The Seven Habits of Highly Healthy People
A long time ago, when I was looking for inspiration to move forward having thrown more than one hand grenade deep into the core of my life, one book stands out as the book that got me started on a strong positive path – The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. I still utilise many, if not all of the learnings I took from that book in my everyday life. Now, many years on, and in a world where people appear to be looking blindly through the mist of false promises, gimmicks, and fads to get some sensible information on how to get healthy I thought I would look at successfully healthy individuals and some of the habits they have in place to ensure they continue to move forward on many fronts whilst remaining healthy.
What is it that they are doing that we can all learn from and act upon easily to help us move forward to a healthier future.
1. Be Consistent
Despite all the ‘go hard or go home’, ‘I am an all in kind of person’ claims of certain individuals, they never appear to move forward to any end point, only ever being consistent in that they consistently start over again, and again interspersed between longer periods of ‘all out’.
Those who are continually successful and make real progress on their health journey however place far greater value on consistency over intensity every time. They understand that if they are going to move forward, it is the laying down of consistent habits that will bring the greatest reward. In investment terms it is much like understanding the concept of time in the market vs timing the market. The longer you continue to do something the greater your reward is going to be.
Initially, those who are consistent, look like they are making slower progress, but they keep going when it gets hard, they do the thing they said they were going to do, and whilst the ‘all in’ people are taking a period of ‘all out’ and moving backwards, those who value consistency are still moving forward with their progress.
The real progress in people who are perennially successful, is that they are still working on their goals while the ‘all in’ people are doing their ‘all out’ bit.
2. Live by 80/20 rule
Whilst consistency is essential in long term success, so is understanding we all need some wiggle room if we are going to achieve our goals, without this understanding, bumps in the road will lead to screeching halts to your progress.
If you are looking to get healthy, no matter what the habit you are chasing, build the 80/20 rule into it as a bare minimum to gauge success, make sure you are doing what you said at least 80% of time.
If you are going to walk 10k steps per day or go to bed 8 hours before you need to wake up, make it non-negotiable that you achieve it at least 5 days out of 7.
If you are going to exercise 4 days per week – make 3 days absolutely non-negotiable.
If you are only going to drink alcohol once per week, make sure this happens for 4 weeks out of 5.
Basically, whatever you choose your goal to be, make it non-negotiable that you achieve that goal somewhere between 80 – 90% of the time. It is rare anyone will ever achieve 100% success, so build that in before you start.
3. Have good sleep hygiene and routines
Sleep is one of the most critical processes in the human body, so much so that despite the vulnerable, and potentially perilous state it places us in, there is not a species in the world that does not sleep. If it was not critical, then evolution would have found a way to bypass it.
So despite the claims of the sleep when you’re dead brigade, anyone who is living a healthy lifestyle understands the importance of sleep on not only their health, longevity, and healthspan but also in terms of their productivity. They know that good sleep impacts positively EVERY area of their lives from weight management to mental health, energy levels to hormone health.
They have regular sleep patterns and go to bed at similar, if not the same time, every night, usually at least 8 hours before they intend to wake up; they have great sleep routines and practices prior to going to bed switching off devices earlier; They also set their rooms up for good sleep by managing temperature, removing electronics and making the room as dark as possible.
4. Be Active
Healthy people are active, period. Being active however is about far more than just exercising, it is about looking after all aspects of your movement, physiology, and physicality; it is about mobility training, fitness training, and strength training and it is about your daily activity levels – one is not more important than the other.
Those who are the healthiest among us understand this better than most and whilst you can be sure they have a regular exercise routine, likely up to 5x per week including all aspects of fitness as mentioned earlier, you can also be sure they are looking to be active daily.
Whether that is making sure they walk 10k steps per day or, morning mobility and stretch routines, or just getting up every hour or two to move their body around, you will rarely find people fully invested in their health who spend long hours sitting without movement.
5. Nourish your body (+Supplements)
Anyone with healthy habits understands that their nutritional principles underpin everything they do, and whilst food choices form the foundations of this eating 80% of their diet from one ingredient foods such as fish, poultry, meat, vegetables, legumes, and fruits they do not forget supplementation.
They will supplement their healthy diets with time proven supplements, such as multivitamins, omega oils, probiotics, and vitamin D.
Finally, they are acutely aware of the importance of protein in all aspects of their bodily functions, above and beyond the repair and growth of the muscular repair system which it is mostly celebrated for. Protein provides the building blocks for all cells in the body, and enables their optimal function, without adequate amounts we just don’t function the way we are meant to.
Most research states active populations will need at least 1.3g of protein per kg of bodyweight, which many people fall short of.
6. Read – Daily
Physical health is one thing, but the healthiest among us understand mental health is an important piece of the jigsaw. and while nutrition, fitness, activity levels and sleep all play an active part in maintaining our mental status quo. How we stimulate the brain is also unsurprisingly hugely important.
Healthy people often are looking for knowledge in a wide array of areas which will help them live more optimally and will have daily routines which include reading in some form. Whether this is through audiobooks on their journeys, physical books prior to bed, or for research during the day, healthy people are inquisitive people and dedicate time to furthering their knowledge base.
7. Plan their lives (Schedule) – Discipline leads to freedom
Whilst most people feel that living to a schedule is boring and restrictive, these are always the exact people who NEVER have time to do the things they love, they are always late, and always in a rush. Feeling they have no time to spare. Meanwhile those who plan and schedule get more done, find time for exercise, get to bed on time, eat in a relaxed manner and just all round have their lives in better order.
Planning creates time, it allows you to know when to say no, and to understand when you simply cannot add more to your calendar, being organised enough to plan your live in small chunks give you the freedom to plan time for your kids, your family, sporting occasions, hobbies and everything in between.
Without planning, it is difficult to make anything you do consistent.
So if you want to match the habits of those who are healthy, plan it, and be consistent. You will be surprised by how quickly you make progress, and how you make that progress without the backward steps you usually take.
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