Anchor Activities & Padlock Habits

You run your business & career with structure, but your health has none.  How many times have you hit a brick wall with your energy only to fall prey to decision fatigue?  Or have you lost time simply because a lack of energy became a barrier for you?

One day, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, disappointment spreading across your face, but then you ask yourself, “who has the time?”

I’m not going to sugarcoat it - if you don’t have 3 hours in your week, you’re not busy, your schedule is broken.

You can not take care of anyone or anything else if you don’t take care of yourself first.

Let’s carve that time out for you, right now.  The concept: Anchor Activities & Padlock Habits.

Take a pen and pad and write our a week - just the days - at the top.

Next, go through and write your Anchor Activities - the non-negotiable things you have to do each day - along with the time it happens.  These include:

• Waking Up

• Going To Bed

• Commute To Work

• “Clocking In”

• “Clocking Out” (yes, I know that if you own your business you’re never technically off the clock, but humor me for now)

• Picking Up Kids

Now, go through and write in the things you want to become Anchor Activities.  Ask yourself, “what are my goals?  What actions do I need to take to reach these goals?”  Those actions are the big activities that lead to your goals.  Pick one or two.  For example:

• Training / Exercising

• Grocery Shopping

• Meal Prepping (if you want / don’t use a meal prep service)

• Writing A Blog

• Golden Hours (for improving your business)

Once these are anchored into your schedule: THEY HAVE BECOME NON-NEGOTIABLE.  If you negotiate with yourself, you’re going to lose.

Now, put these in your calendar / calendar app / whatever you use for scheduling.  Why did I make you do it by hand only to transfer it over?  

Because I wanted you to literally carve that time out by hand.  You’re not a servant at the whim of someone else, you’re in charge, exert that control.

Next we’re going to latch our Padlock Habits to our Anchor Activities.  Padlock Habits are the things we do that improve the quality of our Anchor Activities and hold us onto the path toward our goals.  

These things aren’t absolutely necessary but you will lose return on your investment of time if you don’t do them.  Sleep hygiene is a great example of utilizing Padlock Habits.  Here’s a few examples, in this order:

1. Writing my to-do list for the next day (this “launches” me into my wind down routine).

   1. I tie this to charging my cell phone, placing my keys and any necessary things I need to take to work right next to the pad.  This makes sure I have these good to go for tomorrow AND keeps my phone out of the bedroom.

2. I start my nightly tea (this is for my glycine and magnesium supplements).

   1. I floss while the water is boiling and the tea is steeping.  I add in any other night time care things (eye drops, face washing, etc).

3. I read in low, warm lighting while drinking my tea.

   1. When this is done, I take the tea cup back to the kitchen which is near the bathroom, where I brush my teeth and get set for bed.

I love this concept so much, I want to give another set of examples.  This time we’ll use the gym.  Not just training, but training with the intention of putting on muscle:

1. I have an Anchor Activity of a meal, 1.5 to 2 hours before training.

   1. I padlock at least 50 grams of carbs to that meal in an effort to prime the muscles for a tight pump.

2. I have my preworkout drink on my way to the gym.

   1. I padlock a light pinch of salt to help shuttle carbs into the cells during the training.

3. I always use a warm up to make sure I’m primed for the best lifting I can get in.

   1. I padlock specific warm up exercises to this activity in an effort to improve pain points and weak spots in my overall physical structure.

Using these concepts of Anchor Activities and Padlock Habits will create a structure in your schedule to grant you the freedom to get to where you want to be.  

Structure = Freedom

Freedom to grow your business.  Freedom to become the entrepreneur or executive you want to be.  

Freedom to take care of yourself.