Master the Mundane

I am SO in love with this book I'm reading right now I wanted to share a bit of the concept with you.  If you are looking to add a book to your personal development library I highly suggest this one :

  

THE SLIGHT EDGE BY JEFF OLSON

Part of the reason I LOVE the Beach Body culture is not only getting our bodies in shape, it's also getting our minds in shape. Their vision is to help people lead healthier and happier lives.  One of the vitals they encourage their coaches to do is read personal development.  While I enjoy reading, some people do not and would look at reading personal development as a waste of time or boring.  But I can't even tell you how much I've learned in the past 9 months of reading a book here and there on how to improve your life.  My Mom would laugh at me right now because she has always read books like this, and we sort of would joke around about it, but here I am following in her footsteps.  

As I'm reading new ones I'd love to share them and their concepts with you to see if it would help you in your life. 

Can you imagine if you shut off the TV or your phone for just 10 minutes a day and added in personal development?  You could read about anything.  Money, investing, weight loss, leadership?  How much knowledge would you have learned in just a weeks time?  How much perspective would you have if dedicated time each and every day to reading personal development for a month, a year?   It would add up wouldn't it?

This book has been a real eye opener in what leads to success.  Success in anything  -- money, relationships, weight loss, your career, happiness.  Whatever your focus is right now, this strategy can help you in that.  

The Slight Edge Strategy.

It talks about how daily habits can work over time to get you to where you want to be.  Daily habits that are mundane - boring, simple, not very exciting.  These day to day tasks that are repetitive but COMPOUND into greater things down the timeline of your life.  

"What you do everyday matters more than what you do every one in awhile" -- it's about consistency! Day in, day out.  Sometimes boring and repetitive.  Sometimes you don't want to do it, but it gets you ahead in your goals whatever they may be, later on in life. 

So take exercising for an example - of course ;)  

For me, I feel it's important for my day to get up and get my workout in first thing in the morning.  Just to get it done, and set my day off with good intention.  The 21 Day Fix program has helped me get into that habit.  Each and every day, it's been part of my life.  Some may say those people that are working out every day are "obsessed"  but I think it's more about dedication.  In a world of sit down jobs and seditary lifestyles, we NEED that activity every day. Think of the cave men, they had to physically HUNT to get their food.  Our bodies are meant to be active, it needs it!  I feel when I get that 30 minuets in each day, it wakes you up and makes you feel SO much better.  

"Success lies in mastering the mundane. Simple daily disciplines done each and every day add up to big results. So easy to do. So easy not to do. A good decision over time will lead to great results. A bad decision over time will lead you further away. Master those mundane daily habits to keep your goal in sight ! "

I have made that a part of my day each and every day.  That mundane task of waking up and getting it done has lead me to lose 35 pounds now and has made me feel more comfortable in my own skin.  A task that is easy to do, (only 30 minutes), but also easy NOT to do each day.  If I were to listen to my excuses in my head of why I can't, shouldn't, or don't have time for exercise, then I wouldn't be where I am today.

Another area where I have applied the Slight Edge Philosophy is with meal planning and meal prep.  So boring, so mundane.  I do this weekly on the weekend, but it pays off HUGE during the week.  So easy to do, so easy not to do.  Those weeks where I didn't plan or not at all -- those weeks I fall of track.  

I know over time if I missed weeks and weeks of meal planning, my eating would fall apart, and I wouldn't be getting results because my food would be all off track and I'd be grabbing things that were quick and convenient and easy when time is of essence.  SO, I dedicate that time to meal plan each and every weekend.  

See where living the Slight Edge can work for you.  See how it can get you closer to where you want to be.  If this book interests you at all, you can find it just at Chapters or off Amazon.  A GREAT read and it can be used in many areas of your life, not just health and fitness :)


~ Jenn