The Happiest People on Earth - Day 5/5

“I want to be healthy and stay in shape”

Did you know the United Nations has a World Happiness Report?

From their reports and others, we know the quality of our relationships has a BIG impact on our happiness. So if our goal is to be “healthy and in shape” I’d say our relationships play a big part in our health!

As a reminder, we categorize our health into these 5 areas: 

Day 5: CONNECT:

Surround yourself with people who help you grow. Care for others. Let others care for you. Develop relationships that foster being seen, heard, and supported. Invest time in relationships and the communities where these relationships are fostered.

This is at the heart of our Connect category.

Some people I know talk to their parents or siblings every day.

Some people I know schedule time to go on “dates” with each of their kids.

Some people I know go on double dates with other couples.

Each of those are habits these people have instilled because they know the importance of investing in those relationships!

What habits do you currently have when it comes to the people closest to you? Here are a few I thought of to help you:

• Put my phone away during meals
• Put my phone away after a specific time each night
• Have a certain amount of coffee/ lunch meetings per month
• Schedule regular dates with your spouse
• Schedule time with children
• Schedule regular meetings with a mentor
• Volunteer a certain amount of hours per month
• Talk with gym buddies for 5 minutes after each class
• Call your mom/dad a certain amount of times per month
• Call a friend a certain amount of times per month
• Participate in a small group at church
• Schedule a weekly meeting with my spouse
• Have a “guys” or “girls” night on a regular basis

Each of these is a habit. And each one can be tracked and measured over time! Do you want to call your mom every week? Well, make it happen! And to get into the habit - track how frequently you actually make the phone call. Once you’ve established the habit, you don’t need to track it anymore, but remember “what gets measured gets improved.” So you’ve got a starting point!

Your task: pick one habit for the next 90 days. Create a way to track your behavior. Use an excel spreadsheet, app on your phone, or a check box on your calendar.

Remember, the most important part is tracking your behavior and measuring it over time. “What gets measured gets improved” is true! So create a metric to track and a way to measure your progress over time!

Tomorrow we'll recap the past 5 days and I'll give you a simple habit tracker with you so you can get started!

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