I want to talk a little bit about how you can start to gain some control over your schedule, and in doing so, start to feel like you are more in control of your life. If you’re anything like me, you stay busy. And it seems like it’s one thing after another, day after day. And it’s like, there’s a flow of things just coming at you. And all you can do is try to keep up and try to keep your head up above water. All that creates such a sense of anxiety and overwhelm and stress and disorganization.

And you feel like you’re not really doing anything well, like you’re just doing so many things and you’re spread so thin that you’re giving only a little to each thing. I want to start to help you figure out how to turn that around – help you with setting up a basic structure to your day, so that you have some sense of control, which will reduce your anxiety and help you to be more productive. What happens when we’re so busy is that we get paralyzed by overwhelm. So by trying to do everything, we’re actually getting less done. I don’t know about you, but when I have a huge to-do list, it’s all in my head and I’m just trying to figure out what to do first. And I’m worrying about what is to come – I can’t focus on any one thing. It takes me so much longer to get anything done.

I want you to feel more organized and more calm, to give you a sense that you are controlling your life instead of your life controlling you. When I talk about creating a schedule and a structure, in no way do I mean that this is going to be something rigid, that every single day has to be scheduled down to the second, and you have every hour of your day planned out, nothing like that. I want to share four things that are very beneficial for your health, that you should be scheduling in every day to give your day more of a regular flow. And these four things I like to call my non-negotiables.

#1 – Eat
Many of us are eating on the go or skipping altogether, and then you are at work and you’re starving at lunchtime. You eat a bunch of junk food, whatever you can get your hands on, and end up overeating. It just sort of sets off a negative chain of events for your day. So carving out very regular meal times is important. It’s not about being strict. It’s about having regular structure. So that means sitting down undistracted, not eating at your desk, not eating in your car, not watching TV, just sitting down and relaxing for a minute and having your meal. Something to note, if you are distracted when eating, studies show that you’re eating up to 30% more at that meal, because you’re not mindful. You don’t realize when you’re full. If you’re trying to lose weight and your meals are just scattered all over the place, and you’re not really paying attention to when you’re hungry or when you’re full, it’s going to be a lot more difficult to lose that weight.

#2 – Sleep
Make sure that you are getting enough sleep and going to bed/waking up at approximately the same time each day. It really affects your mental sharpness. It affects your ability to be productive and to have clear thinking. It affects your energy level and your emotional wellbeing. Another thing to note, if you don’t get enough sleep, you tend to overeat the next day because your body needs energy, and food equals energy. You’re going to be reaching for the empty carbs and sugary processed foods that you don’t want to be eating, but that give you quick energy. So you tend to overeat the next day. If you get enough sleep and give yourself a rhythm, so that your body expects and knows what’s to come, it helps your body adjust and reset itself. It’s important to keep that as consistent as possible each day.

# 3 – Exercise
When I say exercise, I don’t mean that you have to go to the gym or do any kind of long strenuous activity every single day. It’s great if you can get that in a few days a week, but you want to get in some kind of gentle movement. It brings you into a sense of calm, allows you to reset, and breaks that stress cycle.

#4 – Selfcare
Selfcare can be downtime or some kind of relaxation. It can be any kind of activity that you enjoy. It could just be taking a little time for yourself to be alone. Something that recharges your battery. A lot of people feel like selfcare is selfish, but that’s not the case. When you take care of yourself and your own needs, and you carve out just a little bit of time every single day just for you, you actually fill your cup and will have more energy to give to everything else in your life.

These non-negotiables are going to go a long way in helping you feel happier and healthier, and will empower you to feel like you are in control of your life. And as always, be gentle with yourself – habits take a while to establish and it’s not going to look perfect right off the bat. So take it slow, try one thing at a time, and build up from there.