They get us all sometimes let’s break those habits now.
Matt Henderson
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Business Mind Podcast. This is Matt. Today, we’re going to talk about breaking bad habits. Hi, everyone.
Hey, everyone. So welcome back. I have been struggling lately and you guys are the ones I come and talk to about all this stuff. So I wanted to come here and talk it out and figure out what exactly to do. So I’ve spoken in the past about habits, right? And the good habits you can have and what you can gain and time that can be gained in your day. I mean, I’ve had some really great things and experiences, so I’ve shared them with people. But as of late, I can’t lie. I have been struggling. I mean, just off. And I’ll tell you, this is exactly what’s been going on with me so you don’t think that it’s always all perfect all time. It is definitely not. So I do suffer from insomnia. Now, it fluctuates and it’s not always the worst case scenario.
…It’s not always the most terrible experience, but there are a lot of times it’s pretty difficult to live
with. But over the years, I’ve developed better habits about things and been able to kind of stay on a more regimented sleep pattern over the past six or eight years, which is great. For me, I’ve suffered with it my whole life. And honestly, it’s a battle. But I’ve developed some poor habits in this time because when I’m not sleeping, I get in my own head and I’m sure this happens to a lot of you when you’re trying to do different work and you develop your own poor habits. So mine was, if I’m not sleeping, at first I
was just working. And then I was working on the computer all the time, and I’m working until late at night.
And then what winds up happening to me because, like most people, when you are sitting in front of a blue light, then you wind up… It stimulates you and you wind up not going to sleep. So when I have to get stuff done for deadlines, it’s not necessarily the worst thing. Other times, I’ve actually picked up blue light glasses. I know it sounds silly and you’ve seen them all over, but they actually do help a lot. And it’s helped me because I’ll actually still continue to get tired while I’m doing my work, which means
that I’ll eventually just go to sleep. As opposed to when I’m not wearing them, I actually, I don’t. I definitely get that stimulating effect from the blue light. So that’s [inaudible 00:04:01] staying up. But other bad habits that have happened to me is that I’ve had the issue with sleeping lately, which then makes you feel even more tired in the morning, which I’m sure everybody has.
Especially some people who have kids and stuff out there, I’m sure you’re exhausted in the mornings. And that starts off the next poor habit, which I’ve fallen out of my gym cycle. I mean, I haven’t been to the gym now, not consistently, in a few weeks or maybe a month. I’ve never been. I’ve been a
few times and nothing consistent. And then when I do go to the gym, the once in a blue moon that I’ve been going to right now, it’s been exhausting. And I feel terrible, which is to be expected from not going to the gym. Last year this time, I was on a regiment, and I was going seven days a week for 45 minutes to an hour every day. And I saw massive gains and I felt fantastic. I looked better than I had looked possibly ever.
And now, I’ve flip-flopped back in the other direction. And this is what happens. This is reality. This happens to everyone. So for me, it started with the sleep being off, which then starts to snowball at the top of the hill. And then it comes rolling down. And what did a roll into? The first thing I do in the day. I got up and I was having coffee and going to the gym, or water and coffee or whatever I’m doing in the morning and then going to the gym. And now, I haven’t been going to the gym in the morning. So my
morning routine’s off. And then, subsequently, I talked about past episodes. I’d been waking up early, early in the morning. Nothing crazy. I’m not like some of these people you see get up at three, four o’clock in the morning and start their day.
I’m not that guy. But I was doing 5:30, quarter to six pretty consistently. And then six o’clock was my late time for a long time. And now, because I’m not sleeping, I’m totally off that entire schedule. And now, I’m waking up later and later every day. And it just leaves me accomplishing less in the mornings, which is very difficult because I get up and I have a list of things that I need to accomplish and what I want to get done. And when I miss a deadline, I get even more stressed. So it starts this terrible, like I said, a snowball effect that it’s pretty rough because as it starts to gain momentum, it just seems to exponentially get worse. And I’m really struggling with it because the sleep goes, then my schedule goes in the morning and then my productivity goes down. Then all day, I’m feeling pretty exhausted all day and then I’m fighting through that sensation and I’m fighting through struggling at work. And I’m sure this is something a lot of you guys are battling with for one reason or another.
For me, it’s just, my sleep habits are not great. But for others, it might just be work stress or your kids and you having to run around and do stuff all day and take care of other little ones. We all have different reasons that our habits go out the window once in a while. So I wanted to reassure everyone here that it’s not you. I know on the days where it seems overwhelming, the amount that you need to get done and how tired you are. But if you can push through a few times and then get yourself back on
that schedule, life will turn around for you. I mean yesterday, I was crushed and tired. I mean, I couldn’t have felt more tired without just going home and going to bed.
And I actually had a lot of deadlines to hit yesterday. So I had to get back to a lot of people. I had some invoicing to do for people. I had some proposals to get out to other people. I had my average day of stuff I needed to do, and I had about four hours of round trip driving to do someplace else yesterday. So yeah, just being tired wasn’t going to be an option. I couldn’t cancel anything. I needed to just push through. And now, how did it feel as my day went on? Well, in the morning, it felt terrible. By midday, I
felt like I had conquered the world because I had gotten so much done and pushed through the terrible feelings that I was going through. And then at the end of the day, when I was actually ready to settle down and my wife and I just went out and grabbed a bite to eat and I had a beer and I’ll tell you, I finally felt like relaxing because I had done everything.
I pushed through it all. And then, I’ll tell you, I had another bad night’s sleep. But that’s not the point. The point is you got to push through the times where you’re struggling. Every one of us is going to fall into a rut. You’re going to have those moments. But if you could push through them and start relining up your schedule, so for me, I use the whiteboard that… I’m a whiteboard nut these days. And I sat there and before I went to bed, I plotted out my morning. Same thing I did yesterday. I plotted out my morning
and up to my midday. And then I got up and I adhere to that schedule because if I can just stick to my schedule, then I’m going to feel accomplished and then feel better. I’ll wind up going to sleep because I’ll be more relaxed. And I can enjoy my down time as opposed to stressing it because I know I have so much to do. So that’s my suggestion for everyone.
If you’re in a little bit of a rut, it’s okay. Don’t get down on yourself. I mean, I’m the first one to get really hard on myself and say, “I’m missing goals or I’m missing deadlines or I’m failing.” We all do it. We get a little bit down on ourselves. But for now, don’t get down on yourself. Let’s just re-plan out, just take your morning and schedule your morning out. And then as you start to blow through all the stuff in the morning that you’re now able to do, you can sit there and say, “All right, what else am I going to get through today? And how am I going to excel through the rest of my day?” And turn that into excelling through the rest of the week, your month, your year and get your habits back to good again, because that’s my goal.
I’m going to get my habits back on track, and I am going to stop this nonsense of my poor sleep and poor eating and everything else that happens. If you don’t sleep well, you wind up making bad choices. So that’s what I have for you today. I want you guys to just, don’t get down on yourself, refocus on your habits, know that it’s just one step away. You’re going to get back there. It’s not the end of the world if today’s not the most stellar production day that you’ve ever had. But it’s all about what you’re
going to do going forward and what your next steps will be. All right, everyone. Matt, from the Business Mind Podcast. If you guys are liking this, please take a screenshot of this. Maybe share it around your social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok. I don’t care, wherever you’re at.
Go on Spotify, follow this podcast. So when I put out a new episode, you get a copy. You get a notification of it. And as well, if you have some time, go onto iTunes. Leave me a review. I’d love to hear what you guys are thinking. And if I can provide an episode for you, please feel free to reach out. Okay? Matt at Nesta Digital, [email protected]. And I will gladly help you guys out with anything you need. All right, we’ll talk to you again soon. Have a great day and an awesome rest of your week.