Health is much more than push-ups and protein shakes. Here’s how to improve your health and overall quality of life by applying these three simple things to do every day.

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Being healthy is more than just pushups and protein shakes.

It’s why I’ve spent a good chunk of my articles on this site discussing things to provide a bit more mental clarity and productivity.

If you ain’t right in the mind … there’s no way you’re gonna be right in the body.

You’ve got to make them #MindGainz

Because what good will those six pack abs be if you have no idea how to enjoy yourself along the way?

My view on health is that it should be treated holistically.

In other words, you should be sound in the many phases of life:

• Physically
• Spiritually
• Mentally

And your daily tasks and habits should provide the path forward to realizing those three pillars.

If you can do that, you’ll see a much easier path forward to crushing that fitness goal. And to be honest, it’ll help you crush just about any goal along the way.

In today’s article, you’re getting my quick tips for the three simple things to do every day.

Every single day.

These are sort of the non-negotiable tasks that will keep you invigorated. They’ll awaken the spirit and the soul and the mind and get you primed to kick ass each and every day.

Let’s get into it.

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“Win the morning, win the day.”

It’s a simple phrase that I really live by.

In fact, I practice what I preach by making sure that I’m up early every single morning. Zero-dark thirty (5:30 a.m. to be exact).

This includes weekends.

I’m up, meditating and then I write in my journal, check in on some brief affirmations, do a little flexibility and mobility and bang out a few pages worth of writing.

All before the kids pop up.

As I’ve mentioned in my articles for busy working parents, my biggest tip is to avoid letting your kids be your alarm clock.

When you can grab at least a few minutes before the crying, whining, demanding humanoids start popping up, you’ll have a chance to set your intentions for the day.

With those few extra minutes, you should be able to perform one of these three things to do every day, which starts with some Vitamin D.

Get some sunlight first thing in the morning

It will boost your circadian rhythm and get you ready to tackle the day ahead.

Even if you work from home, you should find the time to get outside for a brief morning walk.

Or maybe it’s a meditation at a nearby park or in your own backyard.

A few other ideas for getting more sunlight:

• Jump out of the car for a minute prior to or after school drop-off duty, who cares if it’s frowned upon by the Karen managing the drop off line
• Opt to take a meeting outside instead of the stuffy conference room
• Walk to your favorite lunch spot instead of driving or having it delivered
• For those who work from home: step outside for a brainstorming session at a nearby park

Just get a few minutes of natural vitamin D to ground yourself. Preferably as early as possible to provide that boost to your circadian rhythm.

You might find that you end up getting better quality sleep as a result. And sleep is one of the most underrated things you can do for overall health (not just fat loss).

Read something

Pick up a book and read it.

I’ve talked about why reading is important for overall health. And even explained how to nurture a more robust reading habit.

If you are not improving and growing and learning something new every single day, you are slowly dying of atrophy.

Our muscles need stimulus throughout our lives. Which is why I encourage doing some form of daily activity, along with weekly strength training.

But our minds cannot be stagnant, either.

Which is why developing a reading habit should be a top priority for enriching things to do every day.

Even if it is small, like just one page.

One page per day is still 365 for an entire year. Depending on the read, that could be a couple of books.

And I do not care if what you read is educational. Instead, just find something you’d like to read and commit to doing so every single day.

It can be science-fiction, self-help, philosophy, or anything in between.

In fact, one of the best tips I ever received for becoming a better writer was to read more works of fiction. If you can learn how to become a better storyteller, your writing ability will improve tenfold.

And the best way to learn how to write is to read more.

Put the phone down

You are not missing anything. I promise.

The social media drug of choice has perfected the algorithm to provide the right mix of addicting materials to keep your eye balls on the app.

You are the product. Not the consumer. Remember that.

The apps get paid by ad dollars and corporate sponsorships and investments.

And those corporate sponsors, investors, and advertisers are all paying for the same things … your attention, personal data, and information.

With that in mind, it makes so much more sense when you realize that each social media platform is specifically designed and gets more money to have you stay on the app longer and longer.

Now once you understand that, it’ll be much easier to simply break away from that drug more often throughout your day.

Make one of your non-negotiable things to do every day be a habit of simply breaking from your phone for extended periods of time.

It can look like:

• Turning on your “do not disturb” option during specific working hours
• Avoiding the urge to grab your phone as soon as you pop out of bed (before the kids wake up, too, of course)
• Shutting down your phone an hour before bedtime

As you should already know, staring at your screen without meaningful downtime can fuck your eyesight.

In addition, it can wreck your sleep if you are not putting the phone down in ample time before bed.

Set a rule that you’ll avoid staring at your phone about 60 minutes before your sleepy time routine kicks into full gear.

Don’t have a bedtime routine? Oof. Let’s fix that with my guide to improving your sleep.

Simple things to do every day

But, when you make subtle tweaks like these and build habits around them, you start to create that structure for fostering a more enriching and healthy lifestyle.

And you might even find you’ll have a little more time in the day to still crush those protein shakes and pushups anyway.

Let me help you learn how to create a healthier lifestyle by applying these three simple things to do every day … 

I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Things to do every day” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

If you enjoyed this post, maybe you’d like more knowledge bombs from me. I’d be honored if you join my mailing list to get regular updates every time I post something pretty dope.