If You Do These 5 Tiny Habits Daily, Your Life Will Feel Totally Different in 30 Days

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 0:00 We are what we repeatedly do. Therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit. So what daily habits do you have? Are those habits helping you or are they getting in your way? In this video, I'm gonna share with you five small daily habits that have worked for me, that have worked for my patients, and are gonna make you feel incredible if you can give them a go for the next thirty days. So the first habit is learn to say no. I think this is a very important upstream habit, that if you can take care of this, you automatically take care of a lot of stress, overwhelm, and dare I say it, burnout. A lot of us are people pleasers, right? There's nothing wrong with pleasing other people, okay? It's nice to do things for others. But if we're regularly doing things for others at the expense of ourselves and we don't know how to say no, we don't know how to put up boundaries, that can be problematic. Now, something I've experienced myself, 'cause this used to be me, and something I've seen with patients, is that people who struggle to say no often start to resent the people around them without realizing that they're also contributing. Okay? It's a really important point to understand. If you can't say no, and you're repeatedly effectively saying yes to people and doing things that you don't have the time for or the energy for, we often start to resent those people for making those requests. But the uncomfortable truth is that a lot of the time, because we never said no, because we couldn't say no, we're giving them the idea that we're okay doing that, right? So we are contributing in a significant way. Now, I don't think it's as hard as we think as it is to change it. A lot of these patterns, yes, they develop in childhood because of the way we're brought up, often because of the way our parents were, we feel we had to say yes in order to be accepted and validated for who we are. I get that. And sure, unpicking all of that can take some time, but there are things that you can do right now that are gonna help you learn to say no more.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 2:15 Now, in order to get good at saying no, I think you have to get clear on what your values are. Who are you as a human being? What is important to you? Do you know? Have you ever spent time thinking about it or writing it down? See, a lot of us these days have heard about this idea of values. What are the things that are important to us? But we haven't taken the next step of writing down what our own values are. And I give many talks all around the UK and sometimes around the world, and a lot of the time I talk about values and people will nod their head. And then I'll often say, "Okay, how many of you know right now what your top three values are?" Loads of people keep their hands down because they like the idea, but they haven't applied the idea into their life. But ideas without application don't do anything, right? So I would encourage you right now to think about what are your values. At this stage in my life, my three top values are curiosity, compassion, and integrity. If I was to ask you what your three are, do you know? Could you write them in the comments right now? If you can't, I'd encourage you to spend some time doing that because it's very hard to say no if you don't know who you are and what you stand for. Now, one of the things I think that's helpful is to learn that everything has a cost, right? When you're saying yes to something, you're saying no to something else. Although not one of my top three values, something that's very important to me is my family. Okay? I'm happily married and I have two young children. And over the last years I've realized that for me, if I say yes to, let's say, a speaking invitation at the weekend, I'm also saying no to time playing football or netball with my children or going for a walk as a family when the kids are off school. I know it sounds deceptively simple, but it really can be that simple for me, and I appreciate that not everyone is gonna be able to say no to every request. It depends on your life, what you're able to say yes and no to. I do understand that, but I'm just trying to give you the principle, right? Once you understand the principle, you can take it and apply it in your life. So for me, in my life, I block off my weekends. I very rarely say yes to a speaking invitation because my kids are at school Monday to Friday, and I know my time to spend with them when we can really go and do some fun things together are at the weekends. So by and large, I don't say yes. Now, that means I don't have to keep thinking every time a request comes in, "Oh, weigh up the pros and cons. Shall I do it? Are there benefits? Are there downsides?" Because I've made a one-time decision which works for me, right? So think about how that applies in your life, right? What things are you saying yes to when you really mean no? And could you writing down your values and maybe once a week reflecting on them help you say no more often and more effectively? Now, another benefit of knowing your values, which basically means you know who you are and what's important to you, is that it also helps you say no without upsetting people. Now, this is a problem many people have, especially if they are people pleasers. They don't wanna say no because they're scared that people are gonna judge them and they won't like them if they say no. And we all wanna be liked by others. I get that. It's, it's totally human. To want other people to like us and feel that we're helpful and of value to them. But if we just use that example about weekends and the importance of my family to me, it helps me communicate that to anyone asking me to speak 'cause I say, "Listen, thank you so much for the invitation. I would have loved to have done it, but my family and time with my children is really important to me, so as a rule, I don't do any events at the weekend. If you have any weekday events in the future that you'd like me to speak at, please do get in touch. But unfortunately, because it's at a weekend, I have to say no." And again, having that clarity and communicating that calmly, it means that people accept it. Ever since I've managed to do that, people totally understand. And often when we don't have that clarity, we kind of fudge an answer, we fumble an answer, we make up excuses that aren't real. People can tell that, right? They pick up on that. So knowing yourself, knowing your values, getting clear on them is a necessary first step because without that, it's very hard to effectively say no.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 7:15 Often we fall into the trap of saying yes to things that are happening at some point in the future. We think, oh yeah, by then I'll sort out my workload and my life, it will be okay to attend or do that task or go to that event, whatever it might be. And then how many times have you done that and in the weeks leading up to it, the days leading up to it, it's there in the background, it's stressing you out, and it creates a lot of stress and tension because you say yes, it's not a wholehearted yes. You kind of know that you shouldn't have said it. And actually, by the time it comes around, you're thinking, "Man, I wish I never said yes in the first place." I know I've done that many times in the past, but it's something that I've mostly managed to change. Now, the first thing to think about is if you're saying yes to something in the future, just imagine if it was happening right now this week. Would you have time for it? Would you have capacity for it? Would you be excited about it? If you wouldn't right now, it is very unlikely that you'd be happy, excited, inspired by it three months in the future. It's unlikely that your life is gonna have changed significantly in that time, where suddenly you've got the time and energy to do it. You might have done, but usually not. So that can be a helpful tool at reframing it, going, "Actually, you know what? Nothing's gonna be easier then. I should just say no now." Right? So it's really good to start practicing saying no. Start off with small things in your life, whatever they might be. Now, I have to say, what you say yes and no to is gonna be unique to you, okay? Only you know your life and what's important to you. But that really highlights the importance of knowing your values. Once you know what is important to you, you can start making better decisions, right? I'll give you another example from my life in case it helps, okay? I like to go to bed early, right? I really prioritize my sleep. I love to be in bed by 9:00, and I wake up at 5:00 AM. It's what works for me in the context of my life, okay? Doesn't mean it's gonna work for you. That's what works for me. So over the last years, I've realized that evenings out or going out for dinner just doesn't really work for me because then I come back a bit late, I go to bed late, and I feel groggy the next day. I'm not as productive. Now, I get it. Sometimes you may have to do that for certain reasons. Maybe work obligations, right? But not always. And I've realized that by knowing that value for me, it's been much easier for me to actually say no to things, depending on who's making the request. It's like, "Hey, could we do lunch instead one day? I'd much prefer that to dinner." Again, that's unique to me. You have to find what works for you, but unless you know your values, you're gonna find it very hard to effectively say no. And remember, knowing your values means that not only can you say no, you are much more effective at doing so. People understand when you actually explain it to them in the context of your values. It could be a weekend away with friends, right? You feel the real pressure to go 'cause everyone's going, right? But you know at this moment in time, you are slammed with work and family commitments, and you feel that you won't be accepted by your friends if you say no, so you end up going, regretting going, and spending all of the time not being present and doing your emails, right? This is pretty common, I think. And again, we have to balance this because you wanna spend time with your friends. That's really important. People are getting more lonely and more isolated and not having time for their friends. But once you go through this process, when you go, "Wow, I'm too busy to go and see my close friends for a weekend," that will also then encourage you to look at the state of your life. Why am I this busy? Why is it that I've got my life in such a way that something that's truly important, spending time with close friends, is something I can't fit in? That's something I've had to recognize in my own life over the last few years, that, wow, sometimes I was too busy and I thought wrongly. What kind of life is this when you're too busy to go and see your friends? So I've made some changes, but it all starts by knowing your values and by learning to say no. The second daily habit I want you to think about introducing is

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 11:40 some form of daily reflection. Why is that important? We all wanna feel as though we're making progress in our life, that we're getting better, that we're learning, that we're growing, right? But too often we're busy. We're so busy within our lives we can't step outside in order to reflect on the state of our lives. So a very helpful way that I do this, that I've been using with my patients for years, is to ask yourself two questions every evening, okay? What went well today, and what can I do differently tomorrow? Now, what I love about those questions is that they are self-reflective questions that help you make positive changes, but in a very compassionate way. Those questions aren't about beating yourself up or making yourself feel bad. Not at all. They're the absolute opposite of that. They very kindly encourage you to reflect on how your day went. Now, the first question I think is a lovely question. What went well today? Now, it doesn't matter how bad you think your day was today or on any given day, I'm pretty sure that for most of you, there was at least one thing that went well. Maybe on your way to work and you'd, let's say you had a bad day at work, maybe the barista smiled at you and made you a really nice coffee and said something nice, and you thought, "Wow, that's a really good coffee." Right? Could be anything. Maybe someone helped you out on a work project even though you didn't meet your deadline and you were working till 7:00 PM, maybe someone did that for you. Or maybe it is that you're a busy parent, right? And you came home late and you were tired and stressed, you still found 20 minutes to make you and your children a healthy home-cooked meal, right? I think it's really important to celebrate these things and recognize what did go well because many people feel overwhelmed these days, right? We know from the increasing levels of burnouts that many people are really, really struggling. So you could overly focus on the things that didn't go well. Okay? And the human brain has a negativity bias. We are wired to look at what's not good because over time, over thousands of years, that's what would've kept us alive, right? But today we need new skills. We need to focus on what went well. So that's why I like that first question, what went well today? It gives you a bit of confidence and it reminds you that something goes well every single day. Now, the second question really is the question that helps you implement change in your life. What can I do differently tomorrow? Now, I love that question. It's a very kind question, but it's, it's kindly and compassionately encouraging us to grow and become better, right? By learning from what didn't go so well. So it could be, for example, that today you've been craving sugar and caffeine all day because you were knackered. And maybe on reflection you realized that last night, because you had a stressful day at work, once your kids were in bed, you had a couple of glasses of wine and you stayed up late watching box sets, right? I get it. I understand. Many people do that. But because you'd drunk alcohol, because you went to bed at half past midnight, when your alarm went off at 6:30, you were a bit groggy, you were underslept. And because of what happened the night before, that's why you crave sugar and caffeine all day, and that's why you're a bit snappy with your kids. Okay. Right? We wanna be kind to ourselves. We don't wanna look back on the past with guilt or shame. It's never helpful. But this question doesn't ask you to do that. This question is very kind. It's asking you to go, "Well, why did that happen? How can I do this differently tomorrow?" So the learning there could be, even if today is really stressful, or even more so if today is stressful, I absolutely must not stay up even later to unwind. I must make sure that I get my rest and that I go to bed on time. Because if I get seven or eight hours sleep, I'm gonna crave less caffeine tomorrow, I'm gonna have more energy, I'm gonna crave less sugar, and I'm gonna be a nicer person to be around. Okay? Two simple questions. What went well today? What can I do differently tomorrow? And I promise you, right, if you get in the habit of asking yourself those two questions every single evening, before you know it, your life will be different. I know 'cause I've done it and I've seen it with so many of my patients over the years. It's really, really simple to do. Now, with all habits, you need to think about where are you gonna put it into your life. If you just think it's gonna happen 'cause you set the intention, I think it's unlikely. So if you think you wanna try those two questions every day, think about when you're gonna do it. Maybe it's straight after your kids go to bed if you have kids. Maybe it's when you get into your bed, maybe there's a journal next to your bed that you keep there, or a notebook and a pen, and when you go into bed, as part of your wind down routine, it's like, "This went well. This is what I can do differently tomorrow." Or it could be any time. You know, I don't know what's best in your life 'cause I don't know your life, right? But I do know that those questions work. They're very, very effective. But you have to figure out when and where you're gonna answer them.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 17:21 The third daily habit that I know will transform your life is to walk every day. Now, I know this sounds simple, but walking really is a superpower, and it's a superpower that you probably didn't know you had. Right? To walk is to be human, right? We are uniquely designed to be able to walk and to be able to walk for some quite long distances, right? We know that across society we're not moving enough. We know that physical inactivity is one of the leading causes of early death across the world, increasing our risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, type 2 diabetes, and the list goes on. But when we think about movement, we make it really, really difficult. We talk about running marathons and running 10Ks and getting to the gym four times a week for an hour. Hey, I've got nothing against those things, right? If you've got the inclination and the time and the motivation, those things for some people can be great. But- By putting our focus there, we forget one of the most effective forms of movement for us as humans is to walk. We spend so much energy when we're babies learning how to walk, right? Once you've got that skill, you don't wanna lose it. You wanna keep using it for as long as you can.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 18:45 Now, here's the thing people don't realize about walking, okay? Let's say you every lunchtime go for a 15-minute walk, okay? I think that's achievable for many people. What does that do? Walking helps to lower your stress levels and balance your nervous system, right? How many people these days are stressed and are frazzled with how much they have to do? Walking helps you lower that stress, okay? There's many studies on this and what it will do to the state of what we call your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. So walking helps you reduce stress. Walking helps you be more creative and helps you focus better when you come back. It's a break, right? It's a break from your work where your mind can wander, and one of the things that happens when you walk, especially if you're not staring at your phone at the same time, is that a part of your brain called the DMN, the default mode network, kicks into action. That part of the brain does many things, but two of the things it does, right, it helps you be more creative and it helps you to solve problems. So imagine this scenario. You're at your desk at lunchtime and you've been working for hours and you can't solve a problem, or you've got a deadline and you're trying to push through. A lot of us don't break. We keep going. We keep pushing away trying to solve that problem, thinking that somehow we're gonna manage it. Now, you may manage it, but a lot of the time if you just took a break, went for a 15-minute walk, your brain would solve the problem for you. When you're not focused on a task, your DMN kicks into gear and will start to try and solve problems for you. So it's really, really effective for that. Walking is also incredibly beneficial for your mental health, right? Walking for just 10 minutes a day lowers your risk of depression. That is remarkable. Mental health problems are on the rise, and even 10 minutes of walking can have a positive effect. Again, I wanna bring home this idea that we make things so difficult. Health and happiness is a lot simpler than we think, but it's about these small daily habits that we do consistently that over time determine the quality of our lives, and people who walk every day are happier and they're healthier. Now, there's other benefits for walking as well, right? A lot of us these days are sat down at desks or in cars, right? And our body is just not moving, but movement is not just about our physical health or our fitness. The organs in your body need walking to pump everything around, blood and lymph. In fact, I've got patients, right, who struggle with their gut and constipation, and I didn't need to change their diet. I just needed to encourage them to walk for 20 or 30 minutes every day, and their gut function will often improve. 'Cause when you walk, you know, your upper and your lower body rotate and you start to compress organs. That's how we're designed to be. We're not meant to be sedentary. Walking really is a uniquely human activity that has so many benefits. I really wanna encourage you to figure out how can you implement walking in your life for the next 30 days. I'd take that as a challenge, right? If you are skeptical or you think walking doesn't count, well, I challenge you. Could you in your life right now find time for a walk every day for the next 30 days? Could you fit it in in the morning before breakfast, maybe at lunchtime, maybe when you come home? And if you don't believe me of the life-changing benefits of walking every day, I would say try it. Give me 30 days. Commit to it. Do it, and then at the end of those 30 days or throughout, ask yourself what difference are you feeling? Do you find yourself less stressed? Do you find yourself more creative? Do you find yourself calmer, more focused? Do you find that you're sleeping better, that you're less constipated, that your gut function is improving? Make a note, because when you start to draw those connections in your mind between your behaviors and how you feel, that's when you really start to lock it into your brain, and that's how you start to turn these new behaviors into automatic long-term habits. To make sure you're taking action after watching this video, I've created a free guide to help you build healthy habits. We can all make short-term change, but can those changes become a fundamental part of our life? Often they don't, and that's why in this free guide I share with you the six crucial steps you need to take. They're really, really effective. If you wanna get hold of that free guide right now, all you have to do is click the link in the description box below. The next

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 23:51 daily habit I want you to think about introducing into your life is all about connection. Can you make sure that you are connecting properly with another human being at least once a day? Now, this is really, really important for your happiness and your mental wellbeing, sure, but also for your physical health. We know that levels of loneliness are rising all across the world, and there's a certain irony, isn't there? With all this modern technology, with all the connection we can have online, many humans have never felt this isolated and alone. And we know from the scientific research that the feeling of being lonely- May be as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes per day, right? We know that people who feel lonely are more likely to die earlier than people who don't. In fact, I recently spoke to Vivek Murthy on my podcast, the surgeon general in America, the most senior medical doctor in the United States, and he shared with me that we need to start recognizing that loneliness has an impact on our health comparable to that of being obese. I mean, that's huge. So if I'm thinking about habits that are gonna help us all, I have to think about a habit that's gonna help us connect with others. It's far too easy these days to stay at home and do everything on Zoom, and do your shopping from your house, right? And not connect with another human being. But we are social animals. We need connection. It helps us with our physical health and our mental wellbeing. Okay, so how are we gonna do this? But when I think of connections, I think of those close, intimate connections we might have, and those connections in our community, maybe not as close, but also just as important. So if I take my life as an example,

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 25:55 I'm married and I've got two kids. Let's talk about my marriage for a moment. Okay. Like many couples these days, we often find ourselves quite busy with work and with our children and after-school activities, so it is very, very easy for days to pass where you feel like passing ships, where sure, you lived in the same place, in the same house, but perhaps didn't see each other properly or as much as you would like to. And I know many, many parents face this. I've had so many patients over the years tell me, and this is often the cause of friction in relationships. So I have a very simple practice that I do with my wife on most evenings, not every evening, but it's called the five-minute tea ritual. It's dead easy. It basically means that once our kids have gone to bed, before we do anything else, emails, chill out, watching something, read, whatever we might wanna be doing, we come to our kitchen, we make some mint tea, and we sit there and chat. And the goal is just to catch up, find out about each other, how our days went. So that five-minute tea ritual is our safety net. It means that we both know, even if we're busy, that we're committing to five minutes each day. Now, sometimes those five minutes become 30 minutes, but on other days it is just five minutes. That's completely okay, but we've nourished ourselves with those five minutes. And again, I'm passionate about this, and my third book was called Feel Better in 5. I wrote all about the power of five-minute habits, right? Five minutes can do a lot. Remember, you brush your teeth for four minutes a day, two minutes in the morning, two minutes in the evening. That's four minutes. You know that those four minutes each day look after your dental health for life, and I'm making the case that you can apply that principle to many other aspects of your life. And in this context, we're talking about relationships. Those five minutes that me and my wife commit to each day, they nourish our relationship. When we're doing it regularly, we're closer, we just feel more connected with each other. And when we let it slip, you can start to feel the distance start to build up. So again, a very simple thing. You can also apply that to your kids, right? I genuinely believe that when we think about time with our loved ones, we need to think about the quality of the time as opposed to the quantity. Now, sure, if you can have both, that's wonderful, quantity and quality. But if I was to choose, I would choose quality. 10 minutes of intentional time with my kids when they come home from school where they feel heard, they feel seen, I paid them attention, I listened and responded. Compare that to one hour of distracted time where you're sort of half checking your emails and social media whilst also chatting. I mean, this goes beyond kids. This happens in relationships as well. I really think that attention, that focus on quality is so, so important, and perhaps that five-minute tea ritual or a-- some sort of variation of that is something you can introduce into your own life.

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 29:14 Now, as well as connection with the people close to us, let's not forget about connections with strangers as well, or people in our wider community. They're also very important. We know that these kind of simple interactions with the person at the supermarket who's serving us, or the barista at the coffee shop, or the Amazon delivery driver, those little interactions are also really, really important. They give you a little shot of connection at regular times in the day. And we know that there's a part of your brain called the sociometer. It's a network of systems that is constantly scanning the world around you for threat. And every time you get a positive social interaction, frankly with anyone, but also with strangers, right? A nod, a smile, um, a nice word, you basically tell the sociometer that the world around you is safe, and that really helps you with your self-esteem, your self-worth, and how you see the world around you. So talking with strangers is also very, very important, and there's a lot of scientific research to support this, right? So how can you do that? Well, maybe you consider yourself an introvert, someone who finds it hard. Okay, that's fine. We, we know that it's still gonna help you, right? Maybe you go to a coffee shop each day- And you don't say anything to the barista. You just take your coffee and quietly go off and sit and read or whatever you might do. Could you make eye contact, right? Could you smile? Could you say, "Hey, thanks so much. That was a lovely coffee"? You start small. It's like with anything, like working out, you start small then build up, right? When the Amazon delivery driver comes round, could you just look them in the eye and say, "Hey, thanks so much"? Think about the impact that's gonna have on that driver. He's probably rushing around trying to meet his or her quotas, right? It has a positive impact on them, and it also has a positive impact on you. So this daily habit of connection is both about in your own home life and in your wider life with your community. In the past, when you were living in your hunter-gatherer tribe, you would've connected with others each day. You needed others to help you and be there for you, and you also needed to be there for them. It would've happened. But today it is possible to be so busy and distracted that you don't pay attention to the important things, right? If you go for a walk every day, if you take me up on that challenge, right? What about on that walk and you pass people? Can you look at them and smile? Can you say, "Hey, how you doing?" It's about those little social interactions that send your brain a very powerful signal that the world around me is safe. I'm okay. The fifth

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 32:02 and final habit I want you to consider introducing into your life is to have a strength workout every day. Now, this doesn't need to be complicated, okay? You don't need to go to a gym. You don't need to join a gym. You don't even need to spend any money, right? This is what I do in my life every day, and I've been doing it for years, and it keeps me really fit and strong. Now, you gotta understand that once you hit 30, you start to lose muscle mass every year unless you're doing something about it, right? So it's important that you do something about it because your lean muscle mass, how much muscle you have on your body, is one of the most important predictors of how well you're going to be as you age. We lose muscle mass as we age, but the more we can hold onto, the better we're going to be. So it's really, really important, and as I've just said, it starts quite early. At the age of 30 it starts happening. Now, a lot of people get put off. They

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 33:02 think they have to join gyms, and I'm not against joining a gym or getting a personal trainer if you have access to one and can afford it, but you don't need to. There's so much you can do yourself if you know what to do, right? So how I do it, and I'm gonna share this with you in case it gives you ideas for your life, but this is also the method I've taught to many of my patients over the years, right, is in the morning, or frankly at any time in the day, but for me, it works in the morning. What existing habit do you have in your life where you can stick on a strength workout too? That's quite important, right? Whenever you wanna bring in a new behavior into your life and turn it into a long-term habit, you've gotta follow a few rules, right, that make it easier for you, and one of the rules you wanna follow is you wanna stick on that behavior onto an existing habit. So an existing habit is something you do automatically without giving it any thought. So for me, one of my habits is I make coffee in the morning, right? I don't need a reminder. Now I'm gonna make it. It's a habit. Therefore, I have an opportunity. If I stick my strength workout on there, it's much more likely it's gonna happen. So in the morning, pretty shortly after I've woken up, I do a few things as part of my morning routine, right? But one of the things is I put the coffee on. I put a timer for five minutes, and in those five minutes, whilst I'm in my pajamas, I do a strength workout. Now, that's changed over the years. It used to be just body weights, some press-ups, some lunges, some calf raises, some tricep dips. Okay? Some very simple body weight exercises. But these days I also have a kettlebell in my kitchen. I have a dumbbell in my kitchen. So sometimes I'll vary it up. But the point is, whilst my coffee brews, I do some form of strength training for five minutes. I don't look at email. I don't go on Instagram. I get my workout done, right? Now, why is that so important? Well, it's important for this reason. It means that every day I'm showing myself that I'm important, right? That I show myself that no matter how busy I got, I still found five minutes to work on my strength, which is good for my body and my mind. Now, it's not 10 minutes or 15 minutes or 20 minutes. Nothing wrong with that. If you've got time to do that, that's great. But the problem is, for many people, it's too much, and then we start to make excuses. We say, "I didn't have time. I didn't have 20 minutes, so I did nothing." I take a slightly different approach. I say make it small, both with myself and with my patients. Make it small, and if you have extra time, do more. But the minimum requirement is five minutes. And I tell you, it's changed my life. It's just a part of my life as brushing my teeth is. I don't have to think about it. It's just what I do. It's become a habit, an unconscious habit, because I've done it so often at the same time in my day. What you actually choose to do in those five minutes is not really the most important thing. The most important thing is that you do something, right? What are your favorite strength moves? Have you been to classes in the past? Yoga, Pilates, gym, right? It could be something like skipping if you prefer, right? Skipping ropes are pretty cheap. Most of us know how to skip, or we certainly did when we were at school. It's great for your cardiovascular fitness, for your muscles, for your tendons. It could be that you do skipping. It's not about what you do, it's about doing something. Right? And I've done this with so many patients, patients who told me they couldn't afford a gym, they didn't have time to work out, and I help them choose five exercises that would only take them five minutes, and they did it in their kitchen, often in their pajamas. Now, why am I mentioning pajamas so much? Because I make it easy. That's why I do it. If I had to get changed, put on my outfit, put on my shoes, right? It's another obstacle in the way. It might mean I say, "Oh, I don't have time today." But because I do it in my pajamas, I made it easy. I can never say I don't have time. So I really want you to think about that. I think it's one of the most life-changing things I do in my own life for my strength, for my physical fitness, for my mood, for my brain health, but most importantly for how I feel about myself. And that's the gold here. When you start doing these things daily, when you do a strength workout every day, right, you're showing up for yourself. You're saying to yourself, "I can rely on you. I can trust you because you're always making time." Right? So give that a go. And honestly, if you think five minutes is too much, do one minute. One minute of skipping for the next 30 days, right, at the same time every day. I guarantee you're gonna feel differently about your life, and you're gonna be healthier. So

Dr. Rangan Chatterjee 38:08 I hope you enjoyed listening to those five different daily habits. Of course, you don't have to do them all. Choose one or maybe two and see how you can implement it into your life. If you get a minute, please let me know in the comments what you're choosing to do. I think it'll be helpful for me and for other people who are watching this video to learn from what you might be doing, and also pay attention to how you feel. That's really, really important. Bring the habit in and keep asking yourself, "How is this helping me?" What changes are you noticing? Because once you really lock into that and you notice that you have more energy, more vitality, that you're sleeping better, that your gut health is better, that you're less burnt out, less stressed, that's gonna be the motivation you need to continue. If you found that content useful, I think you are really going to enjoy this video where I outline a simple framework for a morning routine that can immediately improve your health and your happiness. You've actually made yourself more resilient. You've actually lengthened the distance between where you currently are and your stress threshold and where you're gonna be after that morning routine