Foundation of Full Potential

When I got started in ‘the wellness industry’, I was a young post-graduate theoretical strategist. Pie in the sky strategy was probably my best skill & I’ve realized my execution of strategy has been poor in the past. At least when it came to admin-based tasks.

Newsletter Purpose: I’d like to see you inspired into action in three major aspects of your life that I struggled to juggle for years as a young entrepreneur (22yrs old) straight out of university. I plan to share a number of tools with you to help you improve your fundamentals so you can become ‘actualised’ – by this I mean, aware of yourself in terms of abilities, feelings & behavior, as well as how that engages with people around you AND the environment you find yourself in. As this newsletter progresses, I’ll touch on the below topics in more depth with relevant links, literature & practical tools. In addition, you’ll see weekly podcasts posted on The ActualiseYOU Podcast – feel free to join the conversation by emailing me: jarryd@actualise.co.za with your #actualSTORY or #smallBIZ conversation.

CORE FOUNDATIONS

1. Sleep – this is the foundation for all physical & mental health. 8 hours is the ideal. I used to operate on 4-5hrs per night, in the last 2 years I’ve bumped it up to an average of 7hrs & it’s made a world of difference.
2. Nutrition – here you need to decide if you’re a Ferrari or an old beat-up mess of machinery & what fuel will be optimal for you. Unfortunately, we aren’t exactly all the same so there’s no silver bullet but I believe a good understanding of daily energy requirements is critical: a healthy balance of macro- & micro-nutrients for your needs. Timing is also crucial so you’re using the fuel you consume & don’t let the excess sit wherever it wants.
3. Physiology – by this I mean your activity levels & general stimulation. This can be divided into several categories including: competitive &/ recreational sports; strength & conditioning; creative activities, such as dancing, acting, arting or creating music; sexual stimulation; experience-based learning by going out, doing things & meeting people.
4. Relationships – we all need to manage our relationships with friends, family & colleagues optimally. This is no easy task, obviously, but is critical to our well-being & performance elsewhere. Simplistically, if you’re spending time with people that bring you down, get out of there & find people that are willing to guide you into a better position than you’re currently in.

WHY WORK, LIFE & LEISURE?

Perhaps it would be best to structure it as life which consists of work & leisure (& relationships therein). However in my experience & for most people work comes first.

Why? Simply because work means income, which results in a livelihood. At the beginning it tends to be to make ends meet or pay off student debt or explore the world & even though this is true, so most people neglect their leisure activities, eventually they pick it up again or some other leisure activity to do as a form of escapism or personal development, or both.

An ideal balance should be sleep 33% of the day, work 33% of the day, & leisure/life 33% of the day. In actuality, this is not how the cookie crumbles. It’s usually a 20:75:5 percent ratio or worse for most people.

As a licensed WellSteps service provider, we help organizations implement strategic & engaging wellness-oriented solutions into the workplace to reduce the risk for presenteeism – employees working while sick as a performative measure – & optimizing productivity through culture transformation.

ActualiseYOU has designed the STARTegic WELLness Program for small to medium-sized enterprises with employees on the brink of burnout & in dire need of something new to improve productivity BUT with limited know-how or time to implement change.

Here’s a useful tip to end off:

Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.
Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills.
Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom.

~ Jim Rohn

Until next time, keep working on the small stuff so you can overcome the big stuff!

Best in wellness & training,

Jarryd Irvine

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