As part of my well-being journey, I use many Microsteps in my daily life to promote positive behavior changes. Some of my favorite Microsteps for connecting with myself and others are setting aside a few minutes at the end of the day to think about what you accomplished, and taking a few minutes to connect personally with someone on your team. For recharging from work, I send a quick note to my team when stepping away and before I get into bed I escort my devices out of the bedroom…”politely.” To keep myself focused, I like to do one small thing each morning that brings me joy. For me, this is getting in a morning workout — either heavy strength training, a quick class on the Peloton, or my morning run (if I am feeling foggy I do all of the above!). Exercise is important to me, so I set up the daily movement reminder on my Fitbit and schedule time to work out — it’s usually in the morning, but sometimes I go out in the evenings if the day has been particularly stressful.
I started using Microsteps because I was not feeling great about life and the path I was going down. When I received an email about Thrive through Northwell, I decided to give my well-being a shot. I figured that these Microsteps would make me feel better both physically and mentally instead of my old state of mind where I thought the world was against me and nothing was going right. Now my well-being is amazing because of these Microsteps and behavior changes. I have fallen in love with fitness and started losing weight with the goal of getting to a healthy BMI. Previously, I would have been a lazy couch potato and I did not hold myself accountable for my health.
My work life has never been better. Where previously I was having issues with focusing and getting priorities done — although it was partially due to getting used to the “new normal” that we have now — that has passed and I have gotten used to our new ways of working. After using the focus Microsteps, I have found new ways to keep my priorities straight and get back to being productive at work. I would also say that my fitness lifestyle changes have made me feel better and think clearer.
My family’s life has also improved. It is just my wife and myself, and because of all these actions that I have been taking I have been connecting on a better level with my wife than before. Previously I would just sit in front of the computer — now I try to spend more time with her and do things outside of the house when we can.
I’ve always had a great connection with my team members at work, but when the entire workplace was remote it seemed that no one was talking. So I started posting a good morning message. It would consist of what today’s national day is, because it seems that every day is a national day for something, whether it be my all time favorite of National Donut Day or National Coffee day as those days you can get free stuff. I have found that this is infectious and has helped people interact more.
One piece of advice that’s helped me keep my stress levels down is not to sweat the small stuff. Everything is meant to happen and either you adapt, move on, or adjust to the ever-changing scenario. And a joy trigger for me has been eating amazingly good food — though recently it has been difficult, since I decided to go plant-based a few years ago. Nowadays it is anything that looks like meat and tastes so amazing that you would never know that no animals were harmed in the making of this food item.
Not to sound like a broken record, but I would say the insights I’ve taken from Thrive are about not worrying about what is going on and learning to divert the bad — whether it be stress, anger, or hate — towards another avenue. For me it is putting all of that negative energy on my Peloton and cycling it out, doing an intense strength workout, or going for a run in the outdoors as if I am running away from the bad.