stay different. stay real.

Confession: I put my oxygen mask on first

Mandy at the OlympicsYup, I take care of numero uno. I have to because if I don’t, who’s going to do the rah-rah-sis-boom-bah at Accent Inns? I don’t need to tell you that during these never-ending recessionary times a little pom-pom magic is a crucial element of success! I know that a lot of my personal success has to do with bringing energy into the room, whether I’m giving a speech to the Chamber of Commerce or acting as a barometer for my watching team, I need to be at my best. Here are a few things that I do to keep my energy where it needs to be.

First of all, I have a couple of non-negotiables, things that are completely mandatory in my life. The first one is that I love sleep. A solid, quality 8 hours a night – no more and hopefully no less – is pure bliss. As a recovered insomniac, I know! Some tricks I used to get over this pain in the ass were meditation, no, not medication, though that was very tempting, but to actually learn how to control and let go of my thoughts. I also never drink caffeine after noon, and I get plenty of regular work outs to tire me out. What really seems to work for me is not thinking about work before bed. I have a rule that I won’t discuss work with my husband after 9pm. If work does pop into my head, or any other annoying worries, I do not allow myself to think these thoughts. I just won’t go there. I press the imaginary delete button and move on to happier thoughts. Lord knows I spend enough time solving problems any other time of the day. I also really enjoy reading a frivolous novel before bed so that work is not on my brain when I shut ‘er down for the night.

“ the sitting that will kill you”

mandy ginger sleeping jpg

Another non-negotiable in my life is that I work out at least five times a week. Years ago I would have said “How On Earth Is That Possible? Five?! You’ve got to be kidding me, no one works out five freakin’ times a week!” Now, I just schedule them into my calendar and it’s non-negotiable. In fact, I think I might be up to six! My work outs are fun, social and diverse. They range from group road cycling rides to yoga to a quick 20 minute run or power walk out my front door. If I’m desperate, you might even see me on the playground with my kids hippity-hopping, swinging on the monkey bars or dancing around like I have to pee my pants. The fact is that work outs can be snuck in, whether it’s biking to work, wearing a pedometer daily to try to increase your steps, or walking to your next meeting.

A somewhat negotiable tactic of taking care of myself also includes eating a ridiculous amount of vegetables and protein and dessert. Gotta keep a girl happy now. The dessert part also helps fuel my motivation to work out 5 times a week! The latest health buzz is that it’s the sitting that will kill you. With the ache that I get in my hips from sitting all day, I decided to try a stand up desk. This is a really simple thing to do. For instance, I’m writing this at my kitchen counter. At work, I just use a bookshelf that’s the right height for my laptop. It’s not like I’m working all day like this. I’ll do it for two 30 minute stretches per day, and man does it help! I’ll also try to stand up and stretch in between and I take all of my phone calls standing up (apparently you’ll sound more confident this way too).

pushupsOther quick tricks I use for keeping my energy up:

Pop a Vitamin B at 3pm when my energy starts to wane;

Constantly drinking lots of water throughout the day. Since we are 2/3rds made up of the stuff I don’t want it to get sluggish or murky (ew!)

And lastly, there’s nothing more stimulating than dropping to the floor and giving me a quick ten. You just might look a little silly in your high heels!

What do you do to keep your energy up?