Improve mind, body and energy levels using MEXS

There’s a lot of information out there about great life habits, morning and daily routines of high performing people and optimising your life. I’ve distilled what works for me down to a simple acronym to keep me on track. I call it MEXS.

Late last year, I found myself in a phase of reading many books on habits, like Tools of Titans, where Tim Ferris captures and distils habits and routines of some very successful people that he’s interviewed on the Tim Ferris Show. I’ve also read Deep Work, Do the Work, The Effective Executive, The One Thing, The Hard Thing about Hard Things, Mastery, ReWork, The Shallows, So Good they can’t Ignore You, The Sublte art of not giving a F*ck and Zero to one. (Book links are here if you’re interested)

These all relate to changing behaviour and optimising output to some extent.

Too Much Information

All this habit information can get overwhelming, much like all the diet and leadership advice out there that often sends conflicting signals.

To keep it simple and actionable, MEXS keeps me focused each day on what’s important to keep my mind, body, and energy levels in good shape.

Let’s break it down.

M is for Meditate. I meditate every day as soon as I wake up. This is a simple 10-minute meditation, and I use the Headspace app for this. I’ve tried other times of the day, but my chattering head-monkey makes it hard to focus. My head is clearest as soon as I wake up, so this works for me.

E is for Eat. My objective is to stay healthy, not win a body contest, so this helps me make (mostly) good choices when I eat. I eat a healthy breakfast, an ok lunch, and healthy dinner. Of course I eat burgers, etc. sometimes but as long as I’m choosing consciously I get this right 5 out of seven days. Good enough for me.

X is for exercise. I head off to the gym directly after the Meditation. Once again, the best time of day for me, as I get it done before the day starts. The morning is the only part of my day I can actually control, as much as I like to think otherwise. Theres’ simply too many moving parts later in the day. The added benefit of this is that it helps me self-regulate when I’m out in the evenings for an event as I know I have to get up for Gym.

S is for sleep. Without a good night’s sleep, all the above is meaningless. I aim for at least 8 hours sleep a night and have been getting this much for the last few years. I’m focused and productive during the day. Quality output is more important than busyness and seeing sleep deprivation as some badge of honor.

I’ve used MEXS for the past 6 months, and it’s been a great way to stay on track.

What works for you?