Top 10 Productivity Strategies
& Healthy Habits for High Achievers

The 5 AM Miracle Podcast, hosted by Jeff Sanders

Episode #592: Top 10 Productivity Strategies & Healthy Habits for High Achievers

Jeff Sanders
Good morning and welcome to The 5 AM Miracle episode #592: The Top 10 Productivity Strategies & Healthy Habits for High Achievers.

I am Jeff Sanders and you have reached the podcast that is dedicated to dominating your day before breakfast.

I am a keynote speaker and corporate trainer and to learn more about that, head over to jeffsanders.com slash speaking.

Now, in the episode this week, I'll share the top 10 strategies you need to become your healthiest and most productive self.

Let's get to it.

So, you may have heard in the intro that I am a little bit snappier today, and by snappier, I mean caffeinated.

So my 30-day experiment to go caffeine.

Caffeine free ended yesterday.

And today is day one back on caffeine.

And let me tell you, my first impression with this was actually negative.

Yeah, weird.

So let me back this story up just a little bit.

First, I'll go to a lot of detail on my caffeine-free break on the show very soon.

Second, I was not sure that going back to caffeine would be a good idea.

And so this morning, I decided to have a little cacao powder.

in my morning supplements, and cacao from chocolate has some caffeine, but a very small

amount. And then I chose to have one green tea. Green tea historically has a very

low level of caffeine. And yet, with just 30 days off of caffeine, my tolerance

was absolutely reset. And that one green tea with that just a bit of cacao powder made me feel

a bit crazy. I am over the top. It feels like three espressoes. There is so much

caffeine buzzing through my brain right now. I'm a bit turned off by it. I honestly

am not sure what the future is going to hold and I'll go into once again more

details very soon. But my experience as of right now in this moment, about an hour and a half

post-green tea is I am wired. I am on edge. And of course the point of any stimulant or

healthy habits or energy booster is not to have the extreme version and get these

side effects from that.

The intention is positivity.

It is productivity.

It is healthy habits.

And this is a great conversation starter to dig into today's topic because the entire

point of this episode is for you to be as productive and healthy as possible.

The subtitle to this podcast.

So the show is called The 5 a.

miracle, but years ago, I added a subtitle of healthy productivity for high achievers.

And I mean that. I am dead set on the healthy version of you being your best self.

There's a long story of me with panic attacks and going to the ER 10 years ago,

and part of that story has resurfaced recently. Part of my experience from then came

back and was a stark reminder at how important it is to value your health more

than anything else. It is the foundation for your best self. It is the reason you are

able to be productive and achieve your goals. I can go on for a long time about this topic,

but one thing I want to make sure is very clear for the episode this week is that my

intention for you is to be your best and to make those subjective decisions with the best

information at hand and the best strategies and philosophies that allow you to be your

best. For a long time, I took the perspective that working hard was the best

strategy. And then I discovered that that was the wrong strategy, that working hard

leads to you burning out. And the better perspective on life and goal achievement

is a strategy first perspective and then execution. In other words, work smart and then work

And if that's the order of events, you actually will work less hard than before and get better results.

That's the best of both worlds we're going for.

So for that to be true.

Today, let's discuss your top 10 productivity strategies or philosophies for the healthiest high achiever version of yourself you can have.

When I discuss these strategies and or philosophies, by your perspective, I will then share the tactics that are tied.

to them that are examples for how to live out these strategies.

So as a simple example, a strategy or a philosophy that you may adopt for yourself

will rarely change.

They will stay consistent for years, decades, or even a lifetime.

These strategies and philosophies will be guiding foundations for you to wake up every

morning and say, this is what I believe in.

This is what I care about.

This is who I am as a person.

this is where I'm heading.

Now, the actual execution of those strategies, the tactics you use,

those can and will change frequently.

With each season of your life, with each goal that you pursue, with your

primary focus shifting as you get older and change jobs and change locations

and life is an evolving process.

What I do today to be healthy and productive is wildly different than what I did

even just a few months ago, let alone a few years.

or decades ago.

So my intention of the episode is not for you to get a standing desk or wake up

at 5 a.m.

Those are tactics.

Those can change.

My intention is for you to adopt the philosophies that will last a lifetime,

the kinds of perspectives that will lead to the long-term change that you can

rest your future in and really say this is what makes me the best and the output

of that, how it's expressed, can and will change, and that's a beautiful thing.

So that's the prequel to the episode, the preamble that sets the stage for this

conversation.

Let's now get to that first strategy.

The first strategy is to identify your purpose and your life and work.

Your why for everything that you do.

Think of your why as your connection to something bigger than yourself.

Because ultimately, the reason why you do whatever you do is probably not a self-centered perspective, though you may believe that it is initially.

Yes, your internal motivation is a big driver for what you do, but the why being a bigger vision is actually more of a draw for bigger goal achievement than something you do within yourself.

If you want to run a marathon, that may sound like an internal goal, but the why behind the marathon is so much bigger.

than just your own personal desire to cross a finish line.

The why for most people when they pursue something that sounds significant

is extravagant goal achievement.

It is pushing the boundaries beyond what's possible for them and that pours out

into the lives of those around them.

And so at first glance, your why could sound internal.

It could sound personal.

But the true driver for most success, the things that really get you out of

to bed at 5 a.m. in the morning are going to be things that lead to you

being able to serve others. They're going to be things that allow you to make a

bigger impact, way beyond the four walls of the house you live in. And so from that

perspective, if you're asking the question, how can I be the most productive I can

possibly be, the healthiest I can possibly be? Yes, you're going to take care of yourself

first. But that grander purpose that you attach to your time here on Earth, that

That's the thing that's actually going to allow you to leave those four walls of your house, go out into the world, and make a bigger impact that then comes back to serve you with more rewards than you could possibly imagine or the ones you would not be able to achieve had you stayed focused on yourself alone.

It's a very long-winded way of saying, go help someone else.

Go be valuable in the world.

Zig Zigler, who's a very famous personal growth author and speaker for many.

years had a very famous phrase that I still use today, which is that if you help

enough other people get what they want, you will get everything you've ever

wanted in return.

That's the case here.

We're asking you to not just be productive in check boxes or to wake up at 5 a.m.

and go for a run and have a smoothie.

Those are tactics.

Those are specific.

What I'm asking for us here today is to really think about the grander reason why all

these things happen to begin with. Because when you have a strong Y, you're able to

overcome the difficult days. You're able to get out of bed at 5 a.m. even when

you're tired. You're able to do the hard work when you don't want to. You're able to

resist temptation when you feel the desire to go towards it. You know, 15 years ago, I went

vegan. And when I did so, I only did so because I had a solid why for doing it. You're not

going to ditch animal products in your life without a reason to do so, something

that you can actually rest upon for years and decades to come.

When I went sober last year, I had a very strong why for doing so.

Big changes in your life require big purpose behind them.

And so if you try to do something, you try to change a habit or quit a bad habit

or become someone new, and you failed to do so consistently over time, you're

struggling, you're frustrated, it's not working, you've got to go back to the why.

The purpose is the driver for the success. It is the foundation that allows for

that change to be sustainable. So if you're struggling, if you're looking for

something that's going to push you forward in your next season, the very best place

to begin and end is your grander purpose, your reason for doing what it is that you do.

Second strategy this week is hunger.

I just interviewed Brian Tracy on the podcast, and Brian Tracy years ago recorded an audio program that I loved.

And one of the key ideas that he spoke to was the difference between

those who are successful and those who are not.

And he was asked this in an interview scenario and trying to nail down,

why would one person achieve great financial success, business success, personal health, and family, and their life just seems to be so pulled together.

And someone else is apathetic, they're tired, they're sick, they're broke, life's not working for them.

What's the foundational difference between the two?

And according to Brian Tracy, which I think is very astute and his analysis, the answer is hunger.

It's ambition.

It's a thirst for life.

It is a pursuit of growth and adventure and creativity and exploration and goals and optimization.

All of these key words that really add up to the idea that you want something more from your time than what you're currently getting.

You have a desire, an internal drive that says, I want to go accept.

experience life. I want to get out of those four walls of my house and see what's

possible and make things happen. It's not just that there's a purpose. A purpose is

great, but the execution of that purpose comes from hunger. It comes from a desire

and an ambition to actually go do the work. You can make plans all day. You can do

personal growth activities and write down all the reasons why your purpose is so

valuable to you. But if you don't act on it, if you don't do anything about it, you can

it's just a piece of paper.

The hunger is the thing that says,

not only do I understand my why and I care about it,

but here's the action plan to go make it happen.

Here's me doing the work.

Here's me on the trail, training and running the marathon.

Here's me in the office doing the great work.

Here is me being creative and exploring and trying new things.

You can't teach hunger, which is really difficult.

One of the biggest struggles that I have with,

this conversation is one of me asking myself when I don't feel really driven,

when I feel apathetic or tired or even sad or depressed, when I have those

negative emotions and I would prefer to have ambition and hunger and drive.

Why don't I?

What's the real difference there?

And I've told this a lot, this last 30 days without caffeine.

This has been a really big conversation for me and my wife because I've been pretty

down. Without the caffeine there, I've been less than normal. And I don't believe

that caffeine by itself is where ambition comes from. It's an internal thing.

But it is a really interesting question of which elements of your life can you

string together, which key habits add up to becoming the kind of you that wants more,

the kind of you that is willing to do the hard work, the right habits and lifestyle

and strategy that really put the pieces together for you to say, I am excited for

tomorrow morning. I want to get out of bed. I'm dying to wake up early because I have

so many amazing things to pursue. I cannot wait. I am stoked for tomorrow morning.

How do you get there? How do you get to that level of enthusiasm, that authentic

enthusiasm? Well, it's more than caffeine, sure. But I think that this is one of the bigger

we have to ask an answer for ourselves.

I don't have a direct answer for you.

I would love to say here's where hunger comes from.

But I think the better answer is identify that is something that you want.

And if that is true, then go after it.

Read great books.

Challenge yourself physically to be healthier.

Put yourself in the driver's seat to be surrounded by others who are pursuing things that you find to be fascinating.

Go where you are magnetized.

Go where you feel pulled.

and you'll find all the drivers

and motivation you could possibly imagine

in those arenas.

So hunger, though it may be

genetic and in part,

there's definitely a nature element

to you having the right pieces together

to have more of it.

And then of course, because of that,

actually achieve a lot more.

Let me pause for a second

and apologize for talking

a thousand miles an hour today.

I know I'm doing that.

I'm very aware of it.

The caffeine is just, it is pinging my brain faster and harder than you could imagine.

So I will do my best to chill out, but good luck, Jeff.

There we go.

All right.

Third strategy, physical fitness.

I love to work out.

And one thing that I have seen to be true across the board for my entire life is that when I am physically fit, I have more physical ability to do just about everything in my life.

Yes, I have a big speech about health being the driver for everything.

And health is more than just physical fitness, which I'll discuss in a minute.

But one thing I will say to that end is that when I am pursuing a physical fitness program, I am doing an exercise routine, there is cardio, there is strength training, there is movement in my daily life.

There is so much energy from that, so much confidence from that.

there's so much more of the best versions of me that are expressed because I feel

physically alive.

There are Enneagram profiles.

If you know that kind of personality analysis program, that point to kind of different

ways that you express parts of yourself.

And I am definitely a physical person.

My body matters more to me possibly than other people.

And by that I mean, when I am physically well, I am at my outside.

absolute best. And when I'm physically unwell, I crash hard. It's a ginormous

difference between me having a great day and a terrible day is how well my body

feels, which is why I'm so personally interested in the caffeine conversation and

exercise and daily habits and wake up times because I know the output for me is

dramatic. And so when physical fitness really hit me as an important component in my mid-20s,

when I began to run marathons.

I realized that there is something special here,

that when I have that dopamine hit that you get for the endorphins that you get for being outside and running and the cardio work and crossing finish lines, that I change as a person, that I actually not only am more enthusiastic about fitness itself, but I'm also then by default more enthusiastic about everything else I'm doing.

my job, time with my family, hobbies, extra pursuits, other goals, businesses.

It just, it brings me to life in a way that most things cannot do.

If you do not prioritize physical fitness on a daily basis,

and I literally mean seven days a week doing something that gets you up and moving,

I believe that should be one of your top priorities.

We can layer these things together, right?

Your purpose and life is there, this hungry and ambition to go pursue things.

and you use that hunger to go move.

Go physically move your body.

You can once again have tactics all day long

on which exact program to follow

and how you want to work out.

And I don't care what you do,

but I care that you do it.

I care that you move

because that's where the growth

and the education comes from.

That's where the improvements

and the finish lines will come from

is the pursuit of daily movement.

So care about your fitness.

Do so now if you do so now,

don't already do so. Amp it up. If you're already there, really make sure that that is

in alignment with your best self. Fourth strategy pairs right with physical fitness,

which is nourishment. And that's not like a code word for diet. Nourishment literally

means how you nourish your body. I heard this term a few years ago where someone was

talking about diets, talking about food and supplements and hydration. And there was this

around how we view food, our perspective on food. And if you ask my wife, for example, how she views food, oftentimes it's through the lens of, well, here are foods that I like to eat. This food has more sugar. This food is very tasty. This food's very appealing. This one's very filling. And I was talking to her about this. I'm like, well, the way that I have shifted my perspective on food was from that one to one of nourishment. And I did so specifically because of my physical fitness.

goals. My desire to run marathons, to lift weights in the gym every day, I want to

fuel my body. I want the things I put in my body to make my body function at its best,

to then allow me to go pursue the goals I care about, which is a very long-winded

way of saying, I'm not just going to eat things I like. I'm not going to view food

as an end goal in it of itself, that food is a means to an end. Food is nourishment.

It is what my body needs to function.

So I'm not going to kind of quote unquote look forward to a meal.

I'm simply going to view the meal as the necessary next step to give my body what it needs so I can then go do X, Y, Z.

You don't have to agree with me here.

This is my personal take on this.

But I really believe that a shift from food as an entity, as a treat, to a focus of food as nourishment, can radically change your relationship with.

food itself. It can lead to you making healthier choices, to resisting temptation,

to pursuing the foods that give you strength and energy and power and health

properties that you otherwise would be missing out on because you went for the cheaper,

more convenient, easier, tastier foods that are just so abundant today. If your goal

is true optimized health, I believe that your focus will naturally shift more towards

nourishment and less away from foods that are just healthy.

And so yes, my wife and I are both on a path of dietary changes.

We've been on a path together for the last few years.

But this conversation is one we have all the time because food is such a central

part of our daily lives.

Multiple times a day we're always doing this.

So it needs to be an important conversation because it is one that will lead to

your best self if it's in alignment with what you view as the best way for you

to nourish your body.

The fifth strategy is recovery.

And I have come to realize just in the last few months how epically valuable

recovery is.

And yes, I will speak to the idea once again of being caffeine-free because

I've realized that recovery is the name of the game.

If you care about physical fitness and you go to the gym, you run, you swim,

you ride your bike, you push yourself, and you don't recover,

You don't sleep well.

You don't take time to rest.

You don't meditate or eat healthy foods if you then also have addictions like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, etc.

Without recovery, your exercise will burn you out.

Without recovery, you will exhaust yourself and you will crash.

Just in the last few days, I caught myself in this position where during my 30-day break from caffeine, I decided that one key

energy booster for me was daily exercise, more so than I was before. So I began to

amp up my workouts, which in the first couple of weeks was necessary and fantastic.

But these last few days, I realized looking at my data that I had worked out vigorously

for weeks without a break, just over and over and over again pushing myself.

And I was about to crash. I could see it. I had the self-awareness to know that I was tired,

and I desperately needed not just to take a nap or get more sleep, but to take a solid break from the exercise.

If you're a high achiever, this is a very common trap.

If you believe in working hard, if you believe in intensity, if you believe in really asking yourself to do more each and every day to optimize your time and time management matters and every hour of the day needs to be its best, you're going to burn yourself out with that perspective.

It is an exhausting way to live.

And the only possible sustainable solution long term is one that has recovery at a higher plateau than the work itself.

That recovery is more important than the exercise.

There's a YouTube channel I've followed now for the last probably year or so called Athleen X and hosted by a guy named Jeff Cavalier.

It's a fantastic YouTube channel, lots of great advice for physical fitness and exercise.

and one perspective that he has shared there is that there are 24 hours in a day.

And generally speaking, for most people, their workout might be one of those hours,

which leaves 23 hours a day where you're not in the gym,

23 hours a day where you're not on the bike or on the trail.

Those 23 hours are more important than the one.

That is the question.

What do you do with those 23 hours when you're not working out?

What do you do at the time when you're not in the office?

What do you do at the time when you're not really in the zone?

Well, the answer is recovery.

And the smartest possible recovery you can imagine.

High quality sleep, reading, meditation, time in nature, reducing addictions,

nourishing your body.

When your focus shifts to those types of habits, it is incredible.

Not only how much better you are the next time you go back to the gym or the trail,

but how much better you feel in general.

Your stress is reduced.

Your confidence increases.

Your level of clarity is better.

Recovery is so valuable.

One of the key lessons that I pulled for my caffeine-free break was the value of sleep.

And just how little sleep I used to get all the time.

And how necessary, not just the quality of the sleep is, but I was not getting enough hours in the day to begin with.

And so it's just, it really, you need those experiences to bring to light for you what recovery looks like.

And it's especially highlighted when you can juxtapose that with intense periods of high stress, whether that's exercise or work or just life in general.

When there are high stressors, there has to be a corresponding counterbalance of recovery.

When that is true, it's amazing what is possible for you to do.

Number six this week is prioritization, also known as putting first things first.

Just recently, I interviewed Brian Tracy on the podcast for his book, Eat That Frog.

And of course, you know this podcast well, being the 5 a.m. Miracle, those two concepts pair together really well.

Waking up early, doing things that matter first in the day, or eating a frog, which sounds gross.

You tackle that thing first, and you can move on with the rest of your day, having done the most.

difficult thing first. If you don't already live this way, and by live this way,

I mean really truly understanding at a core level, what is the most important first

thing to do, that may be the most powerful thing you could do today. In fact,

this strategy alone will allow all the other strategies to work better in tandem.

Because when you know what matters, and you prioritize that thing that matters most,

It's the one thing that matters most, and you execute and do that one thing first.

It will change your life instantly.

Literally today, that is the number one thing you could do is the number one thing.

And it will always be the number one thing.

That answer will never change.

In fact, the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papazan brings this to light in a way that I've never seen them before.

It's a phenomenal book.

It's a must read.

And in that book, they make that argument and ask that question.

question, what is the one thing such that by doing it, everything else is easier

or completely unnecessary?

It's a very powerful question.

But all it really adds up to is you knowing what matters and you do it.

And then when it's done, you do the next thing on the list that matters most now.

Being able to prioritize and do so consistently is a skill.

You can't improve upon this as time goes on.

And it's a necessary skill because it is the key.

key differentiator between your life today and your better life tomorrow.

The opposite brings this to light better than anything else.

If you don't do what matters today, if you don't do what matters tomorrow,

if you consistently procrastinate and put off these things that matter,

you know how that feels because you've lived like that already.

You may have been doing this for years or decades.

Is avoiding those things you know you should be.

be doing and should is a very subjective word, but it applies to you because you know

yourself. You know the things you've put off. And it's amazing what happens when those

things you've put off become your next priority and you actually do them. The feeling,

the euphoria you get from having done a difficult thing is unmatched. It is life changing

by itself and it desperately needs your attention because it is the thing that matters.

Now, what is the thing for you?

I don't know.

I don't know what I can't tell you.

But my guess is that you do know.

Or you know at least a few things that could qualify.

And that's where you start.

If you had a list of 10 things today to do,

and you could put them in order of most important to least important.

And let's imagine you began with number 10.

You started the very opposite at the end of the list with the easiest thing to do,

with the fun thing to do.

And you tried to work backwards to get yourself up to number one.

one. There's a very good chance you're never going to get there. There's also a very

good chance you're going to train yourself to continue to do the easy things first

and habitually procrastinate on the things that matter most. So flip the script.

Tomorrow morning, wake up, have that list in order. Here are the things I'm going to do

today and in priority order and ignore numbers two through 10. Burn them, put them

away, forget about them. Just do number one. Until it's done.

completely prioritize it and forget the rest.

Now, if you happen to achieve it, huge win,

you can then bring the list back to life and do number two,

which is the new number one.

This is basic time management,

but it's also such an important critical skill

that will make you more productive

than just about any strategy you've ever seen.

And speaking of strategies, number seven is education.

I talk a big game on this show about personal growth, about filling your mind with positivity and new ideas.

And I will never stop talking about.

the value of positivity and new ideas and your own personal growth because it is such

a game changer. It is the reason why I am here. It is the reason why the reason why

that I have run marathons, built businesses, given speeches. Personal growth is the

reason for me to have achieved whatever I have achieved thus far in my life and will be

the reason for any and all future successes. That's a really high value.

you on personal growth, but that's how much I believe in it.

And that could be expressed through the tactics of reading,

audiobooks, podcasts, conferences, coaching, anything that allows you to really

dig into and ask the question, how could I learn more?

How could I grow?

How could I gain a new skill?

How could I begin a new career?

How could I challenge myself in a new arena?

That's all this is.

It's just kind of back to that question of hunger.

What do you want?

what are you aspiring for?

Well, one of the best ways to gain a hunger for life is to go learn from

others who've already done amazing things and see what their drivers were,

what their tactics were, their strategies, and go duplicate what they did.

Go copy them.

One of the absolute best personal growth strategies is not to think about yourself

at all, is just to go be a cheater, right, to copy someone else and you will gain

their successes.

I don't literally mean to cheat, but I mean the cheat code.

of life of being able to see that whatever it is that you want, someone else

has already built that million dollar business, someone else has already

run that ultramarathon, somebody else already has that phenomenal marriage,

that XYZ fill in the blank.

So just go do what they did.

You will experience your own and best personal growth when you learn from others,

which is what this is all about.

And that includes filling your mind, not just with the tactics and strategies,

but the mindset as well.

I put a very strong emphasis on positivity

because I have seen myself when that's not the case.

I have seen myself when I watch too much true crime documentaries

or when I fill my mind with too much news

or anything that tends to lean in the negative direction too often

is it makes me like those sources.

It makes me more negative, makes me more agitated,

more irritable, more aggressive.

But those things aren't positive.

Those things don't lead to my growth.

So I'm looking for strategies that counter those experiences.

So when you're looking for your next resource, your next book or podcast or conference, lean towards positivity, lean towards strategies that are inspirational by default.

Those core drivers for you should then be in alignment with those you learn from.

And when that's the case, that's the synergy, if you want to use that term.

that synergy can then exist because it actually is real.

The eighth strategy this week is intentional time usage or time management in general,

but let's go one step further and really picture time management through the perspective of daily habits and more specifically the boundaries you set for how your time is used.

One of the things that I've seen beyond just prioritization, beyond just simply knowing what needs to have.

happen is the time blocking that goes into those decisions. So if you were to say I

have one specific goal to focus on this morning that matters most, give yourself a time

block to do it. Don't just say it's an open-ended amount of time. Put a timer in place.

I have 90 minutes. Go and get it done. Work to the clock. You will not only get the

work done faster, you will increase the quality and the quantity and your focus will be out

of this world, and it's a strategy you can then duplicate for other priorities

you have in your day.

Time usage and boundaries and working against the clock are really all the same

conversation.

Going to bed on time to then wake up early is a time-bound boundary conversation.

A focus block of time with a specific timer is a boundary conversation.

Saying no to others and requests of your time is all a question about boundaries.

you're saying, I don't have time for that.

My boundaries are set.

My priorities are in order.

I know what I'm doing, and I'm going to go do it.

Those who are most successful say no more often than others who are less successful.

Period.

End of conversation.

Your ability and willingness to have the skill of saying no will change your life overnight.

Because the second that you do, guess what?

You've now got free time.

You've got a lot of free time.

you can now fill with the most important objectives in your life and work.

So when you think about time usage and time management,

don't think of it through just lists of things to get done,

but really begin the conversation with where are the cutoffs,

where are the boundaries?

Can I end my workday exactly at 5 p.m.?

Can I end my workout exactly after one hour,

like set a limit for these activities,

and you will actually get more value out of the time you put in?

and this will change your life honestly faster than most strategies will with time management in general.

For the ninth strategy, I'm going to go a little off the beaten path for what I typically discuss here on this show.

The ninth strategy for you to actually be productive and healthy is to have incredible, loving, interpersonal relationships.

I don't discuss the social element of humanity very often.

And by that I mean friends, family, spouses, partners, kids, coworkers.

I don't discuss the human connection element nearly as often as I should.

But one thing I've seen from myself, which is kind of fascinating because I work from home, so I'm alone quite a bit.

When I go out into the world, I leave those four walls of my home office and I go do things with others.

I can feel their energy.

I can literally feel a difference in the room between what it was just me by myself versus me in a room with others.

And it is an incredible energy provider.

And when you are surrounded also with others who you know, like, and trust, who know like and trust you.

And there's that connection between you.

Right.

Once again, great friends, loving family, amazing spouse or partner, kids you don't actually want to avoid being around.

When you have awesome people around you, it makes sense.

you better. It makes you more fun to be around. You're more energized. You have more

creative ideas. Life just seems to flow better. And you're going to care less about

your mistakes or failures or problems because you're with people who just light you up.

And I oftentimes in these conversations around personal growth, forget the

interpersonal growth that is actually more powerful, that is actually infinitely

more important than just what we do alone.

If you know the story of blue zones or the areas around the world where people live the longest, typically age 100 and beyond, one of the most common factor in all these different groups around the globe is that they are community-centric.

These are not isolated people living to 100 years and beyond.

These are communities of people.

They are together and they live life as a unit and they're better for it.

And if you don't have that and you're trying to get more done or feel healthier and you're doing so by yourself, it's a ball and chain that you're carrying around without realizing it.

There's an extra weight that's added to solitude.

And when you can break that chain by having others with you who can help carry that weight, to use that metaphor a little further, it's a lot easier and a lot more fun.

And life is a lot better and the experience of these same goals you're achieving,

these same challenges to work through.

It's just an amp up, a level up you cannot get by yourself.

Now for the 10th and final strategy, this one is actually a byproduct of combining

all of the previous strategies together.

This is a strategy that if you do the other 9, number 10 will just exist.

and it will exist in a beautiful way.

And that's energy.

And I don't mean energy from caffeine, although, yes, that could still be true.

What I'm talking about is a raw sense of energy for life.

It's similar to the question and a conversation about hunger and where do you get this drive and desire.

What I'm really talking about, though, is this core sense of feeling alive.

This real sense of saying, I am alert, I am present, I am calm,

I am confident, I am focused, I am in the game.

I'm here and I'm ready.

I'm ready to engage.

I'm ready to be challenged.

I'm ready to begin.

Imagine a starting line for a big race, a big marathon on TV, the Boston

Marathon, New York City Marathon.

I've run a number of these big city marathons before.

And one thing that is undeniable is the energy at the starting line when you're

surrounded by tens of thousands of people, it is,

unbelievable. It's truly ridiculous. All these people just this bottled up sense of

energy and they're ready to explode. They are ready to go run for hours on end.

And it is this really incredible sense of energy you're not going to get from

an energy drink. You're not going to get this from a coffee. You're going to get

this from having done the things that bring about your best self. You're truly in

the zone dialed in ready to engage.

I am in search of that experience every day.

I am in search of that experience to say, I am fully here.

Let's begin.

And then hopefully sustain that as the process continues.

Now, not everything I engage in is exciting or fun or, you know, I don't look forward

to every single thing I do.

But that sense of raw life energy to say I am ready to begin whatever life may bring

to me today is a unique thing.

because a lot of us when we ask the question, how are you doing?

There are two things I hear more than anything else.

I'm busy and I'm tired.

I hear that all the time.

Constantly, I say it all the time because it's true a lot of the time.

We're busy and we're tired.

That's not a way to live.

I don't want to live like that.

I don't want to feel like that all the time.

And if I am busy to use that term, what I really want to say is,

is my life is filled with amazing things. And I'm not tired from doing those things.

I'm actually more energized from doing them. And of course, that's juxtaposed with

the recovery that makes me able to go re-engage tomorrow. But I want to describe my

life as something that I am just stoked for. I keep using that word because it just

it comes the tip of my tongue because that's the emotion that I want to feel.

I want to be at that starting line surrounded by others who are just,

as excited as I am ready to explode. That to me is a life that just is so thrilling

to live. And I don't live that way all the time, but that's an aspirational goal

of mine. That's how, and what I'm in pursuit of, I'm in pursuit of that experience

more often than I get today. And I believe that when you combine these strategies for

incredible productivity and health, in your pursuit of the goals that you care,

about that this natural sense of raw authentic energy will exist in that conversation

almost without a doubt. So those are my top 10. I would love to hear your

your thoughts on this conversation with a specific focus, not on the tactics of what

you do, whether it's once again a standing desk or a smoothie for lunch. It's more of a

question of what are those guiding principles, those strategies or philosophies that

bring about your best self. Do you want to add to my list or change the things I

have here? I would love to hear your thoughts. Email me, jeffat jeffsanders.com.

Let's talk about it. This is a lot of fun.

And for the action step this week.

Choose the most impactful strategy today. You don't need 10 new habits. You'll

We need one that makes a big difference.

So wherever you need the biggest bump, focus there first and resist the

urge to add a whole bunch of new easy habits, but instead focus on just one

that can radically transform your day.

And while you're at it, subscribe to this podcast and your favorite podcast app,

or head to 5am MiraclePremium.com to become a VIP member and get the ad-free

experience with exclusive bonus episodes.

That's all I've got for you here on the 5 a.m. Miracle podcast this week.

Until next time, you have the power to change your life.

And all that fun begins bright and early.

---

© 5 AM Miracle Media, LLC