^{_{[Health & Fitness]}}

Hey y’all -

welcome to another week of negotiations & psychology.

To me, you can’t be successful in any of the above without being healthy - mentally and physically.

Today I want to share what has helped me do just that.

Let’s dive right in.

Situation

I have been obsessed with health & fitness for as long as I can think.

Even more so once I became a busy Supply Chain professional and dad. But it’s tough to optimize for everything.

After all, when do you get to live?

I tried a lot over the last couple of years with varying success.

But here is what did work:

1. Sleep

No way around it.

If I don’t get the right amount of Deep, REM & Light sleep, my performance falls off a cliff.

Boring take:

If you don't take sleep seriously, you will never perform at your best.

I have used my Whoop to track my sleep for a couple years now and learned a ton.

Hint: You spent more time awake during the night than you think.

The habits that helped improve my sleep:

• No meals two hours before going to bed

• No screen time 60 minutes before bed time

• No reading before before bed time (this surprised me)

• Taking a hot bath 1-2 hours before going to bed.

• Using a Shakti Acupressure mat for ten minutes before falling asleep (those are super cheap and worth every penny, I got one on Amazon for $14)

2. Supplements

I take several:

- Schindeles Mineralien

An Austrian mineral mix that gets you the right amounts of Iron and other essential minerals. A pack costs about $50 and lasts for 6 months.

- Fish Oil

Gets me the essential Omega 3 fatty acids for a healthy brain.

I take one capsule per day.

- Creatine

One of the most well-studied supplements in the world, it boosts my recovery, makes me feel stronger and tastes great (no, it doesn't).

5 milligrams a day do the trick.

3. Resting

I exercise a lot, but it took 35 years (and counting) for me to accept when I need a break.

If you think breaks lower your performance, think again.

Your (brain) muscles need time to get stronger.

4. Gratitude

So underrated, but so important.

Whenever I take a moment to be thankful for everything I am and have my energy spikes!

And my Whoop confirms that:

On average my recovery is 8% higher when I express gratitude the day before.

Outside of sleep, gratitude has the single highest impact on my recovery across the board.

That is basically it.

There are tons of ways to optimize your health, but many are expensive or take a lot of time.

I recommend to start focussing on sleep first. Everything else will fall into place.

I'm convinced:

Healthy sleep leads to a healthy brain &

a healthy brain leads to a healthy body & soul.

Idea

If you’d like to try one of the above, I encourage you to start slow.

That way every day is a success.

Instead of sleeping one more hour, sleep 10 minutes more.

Be the living proof of your success.

Why does this work?

Zero to hero does not.

Forming new habits that are easy, convenient and rewarding does.

Have a good week,

Gereon

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