#131 3 Things I’ve Done to 10X my Overall Health & Wellbeing

Lucy Gernon (00:00.91)
Hi there and welcome back to another episode of the 360 Leadership Podcast where today we are talking all things health and well -being. So if you’re a woman in leadership role who struggles with managing it all, who tends to put herself last, firstly, you’re not alone. And secondly, I’m really hopeful that this week’s episode of the show is going to be really, really, really helpful for you because sometimes it’s actually the small things that have the biggest impact.

So if I just back up a little, why did I want to record this episode of the show today? It’s because I have been thinking a lot recently, listening to our members in 360 Leaders Club about work -life balance and about health. And as a woman in my 40s, I know that I probably most likely have more years behind me than I do ahead of me, which is a scary thought.

So I’m super, super conscious of making the most of shitty situations sometimes and of taking care of my own physical and mental well -being. And in 360 Leaders Club, there’s a massive focus on work -life balance and it brings me so much joy. Every single Friday, we integrate positive psychology into the membership and I encourage the ladies to celebrate their wins. And without fail,

women are celebrating, sticking to nutritious food or sticking to their exercise three times a week or making time to go out for a walk even when they couldn’t. And that’s what I’m all about. Yes, I’m all about career acceleration and helping you to be the best leader you can be and being there to give you tools and support and strategies and tips when you are dealing with situations at work that otherwise would cause you to lose sleep or things like that.

but a massive part of 360 Leaders Club, which is why it’s called 360. It’s about that 360 degree success and health, nutrition and exercise is a massive, massive part of it. Now, something that you might not know yet is that I am studying or when you’re listening to this, I’ll be fully qualified as a positive psychology coach. And for those of you who don’t know much about positive psychology, there’s a big myth out there that positive psychology is about like being happy all the time.

Lucy Gernon (02:20.814)
And it’s really not. We know from the science of positive psychology that when we lean into what’s working well and we lean into, I suppose, the good things in life, as opposed to traditional psychology, which focuses on the negatives and how we can improve and what’s wrong, we actually know that we improve our overall health and well -being and performance and everything. So.

When during my post -psychology training, I was doing one of the pillars in the PERMA model is health. And it was probably the most profound part of the training for me as I really looked at my own overall health. OK, so underneath the category of health, there are four different, I suppose, subcategories. Number one is nutrition. Number two is movement or exercise. Number three is sleep.

And number four is restoration. And I was working with my coach and we were we had to do an assessment to rate how we are in each one of those areas. So overall, like from a sleep perspective, I’ve always been a pretty good sleeper. So I had no problems there. But there were definitely areas that I wanted to improve on from a nutrition perspective and in particular, from a restorative perspective, because and I know you’re going to relate with this.

You might make time at the weekend to switch off. Okay. But do you really restore and do you really take those that the time during the week, Monday to Friday to do things that fill your cup? And most women don’t. So this is why exactly why I wanted to record this episode of the show today to give you three or three things that I have done in the last couple of months. Some of them I’ve continued on and some of them I’m building on. And some of them are new.

that I really, really am finding super supportive for my own wellbeing at the moment. So the first thing that I’ve done is I have recommitted to batch cooking on a Sunday. So I have heard so many women say, oh my God, like I don’t have time to cook during the week and everything is crazy or, you know, you’re dropping the kids off, you’re trying to get your work done, you’re going back to collect the kids.

Lucy Gernon (04:35.758)
or maybe you don’t have kids or they’re grown up and they’re gone and you’re just still stuck to the laptop and you’re on meetings all day and cooking can be a real challenge to find the time. And I don’t know about you, but then sometimes I can reach for stuff that is not nourishing. And for years, I would have been very conscious of my weight. I would have gone to Weight Watchers and done different diets and things like that. And for the first time in my life, in the last couple of years,

When I talk about nutrition and eating well, it is not anything to do with how I look. It’s all to do with giving my food fuel. It is about nourishing my body so that hopefully I get to live a long life. So that will be my invitation for you. If you are the kind of person who struggles with food or you have a relationship with food, which is not healthy, like I definitely used to, my invitation for you would be to stop.

thinking about food, you know, food is certain foods has been too calorific or not allowing yourself to have treats and things. It’s more about you choosing foods that will nourish your body. So that’s the first thing. I’m back cooking on a Sunday now and I have set an intention that for every single meal my kids have and my husband and I have every single dinner at least there are vegetables in it because.

As silly as it sounds, those of you who have children will know, especially teenagers, they go through these fussy periods where they like broccoli today, they don’t like it tomorrow. They like carrots today, they don’t like it tomorrow. And it can be really, really easy then to, I used to get really frustrated, beat myself up going, my kids are not getting enough vegetables. Whereas now what I try to do is I try to put hidden veggies in things. So for example, we’re a big spaghetti Bolognese kind of a family.

big pasta family, chicken curries, that kind of thing. So what I’m doing now is like, I am using my onions for my curry and I’m blending them up so they can’t see them. I’m popping some peas in and they have to eat them, whether they like it or not. I’m making my own pasta sauces way more often now and blending up all sorts of nutritious veggies to pop into the pasta sauce. It’s so simple. All you need to do is get like two tins of chopped tomatoes.

Lucy Gernon (06:57.358)
I get a carton of passata. I throw in whatever I have. Usually it’s like onions, celery, carrots, maybe some peppers for vitamin C, maybe some courgette, whatever you have. Stew it all up in a big pot with some mixed herbs and some garlic. And then you literally just get your hand blender or your stand blender and just blend it up. And I batch it so I have enough, like that would make enough for like two big portions for my whole family and just five of us.

So then I know that I will make it this Sunday and I will have it once this week. And it’s also made for the following week. And then I feel like mom of the year that my kids are actually getting veg into them. So that’s the first thing I’ve done is I’ve set an intention for veg for every meal, every dinner, and I batch cook on a Sunday to set ourselves up for success for the week. And I freeze things. And actually, there’s another episode I recorded with Sarah Butler from Sarah Butler Home.

She’s a big Insta, Insta, Gram star on the cooking front. She does amazing meals. She’s lovely cookbooks. If you go to episode number 34, she’s given you all of her tips on how to batch cook, what containers to get, exactly what you can freeze, what you can’t freeze, how to make the most of what’s in your fridge and all of that good stuff. So definitely check out episode number 34 when you’re finished listening to this one, if that’s what you’re interested in. The second thing I’ve done is I have I do kettlebells at home. So.

I’ve really been more conscious of movement and resistance training. So I am not a health expert. However, I am a coach who has a number one value of work -life balance and that includes health. So I will always encourage anybody who works with me, especially in 360Liters Club, to take care of not only your mental wellbeing, but also your physical wellbeing. And for me, I’ve always enjoyed kettlebells.

I’ve tried going to the gym, I’ve tried different classes and nothing has ever really, I suppose, landed with me as much as kettlebells at home does because I was making excuses that I didn’t have time to go to the gym. And I didn’t have time because it was like two hours out of my day, which was too much. I tried personal training, you name it, I did it all. So I found something that works for me.

Lucy Gernon (09:15.694)
which is I watch YouTube videos. I do 20 to 25 minutes, three to four times a week to keep my muscles strong so that as we age, ladies, I’m not sure if you know this, especially if you’re in your 40s or 50s, you’re definitely at more of a risk of like osteopenia and osteoporosis. And by doing resistance training, i .e. with kettlebells or with weights, or you don’t even have to use physical weights, you can use body weight like

pushups or squats or lunges, just anything that’s putting your muscles under pressure, you’re going to build your muscle. And as a result of building up your muscle, you actually strengthen your bones and you can reverse osteopenia or you can reduce your risks of actually getting it. So super, super, super important. I cannot stress that enough that if you’re older that you know a run or a walk is not resistance training.

And while that’s great for cardio health, i .e. your heart, it’s not going to build muscle. And it’s something that we as women absolutely need to be doing. Again, not a health expert, just sharing what all of the health experts have taught me. OK, so that’s the second thing is I find kettlebells at home. So my invitation for you is to think about what resistance training could you incorporate into your life? Could you do a few push ups at home?

Could do you need to take a class? Do you want to start Pilates? I’m actually literally starting reformer Pilates now as well, because I’m so conscious of resistance training. So that’s the second thing. The third thing, then, is when I did my positive psychology training and we were looking at the pillar of health and we looked at the restorative practices, I realized that was an area that I really wasn’t great on. So I was really good at my sleep. I’m good at, you know,

my little rituals in the morning for my mindset and in the evening. But I wasn’t really doing much during the work day to stop working and actually just take a break and restore myself. Can you relate? It’s kind of like back to back. So it’s it’s running around the place. It’s on calls. It’s doing work. And I find it really, really hard to just break and go sit for 10 minutes, say. So again, going back to the power of habit building.

Lucy Gernon (11:36.974)
I they say for a habit to stick, you need to have a visual cue. So I’m in my office recording right now in my little podcast studio area of my office. And when I’m not podcasting, I don’t know if you if you’re not watching a video, you won’t see this, but I’ve got a lovely wooden background behind me and a little plant. And what I’ve done is when I’m not podcasting, I only do it once a month. I’ve set up a meditation corner in my office now.

Any Feng Shui expert is probably going to tell me you can’t do that and you need a different place. But for me, if I want to take restorative breaks, I need to have it in my office and it needs to be appealing enough for me to want to stop working, to go over and just sit for five minutes, for example. So to make it more appealing, I’m going to link all this in the show notes for anyone who’s interested. I bought myself a beautiful meditation cushion on Amazon.

I got myself a little sound bowl, a sound healing bowl, which is super, super for mindfulness. And again, if mindfulness is something you want to learn more about, if you go back and check out episode number 34 with Niall Breslin or Bresi as he’s more fondly known, he’s sharing all about the power of mindfulness and how you can be more present. And a massive part of that is coming out of your head and coming into your body.

And the only way for us to get out of our head is to have some sort of another focus, if you like. So for me, sound healing is fantastic because you I mean, they’re literally like 20 quid, the small one. I got a small little sound bowl that fits in the palm of my hand and you literally just gong it. And then you use the little thingy that comes with it. I don’t know what it’s called. Like I know somebody is saying it’s like a little wooden stick that you run around the outside of the bowl.

and it makes the sound, it makes the bulls sing. And that literally calms you down. It reduces anxiety. Again, this is all proven in the science as well. It brings you into the present moment and it literally just resets everything in your mind. So that’s something I’ve done. And then the other thing in my meditation corner that I have is I’ve started a little Buddha garden or a little Zen garden. So again, it’s on Amazon. I’ll link it in the show notes.

Lucy Gernon (13:58.606)
It’s just a beautiful little small little black box that has a little Buddha water feature in it with some white sand and a little rake so that when I sit in my meditation corner and after I close my eyes and meditate for even five or 10 minutes is all I all I do. And if I’m feeling stressed or there’s something on my mind, I can just go over to my little Buddha garden and play with the rake. And this may sound silly to some of you and some of you are going, oh, my God, I need this.

Don’t lock it until you try it because it is so, so powerful to bring you in to the present moment. And those little restorative breaks are so, so important for your overall performance at work. So you can make faster, better decisions for clarity of mind. From a health perspective, everything I’ve shared with you is so, so important so that you are at your best. Because I know if you’re listening to my podcast, you are an ambitious,

family focused, driven woman in leadership. You want to reach your potential. You want to be there for other people. You want to be that person who can solve the problems. And unless you fill your own cup first, it is, you’re not going to be able to give to others in the same way. So my invitation for you today, my lovely lady is to go and get yourself a little sound bowl. Go and…

do something so that you have those little restorative breaks throughout your day. Because you don’t want to get burnt out. You don’t want to get burnt out. And actually, if there’s another episode after you listen to this one, I’ve already told you about episode 16, which is the meal planning and batch cooking with Sarah Butler. We have episode 34, which is the mindfulness one with Niall Breslin. And then if you listen to episode 101 with one of my clients, Suzanne Sheridan.

She’s talking all about her journey from burnout to balance. It is such an inspiring story. Suzanne and I have been working together for well over a year now. And this lady has been running marathons. She is like absolutely, she’s gone from having absolutely no time for herself to running marathons, traveling the world with her friends. She’s having more fun than ever before.

Lucy Gernon (16:20.75)
as she actually took on more responsibilities in work as well. And she’s in a new role and she’s absolutely loving it. She’s a mom of three, extremely inspiring. So go listen to episode one on one if you haven’t listened to that one already. So just to summarize my three tips that I’ve used to improve my overall wellbeing and health, and you can do this too, is number one, bat cook on a Sunday and commit to nutrition.

Make your plan. You’re going to feel so smug and so good knowing that you have meals planned for yourself or your family for the week. The second thing is find an exercise where there is resistance in order to build your muscle so that when you’re older, you’re able to pick yourself up off the floor and you don’t need to go into a home. And that’s the reality of it, right? We want to be strong women until we die, right? So go and find something that you like resistance training.

And the final thing, and this will be my biggest invitation for you to take action on, because I know how busy you are, is to commit to restorative breaks throughout your work day. Even if it’s five minutes to just go outside and look at the clouds or go down and make yourself a cup of tea and be really mindful by listening to the kettle as it boils. As you pour it into the teabag, we know watching the steam rise, feeling the temperature, that’s all mindfulness.

And that will just give you a little bit of restore restoration as well. Or if you want to be like me, I really meditation, I couldn’t survive life without meditation and mindfulness. So create a lovely little meditation corner for yourself somewhere in your home that’s visually appealing. And I will link all of the bits that I have in my meditation corner in the show notes wherever you’re listening to this podcast.

So that’s it for this week’s episode of the show. If you found it valuable, can you please do a couple of things for me? And I’m really, if you’re multitasking, come back to me. First of all, I would love you forever if you would just rate and review the show. So wherever you’re listening to it, just leave a little review, add a little five star, subscribe and follow us so that you’re notified of new episodes and you help us to grow the show as well, myself and my team. The second thing is, is could you please forward this to three?

Lucy Gernon (18:41.902)
women in leadership in your network. Because I know there are women that you know that are putting the team first. They’re putting the business first. They’re running around like a headless chicken, not having time for themselves. And even if they took one little nugget from this podcast, you would be giving them a gift. So that is it for this week’s episode of the 360 Leadership Podcast. I hope you have found it useful. And until then, remember, success, balance and happiness is possible.

And that all starts with you. Bye for now.