Jump Start Your First Quarter With 13 Micro Actions

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits and BJ Fogg, author of Tiny Habits, both agree the key to making changes in your habits is to start small and make progress on a daily basis.

This approach can be used to create new, positive habits or to eliminate old, negative habits.

Below is a roadmap for you to make 1 simple change to your life per week over the first quarter of 2023.

By following this roadmap you'll be making small but powerful changes to your life.

The result? You guessed it...you'll become Harder To Kill in only 13 weeks.

Week 1: Get an InBody scan. Knowing your weight gives you some information but it doesn't give you the detail you need to improve your body composition, a/k/a getting leaner.

An InBody scan tells you not only how much you weigh but how much muscle, fat and water are in your body. Once you know this, you can focus on burning excess fat and maintaining (or adding) muscle.

Go here to find an InBody location near you. They cost $25-$30 and you can often buy a bundle and get a discount.

Week 2: Drink half your bodyweight in ounces every day. Some studies suggest up to 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. Your body is over 50% water so to keep it functioning well, drink half your body weight in ounces everyday. Example: a 200 lb man should drink 100 ounces per day minimum. Add more if you are working out or have a high activity level. Being properly hydrated helps build muscle, flush toxins, lower inflammation, increases energy and aids in fat loss.

Week 3: Follow a simple sleep strategy. The payback on improving your sleep is big, including increased muscle and cellular repair, more energy, improved workouts and better mental clarity. Start by doing the following:

• Go to bed at the same time every night. Get up at the same time every morning.

• Follow the 3-2-1 method: stop eating 3 hours before bed, stop drinking liquids 2 hours before bed, stop all screens 1 hour before bed.

• Sleep in a cool, dark room.

• Stop caffeine at least 8 hours before bed.

• Start taking magnesium glycinate before bed

Week 4: Eat your ideal weight in grams of protein every day. If your ideal weight is 200 lbs, eat 200 grams of protein every day. When you combine this with strength training and reduce your overall caloric intake (by reducing carbs and fats), you will lose fat and keep (possibly increase) your muscle mass. Maintaining muscle mass while you age is correlated with improved longevity.

Start at 70% of this number and add 10 grams each week. For a 200 lb man, start with 140 grams of protein per day for one week. Week 2, bump it up to 150 grams. Keep going until you hit your target.

Read the 4 part series on this topic here.

Week 5: Motion is lotion. The benefits of moving, a/k/a exercise are well documented. Dr. Peter Attia is a world renown authority on longevity, check out his views on exercise and longevity here (we follow Attia's exercise framework in our Argent Alpha Athlete (A3) training program designed specifically for Men over 50).

A simple way to start is with a no time commitment workout.

Week 6: Read this article. Start believing new things about yourself and shift your identity. I debated making this the week 1 tip because it is so powerful but I decided to put it at the midpoint. Read this article by James Clear and you just might have an "aha" moment about what has been holding you back.

Week 7: Recruit an accountability partner. The benefits of an accountability partner:

• They help you stay on track

• They help you stay motivated

• They provide support and advice

• They share in your wins and losses

• They help push you out of your comfort zone

Find an accountability partner or join a group like Argent Alpha where we build in 3 levels of accountability (called R.A.D. - recurring accountability drivers).

Week 8: Replace one thing for a better thing. This is a simple step that can lead to dramatic changes. People don't generally like "cutting back" but substituting can be a way of accomplishing the same thing. Examples:

• Replace a can of soda with flavored mineral water.

• Replace the white or brown rice with cauliflower rice.

• Replace 30 minutes of streaming video with reading a book.

• Replace scrolling social media with 5 minutes of planning your day each morning in your journal.

• Replace one meal eating out by cooking a healthy meal at home.

• Replace 3 IPA's with 2 IPA's and a club soda.

Week 9: Stop eating at 6:00 pm. This step has two main benefits.

First, it helps your sleep (see week 3 above).

Second, when you stop eating by 6:00 and don't eat until after 6:00 am the next day, you have fasted for 12 hours. That allows your digestive system to rest, possibly moves you into a fat burning mode (this depends on your carbohydrate intake), and helps with cellular clean up (the longer you fast, the more this factor kicks in).

Week 10: Ask yourself this question. When faced with any decision, ask yourself "will this make me easier or harder to kill?"

This is a pre-planned response to a specific obstacle.

Asking yourself this question reminds you of your goal and gets you refocused on your process.

If you are trying to burn fat and you ask yourself the question, you will remind yourself of your goal (to torch fat) and of your process (I eat healthy, whole foods that cause fat loss and build muscle).

For a great article on how this works, check out Dr. Benjamin Hardy's article on the topic.

Week 11: End each shower with 30 seconds on cold. There are health benefits to doing cold water therapy but that's not the point in this tip. The point here is that we live such easy, comfortable lives that sometimes we need to remind ourselves that we are tougher than we think.

The cold shower is a no cost, no time tactic that will remind you that you are tougher than you think.

And when those 30 seconds are over, you will not only feel exhilarated but also like you accomplished something. Give it a try and over time, increase the time you spend in the cold.

Week 12: Get an InBody scan. Time to retest what you did in Week 1 and see how the weekly tips you have been implementing are showing up in your body composition.

We do InBody scans every month at Argent Alpha to help "course correct" and to gain faster feedback on our efforts.

The InBody scan is your report card on improving your body composition (which is the same as improving your overall health).

Week 13: Conduct a 13 week review. By now, you have implemented 12 weeks of small changes and if you have "stacked" each week you have more than likely noticed changes.

Time to do an assessment and write down your experiences. Review the last 12 weeks and write down the following:

• Overall thoughts on the process and what you noticed.

• What specific changes have you noticed?

• What really worked for you?

• What didn't work for you?

• How will you use these learnings as you move forward?

There are many Men reading this who will "stack" multiple weeks right out of the gate. For example, get an InBody scan, change your sleep habit and start moving daily.

You can definitely do this (or more) starting in week1.

To avoid crashing and burning or giving up in 2 weeks, resist the temptation to go fast. Slow and steady is more sustainable and it gives you a chance to savor the process and not feel rushed.

Reach out to me at [email protected] or contact me on LinkedIn to share your questions and experiences.

Ready to join other Men Over 50 who are becoming Harder To Kill everyday?

We are accepting applications for our next cohort of Men Over 50. If you want to make 2023 your best year in decades, complete this form by 12:00 CT on January 22, 2023.

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