NutraChamps Blog

Tag: goals

22 Things To Consider Going into 2022
If you’re reading this, you likely have a lot to be grateful for.

You’ve made it through a hectic year and have likely come out stronger. If you haven’t made your new years resolutions yet, or weren’t planning to, that’s not a problem! I’ve compiled a list of 22 things that you can add to your list. If you don’t have a list of resolutions, maybe consider how these could help start your 2022 a little healthier!
1. Move for 30 minutes a day – If you’re already doing this, how can you change it up? Introduce different workout styles or a class! Find a workout buddy that will keep you accountable. Download an app to track your progress and consistency.
2. Declutter – Your bedroom, your house, your mind. Clutter can exist anywhere, but you can also clear it with a cleaning schedule or meditation (depending on what you’re de-cluttring!).
3. Try therapy – If you haven’t tried it yet, you could really benefit from reaching out to a therapist or friend to get a different, and hopefully, unbiased, opinion
4. Drink more h2O – Throughout the day, and less at night. I’ve learned my lesson from having to get up in the middle of the night to use the washroom.
5. Meditate – Start with 5 minutes of sitting in silence, and maybe progress by increasing the time or incorporating a walking meditation.
6. Move for 30 minutes every single day – 5-7 days of exercise (aerobic or anaerobic) to get your joints moving, boost energy, and clear your mental funk.
7. Go to sleep at the same time every day – Likewise, you want to wake at a reasonable hour every day. Keeping this as consistent as possible will help keep you
8. Eat more greens – Aim for at least 2 to 3 cups per day of vegetables. This will increase your micro- and macronutrients, vitamins and minerals, and are typically lower in calories per cup.
9. Eat the rainbow – A variety of colors in your food will provide you with a variety of different vitamins and minerals (micronutrients)
10. Increase Protein intake – Either eat more of the protein you like, or add in a new plant-based alternative or protein powder into your snacks or meals.
11. No screen time 30 minutes before bed – It’s both too stimulating for your eyes and brain and the light could be too bright for you to settle down to sleep. Higher light levels have been shown to suppress melatonin, a hormone that provides the body’s internal biological signal of darkness.
12. Minimize screentime – Use grayscale, lock apps after a certain time, put your phone on Airplane mode. Making your phone look less attractive will help keep your eyes on other things like spending time with friends and family, or reading a book.
13. Sleep with the phone outside of my bedroom – Get yourself an old-school alarm clock or a sunrise alarm clock that gets brighter in order to wake you up.
14. See family more often – with the pandemic among us, many of us spent prolonged periods of time away from friends and family. Take the time to schedule out a few hours or days to see your loved ones.
15. Self-Care day 1x a month – Although you can do this more often, planning a day where you completely give yourself permission to do nothing (or lots of enjoyable activities) is important in order for you treat yourself the best way possible. If this isn’t possible for you, and you can’t completely let go of all responsibilities, maybe book yourself a 60-minute massage, go for a long drive, go skating or for a swim, or work on a puzzle. Aim to do something for yourself, completely uninterupted.
16. Carry snacks with me – If you accidentally miss a meal, no worries. Carry healthy, prepared snacks with you everywhere you go.
17. Watch a movie by yourself – Treat yourself to a discounted movie on a Tuesday night and grab a big bag of popcorn. It’s a great way to get out of your place and watch a movie with others around you.
18. Volunteer – At your local food bank, at a shelter, at the library teaching kids and adults how to read and write. The possibilities are endless, and can be a long-term commitment or as little as 1-3 times to get a feel for your community.
19. Commit time to learn something new – Learn a new language, play an instrument, learn how to code, or even learn how to play a new sport.
20. Go for a Health checkup – Some people try to avoid doctors, but it’s that exact reason that you should be booking these appointments in advance. You’ll thank yourself! Book all your dentist, doctor, optometrist, and massage appointments now!
21. Review your Budget – Life can get away from us pretty quickly. Track your spending, review your budget, and adjust it accordingly. Downloading apps like Mint and You Need a Budget (YNAB) may help you out!
22. Read more – Find the best method that works for you so you can continue learning. Whether that be reading fiction/non-fiction/self-help, listening to a podcast, watching a documentary, or attending a conference or webinar.
It doesn’t end there.

The possibilities are endless. This is just the tip of the ice berg. These are tiny goals that I will try to incorporate throughout the year. If you’ve already worked on your Resolutions, consider adding an extra from this list.

For those of you who normally don’t work on resolutions, myself included, consider leaving a list of small goals printed on your fridge or somewhere you know you’ll look daily. This can serve as a reminder to work on yourself daily.

If you’ve got any other resolutions, goals, or tid bits you’d like to add and that you think would be beneficial to the NutraChamps family, let us know in the comments below!
December 29, 2021
How to Focus Better and Accomplish Your Goals
Have you ever been trying to get something done that should only take a small chunk of your time, but ends up taking the entire day? It’s almost as if we know something needs to be completed, but we’ll find hundreds of excuses or reasons for why we couldn’t do it that day.

We live in a world with infinite distractions. From our phones, to our co-workers at the office, and even the laptops we work on. With just a click of a button we can now be easily taken away from our daily goals and redirected to many other things. There is so much around us that’s constantly trying to grab our attention, and sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to focus on what needs to get done.

What if we told you that there are actual tools you can start implementing that will improve your focus and productivity? Focusing, or being in a “state of flow” and accomplishing a goal is one of the best feelings ever. When you get lost in the work you’re doing and feel productive without distractions, it’s extremely rewarding. Why is this so hard for so many of us though? Here’s how we can break the cycle:

The Era of Distraction

Have you ever opened up Instagram to search for your favorite restaurant’s account only to end up down a rabbit hole of best restaurants in your city nearly an hour later? You’re definitely not alone. Social media and our phones are uniquely and specifically designed to keep our attention. As humans, we’re visual creatures and we all like to keep up to date with what is happening in the world through photos and videos. We don’t want to experience FOMO right? Here’s the thing though, the technology we have at our fingertips has come with a serious cost, and that cost is called distraction.

Distraction can be a good thing, for example, watching your favorite netflix show or getting lost in a YouTube series can take you away from reality and provide you with comfort during a bad day. Distractions can also be detrimental, especially when it comes to your goals and your focus.

A study was conducted by CareerBuilder that surveyed 3031 full-time workers in the United States about workplace distractions. Here is what they found the most disruptive as distractions at work:
- Mobile phone/texting: 55%
- The internet: 41%
- Gossip: 39%
- Social media: 37%
- Co-workers dropping by: 27%
- Smoke break or snack breaks: 27%
- Email: 26%
- Meetings: 24%
- Noisy co-workers: 20%
- Sitting in a cubicle: 9%
As you can see from this list, there are quite a few things taking our attention away from fully focusing at the workplace. Being in close corners of others isn’t always easy for optimal productivity, but it’s certainly not impossible! In order to start focusing better throughout the day, we must limit the distractions within our control as much as possible. Yes, that means starting with unnecessary gossip and constant texting.

Ways to Improve Your Focus

Now that we have a solid understanding of many common distractions that take place on a daily basis, especially at our workplace, let’s talk about how to start focusing better.

Limiting cell phone use:

Our cell phones have basically become an extension of our bodies. We can’t imagine going anywhere without them, and oftentimes we keep our phones beside us all day. Did you know that the average smartphone user actually checks their device 47 times a day? This has become a serious habit and distraction for so many of us and being mindful of our cell phone use is ideal for starting to use it less.

One suggestion we have for limiting cell distractions is to keep your phone away from you at work. It’s definitely tempting to keep your phone in your pocket or right beside you at your desk. The issue with this is that it’s easily accessible and sets you up for checking on it a little more often than you should.

Another way to limit your cell phone use is by putting your mobile on “do not disturb,” or silencing your notifications. Did you know that many apps you have on your phone right now will purposely send out notifications to you throughout the day to grab your attention and bring you back into the app? It’s absolutely brilliant from a marketing standpoint, but not so helpful if we’re trying to stay focused on our goals throughout the day.

The pomodoro technique:

Did you know that pomodoro is Italian for the word tomato? This popular time management technique has helped millions of people around the world boost their productivity and focus much better. Here is how this method works:
- Step one: Pick a task
- Step two: Set a 25 minute timer
- Step three: Work on the task until your time is up
- Step four: Take a 5 minute break
- Step five: Every 4 pomodoros take a longer 15-30 minute break.
This is a great way to slowly start improving your focus and using a timer to train yourself to stay on track of your tasks and goals!

Set a reward for yourself:

Rewards are something we all enjoy and look forward to. Dopamine is responsible for the feeling we get after being rewarded. Dopamine actually spikes in our brain when something important is about to happen or does happen and gives us a surge of pleasure and satisfaction. A great way to start improving your focus and accomplishing your goals is by setting a reward for yourself.

Your reward can be anything from treating yourself to a nice dinner after work, to taking an extra 10 minute break and going for a walk. Setting a reward will make you more determined to get your tasks complete and will give you an amazing sense of completion and accomplishment.

Fuel Your Body:

An overlooked aspect of focusing is proper nutrition and what we’re consuming or lacking on a daily basis. We actually become less focused and more easily distracted when we haven’t gotten enough sleep or adequate vitamins and nutrients. It’s not always easy to optimally take care of ourselves every day and sometimes we need that extra support to feel our best.

We have supplements that we highly suggest that help with mental clarity, focus, performance, and energy! Here are just a few you can begin to implement in your daily routine:
Better focus comes with practice, commitment, and utilizing the proper support and tools. When you start to make focus and accomplishing goals a priority in your life, you’ll notice so many benefits. It feels good to be productive, and hopefully this article has inspired you to shift away from distractions and more towards results. Cheers to productivity!
November 22, 2021
How to Conquer Your To-Do List!
We’re in the midst of a Global Pandemic and it looks like we may have a lot of time on our hands.

Depending on where you live, you may be in a lockdown, or perhaps stores are slowly starting to open up. Schools and workplaces may have adjusted their operating hours. I think we can all agree that the world has been forced to slow down and make different decisions than we had a mere year ago. However, this is not the time to let go of all your tasks, goals, and ambitions. This is the ideal time to CONQUER everything on your to-do list!

With a to-do list (schedule, agenda, whatever you want to call it!), I believe you can make time for rest and relaxation while also working toward your goals/crossing tasks off your to-do list without feeling like you’re working 24/7, which is how I functioned (or malfunctioned) at the beginning of this pandemic. Here are some steps I’ve put in place to make sure I don’t treat this deceleration as an extended “time-out”.

1. Stay organized

This seems obvious! But, it’s super easy to get sidetracked. Some ways to stay organized are to create different to-do lists. Having a Master list can help with tasks you know you’d like to get done long-term. A weekly to-do list can help with all things that need to be done that week. You can even have a list of things you need to get done daily or that need to be done immediately!

Do not mix up goals with your to-do list. For example, one of your goals may be to learn Spanish. That would be a great goal to place on your Long-Term Goals list. If you want to add that to your to-do list, be more specific by writing: “Practice Spanish for 20 minutes on DuoLingo”. This way you know to set aside 20 minutes today where you know you will be using an app to help you get to your long-term goal.

2. Clear Tasks/Goals

Don’t be vague. Get as clear about what you want to achieve as possible! When I train clients, it’s important to get their “SMART” goals so they know exactly what they’re working toward and so that they have more drive to achieve said goals. Make sure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This will paint a clear picture of what you truly want short-term or long-term. Don’t settle for anything less!

If you are simply making a to-do list full of tasks, Regi Adams of Medium.com swears by the Verb + Object format, and I’ve found it has made my to-do lists more succinct. Verb + object can look like the following examples: “Email Ben the product notes.” or “Meet with Jane to discuss Training schedule.” Eliminate filler words, and you’ve got this nifty minimalist approach that not only makes your to-do list neater but also straight-to-the-point!

3. Respect Boundaries

This one is so tough! So many things to get done, so little time, and a wandering monkey mind. How do you create clear boundaries so that you can get one thing done at a time? Sure, multi-tasking sounds attractive, but we simply cannot do it. Research has proven this time and time again, but we still love to think we might be the exception to the rule!

In order to avoid multitasking, set aside times to work on specific tasks. You may not complete the task by the end, but you will know you put all your effort into that one thing rather than have your mind wandering or flipping your mind on and off. One way to compartmentalize your time is to use the Pomodoro method. Not the Italian Tomato sauce, but the Pomodoro Method! It’s simple! Get a to-do list and a timer. Set your timer for 25 minutes, and focus on a single task until the timer rings. When your session ends, mark off one Pomodoro and record what you completed. You then get to enjoy a five-minute break. This method helps you compartmentalize work and play. Feel free to change the work to play ratio if you feel you want to work for longer periods of time.

Another important tip: Stay off your phone! Unless you need it for work, social media will pull you into an endless rabbit hole. We all have 24-hours in a day, so choose wisely how you use those hours. Social media is a dangerous trap when you’re trying to work or complete tasks. Ask yourself if browsing your Instagram account is really necessary, or if you’re simply procrastinating.

4. A simple to-do list is never boring

Don’t go overboard and write down every single thing you need to do if that’s going to stress you out. For example, I don’t need to write down that I need to take my daily supplements since I remember to do this every day. However, I know I need to write down which day to water my plants since it’s such an infrequent habit.

Choose a format that works for you. Do you prefer writing tasks on paper? On your hand? Downloading an app to keep track of your goals? Writing them on a sticky note on your laptop? Find what works best for you.

I like a mix of sticky notes and an app on my phone. The sticky notes remind me of the immediate things, and I make sure to stick them in places I’ll notice, like on my monitors for work or under the peephole on my front door. I like to keep them at eye-level so I know I can’t miss them! Bright colored sticky notes help too! If you use an app, you can set up the notifications so that you get notified when something is urgent or daily reminders to do certain tasks, such as meditate or take your supplements for the day. I personally like Todoist or Asana, as they provide great free versions!

5. Daily reminders.

Check-in on your goals every single day. Yep. Every day! Even if it’s a long-term goal and you know you won’t achieve it for another year. These reminders are like your little cheerleaders! They keep you accountable. Write the date next to your goals if they are short-term or long-term so that you know how long it took you to achieve them. No need to punish yourself if you didn’t finish a task by the projected end date. Instead, analyze whether or not your goal end-date was feasible in the first place or take a look at your work ethic and re-jig it so you can do something differently next time.

It’s not easy to focus sometimes. Having things written out as soon as we think of them can help us stay on track with our tasks and goals. Checking off tasks from your to-do list can be extremely fulfilling and give you a sense of accomplishment, and this, in turn, will help you feel more motivated to stay organized. Find out what works for you and what doesn’t, and you’ll eventually find your own reliable system, leading you to complete all of your to-do lists, big and small!

Resources:
Books:
- The Myth of Multitasking: How “Doing It All” Gets Nothing Done by Dave Crenshaw
January 21, 2021