed the first 10 consecutive days and it has been a simple and welcoming way to get going. I just press play and am guided through the process each day, and have settled into a nice routine. I have been meditating for 10 minutes first thing in the morning, followed by exercise (on most days I go for a 30-minute run in the morning).

I’m only at the very beginning of integrating meditation into my daily life, but I already appreciate the way it clears my mind, slows me down, and centers me for the day ahead.

I’ll share more experiences as I make meditation an ongoing daily habit, but I am now convinced of its remarkable benefits and surprising simplicity.

Top 20 Habits for Happiness, Health, Productivity, and Success

I am fascinated with the habits that affect happiness, health, productivity, and success. I read everything I can get my hands on related to these topics and continuously experiment with new tactics to see what works in my own life. Based on my research, reading, learning from the experts, and personal experimentation, here are the 20 best habits that I have found for happiness, health, productivity, and success.

20. Be generous — Spending money on other people has been shown to lead to greater well-being and happiness than spending it on yourself.

19. Ask more questions — And actually listen to the answers. Creativity and leadership expert Paul Sloane, author of 17 books including The Innovative Leader, believes that asking questions is the single most important habit for innovative thinkers.

18. Make Your Bed — Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author and happiness researcher, says “When I was researching my book on happiness, this was the number one most impactful change that people brought up over and over.”Making your bed starts a chain reaction of other productive habits throughout the day.

17. Celebrate — Pause to enjoy your successes before moving on to the next thing. David Campbell, former senior fellow with the Center for Creative Leadership, said it best: “Celebrations are the punctuation marks that make sense of the passage of time; without them, there are no beginnings and no endings. Life becomes an endless series of Wednesdays.”

16. Smile — The simple act of smiling reduces stress and increases happiness, even if you’re faking or forcing the smile. Putting on a happy face actually makes you happier.

15. Buy experiences, not things — An extensive amount of research shows that experiences actually bring people more happiness than material goods.

14. Say no more often — Trying to do everything usually means not doing anything very well. Journalist and success researcher Shane Snow says that often “the thing holding us back from success is our inability to say no.”

13. Be on time — Being on time is one habit that accomplishes two very important things — it melts away stress and improves relationships at the same time. New York Times best-selling author Greg McKeown recommends adding a 50% buffer to the amount of time you estimate something will take in order to show up on time.

12. Choose a good attitude — Attitude is a decision that we make every day (and often throughout each day). Strengthen relationships and increase your chances of success by deciding to have a good one.

11. Block off time on your calendar to think — Take inspiration from Bill Gates, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos by building uninterrupted thinking time into your schedule.

10. Don’t check email first thing in the morning or last thing before bed — This approach is championed by Tim Ferriss who says that email first thing derails your priorities for the day and email right before sleeping gives you insomnia. Putting this into practice has been a life-changer for me.

9. Do one thing at a time — Do one thing at a time and pay attention while doing it. Giving our attention only to the task at hand enables us to accomplish more while feeling less anxious and less scatterbrained. On a related note, put your phone away when you are spending time with another person and give them your undivided attention.

8. Wake up early — Get a jump-start on the day and tackle your most important task first-thing. Take inspiration from early risers such as Richard Branson, Michelle Obama, Anna Wintour, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and more.

7. Limit your daily to-do list to your 3 most important items — And watch your productivity skyrocket. Chris Bailey, best-selling author of The Productivity Project, says this habit is one of the absolute best ways to positively impact your work and life on a daily basis.

6. Write down the 3 things you are most grateful for at the end of each day — Having an attitude of gratitude has been shown to improve mood and physical health. Lewis Howes, best-selling author of The School of Greatness,says “If you concentrate on what you have, you’ll always have more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”

5. Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. — This is the philosophy endorsed by renowned author and food researcher Michael Pollan. Eat your way to health with these 50 foods, recommended by neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter.

4. Read — Reading is one habit ultra-successful people have in common. Business leaders such as Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Elon Musk say reading has been critical to their success.

3. Get 8 hours of sleep per night — Anything less won’t cut it, says Dr. Mike Dow, best-selling author of The Brain-Fog Fix. The experts recommendestablishing and sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day (including weekends).

2. Maintain close relationships — Social connection is the greatest predictor of happiness, according to Harvard researcher and happiness expert Shawn Achor who has studied the topic for more than a dozen years.

1. Exercise — “The single-most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function,” says John J. Ratey MD in his best-selling book Spark. Exercising daily (even for as short as 30 minutes) has changed my life more than any other habit!

These 20 habits have stood out for me as the best of the best.

How about you? What habits do you have that should be on the list?

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Andrew Merle writes about good habits for happiness, health, productivity, and success.  Follow him @andrewmerle on Twitter.

How To Get Your Best Night’s Sleep

You probably already know that sleep is one of the most important habits in our lives. Sleep has been shown to do all of the following:

• Improve learning, creativity, and memory
• Boost alertness and mood
• Support a healthy body weight
• Reduce the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia

These are just some of the benefits of sleep that Dr. Mike Dow talks up in his New York Times best-selling book, The Brain-Fog Fix.

And while these benefits of sleep might not surprise you, it could be eye-opening to learn that we are sleeping an hour less per night now than we did just a generation ago, and nearly three quarters of Americans report not getting enough sleep. In fact, a recent survey showed that Americans average just 6.5 hours of shut-eye per weeknight, which is less than all but one of the other countries included in the study (only Japanese slept less).

If that stat of 6.5 hours per night seems pretty good, Dr. Dow says to think again. He asserts that we need to be getting about 8 hours of sleep per night, and anything less just won’t suffice.

If you want to establish a healthy relationship with sleep, a good first step is to prioritize it in your life instead of always staying in overdrive. The experts also recommend to establish and stick to a consistent sleep schedule, ideally going to sleep and waking up at the same time every day (including weekends).

But what if you still just can’t seem to fall asleep?

Here are some tips from The Brain-Fog Fix for a consistent good night sleep:

• Regulate your wake and sleep cycles by exposing yourself to as much light as possible during the day, and limit exposure to light in the evenings
• Open your blinds and turn on lights immediately upon waking
• Go outside for a walk or a run in the morning to get some sunlight (and some exercise)
• At work, position your desk to face a window
• Nap in the mid-afternoon if needed (Keep it short to about 20 minutes so nighttime rhythms aren’t disrupted). This might not be realistic for everyone, but an increasing number of companies offer on-site nap rooms for a short midday snooze
• Shut off electronics close to bedtime, saying goodnight to your TV, phone, computer, and tablet at least an hour before you go to sleep
• Remove electronic devices from your bedroom altogether. A great way to spend time before sleeping is to read a real book under dim lighting
• If you absolutely must use your devices in the evening, make sure to turn them to the dimmest setting possible to reduce blue light exposure
• Take a hot shower or warm bath before bed for relaxation and to set your body temperature for sleep
• Keep your bedroom cool, between 66–68 degrees. However, make sure your feet are warm otherwise you might not be able to sleep (consider wearing socks)

I have also found that it helps to keep a notepad next to my bed to jot down anything on my mind at bedtime, including a short list of what I want to accomplish the next day. Getting these things out of my head and onto paper often provides the peace of mind to fall asleep. On a similar note, Lewis Howes, New York Times best-selling author of The School of Greatness, recommends the nightly practice of writing down the three things you are most grateful for. This is a great way to get in the right mental place at bedtime.

So whatever you’re doing late at night, shut it off and go to sleep instead. For most people, sleeping in is not an option and therefore going to bed earlier is the only way to get the recommended amount of sleep.

Hopefully the above tools and tips help you create the best sleep routine that works for you.

Sweet dreams!

Why You Should Choose A Good Attitude

You can choose a good attitude, starting today, and improve just about everything in your life.

Attitude is a decision that we make every day (and oftentimes throughout each day), and choosing to have a good one builds relationships and opens doors like few other habits or behaviors can.

New York Times best-selling author Jon Acuff covers this topic extensively in his excellent new book, Do Over. He says that choosing a good attitude “is the one thing you can do right this minute to actually shock your boss, improve your work relationships and dramatically increase your long-term odds of an awesome career.”

Acuff believes that deciding to have a good attitude is one of the best ways to be successful. And it makes sense — People want to help others who display gratitude, positivity, and optimism. Creativity also flourishes with an open 

The Science of Smiling

When we are happy, our natural response is to smile. But if you flip that around, does the reverse hold true? When we smile, is our natural response to then be happy?

Science says yes.

In fact, even faking or forcing a smile reduces stress and makes you happier.

That’s what psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman found when they conducted a clever study to test this connection. The researchers had their participants put chopsticks in their mouths to produce one of three facial expressions: a neutral expression, a standard smile (a “half” smile that stays located by the mouth), or a Duchenne smile (a big one, ear to ear). Only half of the 169 total participants were instructed to smile.

Then the participants were asked to do a series of stressful, multi-tasking activities (such as tracing a star with their non-dominant hand by looking at a reflection of the star in a mirror). The researchers monitored the heart rates and self-reported stress levels of the subjects while they completed the tasks.

The results showed that the people who were instructed to smile had lower heart rate levels and less stress after the activities, and this was especially true for those with the biggest Duchenne smiles. But even those who weren’t told to smile, yet had their mouths forced into a smile by the chopsticks, came out of the tasks feeling more content and less stressed than the neutral expression subjects.

Based on the findings, Sarah Pressman (one of the researchers who led the study) said, “The next time you are stuck in traffic or are experiencing some other type of stress, you might try to hold your face in a smile for a moment. Not only will it help you ‘grin and bear it’ psychologically, but it might actually help your heart health as well!”

Another study looked at the effect of facial expression on depression. The experimenters, Eric Finzi (Cosmetic Dermatologist) and Norman Rosenthal (Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown Medical School) worked with 74 subjects who all had major depression, and either gave them a Botox injection between the eyebrows that prevented frowning, or a placebo saline injection that did not affect the facial muscles.

The findings showed that, 6 weeks after the injection, 52 percent of the non-frowning Botox group showed a reduction in their depression, compared to only a 15 percent improvement rate for the placebo group. The results indicate that putting on a happy face actually makes you happier.

It seems that the simple act of a physical smile, authentic or not, tricks your brain into thinking you’re actually happy. Smiling also triggers us to think back to joyful memories, further improving mood.

In addition to lifting mood and reducing stress, other research has shown thatpeople who smile are thought to be more friendly and likeable, and smiling actually makes those around you cheerier as well.

All of this shows that the old sayings actually deliver great advice — it’s time to turn that frown upside down, grin and bear it, and say cheese!

Time Is Our Most Valuable Asset (And How To Get More Of It)

Research suggests that once people earn $75,000 per year, making additional money has no positive effect on emotional well-being and happiness. It seems that money is important to ensure our basic needs are met and a decent standard of living, but beyond that point there is little evidence that material purchases (including fancy homes and expensive cars) produce lasting happiness.

While much attention is given to monetary and material affluence, it appears as though time affluence is a better predictor of personal happiness. And, it makes sense — We are busier than ever, more technologically connected than ever, and often our days are spent rushing from one activity or obligation to the next. So the ability to gain control over our time, and direct it in the most meaningful ways, has become increasingly important.

Wall Street Journal best-selling author Jon Acuff believes that time is our most valuable currency, and I agree with him. In fact, Acuff asserts (in his inspirational book Start) that “time is the only honest indication of what matters to us.”

So, when you look at your calendar over the last day, week, month, or year, is your time spent consistent with what is important to you and the person you want to be — whether that’s experiences with family and close friends, making a difference in other people’s lives, pursuing a new business idea, learning a new skill or sport, working, exercising, or something else of significance? If not, the first step to spending your time more thoughtfully is to take control of your calendar.

But how can you rescue some time back in order to focus it in the most meaningful areas?

A good place to start is by saying “no” more often. As #1 New York Times best-selling author Tom Rath says, “The next time a new opportunity presents itself, think carefully before making an ongoing commitment. If it is something you feel you should take on, determine what other activity you might need to let go of. When you are struggling between two choices,remember there is always a third option: doing nothing. In many cases, declining both options is the best route.”

Trying to do everything usually means not doing anything very well. Perhaps that’s why journalist and success researcher Shane Snow says that often “the thing holding us back from success is our inability to say no.”

Snow notes in his book, Smartcuts, that some of the most successful people also save time by sticking to rigid routines and simplifying decision-making.This is why Steve Jobs often wore the same thing every day (black turtlenecks and Levi’s 501 jeans) and why President Barack Obama stocks his closet with only gray or blue suits. President Obama has said, “I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

And then of course we can actually buy time, a notion that is endorsed in the eye-opening book, Happy Money, about the best ways to spend our money. The authors, Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton, say that “by permitting ourselves to outsource our most dreaded tasks, from scrubbing toilets to cleaning gutters, money can transform the way we spend our time, freeing us to pursue our passions.” Yes, outsourcing costs money, but it’s a great use of it.

Dunn and Norton also talk about taking back time by reducing the hours we spend on two key activities — commuting and watching TV. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Americans spend more than 100 hours per yearcommuting to work, which is more than the two weeks of vacation that most workers take annually! Additionally, an American spends on average abouttwo months per year watching television! Of course television can produce a lot of pleasure, but we probably don’t need 4 hours of it per day.

There is no doubt that we live busy lives with many things competing for our attention. But we can take control of our calendar by implementing just some of the ideas in this article.

Say “no” more frequently. Establish routines to automate decision-making. Outsource unpleasant tasks. Live closer to work. Cut down on TV watching.

And, finally, unplug. Minimize interruption and distraction by checking email fewer times per day and disconnecting for a little while.

After a certain point, money and possessions don’t matter much. Time is more precious. So maximize your time and prioritize the things that are most important to you.

It’s actually pretty simple.

How will you spend your time?

How to Have an Attitude of Gratitude

It is that time of year when giving thanks is top of mind. The holiday season, and Thanksgiving in particular, causes us to think about all of the special things in our lives and express gratitude for them. This is a favorite time of year for many, in large part because we are surrounded by loved ones and visibly reminded of all that we have to be grateful for.

If you’re like me, you wish this feeling could last all year long. Just imagine feeling proud, thankful, and joyful on an ongoing basis, not only during the holiday season.

A major step in that direction is developing an “Attitude of Gratitude,” according to New York Times best-selling author Lewis Howes. Howes writes extensively about cultivating a grateful mindset in his highly-inspirational new book, The School of Greatness. As Howes simply says, “Life is better if you develop an attitude of gratitude.”

But what exactly does that mean and how do we do it?

An attitude of gratitude means making it a habit to express thankfulness and appreciation in all parts of your life, on a regular basis, for both the big and small things alike. As Howes puts it, “If you concentrate on what you have, you’ll always have more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.”

Here is a menu of tactics (just pick a few!) he endorses to help develop this mindset:

• Wake up every day and express to yourself what you are grateful for
• Tell whoever you are with at the end of the day the 3 things you are most grateful for
• Tell whoever you are with right now (significant other, friend, family member, etc.) the three things that you are most grateful for in this moment
• Start a gratitude journal — Express gratitude in this journal every night by noting the things that you are grateful for, proud of, and excited about
• Acknowledge yourself for what you have done and accomplished in the last day/week/month/year. Instead of comparing yourself to others, give yourself credit for the big and small things you have been doing!
• Acknowledge other people and thank them for inspiring/helping/supporting you — oftentimes people wait their whole lives to be acknowledged (and yet it happens far too infrequently)!

If the gratitude process is hard to get started, begin by asking yourself, “Whatcould I be grateful for?”, and see if the ideas start to flow. This is a mindset habit that is recommended by Tony Robbins in his book, Awaken the Giant Within.

Every day won’t be perfect, but focusing on what we are grateful for tends to wash away feelings of anger and negativity.

And in addition to improving mood, recent studies show that feeling and expressing gratitude leads to better physical health as well. Paul Mills, a Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, conducted studies that looked at the role of gratitude on heart health.

Among other things, he found that participants who kept a journal most days of the week, writing about 2–3 things they were grateful for (everything from appreciating their children to travel and good food), had reduced levels of inflammation and improved heart rhythm compared to people who did not write in a journal. And the journal-keepers also showed a decreased risk of heart disease after only 2 months of this new routine!

So try adopting some of the above tactics, even just one or two, in order to develop an overall grateful mindset. It takes a bit of work, but having an attitude of gratitude is one of the most impactful habits for a fulfilling and healthy life.

Here’s to Thanksgiving all year round!

This Habit Will Change Your Life

What if there was one habit that could achieve all of the following:

• Improve your learning ability and grow brain cells
• Alleviate stress, anger, anxiety, and depression
• Increase focus, attention, and alertness
• Improve mood
• Build self-control, resilience, and motivation
• Boost confidence and social activity
• Reduce the risk of age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other forms of Dementia

Not to mention strengthen your cardiovascular system, lower blood pressure, regulate glucose levels, reduce obesity, boost your immune system, and fortify your bones.

If one habit could do all of this, would you build it into your lifestyle?

It turns out that this habit does exist, and it has been scientifically proven to do all of the above.

This habit is called Exercise.

John J. Ratey MD details all of this in his best-selling book, Spark, calling exercise “the single most powerful tool you have to optimize your brain function.” Ratey is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, a widely recognized expert in Neuropsychiatry, and has conducted extensive research to prove the remarkable effects of exercise on the brain. I highly recommend Spark for anyone who would like to better understand how exercise improves brain health.

But if you are short on time and just want to quickly know what to do, here is Ratey’s recommended exercise regimen for optimal brain performance:

• At a minimum, we should be following the Public Heath recommendations which call for some type of moderate-intensity aerobic activity for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week.
• Going a step further, Ratey says it is best to do some form of aerobic activity 6 days a week, for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Go on the longer side for 4 of the days at moderate intensity (65–75% of your maximum heart rate), and then 2 of the days should be on the shorter side at high intensity (75–90%). Make sure not to do the high-intensity days back-to-back in order to let your body and brain recover.
• For your aerobic exercise, activities like running, cycling, or swimming are great, but the best type of aerobic activity is really whatever you will truly be able to build into your lifestyle. If you haven’t been active in a while, the best way to begin is to start walking.
• On your shorter, high-intensity days, add some form of strength or resistance training to build muscles, strengthen bones, and protect joints (do 3 sets of your exercises at weights that allows you to do 10–15 repetitions in each set).
• Make efforts to mix in more complex activities that will build skills, challenge the brain, and help you stay agile — for example rock climbing, martial arts, gymnastics, dance, yoga, pilates, or balance drills. Racket sports are especially great because they simultaneously tax the cardiovascular system and the brain. According to Ratey, “The combination of challenging the brain and body has a greater positive impact than aerobic exercise alone.”
• Ratey talks up the benefits of exercising with other people. Social interaction is great for health, reduces stress, and boosts motivation. “Exercise cues up the building blocks of learning, and social interaction cements them in place,” says Ratey. So consider joining an exercise group to get going and keep you on track.

Overall, Ratey’s advice for people is to “get fit and then continue challenging themselves.” He advises to do something almost every day, but keep your program flexible and keep adapting to try new things.

Exercise is incredibly powerful for both the mind and body. We’re awake for at least 16 hours each day. Spending just one of those hours (or even half an hour) exercising will be the most important thing you do all day!

Why You Should Take Your Eye Off The Ball

Many of us become so focused and determined to reach a goal, that we create tunnel vision in our relentless pursuit of the end result. We know what we want to achieve and obsessively follow the steps that we believe are necessary to get there.

And this system works…to a point. This single-minded approach is often highly productive and reliable. Grit and drive will generate consistent results, and are two of the most important qualities for success.

But they don’t necessarily yield breakthrough innovation or creativity.

Take those qualities and add a willingness to explore things off of the expected path, and you have a formula that can produce greatness.

This is a concept that best-selling author Frans Johansson writes about in his book, The Click Moment, which is about seizing opportunity in an unpredictable world. Johansson says, “You need to take time, even schedule time, to explore things that are not directly related to your immediate goal. You need to take your eyes off the ball in order to see and connect the possibilities around you.”

One of the examples Johansson uses is Howard Schultz, who traveled to Italy in 1983 to attend an international housewares show to look at kitchen appliances, coffeemakers, and other items with the intention of bringing them back to Starbucks stores in the US (Schultz at the time was Starbucks Director of Retail Operations and Marketing). Starbucks was not selling coffee by the cup at the time, instead focusing on home-brewing equipment and specialty beans. But it was Schultz’s experience walking around Milan and stumbling upon the city’s popular espresso bars (including the friendly baristas, opera music, comfortable chairs, and café lattes) that gave him the “aha” realization that coffee was meant to be communal and social, enjoyed in a friendly and public atmosphere. “It was like an epiphany,” Schultz said.

Schultz, now Starbucks Chairman and CEO, brought this communal coffee concept back to the U.S. and, needless to say, revolutionized his company and the entire coffee-drinking culture in America.

Just imagine if Schultz had stayed focused on the housewares convention and not explored Milan.

Johansson says that if we always keep our eyes on the ball, we lose the ability to notice what’s around us, and miss the opportunity to make surprising connections. As he says, “We are conditioned to focus on the business at hand. There’s something satisfying about predictable, steady progress. But this approach makes it difficult to expose ourselves to the unplanned moments that enable us to uncover the ideas and opportunities that others have not.”

Here are some tactics that Johansson recommends to create and capitalize on moments of deliberate randomness:

• Schedule time to do something unscripted or unplanned (this requires leaving some flexibility in your schedule and not packing it with meetings)
• Explore and search for inspiration in fields, industries, and cultures different from your own
• Create diverse working teams (across functions, backgrounds, cultures, genders, ethnicities, ages, interests, levels in the organization, etc.)
• Organize social events
• Attend conferences, lectures, museums, and shows not directly related to your field
• Read 5 magazines you have never read before (and are not directly tied to your business)
• Take a day off
• Listen to and follow your curiosity

Some of this might seem like a waste of time and a distraction from the task at hand. And sometimes that’s right. In fact, most people probably think this way. But that’s also why you can have a competitive advantage by taking your eye off the ball.

So change it up, give yourself a break, and you might just put yourself in the position to create unexpected and game-changing discoveries.

Make Your Bed Change Your Life

 

I make the bed every morning as one of my household “duties.” Now, perhaps this task is expected of me, but I also know that it makes me feel better before heading off to work. And it definitely makes me feel better to come home to a neat and clean bed at the end of a long day, instead of a rumpled one. Pretty obvious, right? On the surface, it makes perfect sense why I (and many millions of others) perform this “chore” daily.

But I didn’t realize that the simple act of making the bed just might be the world’s easiest success habit. Not because it automatically brings upon fortune and fame, but primarily because it starts a chain reaction of other productive habits.

As Charles Duhigg notes in his fascinating book, The Power of Habit, “making your bed every morning is correlated with better productivity, a greater sense of well-being, and stronger skills at sticking with a budget.” Making your bed is what he calls a “keystone habit,” something that kick starts a pattern of other good behavior. And since it happens at the very beginning of the day, you’re apt to make better decisions for the remainder of the day thanks to your bed-making routine (exercise is another good example of this concept).

Navy Seal William H. McCraven, commander of the forces that led the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, echoed the same sentiment in his 2014 commencement speech at the University of Texas. He advised graduates, “If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”

If success and productivity aren’t enough, turns out making your bed is also one of the most effective and easiest triggers of happiness. Gretchen Rubin, best-selling author and happiness researcher, says “When I was researching my book on happiness, this was the number one most impactful change that people brought up over and over.”

So if you want to accomplish something first thing in the morning, set off a chain reaction of other success-building habits, and contribute significantly to your happiness, perhaps start by making the bed and then let the rest fall into place!

And it only takes a couple of minutes. Sounds like a good deal to me. Sweet dreams!