We spend more than 40% of our day on autopilot. Our days are essentially, like Bill Murray’s in Groundhog’s Day. Rinse, repeat. Rinse, repeat. Rinse, repeat.

While this may seem depressing at first, it’s actually your brain’s way of saving energy. 

When you don’t have to think about the little things, you can allocate more of your brainpower to tackle complicated problems, like how to make a plane fly or even more complex issues like:

… what to make for dinner that’s easy, healthy, cheap, and not what you made yesterday, manage the medical visits for your aging parents, teach your kid how to read, squeeze in a walk, show up for your partner, remember to feed the dog, keep everyone safe from covid, and then somehow set all of that aside so you can get your work project completed on time and under budget...you get the picture (Har, har, har)…

Living on autopilot has its perks. It's not good or bad, it’s simply a conglomeration of the habits you’ve created up until this point. 

Some habits create more stress in your life and some of them can make it better. 

Our days have been filled with so much uncertainty, so many unknowns, and so much sadness it can be hard to recognize that stress isn’t the issue — it’s how we relate to it. 

Stress can help you become a shiny, shimmering diamond or burnout piece of coal. It can make you flourish during difficult times or flounder. It’s all in how you relate to it. 

The goal is to create a life that is filled with small, healthy habits, that become our new autopilot. This helps us show up as the best version of ourselves for us, our families, our communities, and our co-workers.

Stress can ignite innovation.

Stress isn’t all bad. When you’re pressed for time or money, or faced with some other sort of restrain, it’s often then when you come up with some of the most dazzling solutions. 

The issue is that when you are subjected to too much stress — all at once — or live in chronic stress, you fall out of your higher brain and into your fight, flight, or freeze brain — or reptile brain. When you fall into this lower brain state, you essentially drain yourself of perspective, of creativity, of compassion, You can also start to lose sight of what matters the most — your relationship to others, your health and happiness, your desire to be a part of a higher purpose.

Living in high amounts of stress long-term is also directly linked to the development of lifestyle diseases — aka the things that kill you too early, or make life even less enjoyable — like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and so many others.

You can start to allow maladaptive or unskillful habits to fill your days and pretty soon you feel so overwhelmed with all that needs to be accomplished that you no longer allow yourself to make time for the little habits that make life more enjoyable.

Maladaptive habits look like:

• Looking at the day as something to just get through

• Not making time for hobbies, or activities, or relationships that energize you because you have so much work to do

• Not getting enough movement on a daily basis

• Skipping meals or working through lunch

• Relying on coffee, alcohol, or other drugs to get you through

• Not prioritizing sleep

• Being highly critical of ourselves and others

When you choose to implement small, daily habits that help you manage the way you relate to stress better; you build your resilience. Allowing you to switch back into your higher brain state — where stress functions more as an innovative restraint. 

Your ability to stay in your higher brain state helps you make decisions that lead to success in your personal and professional life.

Implementing key stress resiliency tools doesn’t mean that you’ll never feel overwhelmed or never lash out. It does mean that you’ll have more control over your response to stress, have more clarity and creativity in the way you address issues, and the ability to keep a more balanced perspective. 

These seemingly insignificant daily rituals are the things that help you improve relationships, social networks, support a well-managed home, and keep you happy, healthy, and yes— even sane.

That’s why we need to prioritize our personal wellness and learn how to build our resilience.

If you can improve your personal wellness, you can fundamentally shift the way you respond to stress. Research out of Harvard shows that happy, healthy individuals are,

“31% more productive and 37% better at sales than the same individuals at negative, neutral or stressed...which means that by focusing on your number one asset —you — you can do more, with less — and live happier and healthier!

Improving your personal wellness looks like:

1. More sleep. (7-9 hours every night.)

2. More mindfulness. (Daily gratitude or meditation for 2 to 10 minutes every day.)

3. More Movement. (30 minutes every day.)

4. Reconnecting to the things that energize you or little daily joys.

5. Reconnecting to your higher purpose.

Want to get a gut check on what you’re doing well and simple tips on how to regain your balance?

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