Hi Friend,
Happy day after 1-8-1-8! Today was my first day walking Vivi to school without taking the stroller. Vanessa suggested I take the bus or drive, but I was really counting on the cardio minutes and sprints I do during the commute, so we walked. Walking a toddler and riding the train without the benefits of the stroller seat belts, sure makes for an interesting commute and brings great joy in viewing the world through a little one's eyes, plus we got roughly the same amount of cardio minutes, but no playground playtime.
The little things like kicking and throwing snow, looking for white snow to eat and icicles to break; cold hands from mittens filled with snow and trekking through snow filled parks just because sure provides grounding and being in the moment.
Big things and big results are fun, but as you know it's the little things, when done well and done often (consistently) can be just as fun and yield fun outcomes later.
John Wooden John Wooden was Head basketball coach for the UCLA Men's Basketball teams from 1948-1975. His teams won 620 games, a record (at the time) 88 straight games, 10 National Championships in 12 years, a record 7 straight national champions ships and is known as the Wizard of Westwood.
One famous story is how he would teach his players at the beginning of the season to put on their socks and tie their shoes. They players laughed because they were grown men and obviously knew how to do this, but he reasoned, poor fitting socks and poorly tied shoes lead to blisters and ankle injuries. Blisters and ankle injuries lead to missed games. Missed games contribute to team losses. Team losses lead to missed opportunities to make and win the playoffs. So revisiting the habit each year of properly fitting your socks on your feet and securing your shoes to your feet can contribute to reduced injuries, missed games, lost games and missed opportunities.
Bill Belichick Coach Belichick if you live in New England or follow the NFL is known for many things and two of them are practicing situational football and taking it one play at a time. These habits are drilled and practice by the team every practice and every game. A famous story from the Super Bowl against the Seahawks was a screen pass thrown by the Seahawks, Russel Wilson, was intercepted by the Patriots Malcolm Butler, to secure the Patriots lead and win the game. Malcolm was able to anticipate the ball because he had practiced it that exact situation the day before and was beat. Coach Belichick and his coaching staff knew the Seahawks had used that play previously and thought they might use it again so they practiced defending it. The Seahawks were the defending Super Bowl champions who marched down the field after the Patriots took the lead and were 1 play away from winning, but the Patriots, still took it one play at a time and boy did they get lucky that the Seahawks called the screen pass and didn't rush it.
Nutrition Habits The little things you do everyday matter. The little habits. People fall into bad habits all the time without even realizing it because their habits were so small they dismissed them as no big deal. The same can happen with good habits, any habit if you game the system and you game yourself.
You're reading this because you care about your self-care and nutrition is a part of it. Nutrition can magnify good and bad your efforts, health, results and performance so why not game yourself to maximize all the good.
The easiest way to do this is by practicing simple habits you can easily do everyday, if not most meals and/or every meal, the majority of the time, but not necessarily all the time.
What nutrition habit do you think if you practiced, daily, over the next 4 weeks would help you move towards your 2018 self-care goals?
Do you have a 9 out of 10 confidence that you can do it at every meal? Y/N If no, could you do it at 2 meals per day? If no, could you do it at 1 meal per day?
If yes, great. That's your nutrition habit. Write it on your workout card and write it on your planner. Then everyday ask yourself if you practiced your habit. The goal is to answer yes everyday. If you get more than 2 no's it may be too difficult and you need to make it easier. The goal is easy yes's.
Nutrition Habit List If you need help thinking about what habit you might want to practice, below is a list. Choose the one that will have the most impact on your life right now that is also easy for you to do. Then decide if you're going to practice it at every meal, at 3 meals per day, 2 meals/day or simply everyday. Record it on your planner and on your workout card and answer the question, "did you practice your nutrition habit yesterday?", everyday. | 
