How To Increase your Productivity [Part 2: Battery Drain Test]

In order to keep your energy consistently as high as possible, you need to figure out what’s draining your energy. It’s like a phone battery.

The other day too many apps were running on my phone, and the screen brightens was at 100 %. That drained the battery extremely fast.

In fact, until I addressed these little energy suckers, I needed to recharge my phone twice a day.

The same thing happens with your physical, emotional and psychological energy. It’s crucial that you know what drains your energy.

Identify your energy leaks and manage them effectively, so that they do not affect your daily productivity.

Take a look at the Top 5 Energy Drainers in our Day-to-Day Lives
———————————————————————————————

1️⃣ Energy leak: Relationships.

Do you have friends, family members who drain your energy, but you are too polite to stop hanging out with them?

2️⃣ Energy leak: Work.

*Do you do work that sucks all the energy out of you?
*Do you dread going to work?
*Do you come home mentally exhausted because you work in a toxic environment?

3️⃣ Energy leak: Home admin.

*Do you hate cooking?
*Do you hate cleaning?
*Are all household chores on you?

4️⃣ Energy leak: Mental.

*Do you beat yourself up for not being perfect?
*Do you diminish your achievements?
*Do you feel that you are not good enough?

5️⃣ Energy leak: Social media.

*Do you spend hours endlessly browsing on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok?
*Does it leave you feeling comparing yourself to others?

You have to learn how to manage your energy if you want to do less but better.

Tell me something… Out of the 5 energy drainers, which one is draining your energy most lately?
⚡️


#Loveyourself
#Protectyourenergy

How To Increase your Productivity [Part 1: Get Rid of Energy Vampires]

This past weekend, I watched a clip on energy vampires and out of that, I held a meeting with myself to see if maybe I could be an energy drainer.

[It is important to remove the log in your eye from time to time. 😪 😪]

I sought to find out who an energy vampire is, and found out that it’s somebody who literally zaps your energy dry.😖 😖


What energy vampires all have in common is they “feed on” or manipulate people who give them air space and open ears. Energy vampires drain your emotional and psychological energy, distract you from what’s important, and in so doing, lower your effective productivity.

So how do we keep energy vampires at bay so that we can remain productive at work and at home? Here are 3 key ways to protect your self from energy vampires in your life:

💥 1. Cut them out of your life if you can.

If it’s an ex-spouse who you still need to communicate with — because of the children — communicate as little as possible. Use Whatsapp, rather than making plans over the phone.

💥 2. Set boundaries.

Your coworker with the “poor me” attitude who is always complaining rather than finding solutions to his problems.

How to Protect Yourself: Set clear boundaries. Limit the time you spend talking about his complaints. Be firm and say, “I’m sorry, I can only talk for a few minutes today,” then go on with your work.

💥 3. Say “no” nicely.

It is OK to say no to people. And remember, “No” is a complete sentence.

Today, take some time to reflect and ask yourself a couple of questions:

  • Are you an energy vampire?
  • Do you have energy vampires in your life?

If your answer is ‘Yes’ to either question, maybe it’s time to change some things in your life to help you up your productivity.

Is Fear Holding You Back From Living Your Best Life?

I Conquered my Fear of Heights! So Stoked!

So my gym-mate is the founder of Mountain Slayers Kenya that organizes hikes worldwide.

She has been inviting me to join them in one of the hikes they regularly organize, and I kept telling her I will join when it’s an “Easy Hike”. 👀

Well the time came when a hike to Kijabe was coming up, and it was advertised as easy.

This time, I had no excuse and I had to keep my promise. 🙆🏽‍♀️ 🙆🏽‍♀️

All through the week, I kept asking my gym-mate if the hike was really as easy as they implied. I also wanted to know if I I needed specialized hiking gear.

My friend assured me that it was an easy stroll. In fact, she said it was easier than the workouts we do at the gym.😌😌

I took her word for it, and just did basic hike prep – no tech gear, no high-grip boots, just extra socks, extra water and some granola bars and fingerless gloves.

Saturday came and we assembled at 7am at the pick-up point, and off we went to Kijabe.

The first thing I noticed in the car was that everyone had serious hiking gear and boots.

There I was with my humble running sneakers. 😰 😰 😰

My heart rate picked up a bit with nervousness when I saw the gear of my fellow hikers.

So we get to our destination in Kijabe, a beautiful lush green site, and set off! We had barely done 15 minutes through the bush, when lo and behold! we get to a river route.

Shock on me… that was our trail. 😖 🥺 😩

This ended up being a technical hike. 🥺😖☹️

Some of the crossing points required me to be on all fours, others had me praying that God would forgive my foolishness and keep me alive, so that my people back home could see me again!

At some point along the way, I asked myself,

“Liz, how the H*** did you get here? And more importantly, How the H*** do I come out of this alive?!!!”

Eventually, I reached the summit, and took in the amazing views of nature around me, before starting on the route back.

As they say, what goes up must come down… Coming downhill was pure hell!!!

My shoes had poor grip and the trail was super steep.🧗🏾‍♀️ 🧗🏾‍♀️

My saving grace was my fellow hikers: They kept cheering me on, guiding me and holding me when things got rough.

One thing they kept telling me that made me change my mindset, was that FEAR IS HOLDING ME BACK.

  • Fear of heights,
  • Fear of falling and
  • Fear of the unknown

Those 3 fears kept bringing serious doubts in my ability to complete that hike.

One of my hiking mates told me not to look at the whole trail or what was ahead of me and just move by putting one foot in front of the other.

He told me that I should just concentrate on one step at a time and ensure my foot is firmly on the ground with every step. 👣 👣

Guess what….. I finished and I even managed to take a picture at a place where I would not even attempt to do it…..heights…💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

So this season, I want to encourage anyone who’s facing something new, or something daunting in your life.

  1. Face your fears!
  2. Just start!
  3. Many times, our fears disappear after we take the first bold step.
  4. Here’s the Formula:
    –Put one foot in front of the other,
    –make sure it’s firmly on the ground,
    –REPEAT!

I encourage you to #choosetochallenge….

Let no one tell you you cannot achieve something because of your gender or any other stereotypes.

Thank you @mountainslayerske for the experience.

Let me now buy hiking 🥾 boots! 😊

Productivity Tips for Perfectionists

Accepting that Done is Better than Perfect!

As we celebrated International Women’s Day earlier this year, I kept reflecting on how perfectionism holds women back.

One day, I had a boss who told me that not everyone is like me, and I should stop holding other people to my perfectionist standards.

That comment stopped me in my tracks. It forced me to take a step back and reflect on how I’ve been working, the effect it was having on my productivity and what it was doing to my team.

I noticed 3 things:

🚫 I kept suffering from burnout, because I kept trying to do everything.

🚫 I was micromanaging my team to ensure any and all projects that went through our department were perfect.

🚫 I was a superholic… I was trying to do everything excellently at the same time!

Perfectionism means that you’re basically unable to settle for anything less than perfect from one’s perspective.

It’s a mindset where there’s really no room for mistakes. Perfectionists are constantly “striving for flawlessness”.

If you are a Perfectionist, then you are likely to be your own worst enemy. You need to keep in mind that you have the ability to out-perform others around you, because you generally perform at a higher level than most people.

How Do You Know if You Are a Perfectionist?

🔁 You strive for impeccability;

🔁 You set excessively high-performance standards for yourself and for others;

🔁 You over criticize yourself in evaluations;

🔁 You are concerned about others’ evaluations of you.

So ladies, in order to get over your perfectionist behavior, DO…

.✅ Create more realistic personal goals and expectations.

✅ Challenge your inner critic and remove negative thoughts.

✅ Practice not holding others to your super-holic standards.

This week, choose to challenge your perfectionist tendencies: Choose progress over perfection.

Are you holding back your SUCCESS by being a perfectionist?

Better Sleep, Better Health!

Do You Practice Sleep Hygiene?

Did you know that poor sleeping habits can sabotage your weight loss goals and affect your productivity during the day?

Sleep is very, very important because it enables the body to repair and be fit and ready for another day. Unfortunately, the importance of sleep when it comes to health and even weight loss is usually highly underrated.

Quality sleep is part and parcel of pursuing a healthy lifestyle. A good night’s rest leads to:

🔸 Clearer thinking;

🔸 Stronger focus on your daily tasks;

🔶 Higher energy levels;

🔸 Body repair and renewal of cells.

🔸🔸Sacrificing sleep takes a lot away from your waking life experience.

All these tie in together to help you lead a QUALITY LIFE –
You Look good, feel great and your productivity is tops.

Sleep Hygiene: 4 Quick Tips for Better Zzzzs

Practicing what’s known as good “sleep hygiene” can significantly increase your chances of having a good night’s sleep. Here are 4 quick tips to help boost your sleep hygiene:

✖️ Avoiding spicy or rich foods before bed. No more late night curry or ice-cream buckets. These foods are major culprits in triggering indigestion and heartburn, which are really uncomfortable and can keep you up at night.

✖️ Avoiding stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine in the afternoon and evening.

✖️ Avoiding alcohol. Even though a glass of wine can help you fall asleep fast, it can disrupt your sleep in the second part of the night as the body begins to process the alcohol.

✖️ Exercise. Did you know that just 10 minutes of exercise a day can drastically improve your quality of sleep? That’s just one more reason to take that walk or go for a run.
Aim to hit the gym earlier in the day though, as exercise can increase energy post-workout, and keep you up at night.

How many hours do you sleep everyday?

Purpose to catch up on your sleep tonight, won’t you? 😴 💤 🛌

The New Killer in Town… Visceral Fat

We have a new killer in town… VISCERAL FAT!

Visceral fat is a type of body fat that’s stored within the abdominal cavity. It tends to accumulate near several vital organs, including your:

🔺 Liver
🔺 Stomach
🔺 Intestines
🔺 It can also build up in the arteries.

Visceral fat is sometimes referred to as “active fat” because carrying excess visceral fat actively increases your risk of developing several serious and life threatening health conditions. These include:

✖️ Heart attack and heart disease
✖️ Type 2 diabetes
✖️ Stroke
✖️ Breast cancer
✖️ Colorectal cancer

With Covid-19 ravaging the world, we now know that anyone with the above conditions is very vulnerable to the Coronavirus.

Here’s a Simple Step-by-Step Guide on How To Measure your Waist-Height Ratio:

The best estimators of your visceral fat are by measuring either your:
1. Waist-height ratio or
2. Waist circumference

May be an image of one or more people and text that says "Best estimator of visceral fat mass percentage Waist Circumference Goal is Women- Less than 34.5 inches Men- Less than 40 inches Waist-height ratio Goal is less than 0.5 PRECIOUS WELLNESS"

⏩ Measure your height in centimeters

⏩ Measure your waist circumference in centimeters

⏩ Measure your waist at the belly button.

⏩ Remember that your waist should be relaxed as you measure it.

⏩ Divide waist by height measurements to get the ratio.

⏭⏭ Your waist should be less than half your height so the goal is 0.5 or lower

⏮⏮…Have you taken your measurements? Can I have a peak at your results? 👀

Want to learn how you can lower your visceral fat and Keep it Off?
Let me know in the comments.

3 Things Your BMI DOES NOT Reveal About Your Health

Each year, my colleagues and I get a health and wellness check at work, so that every team member has an idea how well they’re doing health-wise. I find it a little hilarious how guys get depressed after being told that they’re overweight or worse still…obese, based on their BMI calculations.

I remember one year, after working so hard to lose 15 kgs, I was told that I was obese!!!
This news really got me down, because I had worked so hard to shift the weight. I had to quickly run to the toilet to cry.

I felt so demotivated 😣😣

Much later, when my emotions were in check, I decided to look up this animal called BMI.
What is it and why is it so important in weight loss and health checks?

BMI essentially stands for Body Mass Index. BMI (body mass index), and it’s a measure calculated using the height and weight of a person.
In my research, I found out a few surprising things about BMI as a measure of how healthy you are.

Take a look at the 3 things your BMI DOES NOT reveal about your health.


1. BMI is an inaccurate measure of body fat content.

It doesn’t give you a good estimate of how much body fat you’re carrying around. Just because you have a high BMI doesn’t necessarily mean you’re overweight. You can have a high BMI even if you have very little body fat, especially if you’re male and very muscular.

2. BMI can differ based on your gender.

For example, a man and a woman with identical body-fat percentage could have widely different BMIs. This is because your BMI doesn’t take into account –
– muscle mass,
– bone density,
– overall body composition, or
– racial differences.

3. It doesn’t take into account your waist circumference, which is an indicator of your risk of developing lifestyle diseases.

One of the best ways to gauge how healthy you are is to measure the circumference of your waist. Research has shown that there’s a correlation between your waist measurement and your risk of lifestyle diseases, like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

When you have a large waist (more than 34.5″ for women and more than 40″ for men), you have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes😥😥😥.

Dare I ask, what is your waist measurement or do I just go ahead and mind my own business…👀👀

Weight Loss Information Overload

Join me and Bidanya Barassa as we talk about how to navigate information overload on nutrition and weight loss.

There is so much information out there and it can get overwhelming and set us up for failure!

This is part of my Wisdom Wednesday series that I hold every Wednesday on Instagram.

Follow me on Instagram so that you do not miss out on this exciting series…..

https://www.instagram.com/precious_wellness/

You are not losing weight….

It happens. You have tried everything….Running, endless visits to the gym, eating clean…. but you are not losing weight. One of the most overlooked and yet most important thing that affects our weight is hormones. When your hormones are in balance, neither too high nor too low, you look and feel your best. But when they are imbalanced, you feel miserable, with a range of symptoms that include fatigue, sugar cravings, weight loss resistance, bloating, belly fat, trouble sleeping, anxiety or irritability, and constant stress.

The following factors affect hormones and weight gain and you should be concious about them