Establish strong foundations

- Next up, the strategy of foundation, and the strategy of foundation is just, you know, there's certain things that we do in our everyday lives that give us more self-command, and self-command is something that we want all day long, at work, and at home, you want to be in control of yourself. So what do you need to do? There are four things to think about with your foundation. First, eat and drink right. Don't let yourself get too hungry. When you are too hungry, that's when you lose your temper, that's when you can't make decisions, that's when you get into fights in the workplace. Make sure that you eat enough. And drinking, well, I mean, part of the fun of drinking is that it lowers our inhibitions, and that's not a good thing for self-command. Next, moving around. You do not need to train for the marathon or do an hour spin class in order to get the benefits of just moving around. You know, go for a 15 minute walk during your lunch hour. Bike to work instead of driving to work. All this exercise, it boosts your alertness, your memory, your self-command. It's going to do all kinds of positive things for you. Next, sleep. We all know it, and so many of us don't follow through with it. Most adults need at least seven hours of sleep a night. So figure out what time you wake up in the morning, do the math, give yourself a bedtime, and make sure that you're consistently getting at least seven hours of sleep. It has a huge impact on your health, on your mood, your memory, your immune function. They think it contributes to weight gain. If you use your brain at work, you cannot be using your brain efficiently if you're not getting enough sleep. It's your most important resource. And then finally, and this is the one that kind of surprised me in foundation, is uncluttering. To kind of a crazy degree, for most people, outer order contributes to inner calm, inner self-command, and a sense of creativity. I have a friend who said, "You know, "I finally cleaned out my fridge "and now I know I can switch careers." And I knew exactly what that felt like. And often, if I feel stuck in a work project, if I just take the time to clean out my, clean off the top of my desk, file things, print things out, move things, get rid of my to-do lists, there's some kind of energizing, creative explosion that happens, and so, often, by managing clutter, it seems like it's a trivial thing, but it can matter more than we think. And so, to work on making sure that you eat and drink right, move some, get enough sleep, and clutter can help set the foundation for all the habits that you're working on.